Designing Australian schools: a spatial history of innovation, pedagogy and social change
Chief Investigators: A/Prof Julie L Willis, Prof Kate Darian-Smith, Prof Philip J Goad, A/Prof Hannah Lewi, Dr David G Nichols, Dr Elain Harwood, A/Prof Julie E McLeod
Funded by: ARC Discovery Project grant 2011 – 2013
Designing Australia’s Schools is an historical, cross disciplinary study of innovations in the design of Australian primary and secondary schools across the twentieth century. The project builds upon and integrates the perspectives of educational, social and architectural history to examine innovative school design in relation to developments in government policy, curriculum reform and community expectations.
The overarching aims of the project are as follow:
- identify the interactions between design, social ideology and pedagogy by tracing the nexus between social policies, educational policies, and their realization in the built form and use of schools
- examine the school as a locus for fostering community values and citizenship in the modern nation by situating the making of school environments in the wider context of historical, social and cultural change in Australia.
- determine the international significance of Australian contributions to innovation in twentieth century school architecture through a comparative analysis of North American, European, British and Australian design approaches.
- locate this history of innovative design of educational buildings within current policy frameworks and approaches to new school building, renovation and maintenance programs
- inform and guide the future direction of the documentation and conservation of school building stock in Australia.
Visit Designing Australian Schools
Contact:
Dr. Cameron Logan
clogan@unimelb.edu.au
(03) 8344 9015