Goodbye to the row of desks and the teacher's big table: the architecture of Barcelona's schools

BarcelonaIf you think about a typical classroom in a school or high school, it's easy to imagine rows and rows of desks. In front, very close to the blackboard, a larger table for the teacher. An image with which they want to break the pedagogical model of the Barcelona Education Consortium under the premise that spaces are also tools that contribute to improving education. The distribution of classes in a more diaphanous way, the use of colors on the walls or the air conditioning of the classrooms are thus established as essential points for offering quality learning.

This is precisely what the exhibition Architecture with Educational Purpose" makes visible, a proposal from the Consortium that joins the programming of Barcelona as the World Capital of Architecture. The exhibition, which is hosted by the Massana School of Arts from this Friday until the end of October, is planned with the aim of opening up to professionals and citizens the architectural model that has been developed in the city's educational facilities over the last ten years. "We are taking advantage of the fact that we are carrying out work in the centers to improve learning conditions, taking into account that spaces also educate," explains Antoni Garcia, director of Educational Facilities at the Education Consortium.  

Thus, the exhibition reviews the common system of the more than 300 educational facilities in the Catalan capital managed by the Consortium, which not only seeks to ensure that architecture and education go hand in hand, but also that this pattern can be seen in all the centers in the city to guarantee equal opportunities. “It is not enough to have one center of higher quality and one of less, but families must be able to enroll in the one closest to them and that is of quality,” points out Garcia. 

The route is planned through four itineraries, which follow what people who live together in schools and institutes do daily. They are displayed with different colored lines drawn on the floor of the space: in red, the perspective of children; in green, that of young people; in yellow, that of teachers, and in blue, that of other members of the educational community, such as families.

Each of these paths follows different stages that each group can experience throughout a day, with panels that depict everything from entering school to interacting in classrooms, break time, or the cafeteria, and the transformation of these spaces based on the model. "For example, proposals are shown to improve the layout of classrooms or how to paint them," details Laura Melchor, head of the Maintenance and General Services Unit of the Consortium's Equipment Directorate. 

A model also in writing

The exhibition is a way to transfer the content of the new white paper for the design of educational spaces in Barcelona from paper. With the same title as the exhibition, the collection aims to serve as a reference guide for good practices in the construction of facilities. More specifically, it is structured into seven chapters – external image, interior spaces, furniture, paints and coatings, materials and construction systems, efficiency and sustainability, and outdoor spaces –, each of which addresses a key area when designing an educational center.

Furthermore, the reform it proposes for the city's pedagogical spaces is systematized and not a one-off. A matter that implies that the different courses enter a cycle that, when it ends, starts again in the maintenance processes. "So far, the renovation has been done in early childhood and secondary education, and the idea is to continue with primary education," points out Melchor.

On the other hand, the exhibition is complemented by a documentary and a cycle of monthly visits to learn about some of these examples of architecture with an educational purpose, from a new facility to a historic building. With the aim of including spaces with different contexts, the visits will be to Escola Ramon Llull, Escola Auditori, Institut Escola Arts, Institut Viladomat and Institut de Tècniques Audiovisuals i de l’Espectacle de Barcelona.