Fouad, ATZ; Sailer, K; (2017) The Impact of Spatial Design on the Learning Process and Students' Socialisation: A study of secondary schools within the UK. In: Heitor, Teresa and Serra, Miguel and Silva, João Pinelo and Bacharel, Maria and Silva, Luisa Cannas da, (eds.) Proceedings of 11th International Space Syntax Symposium. (pp. 11.1-11.16). International Space Syntax Symposium: Lisbon, Portugal.

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Abstract

The last century has witnessed an evolution in our understanding of learning from being a spoon-feeding process towards a process based on the ability of the human mind to receive information, construct knowledge and gain understand according to the learner’s perceptions (Brown, 2004). However, the spatial relation between the learning process and the physical environment is less well understood. This research attempts to focus on learning in schools, while aiming to understand the spatial impact of the building design on the students’ learning process. The academic life of students inside the school premises is deeply entangled with social patterns. Consequently, the research considers the spatial dimension of both learning and socialisation of the students. Nine secondary schools in the UK are presented as a comparative case study based on quantitative analysis of the school buildings. Space syntax analysis is the key criterion of evaluation, supported by studying the organisation of various spatial components (circulation, courtyards, social and learning spaces). The research highlights the important role of the spatial design and configuration. The paper explains the spatial potential within the school building design that is argued to stimulate the students’ socialisation patterns. Moreover, it unveils the potential within the spaces that contributes to students’ learning, while focusing on how the design of the learning spaces and their layouts could accommodate the learning process inside the school. The results of studying the nine school buildings show that there is a moderately strong correlation between the syntactic measure utilised in the analysis (Visual Mean Depth) and the performance of the students within each school. The study proposes that the configurational analysis should become part of the original school design process to help understand the possibilities of the students’ social activities and mixing patterns. Additionally, it is concluded that learning spaces should be designed to afford various learning formats, not to be limited to the typical classroom layout.

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