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David Medd, schools architect. From a seminar at University of Cambridge June 2009. Pedagogical issues in the design of primary schools.
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CLASSROOMS: SPACES AND PLACES
Educational Designs:Craftsmanship, obsession
and the sketch
CLASSROOMS: SPACES AND PLACES
Educational Designs:Craftsmanship, obsession
and the sketch
Rob Walker
http://eastanglia.academia.edu/RobWalker
Rob Walker
http://eastanglia.academia.edu/RobWalker
Early in 2009, Catherine Burke arranged for David Medd to visit some of the schools he had designed in the 1950s and 60s with his wife Mary. He was accompanied by a group
of architects and educationalists and the visits were videotaped.
Each member of the team has developed ‘a treatment’ for editing, of which this is one.
Early in 2009, Catherine Burke arranged for David Medd to visit some of the schools he had designed in the 1950s and 60s with his wife Mary. He was accompanied by a group
of architects and educationalists and the visits were videotaped.
Each member of the team has developed ‘a treatment’ for editing, of which this is one.
David Medd 1917-2009
Today’s Aerial Geography LessonToday’s Aerial Geography Lesson
Classrooms: theme and variations
Classrooms: theme and variations
Open classrooms = Open schooling?
‘Hard fun’ at Hennigan School
Open classrooms = Open schooling?
‘Hard fun’ at Hennigan School
The Medds’ schools have inside and outside spaces
The Medds’ schools have inside and outside spaces
Inside there are typically bays designated for different activities
Inside there are typically bays designated for different activities
Environments and Activities
Environments and Activities
There is an isomorphism between Medd the
craftsman and his view of schools as places
where children can learn by making things
There is an isomorphism between Medd the
craftsman and his view of schools as places
where children can learn by making things
‘Afraid of boring children, avid to present ever-different stimulation, the enlightened
teacher may avoid routine - but thus deprives children of the experience of
studying their own ingrained practice and modulating it from within.
Richard Sennett (2008), p38
‘Afraid of boring children, avid to present ever-different stimulation, the enlightened
teacher may avoid routine - but thus deprives children of the experience of
studying their own ingrained practice and modulating it from within.
Richard Sennett (2008), p38
Learning by repetition reconnects the mind with the hand and the body
On being part of a skilled community
What is important, says Sennett, is that learning by repetition should be in the context of an
open system, not a closed curriculum
Learning skills becomes empty if it is not also an act of the imagination
Two forms of obsession
Two modernist houses in 1920s Vienna
Two architects: Wittgenstein and Loos
“I am not interested in
erecting a building, but in[…]
presenting to myself the
foundations of all possible buildings.”Ludwig Wittgenstein
“I am not interested in
erecting a building, but in[…]
presenting to myself the
foundations of all possible buildings.”Ludwig Wittgenstein
"Even though I admired the house very much, I always knew that I
neither wanted to, nor could, live in it myself. It seemed indeed to be
much more a dwelling for the gods than for a small mortal like me”
Hermine Wittgenstein
"Even though I admired the house very much, I always knew that I
neither wanted to, nor could, live in it myself. It seemed indeed to be
much more a dwelling for the gods than for a small mortal like me”
Hermine Wittgenstein
The Good Craftsman:(adapted from Sennett)
• Understands the importance of the sketch – that is ensuring that you do not know too precisely what you are about when you begin.
• Values contingency and constraint and knows when and how to admit them to the design process.
• Needs to step away from obsession when a problem becomes self-contained.
• Avoids pursuing perfectionism to the point where it becomes purely self-referential.
• Learns when it is time to stop (short of over-design).
But doesn’t Educational Technology change everything?
Sennett’s notion of ‘the sketch’ is key to understanding the educational potential of the new media
Too often, computer applications are used in the classroom to close the scope of activities and to limit the play of imagination
But there are many ways in which software can be used to ‘sketch’ ideas: in words, in images, in sounds, but we need to be alive to these possibilities and to encourage forms of experimentation and playfulness that welcome risk and see mistakes as opportunities for learning
Just as we see children’s involvement as critical to building design, so too with technology
A good example is The Rug Room, where the students worked with the software designers to create a VLE and a media studio that did the things they wanted for their work, to communicate and to express their ideas
Quote Steve Hempel
Ursula FranklinUniversity of Toronto
• Physicist• Engineer• Expert on Chinese bronzes and Inca silver• Educator• Peace Activist
Buildings as Educational Technology
Cuban, L. (1986). Teachers and Machines: The Classroom Use of Technology Since 1920. Teachers College Press, New York.