Architecture and Human Behaviour

As an architect you design for the present, with an awareness of the past, for a future
which is essentially unknown.
- Norman Foster
 Table of Contents

Abstract

Introduction

I. The use of architecture throughout history

II. ¿How can architecture affect our behaviour?

Investigation

I. A alysis of La aste ’s lass oo s

II. La aste ’s G aduate “ hool P ofile
III. ¿Does La aste ’s s hool a eas e ou age stude ts to these types of i te a tio s?
IV. Classroom Arrangement
- Types of arrangement
- Types of learning
- Pros and cons

Conclusion

I. Proposal to the School Of Lancaster

Abstract

In this essay I will cover topics about the use of architecture over time, its evolution and
its effect on people and education, I will focus my essay on my school, and more specific
on the type of classroom arrangement used in my school. This essay attempts to function
as a critique of how to plan classes at the lancaster school, I will do this by analyzing the
most common types of class arrangements, taking into account their implications in
educational development, individual and group progress and posible class dynamics, on
the other hand I will analyze y s hool’s g aduate p ofile, hi h states the a ilities that
the student should develop in his stay in the school (Social, Spiritual and Thinking being) in
additio to this, the sh ool’s i f aest u tu a should help foste this skills. I o luded y
essay giving to the School of Lancaster a proposal on the way the clases are planned.
I. The use of architecture throughout history

In ancient times, building where often associated to economical power, for example a
church would have massive pillars, outstanding high ceilings, with a colossal structure, to
sustain the greatness of the religion itself, since these aspects carry greatness and
majesty, nevertheless, they do not take into account important design issues such as, the
space that is wasted having tall ceilings, or the danger of having a huge amount of heavy
glass on the walls.

But architecture has also served as an important factor in creating identities for each
person, in the sense that, when you see or hear about a certain architectural construction
that is i the pla e you li e, you a elate a d e e feel p oud of the uilding, which
helps in building confidence and socialization skills.

The Industrial Revolution is thought to be one of the major modifying factors for
a hite tu e, si e it e ti ely ha ged the ay thi gs e e uilt f o it’s oots, ost of
the common raw materials used in old architecture was replaced for steel and iron, this
expanded the architectural possibilities for constructing new buildings. However, the
Industrial Revolution also made important changes in the design of the buildings, the ease
and low cost of production of these materials gave rise to a type of architecture that
focused on occupying space in the most efficient way without taking into account cultural
or historical characteristics.

That is why architecture must be integrative, when an architect thinks about constructing
a building, he need to take into consideration many things, including general
characteristics like safety, functionality, and aesthetic appearance, but and architect also
needs to think about the cultural and historical context of his time.

II. ¿How can architecture affect our behaviour?

Norman Foster is one key architect that implements this in his constructions, in his
buildings, he manages to blend functionality aspects with cultural and historical
components in such an ingenious and beautiful way that he is considered to be one of the
most visionary and prolific architects of the world, one perfect example of this is the
Reichstag, a democratic forum that suffered from extreme deterioration after World War
II, Foster was the one to reconstruct it, but he didn’t si ply e-build the Reichstag using
the old blueprints, he was able to give that historical building a new symbolic meaning, by
gracefully, through design, the building transcended its primary function and became a
powerful symbol of the reunification of the nation, he also kept old construction marks
and Russian graffiti as a way of keeping the most essential parts of its identity from the
past, since the culture, and consequently our identity is constructed from what we know
from the past, this shows the perfect example of a building that shows architecture as an
multidisciplinary subject.
School Design

It is necessary to accept that education is a process that needs to be very susceptible to

constant change, and that the educational system that we know today, that was a product
of industrialization, has lost much validity since the challenges of society have been
changing along with society itself.

As discussed earlier, architecture has a direct relation to our behavior, and when talking
about a school, its design is directly related to the social and learning skills of each
student, however, I believe that school designers should also know the academic plans of
the school in order to build a more thorough school, that is not only based on
demographic factors but also on the school's ideology, this, if achieved correctly can have
serious development implications as much as for students and teachers, as for the whole
educational system.

I. Analyzing Lancaster’s School

Ever since I started having my Desig a d Te h ology ou se I’ e ee o e observant of

thi gs desig ed a ou d e, a d I’ e al ays ee e y u ious, a d iti al a out y
school's design, this is why I decided to investigate about how does the infrastructure of
educational areas my school foster learning, and the development of abilities such as:

 Encourage critical thinking

 Foster great intellectual curiosity
 Defend what you believe and be open to other ways of thinking
 Have broad look to the world
 Express their ideas and fight for a cause.
 Be a good listener

The mission of the Lancaster School is based on the development of these abilities, the
misión also says that the infrastructure of the school "Has physical spaces and virtual
resources that allo it to fulfill its isió . This generated some kind of controversy in me,
since I do ’t really feel that the design of the school encouraged students to develop such
abilities.

This essay ill fo us o the a ade i s ope of the s hool ill fi stly a alyze La aste ’s
Graduate School Profile (LGSP).

This was planned like these because according to C. William Brubaker, there are 2 major
components that need to be taken into consideration when designing a school, the first
o e ei g the atu e of the site hi h ould e the pla e it ill e o st u ted i , a d
se o dly, the p og a of spa e e ui e e ts o the edu atio al spe ifi atio s hi h
ould e the ay the hole s hool’s edu atio al syste would be theoretically
working. I decided to look at the LGSP because it is important to know how the school
graduate profile is planned to work to be able to evaluate it through a smart-design lense.

II. Lancaster’s Graduate Profile

According to the LGSP, the student must develop, or at least try to develop, three
fundamental aspects in his stay in Lancaster, these are:

The thinking being

 Which is a student who is informed and questions his knowledge and his
understanding of the world, with the capacity to ask questions that promote
learning.

The social being

 Which is a student that shows responsibility and solidarity, cares for others and
their environment, and interacts proactively with them to make the world a better
place to live.

The spiritual being

 Which allows us to know ourselves and exercise control over our destiny through
the conscience, always acting with honesty and openness.

III. ¿Does Lancaster’s school areas encourage students to these types of

interactions?

These 3 aspects he e thought to e a pu suit of o e’s ide tity , ut he it o es to

my school, I find a lot of problems in the design of the social and academic areas such as
the cafeteria, the library and the classrooms, I first planned to make an overview of the
hole a hite tu al desig of y s hool ut si e it’s al eady o st u ted a d e-building
these areas would be a very large economic expense. I decided to make a profound
analysis of the a ade i a eas of La aste ’s s hool, o e spe ifi , the interior
arrangement of the classrooms, I will also suggest new ways in which the classrooms may
be organized with the aim of giving these paper to the principals of the school as a
constructive criticism to the inner classroom design, hoping that it may lead to a future re-
thinking of these areas for generations to come, since this is my last year her

The easo I a ted to fo us y esea h o y s hool, e e though it’s y last yea , as

to try to achieve a change in the way the classes are given. I have learned from
experience, that having all of our classes in rooms with the same arrangement of tables
and chairs becomes very monotonous and tiring; and ends up becoming an "educational
retrogressive cycle", by having many types of arrangements, classes become more diverse
and versatile.
IV. Classroom Arrangements

There are 3 main ways of sorting the chairs and tables of a classroom, these options have
diffe e t i pli atio s he dis ussi g a stude t’s edu atio a d so ial elatio ith other
students, but also, the choice of certain arrangement arises strictly related to the number
of student per class and the space of the room, since some options require more space.

Learning about the different types of physical setting of the classroom will be constructive
fo this o k, si e the o positio of the lass oo ’s ta les a d hai s can directly affect
the performance of activities proposed by teachers (Weinstein, 1981).

It is essential to know that each classroom configuration has to be well thought for every
class, and also each arrangement has positive and negative aspects that can be attributed
to them, but the relevant matter to take into consideration is that each design can work in
a positive way depending on the purpose and aim of the class, and class activities.

I wil now analyze the most common classroom arrangements, each one will have an
scheme attached to have better understanding of the level of interaction between
students and teacher.

The traditional arrangement

This standard form of composition is based on having between 5 and 6 straight lines of
individual chairs equidistant from each other.

This arrangement is teacher centered, which is related with classes that look for
i fo atio disse i atio s, si e it di i ishes stude t i te a tio a d pla es the
p i a y i te a tio fo us of the lass oo o the tea he (Ja es C. M C oskey, 1997).

This type of configuration is more commonly used in high schools and universities due to
the fact that it is very practical and it give more opportunity to more students to take the
class, since it eliminate the big amount of space taken up by the tables.
However, this can also imply unfavorable aspects, since a larger class with more students
is more prone to have a low-moderate class interaction, poor class development and little
to no enthusiasm for participating in class.

Modular arrangement

This organization consists on having multiple tables with chairs facing each other, the
outline of this classroom design is based entirely on the size of the room, if the room is
bigger, more tables will fit, and vice versa.

This type of organization goes hand in hand with teamwork, this is because there is no
need for physical organization, and also gives the teacher an easy way to go around the
room to hand out the work and check the group progress.
One important aspect of this classroom construction is that it encourages the direct
interaction of the (inner) group which can foste social skills and groupo collaboration,
however, it also decreases the possibility of communication between the groups at the
other tables, and put at risk the organization of activities with the whole group.

The horseshoe arrangement

This type of composition is usually known as an improvement of the traditional classroom
design, this was stated like this because by accommodating U-shaped chairs, you facilitate
interaction between students, while keeping the direct contact with the professor.
However if the seize of your class is too big, this arrangement can take up most of the
space in the room, this can be fixed by having double horseshoe, in which one smaller
horseshoe fist inside the other one, both facing towards the teacher, which creates a
direct visual link between the students and the teacher, yet not all the student may see
their classmates.

Circle arrangement

This is somewhat a continuation to the horseshoe, in

this arrangement, all the students seat in a circle, and
the teacher can be standing in the middle, or be in
the perimeter of the circle seating side by side with
the students.

This type of composition is most useful for group

discussions, it also enables the students to be always
involved physically, which can lead to good
communication of ideas.

Harkness table

In this accomodation, that work like a combination of the Circle arrangement and the
modular system, since students sit in a circle around an oval shape table, this facilitates
work that requires students to write or draw.
Ha k ess is ostly i spi ed o a “o ati type of dialogue, hi h foste ’s e ip o al
argumentative thinking, with the main objective of developing critical thinking on the
student. At the same time, it seeks to implement personal development with the help of a
collective environment, due to the size of the group, everyone has a greater possibility to
participate, which can lead to more enthusiasm and joy.

Image 1

This specific classroom dynamic has been highly criticised because of his adi al
app oa h to the edu atio al p og a . Ha k ess’ p opositio i ol es a ethi ki g of the
hie a hy of po e s i the lass oo , si e the tea he ’s autho ity di i ishes, e o i g
more of a listener instead of an instructor (See Image 1).

However, a change of this magnitude will have, and is having, cultural and international
ramifications that support the progress and evolution of educational programs of today
(Tanya 2004).

I felt really interested in this type of arrangement because my school decided to

implement this type of table to one of the new classrooms, and my first impression was
astonishment and curiosity simultaneously, I felt happy since I had never had a class that
was not on separate tables, I also felt included with my classroom, I had the possibility to
see all my classmates and at the same time, the teacher became included in the class,
since you would seat in the same table, and sometimes even besides her/him I was very
shocked but happy, because it was not just a new type of table, it was a new kind of class.

However, this feeling gradually faded since most of the classes I have use the projector,
which points only to one wall of the room, meaning that only half of the table could see
the chalkboard (presentation) clearly, while the other half needed to turn around
uncomfortably to take the notes of that class, I realized that this made the students (my
classmates) to go to class earlier and safeguard a good place with a good view to the
blackboard, however, this only made the whole class dinamic less and less interactive.

I personally feel that in order to make that table more profitable and beneficial for
everyone, someone should inform the teachers that give class there, the two methods
possible for that table design (Harkness and Socratic) by doing this, professors would
know that there are other ways of approaching and designing a class, however other
factors affect class design, which I will try to cover in the next segment.

I. Proposal to the School Of Lancaster

When analyzing all the options for arranging the classrooms, I realized something that
seemed to me of the greatest interest, I concluded that each arrangement, has to be
analyzed depending on multiple factors, such as the subject being taught, the type and
purpose of the class you are imparting, and the students' level, then I will evaluate each of
these factors separately.

Subject
 Depending on the subject, the (physical and theoretical) class arrangement will
change.
 In classes such as mathematics or physics in which there is no real need to discuss,
a modular system could work, but in a class like philosophy or debate, a horseshoe
or even a Harkness would work.

Type and Objective

 If you want to foster a more individual type of learning you might go for an option
such as the traditional, but If you are looking for a more social and collective type
of learning, you might go for a harkness type of table.

Student’s Level
 All classrooms have different types of students, this is why you might need
different types of arrangements to suit the needs of every student the best way
possible.
As we have seen, many things affect the way we arrange and have arranged classrooms
throughout history, and it would clearly be very difficult and time consuming to change or
wait for a change in global education, therefore I have decided that the most efficient way
of tackling the problem in discussion is not to establish a new type of teaching, nor to
force the arrangement of the classroom tables to a type of arrangement, but to give the
facility to the teachers to accommodate the classroom with ease.

I decided that to be able to facilitate the organization of the class, the type of tables need
to be able to reconstruct all the types of arrangements, and if possible have even more
options for teachers and students to be creative about the class arrangement.

During the investigation I came across this type of table (trapezoid) which are small and
practical. They can mimic most of the arrangements discussed above, it was the perfect
choice, because it provides more options for teachers and students to be creative about
the class arrangement while also giving the practicality of the design to move them
around.

Conclusion

In conclusion I think the implementation of trapezoid tables, in addition to giving

capacitation so that teachers are aware of the types of arrangements and the way in
which they can be implemented in their classes, with the intention that the classes are not
so monotonous and finally put an end to the regressive educational cycle.

I did ’t a ted y essay to e ai o ly as a ki d of ecitation of a topic of self-interest,

but rather to act as ground for rethinking the design, not only of the classrooms, but of
the whole school design, and to foster user centered design for schools that have not yet
been constructed, but also with the ambition that perhaps some future student who
encounters the same problems as me, will know that he has a voice as a student, and that
he can, indeed, make a change.
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