WELL-Learning : Promoting learner well-being through deployable schooling infrastructure

Abstract

The diagnosis of the Sick Building Syndrome in the 1980s, raised concern for the effect of the built environment on its occupants. As adolescents spend ample time within learning environments, the design of schools, and more specifically classrooms, provide an opportunity for investigation in terms of the effect on learner well-being.

In South Africa, the urgent need for schools, especially within inner cities, typically demands for rapid construction. In doing so, there is a failure to consider the spatial quality of learning environments and the comfort of learners and teachers alike. One such example is Tshwane Secondary School in Pretoria Central, which serves as a testing site for this project, and primarily employs prefabrication methods in the form of portable classrooms. Insufficient and ill-conceived facilities disregard the spatial experience and well-being of learners. In order to discover and define the complexity of learner well-being and unravel the physical, social and psychological implications of school buildings, several research methods were used. ‘The Wheel of Wellness’, a holistic counselling model developed within the field of Psychology, forms the theoretical premise of the study. Available norms and standards for well-building, as well as South African school infrastructure, provide further guidance. An in-depth context analysis, including a psychology report, seeks to critically investigate the existing school infrastructure. The triangulation of textual studies, along with an in-depth context analysis seeks to critically investigate the existing condition, both globally and within a local context.

The theoretical and contextual inquiry therefore support an iterative design process of prototyping and scenarios, which explores portable architecture alternatives for learning environments. As a result, the tested design proposal envisions the potential to act as either additional or founding school infrastructure in varying contexts.

The design vision recognises the need for a deployable teaching-learning unit that fosters the well-being of learners in its individual capacity, but also in the collective configuration on site. The facilitation of social interaction, multiple learning experiences and user control stand as three essential design considerations. The aspect of control becomes particularly important as it not only allows for the adaptability of space, but furthermore supports the social and learning experiences. The intention is for both the physical parameters and interior furnishing of the unit to be responsive towards the collective and individual needs of users. Keeping design for disassembly and the ease of operation in mind, the construction of a deployable unit requires critical consideration for well-being. Subsequently, the technical investigation questions how the assembly design could enable user control, to allow for the flexibility and personalisation of space.

By better understanding the concept of well-being and its relation to the built environment, interior architecture could promote the well-being of learners and teachers through the design of a more enabling model of deployable schooling infrastructure.