Total fluidity

Abstract

RESEARCH QUESTION: How can Zaha Hadid’s techniques and key learning theories inform the design of flexible, dynamic and transformational learning environments?

ABSTRACT: In New Zealand, education facilities are typically placed in buildings which are adapted for reuse. This is common, for example, in the case of residential homes being adapted, to house smaller institutions such as early childhood centres. As schooling compromises around 70 percent of a child’s life and cultivates the path for our children’s futures, a question arises as to why the importance of educational spaces is not usually reflected through their architectural identity. Education architecture, in general, exhibits a sense of anonymity as it typically blends within its surrounding community, therefore, ‘Total Fluidity’ aims to identify fundamental design principles for learning by drawing on a range of key learning theories to create a contemporary architectural typology that reflects the significance and purpose of education.

The project investigates built pedagogy and draws attention to how the innovative techniques of Zaha Hadid (1950-2016) could mutate and manipulate a form to encourage children’s curiosity and investigation using the architecture. A review of literature on the importance of learning theories in educational design was undertaken including the writing of Ana Luz and Mary Barlow who argue that learning in a space designed in accordance to the applied learning theories affects how one teaches and also how one learns, acts and responds. Patrik Schumacher, director of Zaha Hadid Architects, expresses her involvement as shaping the culture of architecture and pushing all boundaries of formal strategies. Hence, Hadid’s design techniques became a noteworthy set of tools to create flexible, dynamic and transformational learning environments and this project asks:

How can Zaha Hadid’s techniques and key learning theories inform the design of flexible, dynamic and transformational learning environments?

Hadid’s artistic and architectural techniques offers insights that could help diminish the negative qualities of anonymity in New Zealand education facilities typologies. Driven by the originality and distinctiveness of Hadid’s designs, this project aims to thoroughly examine the techniques she used to generate creative and playful environments in order to formulate a structure that emphasises learning through the architecture itself. If successfully achieved, this project has the potential to offer something genuinely beneficial to New Zealand education.