A New School for a New Year: The Architecture of Educational Institutions

gminny-zespol-szkol-w-kazimierzu-dolnym-proj-archistudio_2.jpg, default, School in Kazimierz Dolny, designed by Archistudio Tomasz Studniarek Małgorzata Pilinkiewicz, photo: Olo Studio / Archistudio press materials, A New School for a New Year: The Architecture of Educational Institutions

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Hardly anyone is excited to go back to school just because of the building in which they will be studying. Despite this, architects are constantly looking for pretty and functional edifice shapes for educational institutions. Here are some of the latest ideas.

In well-designed hospitals, patients recover more easily, residents of carefully planned housing estates are happier, and in parks created with all users in mind, people feel safe and rest better. The same rules apply to educational establishments.

High-quality, well-designed schools build a sense of identity, belonging and pride in their users, as well as enable them to achieve better educational outcomes.

These are the first words of the publication Well-designed school. Architectural and functional standards for primary schools as well as school and kindergarten complexes of the Capital City of Warsaw [original title: ‘Szkoła dobrze zaprojektowana. Standardy architektoniczne i funkcjonalne dla szkół podstawowych i zespołów szkolno-przedszkolnych m.st. Warszawy’], financed by the City of Warsaw. The guide was prepared by a team of architects from the WWAA Studio in cooperation with engineers, acoustics, the Office of Architecture and Spatial Planning of the Capital City of Warsaw, the Office of education, the Board of the Environmental Office [Zarząd Zieleni] and the Szkoła z Klasą Foundation. It is a compilation of good practices, a set of guidelines specifying what features a well-designed school should have, how to plan the setting and how to organize such buildings, but also what needs they should fulfil, how to best serve not only the children, but the entire local communities, and respond to the challenges of climate change. At the same time, by the order of the mayor of Warsaw, mandatory architectural standards were introduced for new and modernized schools in the capital – all this so public educational institutions can offer something more than just bright, airy classrooms.

School has its shape

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School, Ruda Śląska, photo: National Digital Archives /www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)

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The history of architecture for education in Poland has its milestones. These include the 1919 introduction of compulsory schooling for children between the ages of 7 and 14 (which contributed to many investments in the field of school construction in the interwar period), and the era of socialist realism, in which great emphasis was placed on expanding the network of schools in a country that was still rising from the debris of the war. The year 1958 is no less significant, when Władysław Gomułka announced a programme to build a thousand schools for the millennium of the Polish State (eventually one and a half thousand were built), as well as 1989, the year of Poland’s political transformation, which introduced not only private education and a number of reforms in the public education domain, but also brought a definitive end to standardization and prefabrication, thus significantly expanding the catalogue of forms to be used in school construction

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A group of children in the yard of the first ‘Tysiąclatka’ (millennium-memorial school), Czeladź, 1958, photo: Kazimierz Seko / PAP

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Today, architecture for education has an endless number of variants. It remains regulated of course, bound by state bills and statutory requirements regarding access to daylight and fresh air, classroom area size or common spaces, as well as the development of the area around the building. However, the shape in which they are finally built depends almost solely on the investor and architect. This allows great freedom, but also carries the risk of creating objects that do not match their surroundings. Still, if you look at newly constructed school buildings, you can’t help but get the impression that the lesson has literally been learned – more and more well-designed schools are being built in Poland.

Three building blocks

Thumbnail — Primary School No. 400 in Wilanów, designed by Bujnowski Architekci, photo: Dagmara Smolna

In 2021, in the seventh edition of the competition for the Architectural Award of the President of the Capital City of Warsaw, as many as four out of 16 nominated edifices were schools. The Grand Prix in this edition of the competition, the laurel for the best public utility facility and the prize for eco-friendly solutions was awarded to the building of primary school No. 400, built in Wilanów according to the design by the Bujnowski Architekci Studio. Its designer followed a simple idea: he put two square-shaped buildings next to each other. One – with an internal, green atrium – houses classrooms, the other – with wooden facades and interior finishing – serves as a sports hall. These two are accompanied by a garage building, on the roof of which a large sports court has been built. A green space has been arranged between the buildings, with places to play, but also with vegetable gardens and a green amphitheatre. Its unpretentious form does not dominate or overwhelm – it is legible and retains the scale of its young users and offers an excellent background for their activity.

On the hill

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Primary School No. 174, Warsaw-Wesoła, 28 Wojska Polskiego Square, design: xystudio, photo: http://www.xystudio.pl

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In 2019, the xystudio studio, with a previous track record of success in delivering well-known, award-winning projects for kindergartens, nurseries and schools, won a tender for the expansion of an existing school on the outskirts of Warsaw – Wesoła. The investor planned to build a new wing of the school from the front of the building. The architects proposed a different solution: they placed the new part on an earth embankment at the back of the school, thus managing to save the beautiful trees growing in its front. The longitudinal wing they designed was partially sunk into the ground and integrated with the old building by a long link with an internal ramp (as it is an integration school, the comfort of children with disabilities was a priority to addressed). The entire added part was given huge glazing and the classrooms there have direct exits to the outside. The façades are covered with larch boards, which gives the building a warmer, more friendly feel.

The honeycomb

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Primary school in Niepołomice, designed by Konior Studio, photo: courtesy of Konior Studio / www.koniorstudio.pl

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In the architecture of the second and third decade of the 21st century, architects were particularly eager to use wood, a material close to humans, but also one considered ecological. It comes as no surprise then, that wooden boards also appeared in the school building designed in 2015 in Niepołomice by Konior Studio. Here, the heart of the complex is a two-story hall, which is also a centrepiece and a connector for two wings diverging at an angle. These have an unusual shape of a series of six-sided segments, housing classrooms with adjoining rooms. The school complex also includes an administrative building, but it is the honeycomb-like, zigzag rows of classrooms that give character to this building – so well set in its landscape.

School on a rock

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School in Przybysławice, project: ARP Manecki Architekci Ltd., photo: ARP Manecki Architekci Ltd. / https://arpbiuro.pl

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Inscribing buildings into their surroundings, giving them forms that correspond to the character of the area, serves not only to preserve the spatial order, but also to familiarize their young users with what is locally most characteristic. The rocky landscape of Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska was thus the starting point for the ARP Manecki Architekci Studio when designing the school in Przybysławice. The architects had to not only fit a large building (apart from the school housing also a kindergarten and serving in practice as a local community centre) into the difficult, sloping terrain, but also had to convey the character of the region in the edifice itself. The shape of numerous wings of the building divided into several parts, as well as the wooden beams on the facades, are a tribute to the forms of the surrounding rural buildings, while the walls and some stone facades are a clear reference to the Jurassic landscape.

Far from the city

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School in Książenice, project: Piotr Hardecki (chief designer), PALK Architekci, 2011/2012, photo: Bartek Makowski / PALK Architekci

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A decade ago, the most interesting new buildings were mostly to be found in big cities; today, when looking for good architecture, smaller towns also have a lot to offer. The school in Książenice near Grodzisk Mazowiecki is proof of this. The PALK Architekci Studio integrated a building composed of distinct, smaller shapes divided into a series of smaller blocks, not only with the rather non-diversified landscape of Mazovia, but also with the character of the local buildings. Traditional gable roofs, shapes reminiscent of a country house make the expansive facility more intimate and friendly, while the location and composition of subsequent blocks give the school its character of a public building with a square for organizing local events and a sports complex sheltered from the noise of the road.

A Scandinavian influence

A school in a big city performs slightly different functions than one in a small town. In the latter, its educational function aside, it often turns into a local community and cultural centre. Such was precisely the intention of the authorities of the Baranów commune in Greater Poland, when planning the construction of the new school. In addition to classrooms, several public spaces were to be created there, ones that could facilitate the needs of all citizens. The New Architekci Studio team enclosed all these spaces in a large building composed of many smaller ones, not unlike the local buildings, adding an extensive public square at the front. Here, wood and brick are to make the building more friendly, while the simplicity and modesty of the architecture reminds many of Scandinavian architecture. On 1 September 2021, 250 children started their education at this school in Baranów.

School in Baranów – New Architekci [gallery]

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Rebuilding is not always easy

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School in Kazimierz Dolny, designed by Archistudio Tomasz Studniarek Małgorzata Pilinkiewicz, photo: Olo Studio / Archistudio press materials

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In 2011, gas exploded in a school building in Kazimierz Dolny – one of the most picturesque towns in Poland and one well-liked by tourists. As a result, part of the building had to be demolished and, consequently, replaced. Its design was undertaken by archistudio studniarek + pilinkiewicz. The task was not easy due to the historic character of both the city and the building itself; an architectural competition was announced for the extension project. Its winners decided to use a modern form to distinguish the new addition from the original edifice. Retaining the arrangement of two side wings, with the central part crowned with a characteristic Renaissance gable, they gave the new parts simple shapes with a horizontal strip of glazing on the last floor. In addition, a glass link was stretched over the glass courtyard, facilitating communication between the two parts of the building.

Originally written in Polish.

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