More Than A Room

The design of primary schools in New Zealand has been commonly viewed as basic and typically underperforms for the primary users of the space, the students. The Ministry of Education is continuously developing schools as time and design fads progress; however, the developments made at a classroom level - some of the most influential on students, are typically overlooked.

A range of spatial qualities have been heavily researched, such as colour, comfort, and the integration of nature. However, the way that these individual aspects can meld together into a supportive interior experience is commonly overlooked. The way that different spatial qualities combine into a single interior experience can significantly affect a child’s learning. There is vast room for growth in the knowledge and implication of further design ideas to create a supportive, malleable, user-friendly interior experience.

This research applies a design approach based upon research gathered from the user (teachers and students), allowing the overall problem to be approached from the needs and wants of the primary users, providing an enriched interior experience. Furthermore, the design output should create an opportunity to enhance existing classrooms while providing a design basis for new-built developments that challenge the standardised structure of classroom architecture to give a more modern, holistic approach.