What's the difference between a place that teaches and one that does not? A lot of it has to do with who is present, what they are doing, and how they "read" and possess the space.
A modern understanding of "architecture" transcends the three dimension structures that divide our lived spaces. Architecture is performative; each space is defined by the people who move through it and how they see and use the space. Some educational spaces including schoolyards, classrooms, and hallways are designed for youth to use (on some level) but they often offer little, afford little, and inspire little that they end up being under used. They are No Places.
Other areas offer opportunities for action, for quiet reflection, for hanging out, for working. These spaces, designed for the ways kids use them or not, become coded with meaning and placeness. They become places of growth; Knowplaces.
Why do skaters "take over" school entranceways?
Schools have multiple users with different expectations for the same spaces and this creates school-sized versions of the conflicts, protests, occupations, insurrections, and regime changes that we see on a global geopolitical scale.
This paper explores the tension between the architectural features of school grounds that make them "obvious" skate parks for some youth and schoolboard policies that seek to limit and control the "dangers" of skateboarding.
DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER: Grassick, D.R. (2014). Reading the school entranceway: What "no skateboarding" signs reveal about who and what schools value.
How labyrinths can be used to increase mindfulness in youth
This is an autobiographical account of how a colleague and I constructed a labyrinth with a group of students. Our purpose was to create a place for quiet escape and mindful reflection that could be accessed as-needed. The result was so popular, that a group of our campers constructed their own labyrinth in a city park.
This paper recounts the history of our labyrinths, the story of their use, and their eventual loss to the elements.