Architekturzentrum Wien  
 

 
 
Flying Classrooms
We are creating schools

OPENING: March 02.2011, 7pm
PRESS CONFERENCE: March 02.2011, 11am
EXHIBITION: March 03.2011 - May 30.2011

THE EXHIBITION
The rooms we learn and teach in have hardly changed in over a century. The classroom is still 9 metres x 7 metres in size and the primary location for lessons that are held at hourly intervals — even though teachers and architects agree that contemporary teaching methods require appropriately diverse forms of space and that these would subsequently have a positive impact on the interaction and the school day of pupils and teachers alike.

But what should these spaces look like in concrete terms? And who is permitted to participate in their design? Regrettably, in the current heated debate on the reforming of the Austrian school system space is only a peripheral topic, even though it represents a decisive factor in successful education in other countries as the 'third educator'.

The exhibition engages with different approaches (to research) involving the mutual interrelationship between the architectural space and the spatial framework it provides, and learning and teaching. It addresses all those who are involved directly or indirectly with education and the basic spatial requirements for teaching and learning: primarily pupils, teachers, parents, architects and politicians. The exhibition provides an opportunity for visitors to inform themselves about the development of school building and its background, to take a playful approach to engaging with space in a 1:1 installation, and to develop their own vision for the school of the future.

THE EXHIBITION IS DIVIDED INTO SIX AREAS:

Construction site classroom
Studying spatial experience
The experts studio
The school in floor plans
Learning in space not in the classroom
The collection

CONSTRUCTION SITE CLASSROOM
A standard classroom 7m x 9m presents the classroom as an open arena for experimentation. The vast yellow extendable fabric tube ('Raumschlauch') not only invites children to shape the space with their own bodies but the school furniture is not for use in the usual way, either, and is willfully obstructive: spatial elements in everyday use at school become a mobile topography and can be explored and tried out playfully. Textile Forest Tubes ('Waldschläuche') serve as a symbol for self-governed, curiosity and interest-driven learning in a natural setting. The atmosphere can be altered by the children themselves by painting with light using gels and overhead projectors.

STUDYING SPATIAL EXPERIENCE
Methods for the appropriation of space and increasing spatial awareness are introduced while also raising process-based issues relating to the subjects of space and awareness. Schoolchildren are taken seriously as experts, and learn to articulate themselves self-confidently on the subject of architecture individually and artistically.

THE EXPERTS STUDIO
A pupil, a teacher and an architect represent different perspectives and tell of their need for change, the desire for communication and participation, and present refreshingly simple ideas relating to spatial issues in the context of the school. These video interviews are intended to provide inspiration as there are many different ideas and points of view in the charged arena of architecture and schools — and these should be communicated effectively and combined.

THE SCHOOL IN FLOOR PLANS
The history of the school over the last 200 years is explained on the basis of 5 panels with floor plans and text. To help children approach the abstract floor plans, maps with sections of floor plan have been developed that invite visitors to hunt for the WC in different schools like treasure maps. The solutions can be found using graphics, by comparing the images, or by reading the texts.

LEARNING IN SPACE NOT IN THE CLASSROOM
The Hellerup school in Gentofte/Copenhagen, Denmark (1999–2002, arkitema Architects), has abolished the classroom — the whole school is an educational space. Instead of a conventional series of classrooms and corridors there are environments with cooking areas, workplaces and sofas. Hexagonal pavilions serve as spaces for concentration: one such full-scale pavilion is on show in the exhibition.

THE COLLECTION
Original plans, sketches and models of innovative school buildings from 1953 to 1979 from the stocks of the Az W archives supplement this level of historical reflection in the exhibition. The projects on display were completed in an atmosphere of the lively discussion on school building that was current in Austria at the time. The Az W is showing the potential of this discussion as well as the possibilities for high quality execution on the basis of eight school building projects of different types:
Wohnraumschule (Living Room School), arbeitsgruppe 4 (project), 1953 / Knabenseminar Sachsenbrunn, arch. Robert Kramreiter, 1959 / Nüziders primary school, Arch.gemeinschaft C4, 1959–63 / Weiz school complex, arch. Viktor Hufnagel, 1964–68 & 1976–78 / Allentsteig primary, secondary and special needs school, arch. Anton Schweighofer, 1966–68 / 1110 Vienna primary, secondary and special needs school, arch. Eugen Wörle, Ferry Kitt, 1970-71 / Völkermarkt grammar school, arch. Ottokar Uhl, 1970–74 / Innsbruck Ursuline grammar school, arch. Josef Lackner, 1971–79.

These six areas provide levels of experience and paths through the topics surrounding school space for young and old alike. Useable and changeable situations form the core of the exhibition, providing visitors with a sensual approach that creates impetus for active communication about architectural visions for the school as an institution, throwing up questions for further ideas, changes and added impetus.

The exhibition is accompanied by the book 'räume bilden — Wie Schule und Architektur kommunizieren', A. Lehn, R. Stuefer (Eds.) published by Löcker Verlag, ISBN 978-3-85409-577-4 (in German)


SUPPLEMENTARY PROGRAMME

sonntags 243 / the school of the future
Sun 6.3.2011, 1–5pm
guided tour of the exhibition + excursion
guided tour of the exhibition 'Flying Classrooms. We Are Creating Schools' at the Az W / Kaiser-Franz-Josef Spital health care and nurses training college Vienna-Favoriten: lichtblau.wagner architekten, 2010 / AHS Contiweg, Vienna-Donaustadt: Atelier Heiss, 2010
tickets available at the Az W Shop / info: www.azw.at/sonntags

The Campus Gudrunstrasse Competition
exhibition 31.03 – 11.04.2011, Halle F3 Az W, admission free
opening: Wed 30.03.2011, 7pm, Az W
The new educational campus on the grounds of the central train station is to represent a pilot project for 0 to 14 year-olds on 20,000 square metres with a kindergarten, a primary school and a secondary school. A didactic spatial concept with a catalogue of the qualities required in its realisation was worked out in cooperation with teaching experts as the basis for the open two-stage competition. The projects submitted to the competition and selected for the 2nd stage are presented in the exhibition, and form the starting point for a discussion on current trends in Viennese school building.

2020 Visions for the Schools of Tomorrow
Wed 13.04.2011, 7pm im Az W, admission free
lecture and discussion
There is no lack of catch phrases for the schools of tomorrow: from individually tailored open learning to de-schooling and virtual educational settings. But which of the visions are desirable, what spatial concepts and architectural solutions are required for their realisation? All of this is discussed by a panel of architects, teaching experts, educational scientists and pupils.

BIG Az W: Best Practice School Building (AT)
Wed 18.05.2011, 7pm, admission free
lecture and discussion

a_showcase 16: New Concepts in School Building (AT)
Wed 25.05.2011, 6pm, admission free
presentation and discussion


Idea, concept and design:
Christian Kühn, Antje Lehn, Renate Stuefer
Supplemented in cooperation with the Az W
Az W project management: Gudrun Hausegger

With thanks to:
kunsthaus muerz
Institut für Architektur und Entwerfen, Vienna University of Technology
Institut für Kunst und Gestaltung 1, Vienna University of Technology
Institute for Art and Architecture, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

Assistance:
Thomas Amann, Alexandra Iosa, Johannes Hoffmann, Ulrike Pitro, Johanna Reiner, Jonnie White
with contributions from pupils and students
Public Funding:
Geschäftsgruppe Stadtentwicklung und Verkehr
Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur
Geschäftsgruppe Kultur und Wissenschaft
Sponsor: ARCHITECTURE LOUNGE

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© Illustration Frauke Lehn / Grafik LIGA: graphic design 

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Dates:
Flying Classrooms

sundays 243: the school of the future


Downloads:
Press Release: Flying Classrooms


Information:
Ines Purtauf
Tel.: +43 (1) 522 31 15 - 25
Fax: +43 (1) 522 31 17
Email: purtauf@azw.at

 
 
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