Finland Rethinks Factory-Style School Buildings
“By understanding what motivates the students and helps them learn, it helps us as architects design a space that can support student achievement.”
The embassy exhibit, developed by the Museum of Finnish Architecture in Helsinki, describes seven Finnish schools opened from 2001 to 2007. They exemplify the country’s move from factory-style schools, with all classrooms and desks in rows, to contemporary campuses built to meet the pedagogical and social needs of their students and teachers. The national Board of Education set guidelines for a proper learning environment, including recommendations on aesthetic quality, with the sense that a school “should be a place that is physically, psychologically, and socially safe, promoting the child’s growth, health, and learning as well as their positive interaction with teachers and fellow pupils.”
