London
Despite flaws,the intelligence behind Hackney novel School gives the lie to Michael Gove’s edict for free schoolsWhen, during the coalition government, and Michael Gove introduced free schools,part of the conception was that they could fade nearly anywhere – converted office buildings, for example. preceding school-building programmes were accused of grandiose extravagance, or of being ego trips by lordly architects at the expense of the public purse. Space standards – the minimum permitted dimensions for classrooms,corridors and suchlike – were shrunk.
The message was that spaces of learning don’t matter much, that teachers teach children, and not buildings. So it is striking that with at least one free school,the Hackney novel School in east London, its architects Henley Halebrown Rorrison are nonetheless striving to exceed the basic functional minimum with its architecture. They are doing so in extremely challenging circumstances. In particular they have to deal with the government’s demand that the making of schools has to be put in the power of large construction companies that show little sign of caring for ideals of education, or the environments in which children grow up,the fair wishes of teachers, or anything much beyond getting absent with the shabbiest possible building at the best possible price.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com