Enhancing Heritage Through Schools’ Design

Every time people pass the neighbourhood they used to grow up in, some of the best of their memories come together, not only because schools represent something very special for their inner young souls, but because they are tangible, architectural pieces of cultural heritage that in most of the cases do not change for decades. Not only adults want to take a break and contemplate the whole feeling, but also, if children are around, they need to share with them the experience, and mostly, to outline the ME-MY SCHOOL correspondence.

In countries like Romania, for example, there are the First Romanian Schools, that are not one’s own memory, but represent the pride of having a tradition that started with great ancestors. Then, there are the beautiful, decorated schools mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries that ‘’graduated’’ when the WW2 started, but with the certification of being monuments of architecture. Despite the simplicity of shape and colour, the communist buildings are also of great value because they represent the memory of a contemporary generation, buildings with a great potential of extension and renovation due to simple but good structure, flexible spaces and easy adaptation to fire security or access issues.

Connecting schools, integrating the landscape architecture to create exterior-interior relations of spaces, enhancing the beauty of the facades, shapes or other valuable parts by using light both natural and artificial, technology integrated in the design like new but proper educational screens and gadgets, moving wall, windows or roofs, new sustainable materials, a must for the contemporary exteriors and interior that children need nowadays, architects can definitely revive the memories of a whole neighbourhood.

Education is the most valuable heritage!

Let’s innovate schools! It’s talked a lot, needed a lot, we just have to move better.