The government of New Zealand delegates property expenditure decisions to each individual school. Such a decentralised environment creates a challenge for school boards and principals to obtain advice on the complex issues around designing schools. To inform schools, the Ministry of Education...

Greece’s School Buildings Organisation (SBO) is developing bioclimatic pilot schemes which are yielding positive results. Bioclimatic action has been one of the principal priorities of Greek school infrastructure planning since 2004. Among the activities undertaken by SBO to use renewable...

Describing primary schools in a small city in Portugal is an opportunity for an overall look at the evolution of schools in general as special public buildings. A look at four of the six primary schools in the city of Caldas da Rainha shows how these public buildings have evolved, what they...

The rapid development of new types of interior and exterior architecture for public buildings in recent years has made us increasingly aware of the dynamic and subtle relationship that people establish with their immediate physical environment. The impact of architecture on this environment has...

Scotland’s Building Excellence programme is exploring the implications of curriculum reform for school building design. It includes events which bring together teachers, designers, school managers and local authorities.

The design of this flexible school for early childhood education in Milan, Italy, takes into account children’s development and the different ways they experience space according to their age. The facilities will include not only a nursery school and kindergarten, but also a drop-in day-care...

Since 1997 several ministries in Japan have collaborated on an eco-school programme, which applies to both newly constructed and renovated school buildings, in an effort to make its schools more environmentally friendly.

This article explains how Ireland has incorporated low energy design into primary and post-primary schools and gives an overview of projects that have helped inform this approach.

In presenting this case study of an innovative school building in Scotland, the author describes its unique design features, conveys the viewpoints of the users, client and design team, and reveals the lessons learned. Dalry Primary, North Ayrshire Introduction Dalry Primary School in North...

Brazil’s São Paulo Metropolitan Region is conducting a performance evaluation pilot study at three schools serving disadvantaged populations. The objective is first to test methods which can facilitate Post Occupancy Evaluations (POEs) and then to carry out the evaluations. The preliminary...