12 Questions...11) Should school architects design buildings that are fun places to attend?

Question 11) Should school architects design buildings that are fun places to attend?

Our first sentence in response to the first question in this series and salted throughout this discussion is the concept of “fun”.  The understanding that students can and most definitely should have fun as part of their educational experience is so, ahem, fundamental, yet so overlooked.  This is where architects and designers could use the advice of their student clients.  In working with an architect on the re-design of a 3rd grade classroom, a student in that class was asked if she liked the new design. Her immediate response was that it was “nice” but that there were no “hiding places” for her or her classmates.  Understanding that places for students to hide is not necessarily a concept to be embraced in classroom design, this idea of private, inset nooks where students can read, do research, relax, and yes, have fun is not to be taken lightly.  Students want to come to a school where the design is conducive to having fun is a school where the issue of absence is obviated.  This can only have a positive effect on the bottom line.