Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
excelencia universitaria:
estudio de paradigmas de optimizacin
docente y adaptacin al Espacio Europeo de
Educacin Superior
Pablo Campos Calvo-Sotelo (Investigador responsable)
Proyecto EA2010-0044
Espacios innovadores para la
excelencia universitaria:
estudio de paradigmas de optimizacin
docente y adaptacin al Espacio Europeo de
Educacin Superior
Investigador responsable:
Investigadores:
Luis
Gallego
Fernndez.
Doctor
Arquitecto.
Universidad de Valladolid
Federico Lpez Silvestre. Doctor en Historia del Arte.
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
Mariano Fernndez Lpez. Doctor en Informtica.
Universidad San Pablo - CEU
Investigador contratado:
ndice general
PRESENTACIN _______________________________________________________________
13
15
15
56
1.-INTRODUCCIN _____________________________________________________
56
61
62
4.-COMPETENCIAS _____________________________________________________
64
5.-PERSONAS __________________________________________________________
65
6.-RECURSOS __________________________________________________________
66
67
149
2.-OBSERVACIONES ____________________________________________________
153
3.-RECOMENDACIONES ________________________________________________
157
174
2.-REVISTAS ____________________________________________________________
179
180
PRESENTACIN
incorporando
para
ello
dinmicas
de
innovacin
que
10
El lmite de espacio vital en nuestros das nos obliga a vivir en mayor contacto
con las dems personas y este fenmeno hace importante la idea de fomentar
la convivencia como parte de la educacin.3
11
Painter, Susan: Neuro-biology, Species Survival, & Campus Spatial Archetypes. Society for College and
University Planning, Annual Conference, 2003
12
2.2.-Objetivos pormenorizados
apriorstico
del
Estudio,
vinculndolas
espacios
urbanstico-
Estudiar las potencialidades que poseen los espacios fsicos de los recintos
universitarios como entornos ambientales con capacidad de contribuir a la
optimizacin del proceso formativo
Incorporar
como
complemento
aspectos
del
concepto
de
Campus
13
14
15
Las fuentes preferentes que han servido para llevar a cabo esta tarea han sido
la documentacin bibliogrfica, los resultados de trabajos profesionales encargados
por Universidades u organismos educativos, y la experiencia personal de en el
desempeo de labores docentes por parte de los miembros del equipo encargado de
desarrollar el presente Estudio. En concreto, se han tomado las siguientes fuentes como
base:
Den Heijer, Alexandra: Managing the university campus. Delft, TU Delft University
Press, 2011.
Muoz, Mario; Ramrez, Gustavo; Delgado, Carlos (Universidad Carlos III): El postit digital con NFC (1s Jornadas Cientficas sobre RFID, Ciudad Real, 2007)
16
17
sus
contenidos
al
mbito
espaol,
relacionarlos
con
los
modelos
18
Modelo
de
distribucin
(Universidad-territorio):
sirve
para
escala,
con
una
estructura
policntrica
19
Local:
pertenecen
este
modelo
todas
aquellas
Asociado:
pertenecen
este
modelo
aquellas
20
A.2.-ESTRUCTURA TERRITORIAL
Multirecintual:
cuando
posee
ms
de
un
recinto
diferenciado
que
presenta
una
localizacin
lo
21
Comparte
con
la
considerable
separacin
fsica
este
modelo
se
incluyen
las
implantaciones
pero
directamente
vinculadas
alguna
autonoma
urbanstica),
cuya
entidad
22
23
Como
tejido
urbano:
el
recinto
universitario
Normalmente,
se
limita
ocupar
de
elevada
definicin
formal
compacidad global.
conformaciones
de
elevada
24
como
un
conjunto
compacto
unitario
B.2.-RELACIN UNIVERSIDAD-CIUDAD
Relacin
Universidad-Ciudad:
este
ltimo
epgrafe
quiere
subrayar de un modo global las dos formas bsicas con las que
se vinculan todo recinto universitario a su correspondiente
ciudad:
o
Segregacin:
el
recinto
universitario
se
mantiene
25
26
ortogonales.
Los
espacios
contenidos
sern
paralelogramos.
o
puntos
centrales.
o
27
Kramer, Sibylle: Colleges & Universities. Educational Spaces. Praga: Braun Publishing, 2010.
Hertzberger, Herman: Space and Learning. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2008.
8
Den Heijer, Alexandra: Managing the University campus. Delft, TU Delft University Press, 2011.
7
28
de
la
espaola;
ello
implica
la
necesidad
de
acometer
Declaracin de La Sorbona: Declaracin conjunta para la armonizacin del diseo del Sistema de
Educacin Superior Europeo (a cargo de los cuatros ministros representantes de Francia, Alemania, Italia
y el Reino Unido). La Sorbona, Pars, 25 de mayo de 1998.
10
Declaracin de Bolonia: Declaracin conjunta de los Ministros Europeos de Educacin. Bolonia, 19
de Junio de 1999.
29
11
30
14
31
en
estructurales
17
32
19
33
3.2.4.-Viajes de investigacin
Se han considerado parte esencial del proceso de estudio, por cuanto las
referencias de excelencia en materia de recintos universitarios deben idneamente ser
conocidas in situ, en coherencia con la dimensin necesariamente fsica de la
Universidad. Los viajes de investigacin han tenido un perfil dual:
Estudio:
o Espaa
o Europa
o EE.UU.
34
35
36
37
Estas reuniones han sido de dos tipos: plenarias (todos los miembros del Equipo
de Trabajo) y sectoriales (nicamente alguno de los miembros), en funcin del
avance de los trabajos.
38
39
inactividad
Figura 11. Esquema de respuestas afectivas
I
II
III
IV
TIPOS DE EMOCIONES
40
Acogibilidad
Imaginabilidad
21
22
41
I SEMINARIO internacional
Fecha: 13 de diciembre de 2010
Lugar: Escuela Politcnica USP-CEU
Programa pormenorizado:
9.30-10.30
Conferencia inaugural
Pablo Campos Calvo-Sotelo (investigador responsable)
10.30-11.30
12.00-13.00
Conferencia
Universities
in
their
cities:
Effective
Communities of Knowledge
John Worthington (Pembroke College, Cambridge)
13.00-14.00
Mesa Redonda
42
43
44
II SEMINARIO internacional
Fecha: 18 de marzo de 2011
Lugar: Escuela Politcnica USP-CEU
Programa pormenorizado:
9.30-10.30
Conferencia inaugural
Pablo Campos Calvo-Sotelo (investigador responsable)
10.30-11.30
12.00-13.00
13.00-14.00
Mesa Redonda
45
46
47
Campos, P. The concept of Educational Campus and its application in Spanish Universities. Pars:
Center for Effective Learning Environments-CELE Exchange (OECD), 2010.
24
Campos, P. 10 principles for an innovative model for the 21st Century university: the Educational
Campus. Aula-Revista de Pedagoga; Universidad de Salamanca, 2010.
23
48
25
Purini, Franco: La Arquitectura Didctica. Reggio Calabria: Casa del Libro Editrice, 1980.
Della Volpe, Galvano: La crtica del gusto. Miln: Feltrinelli, 1964, p. 198.
27
Nair, Prakash; Fielding, Randall: The Language of School Design. Minneapolis: Designshare,
2009.
26
49
50
51
52
Escala
de
recinto:
el
concepto
de
Recinto
Didctico
atesora
un
53
54
55
1.-INTRODUCCIN
Gimeno, Juan A.: Retos del espacio europeo de educacin. El Mundo, suplemento Campus. N 469
(29 de noviembre de 2006).
28
56
57
el tema de los
30
31
58
32
33
59
34
Fernndez, Ana Mara. El campo grupal. Notas para una genealoga. Buenos Aires, 2008.
60
61
es subclase de
se ubica en
Entidad sensible
Recurso
Mtodo docente
se utiliza en
Espacio de
enseanzaaprendizaje
es parte de
se desarrolla en
Actividad de enseanza-aprendizaje
organiza
interviene en
se dirige a
controla
Competencia
Persona
protagoniza
contempla
visita
62
35
63
4.-COMPETENCIAS
En la figura 14 se muestra la taxonoma de competencias.
Las definiciones de los conceptos que aparecen son las siguientes:
Actitud. Disposicin de nimo manifestada de algn modo (inspirado en el
diccionario).
Conocimiento. Informacin con que cuenta una persona sobre reas ms o menos
especficas de contenido de un plan de estudios39.
Destreza. Competencia concerniente a la habilidad o capacidad del estudiante para
desarrollar una cierta actividad fsica o mental40.
Competencia
Conocimiento
Destreza
Destreza tcnica
Actitud
Destreza analtica
es subclase de
39
40
64
5.-PERSONAS
La figura 15 muestra la taxonoma de personas involucradas en el proceso de
aprendizaje consideradas en el presente documento. A continuacin, se presentan las
definiciones.
representa a
pertenece a
Persona
Alumno
Profesor
Grupo de trabajo
es subclase de
Alumno. Persona que aprende una ciencia o arte bajo la direccin de un profesor
(inspirado en el diccionario).
Grupo de trabajo. Equipo que trabaja para llevar a cabo una tarea o una actividad.
Profesor. Una persona cuya funcin consiste en impartir conocimientos tericos o
prcticos, o destrezas a los alumnos de un centro de enseanza o formacin41.
Supervisor en el mundo profesional. Persona que ejerce la inspeccin en los trabajos
realizados por otra cuando sta ltima ya est ejerciendo su profesin (inspirado en el
diccionario).
41
CEDEFOP (2008), Terminology of European education and training policy, European Centre for the
Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP).
65
6.-RECURSOS
En la figura 16 se puede ver la taxonoma de recursos. A continuacin se muestran las
definiciones correspondientes:
Recurso
CLASIFICACIN
SEGN SOPORTE
Almacenado en
Documento
Recurso tangible
Sistema informtico
Mueble
es subclase de
Panel
Pizarra
Pantalla
66
Recurso
CLASIFICACIN
SEGN SOPORTE
Almacenado en
Documento
Recurso tangible
Sistema informtico
Mueble
es subclase de
Panel
Pizarra
Pantalla
67
Lineal
Central
Un foco de
atencin
Ms de un
foco de
atencin
Figura 18. Tabla de organizacin de los espacios colectivos segn la disposicin de las
personas y el mobiliario y segn el foco de atencin.
68
central
con
un
foco
de
atencin.
La
atencin
est
dirigida
69
Profesor
Controla en tiempo
de ejecucin
Controla en tiempo de
ejecucin
Actividad controlada
Actividad controlada
por el profesor en
tiempo de ejecucin
por el alumno en
tiempo de ejecucin
Alumno
es subclase de
Actividad de enseanza-aprendizaje
Actividad presencial
Actividad a distancia
es subclase de
70
Actividad sin
intervenciones en
paralelo
Actividad con
intervenciones en
paralelo
es subclase de
71
72
Esquema
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
73
Esquema
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Universidad de Belgrado
74
Esquema
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Inductores
- Pantalla
- Pizarra
- Panel expositor general
Universidad Carlos III, Madrid
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Recomendaciones
75
Esquema
Observaciones
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Orfanato de Amsterdam
76
Esquema
Observaciones
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Inductores
- Mobiliario
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Recomendaciones
77
Facultad de Arquitectura,
Oporto
Esquema
Observaciones
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Inductores
- Mobiliario
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Recomendaciones
43
Concepto acuado por el arquitecto holands Hertzberger, Herman: Space and Learning (op. cit.).
78
7.-NCLEOS POLARIZADA
Definicin
Esquema
Observaciones
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Inductores
- Mobiliario
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Northwestern University,
Chicago
79
Esquema
Actividad presencial
Posicin del profesor: incorporado al grupo
Observaciones
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Inductores
- Pantallas
- Pizarras y paneles expositores generales
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Universidad de Stanford.
Wallenberg Hall
44
80
Esquema
Observaciones
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Inductores
- Mobiliario
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
81
TU Delft. BK City
10.-PUESTOS DE TRABAJO
Definicin
Esquema
Actividad presencial
Posicin del profesor: alternativamente, en
cada ncleo, si fuera necesario
Observaciones
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Inductores
- Mobiliario
- Herramientas tecnolgicas
complementarias
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Recomendaciones
Universidad de Utrecht.
Campus De Uithof. Edificio
Minnaert
82
Universidad Politcnica de
Cartagena
Esquema
Actividad presencial
Posicin del profesor: alternativamente, en
algn rol o proceso de control/tutora
Observaciones
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
- Ciudadanos
Inductores
- Escenario simulado o real
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Recomendaciones
83
12.-ESTUDIO INDIVIDUAL
Definicin
Esquema
Actividad presencial
Posicin del profesor: alternativamente, en
cada unidad (puesto), si fuera necesario
Observaciones
En principio, no es necesaria la
presencia del profesor
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Alumnos
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Recomendaciones
Universidad de Amsterdam.
Campus Science Park
84
Universidad de Utrecht.
Campus De Uithof. Edificio
Minnaert
13.-TUTORA INDIVIDUAL
Definicin
Esquema
Observaciones
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Inductores
- Mobiliario
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
85
TU Delft. BK City
14.-EDUCACIN A DISTANCIA
Definicin
Esquema
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Recomendaciones
Massachussets Institute of
Technology. Baker House
86
Marist College
15.-PRESENTACIONES DE ALUMNOS
Definicin
Esquema
Observaciones
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Inductores
- Escenario
- Panel
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Recomendaciones
87
Universidad de Ni (Serbia)
Esquema
Observaciones
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
- Ciudadanos
Inductores
- Escenario y escenografa
- Piezas o instrumentos artsticos
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Universidad Politcnica de
Valencia
88
Esquema
Actividad presencial
Posicin del profesor: incorporado al grupo
-
Observaciones
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Profesores
- Alumnos
- Ciudadanos
- Elementos: piezas patrimoniales, obras
de arte y arquitectura, naturaleza
(como valor cultural),
Inductores
- Espacios urbanos
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Recomendaciones
89
Esquema
Actividad no presencial
Posicin del profesor: no est presente
Observaciones
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Alumnos
- Elementos: piezas patrimoniales, obras
de arte y arquitectura, naturaleza
(como valor cultural),
Inductores
- Naturaleza (no como valor cultural)
- Mobiliario (urbano o interior)
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Recomendaciones
Universidad de Tokio
90
19.-APRENDIZAJE MVIL
Definicin
Esquema
Actividad no presencial
Posicin del profesor: no est presente
Observaciones
Ilustraciones
Actores
Activos
- Profesores
- Alumnos
Inductores
- Dispositivos mviles
Massachussets Institute of
Technology. Baker House
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Recomendaciones
Universidad de Amsterdam.
Campus Science Park
46
Ver Muoz, Mario: Third Place Learning. Mobile, pervasive, ubiquitous learning. Madrid: I Jornadas
de Madrid sobre el e-Learning, 30 junio-1 julio 2010.
91
20.-APRENDIZAJE SOCIAL
Definicin
Esquema
Actividad no presencial
Posicin del profesor: puede estar o no
estar presente
Observaciones
Ilustraciones
Actores
Activos
Universidad de Virginia.
Halloween en el Lawn
- Profesores
- Alumnos
- Ciudadanos
- Personal de Administracin y Servicios
Inductores
- Naturaleza (no como valor cultural)
- Dispositivos de vending
TU Delft. Cubierta de la
Biblioteca Central.
Recomendaciones
92
21.-PRCTICAS DE TRABAJO
Definicin
Esquema
Observaciones
Adquisicin de capacidades y
competencias
Capacidad: individual/colectiva
% respecto al total de aulas: 0, dado el
carcter extrauniversitario
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Alumnos
- Ciudadanos
Inductores
- Espacios de trabajo
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Recomendaciones
93
22.-SERVICIOS A LA COMUNIDAD
Definicin
Esquema
Observaciones
Se realiza en instituciones u
organizaciones de carcter social,
como apoyo a diversos programas o
iniciativas.
Actores
Activos
Ilustraciones
- Alumnos
- Ciudadanos
Inductores
- Espacios urbanos interiores y exteriores
Consideraciones
fenomenolgicas
Recomendaciones
94
Universidade da Corua.
Campus Elvia. Ncleo San
Vicenzo
IV.-CLASIFICACIN DE ESPACIOS-TIPO
El presente Estudio se ocupa de los espacios destinados a albergar procesos de
Enseanza-Aprendizaje en el mbito de los Estudios Superiores, con vistas a su
aplicacin operativa en el marco del Espacio Europeo de Educacin Superior.
Sin embargo, antes de entrar en otros pormenores, resulta necesario precisar
que estos lugares pueden acoger a sus habitantes de muy diversas formas, por lo que
se ha planteado la siguiente diferenciacin:
En este sentido, cada uno de los espacios que se exponen en esta clasificacin
se pueden, a su vez, planear para cualquiera de estas formas de ocupacin, al
margen de su escala y funcin especficas.
Centrando el mbito de reflexin en cuestiones pertenecientes al Espacio
Europeo de Educacin Superior, quiz sea el trmino calidad el ms repetido en
cuantos documentos e informes han jalonado el EEES desde su gnesis. Cabe apuntar
en este punto que dicho concepto de calidad debe estar ligado ntimamente a la
dimensin urbanstico-arquitectnica de la Universidad. Y debe aadirse que la
calidad debe traspasar las fronteras del propio recinto acadmico, inundando los
contextos circundantes.
La Universidad ha sido histricamente una promotora de innovacin. All
donde germina un Campus nace un fascinante proceso centrfugo de recualificacin
sociocultural, econmica y urbanstica que supera sus lmites. Y es ah donde la
Arquitectura est llamada a desempear un rol crucial, en tanto que espacio fsico
cuya funcin es albergar el encuentro entre los actores del proceso formativo:
profesores y alumnos. Un espacio fsico, por tanto, que se conforma en base a las
95
relaciones que alberga y, por tanto, como seala la profesora Renate Fruchter, puede
cristalizar en tres tipos de organizaciones: formal, informal y social47.
La formacin integral del ser humano (autntica misin de la Universidad) slo
puede acontecer all donde se produzca y propicie el contacto personal, esto es, en
un marco urbanstico (donde interacten sociedad general y universitaria) y
arquitectnico (donde cristalice el encuentro entre usuarios). Por ello resulta
trascendental ligar el afn de calidad que inspira al EEES con el Urbanismo y la
Arquitectura. La calidad de la Universidad ha de ir ms all de una mera acepcin
acadmica o curricular, volcndose por y para la sociedad propia y contextual. La
calidad, entendida as como cualidad extra-acadmica, provocar una mayor y
mejor integracin de la Institucin con su entorno, propiciando que sta pueda actuar
como promotora de innovacin y como factor desencadenante de progreso social,
econmico y cultural.
Los estudios tipolgicos, caractersticos en el mbito del anlisis urbanstico y
arquitectnico contemporneo desde la crisis del movimiento moderno, permiten una
aproximacin objetiva al diseo de espacios especficos y su puesta en crisis como
objetivo de la investigacin. Para aproximarse desde un punto de vista espacial a la
complejidad de los espacios donde se producen procesos de Enseanza-Aprendizaje,
se propone una clasificacin tipolgica. Con ella, asumidos los riesgos inherentes a
toda taxonoma, se permite el estudio desde diferentes aproximaciones: facilitar su
traduccin a recursos proyectuales, permitir las puestas en relacin y crisis de los tipos
existentes y posibilitar el anlisis de nuevos tipos, existentes o posibles.
Para evitar el encorsetamiento de las tipologas, el presente Estudio propone
dos vas alternativas: fijar herramientas operativas para el anlisis del vnculo espaciopedagoga, y abrir ventanas crticas a la fenomenologa de estos espacios, vinculados
al proceso de Enseanza-Aprendizaje. Asimismo, en cada escala tipolgica se
recogen como introduccin temtica diversos factores que enriquecen las
interpretaciones de la realidad compleja a partir de la taxonoma propuesta, si bien a
riesgo de introducir algunas paradojas, vinculadas a la casustica.
En este sentido, debe precisarse tambin que este Estudio se centra en la
capacidad de los espacios de activar los procesos de Enseanza-Aprendizaje, por lo
que su anlisis no se extiende ms all de los periodos lectivos. La actividad formativa
se puede asociar genricamente a la mxima intensidad acadmica, cuando todos
los actores que participan en este proceso pueden interactuar en un lugar fsico
47
96
97
98
99
desarrollo cultural,
100
Directrices de
los
equipamientos
universitarios,
como
elementos
del
Sistema
de
101
Considerados
desde
este
enfoque, los
equipamientos
universitarios
se
52
Simha, Robert: MIT campus planning 1960-2000: An Annotated Chronology. Cambridge (Mass.): MIT
Press, 2001.
102
103
53
104
Ingallina, Patrizia. Lattractivit des territoires: regards croiss. En Actas de los seminaries FebreroJulio 2007. Pars, PUCA y MEEDDAT, 2007.
61
Kunzman, Klaus. Knowledge Based Urban Development: From Theory via Rhetoric and Reality to
Action. Conferencia pronunciada en el Simposio Internacional Economie de la connaissance et
amnagement universitaire: quels enjeux pour lattractivit et la comptitivit des territoires?
Comparaisons internationales. Pars, 29-30 junio 2011.
62
Entrevista concedida por Herman Hertzberger a Pablo Campos Calvo-Sotelo, en su estudio de
Amsterdam, el 12 de abril de 2011.
63
Hertzberger, Herman: Op. cit.
60
105
106
relacionan con las geometras habitadas imaginadas por Gastn Bachelard65. As, el
carcter espacial que imprime un gesto geomtrico, el cruce de dos planos verticales,
produce un rincn (espacio cncavo) en la casa y una esquina (espacio convexo) en
la ciudad, dos espacios donde se concentra el sentido de pertenencia, la huella
protectora que acota el vaco original y lo hace habitable.
65
Bachelard, Gaston: La potica del espacio. Madrid: Fondo de Cultura Econmica de Espaa, 1993.
107
1.1.2.-Clasificacin de espacios
Tras la introduccin temtica desarrollada en el epgrafe precedente, a
continuacin se procede a realizar una clasificacin tipolgica de espacios inscribibles
en la relacin entre Universidad y Ciudad:
A.-Espacios-ciudad de sinergia fsica directa
B.-Espacios-ciudad de sinergia funcional
B.1.-Espacios-ciudad de sinergia funcional participada
B.2.-Espacios-ciudad de sinergia funcional adscrita
66
Plazas
Parques y Jardines
Residencias
Comercios
Equipamientos
o
Sociocultural
Asistencial
Deportivo
108
Hospitales
Equipamientos
o
Sociocultural
Asistencial
Deportivo
109
Museo
Equipamientos
o
Sociocultural
Asistencial
Deportivo
Centros ldicos-ocio
110
1.2.-Factores fenomenolgicos
Los estudios urbanos pioneros sobre nuestra relacin psicolgica con el macroambiente urbano fueron los de Kevin Lynch67. Segn se expone en su clsico La
imagen de la ciudad, las prioridades para el urbanista deben consistir en clarificar o
reforzar todos aquellos elementos que fomentan la imaginabilidad de la ciudad, es
decir, su comprensin para el ciudadano. Para ello, se debe fortalecer la imagen de
determinadas sendas, de bordes, de barrios concretos, de ciertos nodos y de algunos
hitos o mojones. Aplicando la terminologa emocional de Russell, es obvio que, si no se
cumplen estos requisitos de imaginabilidad, se genera desasosiego y malestar,
mientras que, si se cumplen, se fomenta el bienestar y se mejora la calidad de vida.
El acceso al campus desde la ciudad y nuestros movimientos en su seno, estn
regidos por los mismos principios. En todo caso, cabe insistir en dos necesidades
especficas que lo diferencian:
67
111
112
2.-LA
ESCALA
DE
RECINTO
UNIVERSITARIO,
COMO
CONJUNTO
DIFERENCIADO
socializacin,
En
este
sentido,
conviene
multiplicar
las
113
para el aprendizaje, en lugar de los espacios, como lugares potenciales para poder
hacer diferentes actividades en el mismo lugar, incluso al mismo tiempo. En
consecuencia, el diseo de estos lugares se debe plantear como prioridad las
interacciones humanas, en sustitucin de las habituales series de necesidades
especficas o requisitos funcionales. Una experiencia interesante de este tipo de
operaciones la constituye The Hub, enmarcado en el complejo proyecto del rea de
Kings Cross (Londres), en torno a una serie de edificios de oficinas convencionales, la
nueva British Library y la futura Universidad de las Artes. Se trata de un lugar
paradigmtico para el encuentro, el
conexin 70.
Un aspecto decisivo para la sostenibilidad del recinto universitario es el de la
eficacia en el uso de los recursos: es fundamental, al hilo de las cuestiones anteriores,
intensificar el uso del espacio, el tiempo y la tecnologa. Pero para ello es
imprescindible optimizar la gestin, tanto en lo que se refiere a las capacidades
colaborativas como al anlisis de conflictos. Una vez ms, se plantea como alternativa
intelectual la visin integradora de la realidad, compleja y en continuo cambio 71.
Como ejemplo ms elemental, el de abrir los lugares dedicados al aprendizaje a otros
usos compatibles demandados por la comunidad (urbana o territorial prxima), a
travs de una gestin de los tiempos de uso que permita una apertura ms extensa, y,
por tanto, ms intensa y eficaz72. De hecho, el campus y la ciudad se pueden estudiar
como fenmenos del mismo tipo, donde la heterogeneidad de habitantes y
actividades garantiza la vitalidad del espacio. Si se aplican los mismos conceptos de
Sol-Morales73, el recinto universitario tambin deviene una red de esquinas. Una
parfrasis automtica resultara:
70
114
75
Ibdem.
Hertzberger, Herman: op.cit.
77
Blyth, Alastair: Creating Space for Education: Innovation in the design of learning environments.
Conferencia pronunciada en el II Seminario Internacional Espacios Innovadores para la excelencia
universitaria. Estudio de paradigmas de optimizacin docente y adaptacin al EEES. Madrid, 18 de
marzo de 2011 (sin publicar).
78
Huan Yang: Campus Landscape Space planning and design using QFD. Berln, Verlag Dr. Mller,
2009.
76
115
79
Ibdem.
Cada nueva ampliacin se disea como conjunto en torno a una plaza (quad) de las mismas
dimensiones, con edificios de arquitectura contempornea pero con las mismas dimensiones de
envolvente que los del conjunto primitivo.
81
En la Universidad de Valladolid, el carril-bici se pint en el color corporativo de la Universidad.
80
116
2.1.2.-Clasificacin de espacios
Tras la introduccin temtica desarrollada en el epgrafe precedente, a
continuacin se procede a realizar una clasificacin tipolgica de espacios inscribibles
en los recintos universitarios:
A.-Clasificacin principal: Espacios-tipo del Campus
B.-Clasificacin complementaria: Espacios-tipo susceptibles de uso compartido
B.1.-Espacios-Campus de sinergia fsica directa
B.2.-Espacios-Campus de sinergia funcional
B.2.1.-Espacios-Campus de sinergia funcional participada
B.2.2.-Espacios-Campus de sinergia funcional adscrita
82
Es el caso del aula al aire libre en Riverside, un escenario que aparece en medio del recorrido peatonal.
117
o Servicios y Equipamientos
Edificios para la Gestin Universitaria
Edificios para Servicios
Edificios de servicios Universitarios
Comedores y cafeteras universitarias (desayuno-comida; cena)
Centros comerciales
Centros de asistencia mdico-sanitaria
Guardera infantil
Servicio de publicaciones y librera
Espacios de transicin Universidad-ciudad (como ejemplo, se cita el
caso de la Universidad de California-Berkeley)
Cabinas (mdulos) de informacin y control
Edificios para la Representacin
Edificios para Rectorado y Sede del Gobierno de la Universidad
Edificios para Vicerrectorados, Gerencia, Secretara, Consejo
Social, Fundaciones
Edificios para Equipamiento Cultural y Social
Edificios para Museos Universitarios y Fundaciones asociadas
Edificios polivalentes que acten como intercambiadores sociales
de la Universidad
Teatros o edificios para espectculos
Espacios para la reflexin, salas o espacios ecumnicos
Piezas de arte
83
Ver Norberg-Schulz, Christian: Intenciones en Arquitectura. Barcelona, Gustavo Gili, 1998. En este
texto se acua el concepto de building task (cometido del edificio).
Se trata, en todo caso, de edificios que no solo sean multifuncionales, sino que, aparte de sus funciones,
desarrollan otro cometido en el campus. Entre los casos ms significativos destacan el edificio-escalinata
en el campus de Campolide (Lisboa) o la biblioteca de la TU Delft.
118
Es el caso del rocdromo del campus de Caparica, en Lisboa, donde un muro edificatorio sirve de
soporte a una pared para la prctica de la escalada.
119
Fuentes85
Espacios libres para la prctica acadmica.
Espacios libres para la prctica deportiva.
Espacios de articulacin urbana86
Carriles-bici internos al campus
Elemento patrimonial, representativo-didctico de la cultura
autctona87
Espacios y elementos didcticos capaces de intervenir en la actividad
docente e investigadora
Piezas patrimoniales (sin uso docente)
Huertos experimentales
Itinerarios y circuitos deportivos
o Alojamientos universitarios
Edificios para residencias de alumnos (Colegios Mayores, Apartamentos)
Edificios para residencia de postgrado y profesores invitados
Hotel universitario88
Alojamientos mixtos
Vivienda en general
Vivienda joven
Vivienda para la Tercera Edad89
Uno de los casos ms notorios es el llamado Watering Hole, en la Universidad de California Los
ngeles (UCLA).
86
Lmites, transiciones, umbrales,
87
Es el caso del Naranjal de la Universidad de Northridge, California.
88
Un caso significativo de este tipo de equipamiento se ha ensayado en la Universidad de Amsterdam,
donde un mismo hotel sirve de alojamiento estudiantil durante los ocho meses lectivos y de hotel urbano,
de carcter turstico, durante las vacaciones escolares.
89
La inclusin de la vivienda genrica y de este tipo de alojamientos (jvenes y Tercera Edad) en el seno
del recinto universitario est en relacin con la ya comentada vocacin integradora de la Universidad y,
por tanto, con el necesario distanciamiento de la Universidad aislada y aislante (metafricamente
uterina) que ha caracterizado el modelo espacial del recinto universitario en los ltimos decenios. Un
programa residencial adscrito a la Universidad no debera plantearse, por tanto, de espaldas a la demanda
social de alojamiento de todo tipo.
85
120
Como ejemplos-tipo, se relacionan los siguientes, si bien debe subrayarse que han
de ser espacios y elementos que deben estar fsicamente prximos a algn sector de
la ciudad, como una plaza dentro del Campus, o un parque, que podr ser utilizada
por la poblacin de la urbe anexa por el hecho de estar fsicamente prxima.
Plazas
Parques y Jardines
Comercios
Equipamientos
o
Sociocultural
Asistencial
Deportivo
121
Teatro o Aula Magna (si son edificios exentos, donde la ciudad realice
alguna actividad propia)
Museo universitario
122
2.2.-Factores fenomenolgicos
La escala del campus es la escala del paisaje. Los estudios de psicologa
ambiental sobre nuestras respuestas al paisaje han sido realizados por numerosos
investigadores, si bien, destacan, entre otros, el citado James Russell90 y autores como
Stephen Kaplan91.
Cuatro son los factores que Kaplan considera determinantes para evaluar
nuestras respuestas al paisaje:
Partiendo de las respuestas a encuestas realizadas, donde los sujetos del anlisis
deban juzgar paisajes presentados en imgenes, estos, segn Kaplan no pueden ser,
ni excesivamente complejos, ni excesivamente simples, o, desde el punto de vista
espacial, o tridimensional, ni excesivamente legibles, ni excesivamente misteriosos o
abstrusos.
El campus universitario juega en una dimensin paisajstica. Debe contarse,
como dira Lynch, de elementos que fomenten la imaginabilidad, pero, segn
Kaplan, tambin debe tener elementos de cierto misterio, por un lado, y de evasin,
por otro. En este segundo aspecto, y como seala Claudia Baumann92, la propia
actividad fsica que se desarrolla en el campus es un factor determinante para el
fomento de la creatividad y la interrelacin social, tanto de los estudiantes como de
los investigadores. Un caso significativo es el de la Facultad de Matemticas y Ciencias
Informticas de la Technical University of Munich, donde una estructura llamada The
Parabel se utiliza como factor de evasin y actividad fsica con unos resultados
significativos respecto al rendimiento acadmico e investigador.
Otra interesante aproximacin a los factores de legibilidad de un campus se ha
comprobado en el uso del color como cdigo identificador. As se observa en casos
90
Russell: op.cit.
Kaplan, Stephen: Perception and landscape; conceptions and misconceptions en Environmental
aesthetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, pp. 45 y ss.
92
Claudia Baumann: Proceedings. Actas del Congreso The Future of Education. Florencia, 16-17 junio
2011.
91
123
93
94
124
95
Orr, David: The Nature of Design. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
125
transparentes,
especulares,
etc.,
para
producir
innumerables
de
los
casos
ms
significativos
en
la
definicin
de
los
lmites
96
97
126
Ver, por ejemplo, el caso de la BK-City (TU Delft) o la Biblioteca Central de la Universidad de Utrecht
(Campus De Uithof).
99
Entrevista a Hermann Hertzberger, citada.
100
Den Heijer, Alexandra: Managing the university campus (op. cit.).
127
101
Ibd.
128
3.1.2.-Clasificacin de espacios
Una vez efectuada la introduccin temtica desarrollada en el epgrafe
precedente, a continuacin se procede a realizar una clasificacin tipolgica de
espacios inscribibles en los edificios universitarios:
A.-Clasificacin principal: Espacios-tipo del Edificio universitario
B.-Clasificacin complementaria: Espacios-tipo susceptibles de uso compartido
B.1.-Espacios-Edificio-Campus de sinergia fsica directa
B.2.-Espacios-Edificio-Campus de sinergia funcional
B.2.1.-Espacios-Edificio-Campus de sinergia funcional participada
B.2.2.-Espacios-Edificio-Campus de sinergia funcional adscrita
102
Se trata de elementos que ilustren sobre el proceso de construccin o reforma del edificio. Un ejemplo
es la cafetera de la Escuela de Arquitectura de Delft (BK-City): se ha dejado a la vista la estructura del
edificio antiguo, que de este modo se hace didctico: se ven los materiales de las paredes, el techo,
129
o Laboratorios y Seminarios
Laboratorios
Talleres
Plat de TV para prcticas en periodismo y comunicacin
Salas para produccin y postproduccin en contenidos digitales
Seminarios
Despachos individuales con tutora
Despachos colectivos
o Bibliotecas y salas de estudio
Biblioteca sectorial interna103
Salas de lectura generales en Bibliotecas y CRAI
Salas de mediateca en bibliotecas y CRAI
Salas para trabajos colectivos o en grupo en bibliotecas y CRAI
Aulas grandes para examen y estudio
o Servicios y Equipamientos
Cafetera
Comedor universitario (desayuno-comida; cena)
Zonas para comida casual
Espacios de ocio y descanso
Espacios para espectculos
Espacios de descanso104
parece que estuviera en obra, pero es intencionado, para aadir una misin formativa al propio edificio, en
temas de construccin.
103
Un modelo interesante es el de la Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad Politcnica de Valencia.
104
Como ejemplo se proponen los nidos del edificio BK-City (Escuela de Arquitectura) en la TU Delft:
una sucesin de sofs dobles en pasillos de cierta dimensin, donde se asegura cierto aislamiento de la
actividad general.
130
Salas de informtica
Salas de Alumnos
rea de reprografa
Cabinas (mdulos) de informacin y control
Servicio de publicaciones y librera
Espacios comerciales
Locales de asistencia mdico-sanitaria
Guardera infantil
Elementos de Equipamiento tcnico
Elementos de captacin-produccin energtica
Zonas de gestin de residuos y reciclaje
Puntos de abastecimiento elctrico para automviles
o Espacios libres y de transicin
Entrada y vestbulo
Pasillos y comunicaciones internas: la Calle Didctica105
Espacios de transicin campus-edificio106
Espacios de transicin edificio-aula
Espacios para la reflexin, salas o espacios ecumnicos
Micro-gora interior107
reas wi-fi
reas para exposiciones de trabajos universitarios
Elementos patrimoniales (en edificios adaptados)
105
Es el caso del pasillo entendido como espacio del aula (edificio de la Universidad de Valencia).
Lmites, umbrales,
107
Alastair Blyth propone como ejemplo de este tipo de espacios el gora de la Hakodate Future
University (Japn). Blyth, Alastair: Op. cit.
106
131
Equipamientos
132
caracterstica
prioritaria,
deben
ser
capaces
de
ejercer
una
133
3.2.-Factores fenomenolgicos
Los anlisis pioneros sobre nuestras respuestas psicolgicas a la vida y uso de
edificios de determinadas caractersticas, se deben, entre otros a David Canter,
profesor de la Universidad de Surrey, Reino Unido (ver Interaccin ambiental108). En
general, lo que suele indicar Canter es que son muy diferentes los aspectos analizables
de un edificio desde la perspectiva de los usuarios.
Los anlisis, mediante encuestas, de la mayor parte de los estudiosos del tema,
estudian los siguientes factores:
Canter, David: Interaccin ambiental. Madrid: Instituto de Estudios de Administracin Local, 1978.
Markus, Thomas Andrew: Building performance; Building Performance Research Unit, School of
Architecture, University of Strathclyde. London: Applied Science Publishers, 1972.
109
134
135
4.-LA ESCALA DEL AULA, COMO CLULA DOCENTE Y UNIDAD BSICA DE ENSEANZAAPRENDIZAJE
4.1.-Factores fsicos y funcionales
4.1.1.-Introduccin temtica
La cuarta, y quiz ms delicada esfera incluida en la Escala de espacios
didcticos, es la del aula.
El aula se puede definir como clula bsica de la actividad formativa, unidad
espacial definida mnima donde acontece el fenmeno de la Enseanza-Aprendizaje.
Como lugar concreto, el aula mantiene esta capacidad autnoma con respecto al
hecho formativo, aunque dependa a otros niveles funcionales del edificio en el que se
integra.
El aula ha sido desde siempre el espacio donde se concentraba de un modo
ms intenso y prctico la transmisin activa de conocimientos, si bien la efectuada
desde un profesor ante un auditorio esencialmente pasivo de alumnos. En la situacin
actual, el aula se limita a un repertorio tipolgico bastante rgido, cuya variacin
guarda ms relacin con las dimensiones fsicas y la consecuente capacidad que con
otras cuestiones ms imaginativas. Por ello, si hay un elemento espacial que est
llamado a cambios mayores, quiz ese sea el aula.
Desde el punto de vista conceptual, las relaciones geomtricas tambin
determinan en la escala del aula los tipos de espacio y sus modos de habitar110, de
modo que los encuentros entre planos horizontes (suelo y techo, de una sola direccin)
y verticales (multidireccionales), condicionan el carcter del recinto ulico y de cada
uno de sus rincones. Como ya se comentaba al analizar en el presente Estudio la
escala del edificio, este carcter depende de forma inequvoca de la materia de los
planos (sobre todo, los verticales), desde la opacidad que evoca la cueva hasta la
transparencia que remite a las metforas areas. As, aparecen innumerables
interacciones entre geometras y materialidades: opacas, especulares, traslcidas,
transparentes, y sus combinaciones dimensionales en funcin de la altura del
transente, la persona sentada, las alturas del suelo, etc. Elementos clave, en suma,
para garantizar la variabilidad, la flexibilidad y la versatilidad, tan importantes en los
espacios del aula como en el conjunto del edificio.
110
136
Entre los mecanismos que pueden generar no solo riqueza espacial sino
tambin oportunidades inesperadas para los fenmenos de Enseanza-Aprendizaje
estn los espacios de umbral, lugares de transicin entre el aula estricta (elemento
servido, segn la terminologa clsica de Louis Kahn111) y los corredores o Calles
Didcticas (espacios servidores, continuando con las expresiones acuadas por
Kahn), activados como espacios para el aprendizaje. Como seala Alfredo Hoyuelos a
propsito de la escuela como mbito complejo:
"Cuando, por ejemplo, planificamos los diversos rincones del aula tenemos
que
pensar
que,
adems
de
ser
zonas
para
posibilitar
aprendizajes
para
compartir
socialmente
la
transmisin
del
conocimiento
y,
en
111
Brownlee, David B. y De Long, David G.: Louis I. Kahn: en el reino de la arquitectura. Barcelona:
Gustavo Gili, 1998.
112
Isabel Cabanellas, Clara Eslava (coords.). Territorios de la infancia: dilogos entre arquitectura y
pedagoga. Barcelona, Ed. Gra, 2005.
137
Dando un paso ms, cabe imaginar un espacio del aula con capacidad para
ocupar su entorno inmediato, como autntica eclosin de los fenmenos internos de
Enseanza-Aprendizaje. Al menos de forma simblica, este tipo de espacios de
proyeccin del dominio del aula se han desarrollado en la University of Economics de
Praga, donde la sucesin de aulas a un lado del pasillo (en esquema de peine oblicuo
o dientes de sierra), se manifiesta al exterior en la prolongacin de los solados interiores
y del plano horizontal superior de umbral. Se produce as una especie de umbral
extendido, que en todo caso avisa al usuario en trnsito de una cierta intrusin en las
actividades del aula.
Con independencia de los casos especficos descritos, ha de hacerse nfasis
en que la revisin de las modalidades de Enseanza-Aprendizaje exige que la
organizacin en el espacio de profesores y alumnos sea tan flexible y rica como para
poder albergar a los modernos formatos que deben ir cristalizando progresivamente
en las aulas.
En epgrafes anteriores del presente Estudio, se ha realizado una exhaustiva
clasificacin y descripcin especfica de las referidas modalidades innovadoras de
Enseanza-Aprendizaje. En dicha clasificacin, se han incorporado asimismo una serie
de caractersticas relativas a los espacios fsicos (en general, las aulas y sus versiones)
que pueden acoger a dichas modalidades. Pero cabe establecer tambin una
clasificacin de los espacios que integran un aula, cada uno de ellos con una funcin
ms o menos precisa en torno al hecho didctico, aunque sin capacidad autnoma
para acoger el fenmeno de la Enseanza-Aprendizaje. As, una cierta estructura
interna del aula permite estudiar la composicin de sus elementos con criterios
tipolgicos, basados en la complejidad, variabilidad y organizacin programtica de
cada uno de estos espacios. Como seala Herman Hertzberger113, solo un aula
articulada es capaz de acoger diferentes actividades al mismo tiempo, a la vez que su
espacio se va expandiendo hasta alcanzar los pasillos y el resto del edificio. As se
configura el espacio del rincn, ms o menos amplio, recogido o expansivo, en
relacin al resto del aula pero identificado como lugar independiente.
Sin embargo, este mismo hecho expansivo, derivado de las nuevas
modalidades de Enseanza-Aprendizaje y sus necesidades espaciales, impone una
nueva necesidad para los estudiantes: la del espacio propio, como refugio del grupo o
del individuo. Podra definirse dicho refugio como:
113
138
114
Hertzberger, Herman; de Swaan, Abram: The schools of Herman Hertzberger. Rotterdam: 010
Publishers, 2010, p. 15. (Traducido del original en ingls)
115
Freud, Anna: El yo y los mecanismos de defensa. Barcelona: Paids Ibrica, 1997.
116
Bachelard, Gaston: Op. cit.
117
Ton Verstegen (ed.): Contemporary Dutch school architecture. Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2008.
118
Heitor, Teresa: Op. Cit.
139
4.1.2.-Clasificacin de espacios
Tras la introduccin temtica desarrollada en el epgrafe precedente, a
continuacin se procede a realizar una clasificacin tipolgica de espacios inscribibles
en las aulas universitarias:
A.-Clasificacin principal: Espacios-tipo pertenecientes al aula
B.-Clasificacin secundaria: Formatos-tipo de aula
119
140
Saln de Actos
Aula general
Seminario
Estudio
Laboratorio
Taller
Sala de ordenadores
Plat Escenario
Sala de exmenes
122
141
4.2.-Factores fenomenolgicos
Si en la escala urbana o de campus el grado de imaginabilidad parece
determinar las vivencias, en la escala del aula, lo que determina las vivencias es la
acogibilidad, factor global que engloba aspectos funcionales y estticos.
David Canter123, entre otros, estudi ya en los aos setenta el grado de
satisfaccin en aula teniendo en cuenta las respuestas a variables como:
Espacio y tamao
Iluminacin y ventanas
Posicin y densidad
Distracciones
Esttica
123
142
125
Sobre la respuesta al aula y al seminario, vanse, entre otros, los trabajos de:
- David Canter: An Intergroup Comparison of Connotative Dimensions in Architecture.
Environment and Behavior, 1, pp. 37-48, 1969;
- Alton J. De Long: Dominance-Territorial Relations in a Small Group. Environment and
Behavior, 2, pp. 170-191, 1970;
- Sommer, Robert: Espacio y comportamiento individual. Madrid: Instituto de Estudios de
Administracin Local, 1974;
- Canter y Stringer: Interaccin ambiental. Op. cit.;
- Stires: Classroom seating location, student grades, and attitudes. Environment or self-selection.
Environment and Behavior, 12, pp. 241-254, 1980;
- McPherson: Environments and Interaccion in Row-and Column Class-rooms. Environment and
Behavior, 16, pp. 481-502, 1984;
- Weinstein, C. S.: Changing a schoollyard: Intentions, design decisions and behavioral
outcomes. Environment and Behavior, 20, pp. 345-371, 1988;
- Domenech y Vias: La organizacin del espacio y el tiempo en el centro educativo. Barcelona:
Biblioteca de Aula 123, 1997.
143
127
144
129
145
Hall Edward T.: La dimensin oculta. Enfoque antropolgico del uso del espacio. Madrid: Instituto de
Estudios de Administracin Local, 1973.
134
Davis, Flora: La comunicacin no verbal. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1981.
135
Berk y Goebel: High School size and extracurricular participation: A study of a small college
environment. Environment and Behavior, 19, pp. 53-76, 1987.
146
un
sentido
ms
general,
parece
demostrado
tambin
que
las
Wollin y Montagne, College Classroom Environment. Environment and Behavior, 13, pp. 707-716,
1981.
137
Sommer y Olsen: The Soft Classroom. Environment and Behavior, 12, pp. 3-16, 1980.
138
Ahrentzen y Evans: Distraction, privacy and classroom design. Environment and Behavior, 16, 437454, 1984.
136
147
Tambin se han hecho estudios sobre el modo en que el ruido exterior afecta la
concentracin. A partir de determinado nivel, el grado de distraccin del alumnado se
dispara, y la atencin desaparece139140.
139
148
1.-CONSIDERACIONES GENERALES
La calidad de la Universidad est indisolublemente ligada a la de su
Arquitectura.
Como se ha recogido en la bibliografa especfica existente (Di Bitonto, 1995141;
Turner, 1984142; Campos, 2000143, etc.), esta aseveracin es demostrable a partir de una
revisin histrica, cultural y psicolgica. El crucial dinamismo que impregna hoy a las
Universidades europeas y espaolas constituye una extraordinaria oportunidad para
dedicar la atencin necesaria al espacio fsico de la Universidad, desde todas las
esferas. De hecho, una de esas esferas decisiva en la coyuntura actual- es la que
impulsa el Ministerio de Educacin espaol, a travs de la Estrategia Universidad 2015 y
el Programa Campus de Excelencia Internacional que viene desarrollndose desde
2009. Una plausible iniciativa esta ltima, ya que se invirti una tendencia precedente
que no atenda como merece la dimensin espacial de la Universidad: ni la Ley
Orgnica de Universidades ni el Informe Universidad 2000 elaborado por la CRUE
hacen mencin expresa a la Arquitectura. Un inexplicable vaco que el Programa
Campus de Excelencia Internacional intenta rellenar144.
En relativo paralelismo, el conjunto de Europa acomete desde hace aos el
trascendental proceso de convergencia del Espacio Europeo de Educacin Superior
(EEES). Sin embargo, la trascendencia de las polticas en materia institucional no se ha
visto acompaada del imprescindible reflejo en la transformacin del espacio fsico,
esto es, de la relacin Universidad-Ciudad y de la optimizacin en la Arquitectura de
los recintos dedicados a la Educacin Superior. Es pues necesario hacer un especial
nfasis en la necesidad de concienciar al sistema universitario europeo en este
aspecto concreto, puesto que, si se repasa la trayectoria del EEES desde la
Declaracin de la Sorbona de 1998, no hay letra impresa alguna ligada a la calidad
del espacio fsico universitario, ni en su dimensin urbanstica (relacin con la ciudad),
ni en su configuracin arquitectnica (diseo de los recintos propios campus-). Es
cierto que se propugna la implantacin del aprendizaje centrado en el alumno, pero
141
Di Bitonto, A. y Giordano, F.: LArchitettura degli edifici per listruzione. Roma: Officina
Edizioni, 1995.
142
Turner, P. Campus. An American Planning Tradition. Cambridge (Massachusetts): M.I.T. Press, 1984.
143
Campos, P.: La Universidad en Espaa. Historia, Urbanismo y Arquitectura. Madrid: Ministerio de
Fomento-Ministerio de Educacin, 2000.
144
Ver Documento Estrategia Universidad 2015; Ver convocatoria del Programa Campus de
Excelencia Internacional 2009, 2010, 2011.
149
145
150
Bricks: Es el espacio fsico, construido (de ah la caracterizacin como bricks ladrillos-), sobre el que trabajan los tcnicos y conforma la referencia habitable
del aprendizaje.
Estos
tres
tipos
de
espacios
solo
pueden
funcionar
como
malla
151
del conjunto, en este caso del Espacio Europeo de Educacin Superior. Otro de los
rasgos del referido PBL de la Universidad californiana es la versatilidad del mobiliario,
que puede disponerse en forma de mesas para grupos reducidos, o bien plegarse y
dejar un gran rea central difana, en funcin de las actividades que se prevea
realizar en cada momento.
152
2.-OBSERVACIONES
Con carcter general, se recoge seguidamente un conjunto de observaciones
encaminadas a dar pautas para que las Universidades puedan encontrar referencias
a la hora de adaptar sus recintos y edificios al EEES, bajo el prisma global de la
innovacin y la optimizacin en materia de Enseanza-Aprendizaje:
urbanstico-arquitectnica
de
la
Universidad
acompae
los
Uno de los ejes del EEES se dibuja sobre el territorio geogrfico, la dimensin
internacional del sistema universitario europeo. En este aspecto, transformar los
lugares destinados a la Educacin Superior en entornos ms atractivos
constituye un objetivo que, por s solo, reforzar la movilidad transfronteriza de
los universitarios.
El recinto universitario debe ser capaz de activar procesos de EnseanzaAprendizaje en cualquiera de sus espacios, tanto libres como edificados, por lo
que se hace imprescindible una reflexin profunda sobre las potencialidades
del espacio gestionado por la Universidad.
El espacio genrico del aula debe ser ideado, construido y amueblado bajo la
premisa de flexibilidad (para su modificacin organizativa interna); de esta
forma, el aula funcionar como lugar capaz de albergar diferentes
modalidades de Enseanza-Aprendizaje.
148
Campos, P. Op.cit.
153
149
154
Ser preciso instalar en los recintos (campus) una red accesible a internet (wi-fi),
de forma que se activen, en el conjunto del recinto y los edificios, un nmero
exhaustivo de lugares susceptibles de albergar actividades de EnseanzaAprendizaje.
155
156
3.-RECOMENDACIONES
Adems de las observaciones sintetizadas en el epgrafe precedente, se puede
insistir en otra serie de recomendaciones, en algn caso anlogas a las anteriores,
ceidas a aspectos especficos. Se trata en este bloque de aproximarse a la
optimizacin fenomenolgica, en especial con respecto a las cuestiones de
legibilidad (ciudad/campus) y de acogibilidad (edificio/aula):
En definitiva, generar espacios difanos que permitan que sus usuarios muevan
y se muevan con libertad, en funcin claro del tipo de clase que se vaya a
realizar.
150
157
ESCALA CIUDAD
Espacios
libres
Elementos
patrimoniales
Equipamientos
socioculturales
ESCALA RECINTO
Otros
equipamientos
y terciario
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
LECCIN MAGISTRAL
TRADICIONAL
LECCIN MAGISTRAL
INTERACTIVA
LECCIN MAGISTRAL EN
PANEL
POLARIZADA (SEMINARIO TUTORA GLOBAL)
PUESTA EN COMN
GENERAL
PUESTA EN COMN POR
NCLEOS (SEMINARIO TUTORA PARCIAL)
NCLEOS POLARIZADA
SESIN INTRERACTIVA EN
MLTIPLES PANELES
REFLEXIN EN COMN
soft-seat
Docencia,
CRAI e
investigacin
SIMULACION ESCNICA DE
ACTIVIDAD REAL
ESTUDIO INDIVIDUAL
O
O
O
EDUCACIN A DISTANCIA
PRESENTACIONES DE
ALUMNOS
PUESTAS EN ESCENA Y
APRENDIZAJE APOYADO
EN OTRAS ARTES
EXPERIENCIA IN SITU (visitas
orientadas)
APRENDIZAJE
CONTEMPLATIVO
INDIVIDUAL
APRENDIZAJE MVIL
APRENDIZAJE SOCIAL
PRCTICAS DE TRABAJO
SERVICIOS A LA
COMUNIDAD
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Equipamientos
y Servicios
Residencias
O
O
O
O
O
O
Aulas
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
PUESTOS DE TRABAJO
TUTORA INDIVIDUAL
Edificios
de
alumnos
ESCALA EDIFICIO
Espacios
Libres y
elementos
patrimoniales
O
O
O
O
O
Laboratorios
y Seminarios
O
O
O
O
Bibliotecas
y salas de
estudio
O
O
O
O
O
Equipamientos
y Servicios
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
NOTA: Esta tabla constituye una aproximacin, con vistas a proponer sugerencias con respecto a la gestin de espacios en la Universidad.
Rincones
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Documentacin
O
O
Permetro
O
O
Ncleo
central/Estrado
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
ESCALA AULA
Espacios
Libres y
de
transicin
la
151
159
152
Robin Beaver (ed.). Green School Primer: Lessons on sustainability. Victoria: Images, 2009.
160
Apertura y visibilidad
Recogimiento
Emplear
colores
vivos,
mobiliario
sensual,
original:
estimulan
la
161
contribucin
la
sostenibilidad
(funciones
153
162
gestionada
para
el
uso
la
propiedad
compartida.
El campus del futuro es la ciudad; la ciudad del futuro es una
Ciudad del Saber
o Para proyectar el campus del futuro, es aconsejable:
Revitalizar la herencia intelectual con valor emotivo
Cuidar el espacio pblico (interior y exterior)
Aplicar conceptos para un uso intensivo, flexible y sostenible
Acometer tareas de transformacin, rehabilitacin y reutilizacin
Las funciones residencial, comercial y de ocio han de estar
integradas, al servicio de la comunidad
o La belleza del entorno la da el espacio (natural o arquitectnico), pero
tambin su uso.
155
163
libremente.
El
movimiento
facilita
la
capacidad
de
concentracin.
o Agilizar las aulas: Un espacio para el aprendizaje debe poderse
reconfigurar al instante para adaptarse a distintas modalidades de
Enseanza-Aprendizaje.
o Coordinarse: La construccin de un nuevo edificio es una oportunidad
para
compartir
servicios
comunitarios,
como
bibliotecas
164
157
Como ejemplos a seguir destacan la Hogeschool Amsterdam, junto a estacin tren Amstel, o la
Hogeschool La Haya, junto a estacin tren, ambas a 30 metros de la entrada del campus.
165
del
recinto
universitario
deben
asumir
que
tampoco
debe
degradados,
introduciendo
en
todos
ellos
actividades
potencialmente formativas
166
167
Cabe insistir en que este tipo de equipos (como los del propio diseo) estn vinculados o formen parte
de la plantilla de la Universidad, como docentes o investigadores.
168
respecto
la
satisfaccin
personal,
resultados
acadmicos,
159
Painter, Susan. Post-Occupancy Studies. Brief Research Reports. Los Angeles, AC Martin Research
Studio, 2011.
169
160
170
161
Ibdem.
171
algunos
de
estos
estudios
se
centran
en
el
comportamiento
162
172
163
173
VII.-BIBLIOGRAFA
1.-LIBROS
174
175
HALL Edward T.; La dimensin oculta. Enfoque antropolgico del uso del
espacio
Madrid: Instituto de Estudios de Administracin Local, 1973
HUAN YANG: Campus Landscape Space planning and design using QFD.
Berln: Verlag Dr. Mller, 2009
176
177
178
3.2.-REVISTAS
The Architects Journal; Febrero 1949, Enero 1970, Febrero 1970, Agosto
1971
179
3.3.-OTRAS PUBLICACIONES
180
181
HAUG, Guy y TAUCH, Christian; Trends II. Towards the European higher
education area: survey of main reforms from Bologna to Prague
Informe elaborado para la Asociacin Europea de Universidades, 2001
182
183
Contents
INTRODUCTION ____________________________________________________________ 188
I. BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY ______________________________ 190
1. BACKGROUND ___________________________________________________ 190
2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES _____________________________________________ 194
2.1. Overall objectives ___________________________________________ 194
2.2. Specific objectives __________________________________________ 194
3. THEMATIC APPROACHES: METHODOLOGY _________________________ 196
3.1. Teaching and Learning Modalities: methodology _____________ 196
3.2. Spatial archetypes: methodology ____________________________ 199
3.2.1. Classification basis: Urban planning models
3.2.2. Documentary study of spatial types
3.2.3. Documentary study of the EHEA, the Estrategia Universidad
2015 and the CEI programme
3.2.4. Research trips
3.2.5. Working meetings with team members
3.2.6. Seminars
3.3. Spatial phenomenology: methodology ______________________ 218
4. IMPLEMENTING THE WORK PROGRAMME __________________________
221
225
226
234
1. INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________
234
239
185
244
247
274
305
186
311
323
324
324
329
330
331
338
1. BOOKS __________________________________________________________
338
187
INTRODUCTION
188
As the lead researcher and the editor of this paper, I should like to thank the
people and institutions who have helped to enrich its content for their invaluable
support. In particular, I am grateful to the members of the team, the Universidad CEUSan Pablo, the international experts who agreed to be interviewed, and, most
especially, the Secretariat General for Universities and the Directorate General for
Universities of the Spanish Ministry of Education, for entrusting us with this task.
189
190
the exhaustive construction of the intellectual and social being: this is its mission.
Antonio Pulido, a professor at the Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, provides the
following definition:
"'Mission' means the essential and at least relatively permanent function of the
institution; its ultimate purpose and raison d'tre."1
"I use the term architecture in a positive and pragmatic sense, as a creation
inseparable from civilized life and the society in which it is manifested. By nature
it is collective."2
1
2
191
"The constrained living space of our time forces us to live in closer contact with
others, and this fact lends weight to the idea of fostering communal living as
part of education."3
If the lineaments of this vision are transferred to the specific milieu of the
university, history shows that, from its origins as an institution, its various ideological,
educational and social models have each been embodied in architectural and urban
planning formats designed ad hoc. A pioneering instance of this pattern can be seen in
the Siete Partidas, a medieval code of law in which, in words of his own making, Alfonso
X stressed the importance of the site of a Studium Generale:
Furthermore, the town, the ideal city as a paradigm, has never been entirely cut
off from teaching institutions.
In a subtle echo of the quest to found that ideal city, the university has striven to
achieve a "City of Knowledge" clothed in excellence. For almost ten centuries, quality
in education has taken pains to be embodied in a spatial apparatus of analogous
excellence. The medieval university pattern was at one with the cloister; the traditional
European university had an identity bound up with its polycentric urban seats; the
paradigm of the American campus instantiated the ideal of the self-contained city.
Throughout the long history of higher education, the main types of university
have all been accompanied by their own ideally suited architectural format.
Education should be viewed as a form of human contact, which can be forged
only in the settings offered by architecture. The present juncture, in which the concern is
to harmonize higher education with its wider context, is but a fresh instance of the longstanding historic bond between university and society. And it is here that architecture
plays a vital role, crystallizing a global educational setting in which these two entities
can meet.
192
Painter, Susan: Neuro-biology, Species Survival, & Campus Spatial Archetypes. Society for College and
University Planning, Annual Conference, 2003
4
193
2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES
2.1. Overall objectives
To raise the quality of the Spanish university system in the dimension that
combines education with its spatial setting
To set down tests of suitability for the adaptation of physical spaces to the
European Higher Education Area (EHEA)
To analyze and classify the spatial archetypes within which innovative modalities
of teaching and learning can be put into practice
194
195
First, to compile all the modalities drawn from the historic legacy of educational
processes in general, with a particular emphasis on higher education.
and classifying the specific characteristics of teaching and learning modalities which
remain valid today.
The sources drawn on for this work include bibliographical documentation, the
results of research commissioned by universities and educational authorities, and the
personal teaching experience of members of the research team in charge of
producing this paper. Specifically, the research drew on the following sources:
196
Muoz, Mario; Ramrez, Gustavo; Delgado, Carlos (Universidad Carlos III): El postit digital con NFC (1s Jornadas Cientficas sobre RFID, Ciudad Real, 2007)
197
198
199
With these uses in mind, there follows a template which a university seeking to
apply this paper can use to analyze and interpret implementation formats as a first step
towards undertaking the qualitative transformation of its physical grounds.
200
201
202
203
Urban:
This
category
embraces
educational
of
an
aggregate
configuration,
lightly
204
immediate
surroundings.
The
complex
is
across
apparent
links
the
urban
among
fabric,
them.
The
with
no
physical
205
Segregation:
The
university
premises
are
essentially
206
One of the most exhaustive documentary sources for the study of university
spatial types continues to be the paper produced by Pablo Campos Calvo-Sotelo (the
lead researcher for this paper) and published in 2000 by the Spanish Ministry of
Development and the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, under the title
La Universidad en Espaa. Historia, Urbanismo y Arquitectura.5 The text provides an indepth analysis of spatial types on the basis of their conditioning constraints, internal
structure, characteristic typological elements, detailed spaces and relations with the
surroundings.
For the purpose of defining these types, an initial classification could look to the
university's orientation to or relationship with the surroundings:
inward-looking,
relegating
the
university's
relations
with
its
207
o Grid: The families of parallel lines are right-angled, and the intervals
between them are uniform. The contained spaces are squares.
208
Kramer, Sibylle: Colleges & Universities. Educational Spaces. Prague: Braun Publishing, 2010.
Hertzberger, Herman: Space and Learning. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2008.
8 Den Heijer, Alexandra: Managing the University Campus. Delft: TU Delft University Press, 2011.
6
7
209
3.2.3. Documentary study of the EHEA, the Estrategia Universidad 2015 and the CEI
programme
In addition, the declaration insists that the task of renovation "requires continual
momentum" by means of common and national guidelines with the objective of
increasing the international competitiveness of the European system of higher
education."
Sorbonne Declaration: Joint declaration on harmonisation of the architecture of the European higher
education system, delivered by the four ministers representing France, Germany, Italy and the United
Kingdom. La Sorbonne, Paris, 25 May 1998.
10 Bologna Declaration: Joint declaration of the European ministers of education. Bologna, 19 June 1999.
9
210
Given the profound shift that the Bologna Declaration entailed for the Spanish
university system, in February 2003 the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport
produced a framework paper titled La integracin del Sistema Universitario Espaol en
el Espacio Europeo de Enseanza Superior (the integration of the Spanish university
system with the European Higher Education Area).11 The framework document was
intended as:
"The new European framework provides a major opportunity and, at the same
time, poses a challenge to our university system."13
Time was needed to "gradually and carefully prepare and develop" the
reform of the system, but even in the CRUE's first declaration the university establishment
acknowledged that the model had to change, as reflected in the following statement:
The Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. La Integracin del Sistema Universitario Espaol en el
Espacio Europeo de Enseanza Superior. Framework document. February 2003.
12 Universities Act 2001 [Ley Orgnica 6/2001, published in BOE No 307, 24 December 2001].
13 Declaracin de la Conferencia de Rectores de las Universidades Espaolas (CRUE) sobre el Espacio
Europeo de Educacin Superior. Madrid, 6 October 2003.
11
211
"The CRUE thinks it vital that the entire university community be enthusiastically
and actively involved in this crucial and complex process of educational
reform."14
Here, in addition to following the new educational model implemented via the
European Higher Education Area, a range of issues or "lines of action" are addressed on
the basis of the European modernization agenda for universities, proposed in 2006 by
the European Commission. One of these issues relates to:
212
This paper, in so far as it examines innovative spaces, shares with the Estrategia
Universidad 2015 the objective of excellence via changes in the university model.
Specifically, in consonance with that document, this paper addresses territory-cityuniversity relations as the first physical scale of the university. As specified in that
document:19
"We are therefore concerned with sustainable, healthy, accessible and inclusive
environments that engage with the social, urban and cultural milieux in a closer
interaction and an educational role, projecting themselves outward as a model
of spatial harmony, sustainability and universal accessibility to people with
disabilities."
In summary, this paper specifically seeks to find answers for the criteria and
concerns emerging from the documents that have operated as milestones in the
process of university modernization at the European and Spanish scales, and,
furthermore, strives to go beyond a strict response to those criteria. Spatial innovation is
The CEI programme has been implemented in a sequence of grant award processes:
Order PRE/1996/2009 of 20 July establishing the terms and conditions of the award of public grants for the
implementation of the International Campus of Excellence Programme in the Spanish university system.
Boletn Oficial del Estado [central government gazette], No. 177, Sec. III, p 63101. Thursday, 23 July 2009
Order EDU/903/2010 of 8 April establishing the terms and conditions of the award of aid for the subprogrammes within the International Campus of Excellence Programme. Boletn Oficial del Estado [central
government gazette], No. 89, Sec. III, p 33090. Tuesday, 13 April 2010
ORDER EDU/1069/2010, of 27 April, calling for applications for the 2010 round of grants associated with the
International Campus of Excellence Programme regulated by Order EDU/903/2010, of 8 April. Boletn Oficial
del Estado [central government gazette], No. 105, Sec. III, p 38723. Friday, 30 April 2010
ORDER EDU/647/2011, of 22 March, calling for applications for the 2011 round of grants associated with the
International Campus of Excellence Programme regulated by Order EDU/903/2010, of 8 April. Boletn Oficial
del Estado [central government gazette], No. 73, Sec. III, p 32294. Saturday, 26 March 2011
19 Estrategia Universidad 2015. El camino para la modernizacin de la Universidad. The Spanish Ministry of
Education, 2010.
18
213
a principle capable of satisfying the inherent requirements of the EHEA and the
Estrategia Universidad 2015, but it can also provide optimization techniques that
transcend those normative frameworks.
Visits to university campuses (in Spain and elsewhere) noted for having attained
excellence in the solutions provided for the education-space relationship. The
following geographical regions were initially considered from the standpoint of
identifying centres meriting on-site examination for the purposes of this research:
Spain
Europe
United States
Interviews with experts in the field of the conception, planning and design of
university spaces, linked to visits to their respective university campuses and
benchmark designs. Meetings with Spanish and international experts were
organized, both on an individual basis and by means of the lead researcher's or
team members' attendance at conferences relating to the subject matter of
this paper. Research meetings were held with the following experts. A further list
was drawn up of candidate experts for interview:
214
Susan
Painter
(AC-Martin
architectural
partnership.
Former
215
216
Working meetings were of two kinds: full (all research team members present)
and sector-specific (some team members only), depending on the state of
progress of the work.
Two seminars were held in the course of the research underlying this paper:
o The first seminar was held at the outset (13 December 2010) to bolster, enrich
and nuance the established lines of research and draw up a list of benchmark
practices of excellence in each of the areas addressed.
o The second seminar (18 March 2011) was held to elicit further contributions
from experts and optimize the conclusions and practical results.
o The seminars were staged at the Higher Polytechnic Faculty (Escuela
Politcnica Superior) of the Universidad CEU-San Pablo.
o In addition to team members' presentations and contributions, each seminar
was attended by two international specialists.
o Each seminar comprised a roundtable discussion among research team
members, followed by a team work session designed to specify which content
arising from the seminar was to be incorporated to the final paper.
217
Russell, J.A.: Affective Space is Bipolar. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1979, Vol 37, No 3,
345-356.
20
218
deactivation
Figure 11. Affective Responses Diagram21
The way the various emotions are placed in this diagram is not random. These
emotions can in fact be reorganized into four quadrants. Russell himself related the
emotional responses to the qualifiers ascribed to certain environments, and drew up
the following table:
I
II
III
IV
TYPES OF EMOTIONS
This basic scheme of emotions is of interest for our purposes because both the
emotions themselves and their associated environmental qualifiers appear again and
again in the literature on spatial experience.
21
The English terms (Anxiety, activation, arousal, pleasure, relaxation, deactivation, boredom,
displeasure, anxiety) could be not exactly the same of the Russell article.
219
Where research papers might differ is in the factors, aspects or variables that
each one sets out to examine.
As a rule, the research takes account of the aesthetic, emotional and sensory
aspects (heat, decor/colour, sound, smell, etc.). It is also frequent to evaluate more
clearly functional aspects such as "usability", organization, size and health and safety
considerations.
The factors to be considered for an explanation of our reactions to different
environments can be classified into emotional and aesthetic factors on one hand, and
functional factors on the other. But overall judgment of an environment embraces both
sets of variables. All these spatial aspects in conjunction create overall impressions,
which can be divided into the appropriate notions of:
"Friendliness"
"Imageability"
22
23
Lynch, Kevin: The Image of the City. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1960.
Canter, David: The Psychology of Place. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1977.
220
agenda:
Preparation
of
the
initial
seminar.
Comprehensive
Research trips in Spain, the rest of Europe and the United States. Visits to
campuses and interviews with experts:
221
222
223
Analysis
of
team
members'
contributions.
Analysis
of
224
225
Campos, P. The Concept of "Educational Campus" and its Application in Spanish Universities. Paris: Center
for Effective Learning Environments-CELE Exchange (OECD), 2010
25 Campos, P. Ten Principles for an Innovative Model for the 21st Century University: The Educational
Campus. Aula-Revista de Pedagoga; Universidad de Salamanca, 2010
24
226
that a well-made architectural object may have springs from its ability to express its own
needs to its surrounding city and community, and so bring change into alignment with
the needs of the environment. These issues have been addressed by authors such as
the Italians Franco Purini26 and Galvano Della Volpe:
Purini, Franco: Larchitettura didactica. Reggio Calabria: Casa del Libro Editrice, 1980.
27
Della Volpe, Galvano: Critique of Taste. London: Verso, 1991 (1st edition Milan, 1964)
Nair, Prakash; Fielding, Randall: The Language of School Design. Minneapolis: Designshare, 2009.
28
227
228
sustainability, its choice of materials and technical construction solutions, and its use of
mechanisms that recruit renewable sources of energy and exhibit an environmental
sensibility.
8. Memory and Avant Garde. Honouring of the memory of planning and architectural
paradigms, inherited from the tradition of places of learning, as a source of
intellectual resources that nourish design. Both wholly new projects, with their wide
freedom to experiment with form, and adaptations of pre-existing buildings (as
testimony of a positive change in previous functions) should imbue themselves with a
sense of modernity and the avant garde, lending lustre to the intellectual identity of
academia.
9. University-City Relationship. Creation of university-city synergies, encouraging the
active presence of academics and sites of learning in social and urban contexts so
that both spheres can reciprocally nourish efforts towards innovation and enlist the
efforts of other institutions for the sake of an all-encompassing university project.
10. Innovative Teaching and Learning Modalities. Design of places that inspire and
foster innovative forms of teaching and learning as part of a holistic educational
project, so that physical alternatives to the conventional lecture hall should leave
behind obsolete, inert roles and become intelligent locations that stimulate the
creation and transfer of knowledge and a salutary exchange of views in the teacherstudent relationship.
229
230
231
232
233
The most far-reaching factor characterizing the major change with which
universities must contend is the rethinking of learning modalities. In the words of the
Rector of UNED (Spain's distance-learning university):
Gimeno, Juan A.: Retos del espacio europeo de educacin. El Mundo newspaper, Campus supplement.
No. 469 (29 November 2006).
29
234
efforts
to
improve
quality
and
undertake
educational
innovation.30
In view of the Framework Document, it is to be emphasized that the concept of
"motivation" is possibly the cornerstone on the basis of which innovation-driven quality in
university education is to be built.
Returning to strictly academic issues, one of the most tangible manifestations of
the renovation which the EHEA will call into being is the system of ECTS (European
Credit Transfer System) credits. Spain's Framework Document sets out the following
points in connection with the ECTS:
Among the several constructions that may be placed on this, what falls to be
considered here is the metamorphosis of conventional teaching methods looking
towards the EHEA horizon.
This shift must be underpinned by a more flexible and broad-minded approach
to the educational process. The diversification of activities, both within conventional
lecture halls and elsewhere, which is being driven forward by European convergence
necessarily implies a parallel process whereby similarly alternative spaces must be
The Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport: Framework Document: La Integracin del Sistema
Universitario Espaol en el Espacio Europeo de Enseanza Superior. Madrid, 2003, p. 3.
31 The Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport: op.cit., pp. 6-7.
30
235
It seems evident that, at the present juncture, conventional formats are to give
way to fresher modalities of knowledge transfer; students are to gain motivation by
closer involvement with the process. Pamela Woolner has said that:
The conventional lecture and the mass classroom having been superseded in
their paradigmatic roles, this paper will now set out a classification of the various
learning modalities and the spatial models in which they might be appropriately
Hille, R. Thomas. Modern Schools. A Century of Design for Education. New York: Wiley, 2011.
Fielding, Randall y Nair, Prakash: op. cit., p. 17.
34 Woolner, Pamela. The Design of Learning Spaces. London: Continuum International, 2010.
32
33
236
35
Fernndez, Ana Mara. El campo grupal. Notas para una genealoga. Buenos Aires, 2008.
237
Criterion 2. Generality of the model. Generally applicable models are given priority
over proposals relating only to specific cases.
Criterion 4. Coverage. A source covering more possibilities within its given domain is
given priority over a less comprehensive source. For example, in connection with
teaching and learning activities, a source considering more activity possibilities is
given preference over a source addressing fewer possibilities.
Criterion 6. Degree of detail. A more detailed source is given priority over a less
detailed source.
238
es subclase de
se ubica en
Entidad sensible
Recurso
Mtodo docente
se utiliza en
Espacio de
enseanzaaprendizaje
es parte de
se desarrolla en
Actividad de enseanza-aprendizaje
organiza
interviene en
se dirige a
controla
Competencia
Persona
protagoniza
contempla
visita
Figure 13. Concepts of basic teaching and learning activities and spaces, and their
interrelations
239
activity
in
conformity
with
the
demands
of
production
and
employment."36
Sensible entity. An entity amenable to being perceived by the senses (inspired by the
definition given by the Royal Spanish Academy).37
Teaching/learning space. Physical venue of a learning activity. For the sake of
simplicity, a teaching and learning space will henceforth be referred to simply as a
"space".
Teaching method. The set of decisions as to the procedures to be conducted and
resources to be used at the various stages of an action plan, which, having been
organized and placed in sequence in accordance with the intended objectives at
each point of the process, enable a response to the ultimate goal of education.38 For
the sake of simplicity, a teaching method will henceforth be referred to simply as a
"method". The diagram specifies that an activity is part of a method. For example, the
case-study method involves several activities: individual study, group discussion, etc. For
an in-depth analysis of the relationship between teaching methods and activities, the
paper quoted above, by Miguel Daz et al., is recommended reading.
Person. "An individual of the human species.39 A person can organize, control, play a
central role or speak, and, when speaking, may address another person in particular, a
small group, or all others involved in the activity.
Resource. An entity available for the performance of an activity (inspired by dictionary
definition).
Ley orgnica 5/2002, de 19 de junio, de las cualificaciones y de la formacin profesional (the Spanish
Professional Qualifications and Training Act 2002)
37 Diccionario de la Real Academia Espaola. Madrid: Real Academia de la Lengua Espaola, 2001.
38 De Miguel Daz: Op. cit., p. 36.
39 Royal Spanish Academy. Op. cit.
36
240
4. COMPETENCIES
Figure 14 shows a taxonomy of competencies.
The relevant concept definitions are:
Attitude. State of mind manifested in some way (inspired by dictionary definition).
Knowledge. "Information acquired by a person on specific areas of the content of a
curriculum.40
Skill. A competency consisting of a student's ability or capacity to carry out a given
physical or mental activity.41
Competencia
Conocimiento
Destreza
Destreza tcnica
Actitud
Destreza analtica
es subclase de
Analytical skill. A skill consisting of the separation and distinction of the different parts of
a whole, being relevant to a given discipline of study (inspired by dictionary definition).
Technical skill. A skill consisting of the application of knowledge to practical problems.
40
41
241
5. PEOPLE
Figure 15 shows a taxonomy of people involved in the learning process
considered in this paper. The relevant definitions are provided below.
representa a
pertenece a
Persona
Alumno
Profesor
Grupo de trabajo
es subclase de
Student. A person learning an art or science under the supervision of a lecturer (inspired
by dictionary definition).
Working group. A team of people working towards the completion of a task or activity.
Lecturer. "A person whose role is to teach theoretical or practical knowledge or skills to
students at an educational or training institution.42
Supervisor in the occupational sphere. A person who supervises the work of another
person who is already practicing his/her occupation or profession (inspired by
dictionary definition).
CEDEFOP, European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (2008), Terminology of European
Education and Training Policy.
42
242
6. RESOURCES
Figure 16 shows a taxonomy of resources. The relevant definitions are provided below.
Recurso
CLASIFICACIN
SEGN SOPORTE
Almacenado en
Documento
Recurso tangible
Sistema informtico
Mueble
es subclase de
Panel
Pizarra
Pantalla
43
243
Recurso
CLASIFICACIN
SEGN SOPORTE
Almacenado en
Documento
Recurso tangible
Sistema informtico
Mueble
es subclase de
Panel
Pizarra
Pantalla
Cubicle. Small area, partly or wholly enclosed, designed for the use of one person only.
Office. A space used for individual work and interaction with small groups, containing
furniture enabling the simultaneous use of books, notes, a desktop or laptop computer,
etc.
Collective space. A space designed for a number of people.
Open-ended collective space. A collective space without any precise physical
boundary.
Outdoor open-ended collective space. An open-ended collective space located
outdoors. Examples include open-air auditoria and outdoor living rooms.
Indoor open-ended collective space. An open-ended collective space located
indoors. An example of this spatial type is an open-ended corridor.
Enclosed collective space. A collective space with a precise physical boundary.
Uniform enclosed collective space. An enclosed collective space lacking any
distinction between an area for activity attendees and an area for the speaker.
244
Figure 18 shows, by means of icons, the organization of collective spaces on the basis of
the arrangement of people and furniture and the number of foci of attention. There
follows a natural-language description of each organizational type.
Linear
Central
Single focus of
attention
Multiple foci of
attention
Figure 18. Organization of collective spaces on the basis of the arrangement of people
and furniture and the number of foci of attention
Central organization with multiple foci. Attendees are distributed across workstations
and the central space remains clear. Attention is directed to each workstation.
Central organization with a single focus. Attention is directed exclusively to the speaker,
who stands in a central location within the room.
245
Linear organization with multiple foci. Attendees are distributed into working groups
throughout the room. Attention is directed to the speaker within each group.
Linear organization with a single focus. Attention is directed exclusively to the speaker,
who stands at one end of the room.
246
Profesor
Controla en tiempo
de ejecucin
Controla en tiempo de
ejecucin
Actividad controlada
Actividad controlada
por el profesor en
tiempo de ejecucin
por el alumno en
tiempo de ejecucin
Alumno
es subclase de
Figure 19. First level of a taxonomy of teaching and learning modalities based on who
controls execution time
Activity execution time controlled by student. The student controls the execution time
of the activity as it is carried on.
Activity execution time controlled by lecturer. The lecturer controls the execution time
of the activity as it is carried on. According to the literature [Fisher (2009)], 80% of
activities are of this type.
Actividad de enseanza-aprendizaje
Actividad presencial
Actividad a distancia
es subclase de
Figure 20. First level of a taxonomy of teaching and learning modalities based on
physical presence or absence
247
Actividad sin
intervenciones en
paralelo
Actividad con
intervenciones en
paralelo
es subclase de
Figure 21. First level of a taxonomy of teaching and learning modalities based on
presence or otherwise of parallel speakers
248
Students
Lecturers
Non-faculty staff
Elements
Heritage
Artworks
With this classification of process actors in mind, each of the teaching and
learning modalities can now be described individually:
249
1. CONVENTIONAL LECTURE
Definition
Diagram
No parallel speakers
In-person activity
Lecturer position: outermost
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
Phenomenological
features
Universidad de La Laguna.
Assembly Hall
250
2. INTERACTIVE LECTURE
Definition
Diagram
No parallel speakers
In-person activity
Lecturer position: centre
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
Phenomenological
features
University of Belgrado
251
Diagram
No parallel speakers
In-person activity
Lecturer position: centre
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
Aids
- Screen
- Blackboard/whiteboard
- General purpose panel
Universidad Carlos III, Madrid
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
252
Diagram
No parallel speakers
In-person activity
Lecturer position: central or outermost
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
Phenomenological
features
Amsterdam Orphanage
253
5. IDEA-SHARING SESSION
Definition
Diagram
No parallel speakers
In-person activity
Lecturer position: within the group;
contingently central or outermost
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
Aids
-Furniture
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
254
Diagram
Parallel speakers
In-person activity
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
Aids
-Furniture
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
44
Concept introduced by the Dutch architect Herman Hertzberger in: Space and Learning (op. cit.)
255
Diagram
Parallel speakers
In-person activity
Lecturer position: alternately, within each
group; eventually central or extreme
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
Aids
-Furniture
Phenomenological
features
Northwestern University,
Chicago
256
Diagram
In-person activity
Lecturer position: within the group
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
Aids
-Screens
-Blackboard/whiteboard and generalpurpose display panels
Phenomenological
features
University of Stanford.
Wallenberg Hall
Fruchter, Renate: The PBL Laboratory of Stanford University. Conference paper delivered at the 2nd
International Seminar Espacios Innovadores para la excelencia universitaria. Estudio de paradigmas de
optimizacin docente y adaptacin al EEES. Madrid, 18 March 2011 (unpublished).
46 Pioneering experiences of this format date back as far as Professor Wlfflin, who in the early 19th century
revolutionized art history studies with the comparative method, using two projectors in the lecture room.
45
257
Diagram
Parallel speakers
In-person activity
Lecturer position: within the group
-
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
Aids
-Furniture
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
258
TU Delft. BK City
Diagram
In-person activity
Lecturer position: alternately, within each
group, if necessary
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
Aids
-Furniture
- Technological tools
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
259
Diagram
In-person activity
Lecturer position: alternately, in a simulated
role or in a supervisory/tutorial role
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
- Members of the public
Aids
- Simulated or real situational setting
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
260
Diagram
In-person activity
Lecturer position: alternately, at each unit or
workstation, if necessary
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Students
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
University of Amsterdam.
Campus Science Park
261
Diagram
No parallel speakers
In-person activity
Lecturer position: at each unit (workstation)
-
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
Aids
-Furniture
Phenomenological
features
262
TU Delft. BK City
Diagram
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
Massachussets Institute of
Technology. Baker House
263
Marist College
Diagram
No parallel speakers
In-person activity
Lecturer position: within the group
-
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
Aids
-Stage
- Visual aid panel
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
264
University of Ni (Serbia)
Diagram
No parallel speakers
In-person activity
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
- Members of the public
Aids
- Stage and scenery
-Performance implements or instruments
Phenomenological
features
Universidad Politcnica de
Valencia
265
Diagram
In-person activity
Lecturer position: within the group
-
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Lecturers
- Students
- Members of the public
- Elements: heritage sites, artworks and
architecture, nature (as cultural asset),
etc.
Aids
- Urban spaces
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
266
Diagram
Distance activity
Lecturer position: not present
Remarks
Actors
Active
Examples
- Students
- Elements: heritage sites, artworks and
architecture, nature (as cultural asset),
etc.
Aids
- Nature (not as a cultural asset)
- Furniture (street or interior)
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
University of Coimbra
University of Tokio
267
Esquema
Distance activity
Lecturer position: not present
Remarks
Examples
Active
University of Oporto
- Lecturers
- Students
Aids
- Mobile devices
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
Massachussets Institute of
Technology. Baker House
University of Amsterdam.
Campus Science Park
See Muoz, Mario: Third Place Learning: Mobile, pervasive, ubiquitous learning. Madrid: I Jornadas de
Madrid sobre el e-Learning, 30 June-1 July 2010.
47
268
Diagram
Distance activity
Lecturer position: may or may not be
present
Remarks
Examples
Actors
Active
- Lecturers
- Students
- Members of the public
- Non-faculty campus staff
Aids
- Nature (not as a cultural asset)
Recommendations
269
Diagram
Remarks
Capacity: individual/collective
% of total classrooms: 0, given off-campus
nature of this learning modality
Actors
Active
Examples
- Students
- Members of the public
Aids
- Workplaces
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
270
Diagram
Remarks
Capacity: individual/collective
% of total classrooms: 0, given off-campus
nature of this learning modality
Actors
Active
Examples
- Students
- Members of the public
Aids
- Indoor and outdoor urban spaces
Phenomenological
features
Recommendations
271
Universidade da Corua.
Campus Elvia. Village of San
Vicenzo
48
272
frame of urban planning, in which the university community and the host community
interact, and architecture, where the meeting of users takes place. This is why it is vital
to link the striving for quality that inspires the EHEA to urban planning and architecture.
University quality must go beyond a merely academic or curricular circumscription so as
to reach out to, and for the benefit of, the intramural and extramural communities.
Quality, conceived of as an extra-academic attribute, will thus bring about a closer
and better integration of the institution with its environment, enabling it to act as the
spearhead of innovation and as a catalyst of social, economic and cultural progress.
Typological studies, which, since the crisis of the modernist movement, have
characterized contemporary urban planning and architectural scholarship, provide an
objective approach to the design of specific spaces, which are put to the test as the
targets of research. To approach the venues where teaching and learning processes
take place from a spatial perspective, this paper accordingly proposes a typological
classification. The risks inherent in any attempt at taxonomy having been accepted, this
classification allows for analysis from a variety of standpoints: it facilitates the translation
of classified types into design resources, enables the comparison and testing of existing
types, and permits new, existing and potential types to be considered.
To avoid rigid pigeonholing of spatial types, this paper proposes to alternatives:
specifying practical tools to analyze the space-education nexus, and opening up
critical viewpoints on the phenomenology of these spaces tied to the teaching and
learning process. Each typological scale, what is more, is supplemented by a "thematic
introduction" of various factors that enrich interpretation of this complex reality from the
starting-point of the proposed taxonomy, albeit at the risk of bringing into play a
number of paradoxes springing from specific cases.
It must be borne in mind that this paper focuses on the capability of a space for
supporting teaching and learning processes; the analysis undertaken does not
therefore extend beyond the activities of an academic year. Educational activity can
be associated as a rule with the utmost academic intensity when all actors partaking of
the process are able to interact in a related physical venue. In the case of
conventional, explicit teaching, this means that many large spaces lie idle during
academic vacations. The potential for using such spaces during vacations for other
collective processes falls outside the scope of this paper, and of course remains open
to other research efforts in the field of urban planning.
273
The first ambit in which the university must drive innovation and development is
the city.
This insight visibly emerges from even a cursory survey of the history of higher
education institutions, particularly in Europe, a geographic and cultural context where,
for centuries, university and city have formed a single identity. Therefore, the quality
inherent in the European Higher Education Area opens up a range of fields in which
universities can play a "educational" role.
First, resources and infrastructure can be shared, so avoiding pointless and costly
duplication in certain areas of equipment, which university and city can use in a
coordinated manner so as more effectively to derive a return on investment (sports
facilities, auditoria, etc.).
Secondly, research results transfer and partnerships with industry can be
undertaken by means of appropriate agreements reinforcing research, development
and innovation.
Finally, as a complement to all this, the university's urban planning fabric can be
harmoniously inserted within the city, so becoming an example and driver of ordered
compositions that promote the values that every urban complex or fragment ought to
honour, such as infrastructural efficiency, sustainability in its multiple aspects, and, in
general, coherence and balance in spatial design.
In the societal dimension, the inclusion within the necessarily heterogeneous
urban community of a considerable number of academics, researchers and students is
apt to enrich and lend vigour to social and political processes. Besides the obvious
intellectual, artistic or cultural contribution of university community members, their
influence can be felt in a rich skein of almost imperceptible effects on the societal
fabric of neighbourhoods, districts and the entire city as a collective organism.
By deliberately and responsibly attending to these requirements, the university
can play an "educational" role at the urban scale within the ambit of its territorial
presence. In fact, the territorial scale together with the urban scale can be
regarded as the university's spatial frame of reference.
274
51
"... the improvement of quality of life, which, among other things, takes the form
of greater accessibility to the public of all manner of Collective Facilities for the
improvement of infrastructure."
275
" universities play a central role in a country's cultural, economic and social
development"
276
of
universities
(regional/spatial
planning
and
collective
facilities;
The Transportation Plan, prepared in 1974 and regularly updated, has been a
significant reference point for sound transportation decisions serving MIT. The
Plans implementation required logic, patience, the ability to respond to legal
requirements and a sense of politically appropriate timing53.
Simha, Robert: MIT campus planning 1960-2000: An Annotated Chronology. Cambridge (Mass.): MIT Press,
2001.
53
277
278
After this survey of the territorial dimension of the university, the institution's urban
ties now fall to be considered.
One theoretical proposal of note is the so-called "Univer-City",54 defined as a
tapestry of interactions among different types of spaces for learning, business, interest
groupings and institutions. This concept is the latest step in the process of scales of
interrelationship originating with the University City:55 having been extended as a
comprehensive model under the name "City of Learning",56 it now arrives at the idea of
the "Univer-City",57 where university vitality invigorates business activity and lends
energy to the city as a whole organism. If inter-urban clustering or "aggregation" is
considered, the phenomenon can be regarded as one of greater territorial scale, with
shared university activities overlapping with the formation of a "Univer-Cities"
megalopolis.58 In this connection, territorial clusters59 arising from the recent emergence
of the "knowledge economy" repay analysis. In these spatial aggregations or clusters, a
university can lead a social and economic process in partnership with other research
institutions, creative businesses and the broader community. However, there is a risk of
isolation arising from over-specialization, as pointed out by Patrizia Ingallina:
A cluster is a specific area that doesnt easily integrate with all others urban
functions. Thus, some criticisms emerge concerning the progressive clustering
territory process. In the context of advanced economies, the university comes
back as one of the key-actors of the urban growth. [But these universities]
sometimes located in suburban campus (new or refurbished), demonstrates the
difficulty in structuring a real territorial project which can include these places in
broader processes of cultural and creative production60
Worthington, John: Univer-Cities in their Cities. Conference paper delivered at the 2nd International Seminar
Espacios Innovadores para la excelencia universitaria. Estudio de paradigmas de optimizacin docente y
adaptacin al EEES. Madrid, 13 December 2010 (unpublished).
55 John Worthington mentions Lund as an archetype. Ibid.
56 John Worthington refers to the case of Newcastle/Gateshead. Ibid.
57 John Worthington points to the Boston area as an example. Ibid.
58 Two models are identified in Worthingtons conference paper: Oresund in Scandinavia and Randstadt in
the Netherlands.
59 For further details, see the programme of the international symposium Economie de la connaissance et
amnagement universitaire: quels enjeux pour lattractivit et la comptitivit des territoires? Comparaisons
internationales. Paris, 29-30 June 2011.
60 Ingallina, Patrizia. Program of the International Symposium Economie de la connaissance et
amnagement universitaire: quels enjeux pour lattractivit et la comptitivit des territoires? Comparaisons
internationales. Pars, 29-30 junio 2011.
54
279
All the citizens take part of the City of Knowledge, not just who has learned at
University62
Ingallina, Patrizia: Lattractivit des territoires: regards croiss. Proceedings of the Seminars of February-July
2007. Paris: PUCA and MEEDDAT, 2007.
62 Kunzman, Klaus. Knowledge Based Urban Development: From Theory via Rhetoric and Reality to Action.
Conference paper delivered at the International Symposium Economie de la connaissance et
amnagement universitaire: quels enjeux pour lattractivit et la comptitivit des territoires? Comparaisons
internationales. Paris, 29-30 June 2011.
63 Herman Hertzberger at interview with Pablo Campos Calvo-Sotelo, at Hertzberger's studio in Amsterdam, 12
April 2011.
64 Hertzberger, Herman: Op. cit.
61
280
"A city is a network of corners. It is the place where lovers meet, and where
barricades are thrown up The corners of two streets make a city, and the city
as a whole is a network of corners."65
In consonance with the idea that city and university can mutually benefit one
another simply by articulating their conflicts, he went on to say:
"I was interested in corners not as some idyllic venue of consensus symbolized,
for instance, by the city square but as the true locus of encounter and
conflict."
"The city emerges when it is erected on a crossroads, which is its medium. But I
am interested in the corner because it is a more physical, almost tactile notion,
which embraces stone and people alike."
Sol-Morales, Manuel de: Ciudades-esquinas. Interview in El Pas, 5 March 2004 (on the occasion of the
exhibition Ciudades-esquinas, Barcelona, 9 May-29 September 2004).
66 Bachelard, Gaston: La potica del espacio. Madrid: Fondo de Cultura Econmica de Espaa, 1993.
65
281
After the thematic introduction set out in the foregoing section, there follows a
typological classification of spaces impinging on the relationship between the university
and its host city:
67
Squares; plazas
Facilities
o
Sports
282
These spaces are more readily classifiable. They need to exert powerful
attraction from the city towards the university; in the absence of physical proximity, they
must have a powerful functional profile triggering synergies with the university. These
spaces do alter their functional profile by virtue of activating a university-city synergy:
the university partakes of the activity and utilizes the related space, even if not under its
formal ownership.
Hospitals
Care centres and homes for the elderly (where university students perform social
services)
Facilities
o
Sports
These spaces are not especially difficult to classify. They need to exert powerful
attraction from the city towards the university; in the absence of physical proximity, they
must have a powerful functional profile triggering synergies with the university. These
spaces do not alter their functional profile by virtue of activating a university-city
synergy: the university is simply affiliated with the activity and utilizes the related space,
even if not under its formal ownership.
Typical examples include:
Museum
283
Buildings and works of artistic and/or heritage interest (e.g., buildings visited in
the course of a teaching activity)
Facilities
o
Sports
Recreational/leisure centres
Infrastructure-related spaces
284
The need to signify: the need to signify the university space in relation to the rest
of the city.
The need to interrelate: the training provided by modern universities is, and must
increasingly be, adapted to societal and occupational realities.
First, the nurturing of the signification of the campus, its image as a specific
"neighbourhood" or district, poses a specific problem: every campus must be distinct
from the city, but this must not involve any kind of frontier. In order to satisfy this difficult
requirement, "soft" or "psycho-gogic" signage initiatives have been set in motion, such
as highlighting boundaries by using pavement colours. The non-university community
readily perceives and imagines the university district, without feeling threatened by the
forbidding presence of a physical limit, such as a wall or trench. The city's imageability is
enhanced, and the campus is designated by signs.
Finally, as a way of reinforcing university-city interrelations, at the higher levels of
master's degrees and doctoral studies, practical and vocational disciplines are
sometimes drawn out directly into the urban space by means of agreements to use
facilities actually used by professionals in the city, rather than on campus. For
example, a Master of Fine Arts course can be and sometimes is taught in art galleries
and museums. Similarly, a master's degree in government can, as far as possible, be
taught at the facilities and with the assistance of the staff of government institutions.
68
285
The second sphere is the campus itself, i.e., any distinct complex large enough
to enjoy functional and organizational autonomy. Despite the generic term now
widespread in the standard discourse on universities, a "campus" cannot be a scattered
accumulation of buildings or a precinct that is indistinguishable from the rest of the
urban fabric and lacking an identity of its own.
As to the reality of the generic campus, the challenge of the European Higher
Education Area demands the formation of a concept that offers both wider range and
greater depth, so as suitably to address the quality and innovation requirements implied
by the EHEA project. An illustration of the required change is the idea of "learning" set
out in Designshare-The International Forum for Innovative Schools. This prestigious United
States-based body, whose members and activities are located all over the world, has
investigated innovative models linking education and architecture at the level of both
schools and universities. One of the reflections arrived at is that the obsolete practice of
education as "a predetermined number of students will all learn the same thing at the
same time from the same person in the same way in the same place for several hours
each day," must be replaced by an innovative array of options: "anyone, with any
teacher, anywhere and at any time, learning different things."
Another issue to be considered is the university space as a "Third Space"
between the domestic setting and the workplace.69 It is important to bear in mind the
range of other life phenomena and relations that take place in the grounds of the
university other than teaching and learning: meetings, shopping, travel, socializing, etc.
Opportunities for heterogeneous interaction among students on campus should be
multiplied by the flexibility of exterior spaces. To this end, value should be drawn out of
unclassifiable sites, terrain vague, and residual spaces, regarded as the "third
landscape".70 According to the British architect John Worthington, "landscapes for
learning" instead of learning venues must be established as a frame of reference
with the potential for several activities in one and the same place, and even at the
same time. The design of these places must treat human interaction as the priority,
69
70
286
rather than the standard range of specific needs and functional requirements. An
interesting experience in this field is "The Hub", within a complex design project in the
Kings Cross neighbourhood in London, hinging on a series of conventional office
buildings, the new British Library and the future University of the Arts. This is a
paradigmatic place "for meeting, work, learning, innovation and connection".71
One of the keys to the sustainability of university premises is the effective use of
resources. In the light of the issues touched upon above, it is crucial to intensify the use
of space, time and technology. Management must accordingly be optimized with
regard to both capabilities for cooperation and conflict analysis. Again, the proposed
intellectual alternative is a broad-ranging vision of a complex reality undergoing
constant change.72 The simplest example is that of opening up spaces allocated to
learning to other, compatibles uses that the (urban or regional) community demands,
by managing usage times so as to permit longer opening hours and hence more
intensive and effective resource deployment.73 Campus and city can in fact be
analyzed as two phenomena of one type, where the heterogeneity of inhabitants and
activities assures the continued vigour of the space. If the concepts of Sol-Morales74
are applied, the university precinct itself becomes "a network of corners". An automatic
paraphrase might read as follows:
"A [university] is a network of corners. It is the place where lovers meet, and
where barricades are thrown up The corners of two streets make a [university],
and the [university] as a whole is a network of corners."75
Here, the university is understood in its physical, spatial sense, but also in its
twofold societal sense, parallel to that of the city:
Ibid.
Ibid.
73 Heitor, Teresa: A School Modernization Project. Conference paper delivered at the 2nd International
Seminar Espacios Innovadores para la excelencia universitaria. Estudio de paradigmas de optimizacin
docente y adaptacin al EEES. Madrid, 13 December 2010 (unpublished).
74 Sol-Morales, Manuel de: Op. cit.
75 Authors' adaptation of: Sol-Morales, Op. cit.
76 Ibid.
71
72
287
Corners accordingly leave their imprint on the campus' intrinsic role: learning,
the essence of its specific manner of being inhabited.
Again, some of the reflections of Herman Hertzberger on the "school as microcity77 apply here: the concept of "educational street" or "educational walk" can be
generalized to the campus scale in its two interconnected spatial types, the street and
the square. The identification can then be undertaken (as spaces created specially for
the purpose or as formerly underused spaces put to new ends) of collective venues
where teaching and learning phenomena take place, which are thus useful from the
standpoint of university management. A similar concept is deployed in the analysis
offered by Alastair Blyth, where public space is viewed in opposition to the private or
privileged space of other sites within the university precinct.78
These issues have been amply explored from different perspectives, which could
be summarized, at the risk of oversimplification, by the axiom by the axiom put forward
by Huan Yang:
The quality of a school is judged by its sense of place and by the activities
going on across the campus79
A more technical approach looks to the issues of urban design, where urban
analogies can continue to be drawn at the university campus scale. However, the
identity is more meaningful here, given the contingent nature of the student
population. It is in this thematic context where successful planning can summon into
being the symbolic values and foundational touchstones of the campus itself, such as
the case of the Main Quad at Stanford, the dimensions of which have been adopted
as a leitmotif of contemporary extensions.81 More obvious expedients include
Hertzberger, Herman: Op.cit.
Blyth, Alastair: Creating Space for Education: Innovation in the Design of Learning Environments.
Conference paper delivered at the 2nd International Seminar Espacios Innovadores para la excelencia
universitaria. Estudio de paradigmas de optimizacin docente y adaptacin al EEES. Madrid, 18 March 2011
(unpublished).
79 Huan Yang: Campus Landscape Space Planning and Design Using QFD. Berlin: Verlag Dr Muller, 2009.
80 Ibid.
81 Each new extension is designed as a complex hinging on a quad of the same dimensions; the buildings
exhibit contemporary architectural styles, but are of the same dimensions in their envelope as those of the
original Main Quad.
77
78
288
institutional signage, usually taking the form of corporate graphics, and less often of
subtler identifiers in design, street furniture and landscaping. These elements can also
operate as emblems of shared values, and not so much as identifiers intrinsic to a given
university: this is the case of integrated furniture such as waste bins whose discreet
(or even deliberately concealed) nature reinforces the ideas of sustainable waste
management and the cleanliness and urbanity of the inhabitants of the campus.
289
After the thematic introduction set out in the foregoing section, there follows a
typological classification of spaces within university grounds:
Faculty buildings
Classroom complexes
Department buildings
Postgraduate schools
Schools
Research buildings
Laboratory buildings
Es el caso del aula al aire libre en Riverside, un escenario que aparece en medio del recorrido peatonal.
See Norberg-Schulz, Christian: Intentions in Architecture. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 1968. This paper
coins the concept of "building task".
82
83
290
Service buildings
Shopping centres
Healthcare centres
Creche facilities
Representation buildings
Artworks
These buildings are not only multi-purpose but, beyond their express purposes, perform different functions on
campus. Notable examples include the stairway building on the Campolide campus, Lisbon, and the library
at the Technical University of Delft.
84 An example is the rock-o-drome on the Caparica campus, Lisbon, where the wall of a building
incidentally supports a rock-climbing surface.
291
Integrated signage
Parking facilities
Underground carparks
Lookout/milestone towers
Botanical gardens
Themed gardens
Sheet fountains
Fountains85
A famous example is the "Watering Hole" at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).
Lmites, transiciones, umbrales,
87 Es el caso del Naranjal de la Universidad de Northridge, California.
85
86
292
University accommodation
University hotel88
Hybrid accommodation
General housing
Squares; plazas
293
Facilities
o
Sports
Theatre or Great Hall (if freestanding buildings) where the city carries on
activities of its own
University museum
Buildings and works of artistic interest (e.g., buildings visited in the course of a
teaching activity, perhaps by students and staff of another university or
education institution)
294
landscapes captured in images, Kaplan formed the view that a landscape can be
neither excessively complex nor excessively simple; and, from the spatial or threedimensional standpoint, it should be neither excessively legible nor excessively
mysterious or abstruse.
A university campus is put into play in a landscaping dimension. As Lynch would
say, it must comprise elements fostering "imageability"; but, according to Kaplan, it must
also contain elements suggesting a measure of mystery, on one hand, and of escape,
on the other. In this second respect as pointed out by Claudia Baumann92 the
physical activities conducted on campus are themselves decisive in encouraging
creativity and social interaction among students and researchers. A standout example
is the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science of the Technical University of
Munich, where a structure known as "The Parabel" is used as an outlet for physical
activity and escape, with significant effects on academic and research achievement.
Another interesting approach to the factors bearing on the legibility of a
campus concerns the use of colour as an identifying code. Examples include the
Universit Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, or the Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville,
where each area is labelled and set apart from the rest by means of a characteristic
colour, which can symbolize functional and situational factors with respect to the
campus. Legibility contributes here to an aspect of design: differentiation. As pointed
out by Richard P. Dober in his text on "Creating a distinctive place":
Russell: Op.cit.
Kaplan, Stephen: Perception and Landscape: Conceptions and Misconceptions, in Environmental
Aesthetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, pp. 45 et seq.
92 Baumann, Claudia: Proceedings. The Future of Education convention. Florence, 16-17 June 2011.
90
91
295
Among the strategies that a university can deploy to affect spatial legibility, a
standout is the requirement prevailing at some leading United States institutions that
students reside on campus for at least one or two years. This fosters identification with
the symbolic and physical space of the campus and sows the seeds of a "community of
learning" (one of the qualities to be achieved as a principle of the "Educational
Campus") by means of a process of all-embracing immersion in university life.
93
Richard P. Dober. Campus Landscape: Functions, Forms, Features. New York: Wiley, 2000.
296
The third rung of the hierarchy of educational spaces is that of the individual
building.
In a parallel way, though normally subject to other physical dimensions below
the level of the campus, each piece of architecture is called upon to enact an
alteration and enrichment of its internal and adjacent spheres so as to satisfy the
requirements of quality and innovation.
The recurring revision of teaching and learning models demands that a
building's composition and organization comprise necessary venues to accommodate
modern teaching practices. David Orr makes the following insightful comment:
Orr, David: The Nature of Design. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Bachelard, Gaston: Op. cit.
96 Sol-Morales: Op. cit.
94
95
297
It is vital here to heed the essence of the design, even to the extent of proposing
the campus as a veritable laboratory and exhibit of avant-garde architecture, whose
design values reflect the intrinsic vigour of the university as an institution. At the scale of
the individual building, attention to design cascades to lesser scales by means of
consistency in furnishings, as exemplified by the BK-City (Faculty of Architecture) of the
Technical University of Delft. Even at this scale, as at the level of the whole campus, it is
97
98
For example, BK-City (TU Delft), or the library of the University of Utrecht (Uithof campus).
Interview with Herman Hertzberger, cited above.
298
feasible to transmit shared values such as cleanliness and sustainability via integrated
waste bins and energy management mechanisms.
Contemporary teaching and learning processes can take place anywhere, as a
result of an educational effort that focuses on critical thinking, i.e., skills and
competencies, rather than knowledge. It is accordingly necessary to seek flexibility as
an essential condition of the new spaces: as against the old spaces, which could be
"reserved" for strictly delimited uses, the new spaces are "freely available", and teaching
and learning phenomena are allowed to occur there. An interesting example is the set
of open spaces of the BK-City (Faculty of Architecture) at Delft.99
Approaching this topic from the standpoint of property rights and dealings,
spaces under outright ownership can be combined with leasehold (flexible) spaces
and lettings (subject to market demand), such that specialized settings give way to
generic spaces and, finally, to informal spaces. Any mismatch between built space and
academic vision must be avoided. An interesting experience in this area has been
undertaken by Ravensbourne College, which shares its university (teaching and
learning) spaces with research and development laboratories, including a place that
might be described as a "hub", where new ideas and services for the market are
developed.
In short, every building depending on its uses, size and relative position within
the university zone should imaginatively resolve its interior spaces, whether via wholly
new projects or the adaptation of pre-existing structures, wherever this latter option is
practicable.100
99
100
299
After the thematic introduction set out in the foregoing section, there follows a
typological classification of spaces within individual university buildings:
Classrooms
Classrooms
Se trata de elementos que ilustren sobre el proceso de construccin o reforma del edificio. Un ejemplo es
la cafetera de la Escuela de Arquitectura de Delft (BK-City): se ha dejado a la vista la estructura del edificio
antiguo, que de este modo se hace didctico: se ven los materiales de las paredes, el techo, parece que
101
300
Laboratories
Workshops
Seminar rooms
Collective offices
Cafeteria
IT rooms
Student rooms
Copying facilities
Shopping areas
Healthcare centres
Crche facilities
Technical facilities
estuviera en obra, pero es intencionado, para aadir una misin formativa al propio edificio, en temas de
construccin.
102 An interesting model is the library of the Faculty of Architecture of the Universidad Politcnica de Valencia.
103 For example, the "nests" in the BK-City building (Faculty of Architecture) at TU Delft: a series of doubleseater sofas in wide passageways to secure a measure of isolation from activities in general.
301
Indoor micro-agora106
Wi-Fi areas
This type of space is freer in form and less readily classifiable, because its
activation as a university-urban space is dependent solely on direct proximity to a city
sector. This is the case of some spaces internal to university buildings, which, though
situated on campus, are in direct physical proximity to the city.
These are spaces constituting a transition, threshold or boundary between the
building and the campus, and placed at the service of the city.
The maximum estimated distance between such spaces and urban settings is
100 to 300 m.
A range of examples are listed below. All such spaces must satisfy the condition
of physical proximity to some sector of the host city:
Facilities
302
Theatre or Great Hall (if freestanding buildings) where the city carries on
activities of its own
303
Canter, David: Environmental Interaction. New York: International University Press, 1976.
Markus, Thomas Andrew: Building performance. Building Performance Research Unit, School of
Architecture, University of Strathclyde. London: Applied Science Publishers, 1972.
107
108
304
The fourth and perhaps most delicate rung of the hierarchy of educational
spaces is that of the individual classroom.
The classroom can be regarded as the basic constituent cell of education
activity; the minimal defined spatial unit where the phenomenon of teaching/learning
is enacted. As a specific place, a classroom retains its autonomous capability with
respect to the educational process, despite its dependence at other functional levels
on the building in which it is housed.
The classroom has always been the locus most intensively and tangibly
supporting active knowledge transfer, albeit chiefly by the traditional procedure in
which a lecturer sets out his or her views in front of a largely passive class of students.
Today, the classroom is confined to a fairly rigid typological repertoire, the variations of
which are shaped more by physical size and its concomitant capacity than by any
other more imaginative influence. If there is one spatial element in need of major
reform, therefore, that element is the classroom.
From a conceptual standpoint, geometric relations also determine spatial types
and their modes of occupancy at the scale of the individual classroom, such that the
intersections of horizontal planes (floor and ceiling, in a single direction) and vertical
planes (multidirectional) shape the character of the lecture hall and each of its
boundary points and corners. As mentioned in the earlier discussion of the scale of the
individual building, the nature of the spatial type unequivocally depends on the
material of the planes (particularly, the vertical planes): ranging from opacity, evoking
a cave, to transparency, suggesting aerial metaphors. There is potential for countless
interactions between geometries and materials: opaque, specular, translucent, and
transparent, and their dimensional combinations, depending on the height of
bystanders, seated persons, floor height, etc. These are, in short, key elements to assure
variability, flexibility and versatility, which factors are as vital at the scale of the
individual classroom as they are for the building as a whole.
The mechanisms capable of generating spatial richness and unexpected
opportunities for teaching and learning include threshold areas, transitions between the
305
classroom proper (a "served" element, in the classical terminology of Louis Kahn)109 and
passageways or "Educational Streets" ("servant" spaces, in Kahns vocabulary), which
can be activated as learning venues. As indicated by Alfredo Hoyuelos in connection
with the school as a complex setting:
"When, for instance, we plan the various corners of the classroom we must
bear in mind that, besides being spaces that enable the learning of the curriculum
they also settings that inhabit the diversity of places. They live in the space by creating
volumes, voids, scales, trajectories, concave and convex forms, cavities, boundaries,
thresholds, narrowings, directions of movement, light, shadow, penumbra110
One highly enriching effect that arises in ambiguous spaces such as openended classrooms is "casual immersion", at the boundary of teaching and learning
modalities, where visitors and other students outside the scope of the original audience
can partake of the dynamics of the class or workshop by becoming passive
participants of the experience. The space of the lecture hall is thus projected outward
for a societal sharing in knowledge transfer and, by reciprocity, becomes imbued with
the outer experience and adopts it as an educational element. This phenomenon has
been brought into being at Stanford University, where the classrooms of Wallenberg Hall
are laid open to visitors looking on from an upper gallery.
Another, more introspective innovation in classroom loci arises when unusual
functions are incorporated to the central core. At the faculty of architecture of the
University of Belgrade, classrooms are presided over by an exhibition of models of the
work done, serving as a starting-point for discussion and as a stimulus for students.
Taking a step further, one could imagine a classroom space capable of
occupying its immediate environs, so enacting an outward flourishing of the hitherto
internal phenomena of teaching and learning. At least symbolically, the outward
projection of the classroom's domain has been implemented at the University of
Economics, Prague, where a succession of lecture halls on one side of the corridor (on
an oblique comb or sawtooth pattern) is manifested outward as a prolongation of the
interior floorings and of the upper horizontal plane of the threshold. This creates a sort of
extended threshold which would seem to warn the passerby of a certain "intrusion" into
the activities of the classroom.
Brownlee, David B. and De Long, David G.: Louis I. Kahn: In the Realm of the Architecture.
London: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
110 Cabanellas, Isabel and Clara Eslava (eds.): Territorios de la infancia: dilogos entre arquitectura y
pedagoga. Barcelona: Editorial Gra, 2005.
109
306
Leaving aside the specific cases referred to above, it should be borne in mind
that the upgrade of teaching and learning modalities requires that the spatial
organisation of staff and students be as flexible and rich as needed to accommodate
emerging forms which are to crystallise in lecture venues gradually over time.
In earlier sections of this paper, an extensive classification and specific
description has been undertaken of innovative teaching and learning modalities. The
classification refers to a range of features of physical spaces (generally, classrooms and
their different versions) capable of harbouring these new modalities. A classification
can also be established of the spaces composing a classroom, each of which has a
fairly precise purpose with respect to the educational process but is incapable on its
own of accommodating the teaching and learning phenomenon. A certain internal
structuring of the classroom allows for an inquiry into its makeup on a typological basis,
looking to the complexity, variability and schematic organization of each space. As
pointed out by Herman Hertzberger,111 only an articulated classroom can host different
activities at one and the same time, while its space expands until it embraces the
surrounding corridors and the rest of the building. One such space, then, is the "corner",
which may be large or small, enclosed or expensive, in relation to the rest of the room,
but is nonetheless identifiable as an independent locus.
However, this very fact of expansion, arising from the new teaching and
learning modalities and their spatial needs, brings with it a new student need: the need
for a space of each student's own, as a refuge from the group or the individual. This
refuge could be defined as follows:
structured environment, in which each person can feel at home. You need a
home base to which you can always to return, and from which you can venture
out to explore the world112.
A "nest" space, a refuge which is at the same time dominant over the
surrounding area, gains traction as an independent locus integrated within the general
structure of the classroom.
The need for shelter in an open-ended lecture hall can also be viewed from a
more psychoanalytic perspective as a "defence mechanism.113 "Niche" spaces (the
307
term itself explicitly spells out the metaphor of the cave114) can be placed in this
category: the student can isolate him/herself from the environment, to protect his/her
privacy or concentrate on his/her learning. Ton Verstegen has said:
In its bid to manage this spatial enrichment, the university must implicate the
academic system in the planning of attractive, flexible, multifunctional, accessible and
sustainable venues.116
308
After the thematic introduction set out in the foregoing section, there follows a
typological classification of spaces within university classrooms:
Panel-podium
Core area
Display area117
o Documentation area
o
Corners
Corner118
Perimeter area
Workstations (perimeter)
Lavatories119
For example, the lecture hall/architectural model exhibition room of the faculty of architecture at
Belgrade, Serbia.
118 For example, the corner of peace and similar spaces. See Segovia, F. et.al: El Aula Inteligente. Nuevas
perspectivas. Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 2003
119 An interesting tradition of East Europe (Czech University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Economics, Czech
Republic, or University of Ni, Serbia ) use to include in the classrooms a little hand wash, in order to clean the
rests of chalk.
120 Is the case of the container furniture designed for several schools by Herman Hertzberger.
117
309
Ceremonial hall
General-purpose classroom
Medium classroom
Small classroom
Seminar room
Studio
Laboratory
Workshop
Computer room
Stage/film set
o Examination room
310
Only a small number of research papers almost invariably published since 1969
in Environment and Behavior have focused on the specific issue of basic human
emotional response in classrooms, seminar rooms and libraries.123 However, leaving
311
aside the specific purpose of each habitable locus, there is a range of constituents
relating to environmental variables available space, density, sound, temperature,
lighting and windows, movement and stimulus which have been the subject of
intense study and apply to all built settings. Regardless of the given classroom format
(ceremonial hall, general-purpose classroom, small classroom, seminar room, studio,
laboratory, workshop, computer room, library, film set or examination room), factors
such as size and lighting have a consistent effect on the human subject. This section
therefore sets out to summarize the research results on typical emotional responses to
those generic variables.
The relevant empirical research and the most rigorous reviews of the literature
have been conducted by researchers almost invariably specializing in perception
psychology, environmental and topological psychology, ergonomics and proxemics.
Only occasionally does one come across research arising directly from the field of
architecture that provides clear points of reference as to user needs and responses (in
this respect, see the latest edition of the classic by Neufert,124 a manual that addresses
anthropomorphic proportions and their standard classification).
At the lower educational levels it is now difficult to find the classical rectangular
classroom furnished with desks arranged in rows, facing the schoolmaster's stand.
Today, desks or tables are arranged into four, five or six circular work teams, and the
teacher moves from one to another according to need. In the university sphere, the
open-ended classroom model is still somewhat difficult to find, being associated almost
solely with workshops and, to some extent, seminars. As against the open-ended
classroom, having no walls, no passageways or doors, the predominant model
continues to be the conventional lecture hall (although some degree courses have
followed an innovative path, such as Architecture itself).
According to Gestalt theorists,125 the classical spaces generating the highest
tension are those that only approximate a rectangle or square, because human
Weinstein, C. S.: "Changing a schoolyard: Intentions, design decisions and behavioral outcomes, in
Environment and Behavior, 20, pp. 345-371, 1988;
Domenech and Vias: La organizacin del espacio y el tiempo en el centro educativo. Barcelona: Biblioteca
de Aula 123, 1997.
On response to libraries:
Sommer, The Ecology of Privacy, in R. Proshansky (et al.): Environmental Psychology. New York, 1970.
On lecture rooms, libraries and courtyards, see the summary prepared by Gilmartn, Mara ngeles: Op. cit.
124 Neufert, Ernst: Architects Data. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2002.
125 Arnheim, Rudolph: The Dynamics of Architectural Form. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977
312
perception attempts to see them automatically as regular forms. Simple, regular forms
are therefore recommended, to avoid misleading the user or subjecting him/her to
unnecessary tension.
An individual is best able to orient him/herself and to understand a venue in a
rectangular room, the most clearly "Behaviourist" space. Directional pointers, hierarchies
of dominance and leadership are all clearly designated: the person situated at the
outermost end of the principal vector has the power of speech and command.
However, while a rectangular or markedly axis-driven space fosters audience
passivity and emphasises the protagonism of the speaker at the head, a balanced
room (circular or square) can be arranged by means of its furniture, so encouraging
group participation. Flexible programming and a flexible space enhance student
initiative. For this reason, those advocating the open-ended classroom express interest
in the second model.126
Weinstein, C. S.: The Physical Environment of the School. In Review of Education Research, No 49, pp.
577-610, 1979
126
313
As far as classroom size and density of occupation per square metre are
concerned, both surfeit and deficiency can pose a problem. Small size and
crowdedness are obvious in their consequences. Ophthalmology has shown that
continued ocular convergence on an object less than 1.25 m away causes
appreciable fatigue in eye muscles and the optic nerve; the venue must be spacious
and capable of offering several points of focus at different distances. Neufert, in his Art
of Architectural Design, established minimal distances and spaces per person in rooms,
work tables and dining halls. The research undertaken by Edward T Hall127 and Flora
Davis128 showed that two individuals at a distance of less than 25 cm either love one
another or are about to fight any other response is uncomfortable and improbable.
Moreover, in the European and Asian contexts, directly looking into another's eyes
appears to violate intimacy if done at a distance of less than two metres.
Conversely, excessive size is also a difficulty. Berk and Goebel, in their research
on the high school environment, showed that excessive classroom size lessened student
involvement; as against this, in schools with welcoming, uncrowded classrooms,
participation was greater (Berk and Goebel: High School size and extracurricular
Hall, Edward T.: The Hidden Dimension: An Anthropological Approach to the Use of Space. New York:
Doubleday, 1966.
128 Davis, Flora: Inside Intuition: What We Know about Non-Verbal Communication. New York: McGraw-Hill,
1973.
127
314
315
researchers, such as Sommer (1978), view windows as detrimental; others insist that
students prefer to have them, and this is undoubtedly to be borne in mind, in so far as it
encourages student attendance at lectures and supports their sense of well-being.
The same applies to sound. Open-ended, balanced classrooms (square and
circular, without walls, etc.), as against hierarchical rooms, foster personal initiative and
teamwork; however, increased interaction and communication raises the decibel level
sharply. Some authors accordingly question the virtues of open-ended spaces for the
purposes of concentration on ideas and topics requiring individual reflection and
thought (Ahrentzen and Evans: Distraction, privacy and classroom design, in
Environment and Behavior, 16, 437-454, 1984).
Research has also inquired into the ways in which exterior noise affects
concentration. After a given threshold, student distraction shoots up and attention is
lost (G. W. Evans: Environmental Stress, New York, 1982; Fernndez and Menndez:
Ruidos en las aulas. Condiciones acsticas de los centros escolares, in Cuadernos de
Pedagoga, 245, March, pp.27-29, 1996).
316
1. OVERVIEW
The quality of the university is inextricably tied to the quality of its architecture.
The existing specialized literature (Di Bitonto, 1995129; Turner, 1984130; Campos,
2000131, etc.) demonstrates this proposition on the basis of historical, cultural and
psychological research. The vital dynamism now characterising European and Spanish
universities provides an extraordinary opportunity to pay the necessary attention to
universities' physical space, in all its aspects. One of these spheres which is decisive at
the present juncture is in fact being driven forward by the Spanish Ministry of
Education via the Estrategia Universidad 2015 and the International Campus of
Excellence Programme implemented since 2009. The latter is a salutary initiative, in that
it reversed the earlier trend, whereby the spatial dimension of the university was largely
disregarded: the Universities Act 2001 and the Informe Universidad 2000 report
produced by the CRUE made no express mention of architecture. This was an
unjustifiable void which the Campus of International Excellence Programme seeks to fill.i
In a relatively parallel way, Europe as a whole has for years undertaken the vital
process of convergence within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). However,
the depth and decisiveness of institutional policy has not been matched by the
indispensable implications for the transformation of physical space, i.e., change in the
university-city relationship and optimization of the architecture of higher education
premises. The European university system must be made aware of the architectural
aspect. A review of the literature on the EHEA since the Sorbonne Declaration of 1998
turns up not a single document relating to the quality of university physical space,
whether in its planning dimension (relationship with the city) or in its tectonic
configuration (design of own premises, i.e., campuses). Student-centred learning is
advocated, but as against what would be desirable no heed is paid to what the
consequences would be as to classroom typology, or the change of role that
campuses must achieve. This void poses a serious threat to the proper attainment of the
desired quality.
Di Bitonto, A. and Giordano, F.: LArchitettura degli edifici per listruzione. Roma: Officina Edizioni,
1995.
130 Turner, P: Campus: An American Planning Tradition. Cambridge (Massachusetts): M.I.T. Press, 1984
131 Campos, P.: La Universidad en Espaa. Historia, Urbanismo y Arquitectura. Madrid: Ministerio de FomentoMinisterio de Educacin, 2000.
131 See Estrategia Universidad 2015; See the call for proposals Campus de Excelencia Internacional 2009,
2010, 2011.
129
317
It is time to innovate, and the occasion of the EHEA constitutes, as well as a vital
process on the international institutional plane, an invaluable opportunity to undertake
a comprehensive rethinking of the spatial archetypes that accommodate the
university, and to establish a decisive bond with the societal and civic context.
The policies and guidelines comprising the corpus of the EHEA do not in fact
refer to planning or architecture. But it is entirely feasible to apply the recommendations
emerging from the research recorded by this paper to optimize the comprehensive
adaptation of universities to the EHEA.
As indicated by Alastair Blyth, the British architect and OECD advisor, the
European Higher Education Area contains three different modes of spatial occupancy,
both physical and virtual: private, privileged and public. Private space refers, in physical
terms, to research laboratories and academic offices; its virtual analogue is the private
network or intranet, to which access is granted only to members of a certain working
group or research team.
Conventional privileged space is accessed only by invitation; it is embodied by
classrooms and auditoria where the student community can mingle in a restricted,
select setting by virtue of membership of a broad university group within which
intellectual affinity is taken for granted. Its virtual equivalent, therefore, is the "by
invitation only" learning platform, such as web-based videoconferencing by invitation
or Moodle-type platforms.
For its part, open space capable of accommodating teaching and learning
processes for the community at large is represented physically by all public spaces
susceptible to "educational" use, ranging from university campuses to the whole city,
viewed (as essayed in Chapter IV of this paper) as an environment capable of framing
those processes. Virtual public space comprises open networks, the World Wide Web,
and, as a learning locus particularly, the public environments of social and knowledge
networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, etc.
Virtual spaces provide valuable support for certain teaching and learning
processes, but can never substitute for direct interpersonal interaction in a physical
setting, which is the key to the all-embracing education of the human being.
The process of adaptation to the European Higher Education Area should take
account of the triangular mesh of interrelated spaces defined by Renate Fruchter, a
professor at Stanford University, as BBI (Bricks, Bits, Interaction):132
132
318
Bricks: The physical, built space on which technical specialists operate and
providing the habitable frame of reference of learning.
Bits: Virtual space sustaining information and knowledge transfer. This is the
space on which staff and students operate, and can be shaped by information
technologies.
These three types of space can function only as an interrelated mesh, because
the sustainability of each space type is dependent on the functioning of the other two
and their capacity for transfer.
This "ecosystem" is posited in terms analogous to those of a PBL (Project Based
Learning)133 laboratory, an outstanding example of which was established at Stanford
by Professor Fruchter. In a PBL, people, spaces, web technology, devices and the social
network infrastructure make for a complex and interrelated environment in which each
aspect must develop in step with the rest so as to assure the survival of the whole: in this
case, the European Higher Education Area. Another feature of the Stanford PBL is its
versatile furniture, which can be arranged as tables for small groups, or folded up to
clear a large central area, depending on the activities planned at the given time.
133
Ibid.
319
2. COMMENTS
The following general comments are intended to provide guidelines for
universities to find frames of reference for adapting their premises and buildings to the
EHEA within the overarching perspective of teaching and learning innovation and
optimization:
The EHEA advocates a change in the learning paradigm whereby the student
becomes the core, active subject. This paradigm shift will be aided by spatial
optimization that supports the formation of genuine learning communities.
One of the axes of the EHEA relates to the geographical aspect: the
international dimension of the European university system. Transforming higher
education venues into more attractive environments constitutes a goal which,
in and of itself, will encourage cross-border mobility in the university community.
The generic classroom space must be designed, built and furnished in such a
way as to lend it flexibility for internal organizational modification, so making it
capable of accommodating different teaching and learning modalities.
o
EHEA guidelines suggest that model classrooms be classified into three key sizes:
o
Campos, P: Op.cit.
As suggested by the American scholar Peter Lippman at a seminar hosted on 18 July 2011 by the Council
of Educational Facility Planners in New York, where Pablo Campos delivered the conference paper Spatial
Innovative Proposals for Universities.
134
135
320
Increased tutorial activity with individual students and small groups will naturally
call for an increase in the number of lecturers' offices.
The EHEA will drive the gradual transformation of libraries into more versatile
complexes via the introduction of Learning Resource Centres (LRCs).
The availability of an extensive and high-quality Wi-Fi network will allow for
reducing the number and size of computer rooms, since campus users (students,
staff, administrative staff and visitors) will be able to access the Internet from
their desktops, laptops or mobile devices anywhere on the premises. Computer
rooms can then be transformed into specific workshops and laboratories for
working with sophisticated software applications and making available auxiliary
hardware, such as printers, scanners, projectors, plotters, 3-D modellers, etc.
The number and quality of spaces and halls for study, meeting or rest must be
increased for flexible and open-ended use by students.
The use of electronic blackboards, projectors and other audiovisual media and
digital platforms for exchange of materials can be introduced to enrich and
diversify teaching methods.
The EHEA provides a good opportunity to introduce furniture compliant with the
requirements of ergonomics and suitable for the innovative teaching and
learning modalities described earlier.
The university should increase the number and quality of spaces available for
suitable performance of Third Mission and Lifelong Learning commitments, so
nurturing improved synergies between the university community and the host
civic community. Teaching and learning processes should be activated in urban
contexts outside the university milieu.
321
3. RECOMMENDATIONS
Moreover, specific recommendations can be made, some of which are based
on the above comments. This block of commentary addresses phenomenological
optimization, especially in connection with "legibility" (city/campus) and "friendliness"
(building/classroom):
Adaptation to the EHEA (as regards spatial design and modification) should not
be overprotective or enact the metaphor of the cloister as a projection of
maternal care (see Susan Painter136); the process should encourage the sense
that university planning and architecture offer the user "possibilities", rather than
impose a set "system" of use.
University spaces should tend toward the medium degree of coding (see Lpez
Silvestre137), so that the user's individual ability to decide for him/herself
predominates.
136
137
Painter, S. ????
Lpez Silvestre, F. ???
322
CITY SCALE
Open
spaces
Heritage
elements
Social/cultural
facilities
CAMPUS SCALE
Other facilities
and tertiary
elements
CONVENTIONAL LECTURE
INTERACTIVE LECTURE
CONVENTIONAL LECTURE
USING VISUAL AIDS
LECTURER-FOCUSED
SEMINAR/GROUP TUTORIAL
IDEA-SHARING SESSION
SPLIT-GROUP IDEASHARING SEMINAR/PARTIAL
TUTORIAL
SPLIT-GROUP LECTURERFOCUSED
SEMINAR/TUTORIAL
INTERACTIVE SESSION
UTILIZING MULTIPLE VISUAL
AIDS
SOFT-SEAT
STORYTELLING/FLOORSEATING SESSION
IT WORKSTATION-BASED
STUDY
DISTANCE EDUCATION
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Facilities and
services
Open spaces
and heritage
Accommodation
and halls of
residence
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
NOTE: This table is intended as a collection of suggested approaches to spatial management at a university.
Lecture
rooms
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
INDIVIDUAL TUTORIAL
INDIVIDUAL REFLECTIVE
LEARNING
O
O
O
O
O
O
INDIVIDUAL STUDY
ON-SITE EXPERIENCE OR
GUIDED TOUR
Student
buildings
STAGED SIMULATION OF
REAL ACTIVITY
Faculty
buildings,
learning
resource
centres and
research
buildings
O
O
O
O
Laboratories
and seminar
rooms
Libraries
and study
rooms
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Open
spaces
and
transitional
areas
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Corners
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Documentation
O
O
Perimeter
O
O
Central
core/
podium
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Facilities and
services
Activate inert spaces in the premises and buildings under the university's
management (including spaces within the city) in accordance with the list of
typical elements set out in this paper: i.e., spaces that, being functionally void,
do not harbour any kind of potentially educational activity
Upgrade degraded spaces in the premises and buildings under the university's
management (including spaces within the city) in accordance with the list of
typical elements set out in this paper: i.e., spaces that, being functionally
impaired, do not harbour any kind of potentially educational activity
138
324
Ensure that the university has spaces or buildings satisfying the need for symbolic
elements supporting the institution's inward and outward visibility
Zoom Out. Each school is part of a much larger whole the surrounding
neighborhood, the entire community and its business, local higher
education institutions, and the environment.
Zoom In. Each planning and design component is part of a much larger
whole. Green the details and youll green the project.
Build smart. Every planning and design choice should have a reason
grounded in sustainability, every building or campus component should
have a purpose, every detail should be necessary to the entire building
or campus.
Enrich Lives. Green planning and design should enrich the lives of all the
building users on a daily basis.
Create value. The green planning and design process should Create
Value for all stakeholders.
Prove It. Provide the hard numbers that all stakeholders need about the
true costs and benefits of green schools.
139
Robin Beaver (ed.): Green School Primer: Lessons on Sustainability. Victoria: Images, 2009.
325
Seclusion
o Conceal coat stands: the sight of coats gives a sense of not belonging
o
o Within the classroom "cell", try to create the greatest possible number of
"locations" corners, ambits, sectors to supersede the inert concept of
"space" or "available surface area"; the goal is to enrich human
experience
o
Nurture a sense of fun, expressed through furniture and vivid colours, as the
message given out by university architecture140
140
141
A decisive model in this respect is the restoration of BK-City (Faculty of Architecture) at TU Delft.
Den Heijer, Alexandra: Op. cit.
326
The campus of the future is the city; the city of the future is a "City
of Learning"
Realize the role of the environment in learning as the third teacher, according
to the ideas of the education pioneer Loris Malaguzzi developed in the schools
of Reggio Emilia.143 Some of the 79 recommendations collected in The Third
Teacher are set out below; most are versions of recommendations provided
earlier in this paper, but phrased with special clarity and wit.
o
142
143
327
Open the doors: Give students places to exhibit their work as if it were in
a public gallery, the invite the public.
Get accessibility aware: Theres more to accessibility than meets the eye.
Making a learning environment truly inclusive means designing from
multiple developmental perspectives.
Plan for the unknown: New technologies brings with it new teaching
opportunities design a learning environment that will allow teachers to
modify their methods and expectations as technology changes.
328
Plan actions to reinforce synergies between the university organism and the
social and urban context
Enter into agreements partnering the university with local authorities, provincial
authorities, Autonomous Communities and private institutions regarding shared
use of spaces, facilities, resources and activities of various kinds
Endeavour to ensure that the planning of university spaces is consistent with the
town planning of the host municipality or region
329
2.3. Guidelines for the transformation of spaces within distinct zones, buildings and
classrooms
Continuing with this gradual scalar approach to university spaces, and having
set out guidelines on the university-city relationship, guidelines can also be suggested
regarding distinct zones (campuses), buildings and classrooms.
The goal is to provide recommendations useful for the planning of the
innovative transformation of university spaces.
Therefore, at the scale of the individual architectural piece, the spatial planning
of university grounds must realise that not every building need be equipped with
a functionally comprehensive set of facilities. Conversely, facilities should be
distributed in a balanced way among buildings, so aiding horizontal use by the
university community and preventing the entrenchment of isolated and
autonomous "campus buildings" in disregard of the importance of spaces being
shared by the various groups.
Inert spaces in the various zones, buildings and classrooms should be activated,
and degraded spaces should be recovered, so that potentially educational
activities can be located in them.
and
enhance
sustainability
maintenance
330
in
terms
of
investment
and
For both wholly new premises and the renovation of existing elements, the
spatial features of buildings and classrooms must be designed in alignment with
the learning paradigm shift mandated by the EHEA.
Classrooms should be endowed with spatial flexibility and agility in the internal
modification of their spaces in response to the various teaching and learning
modalities that may be activated at a given time.
331
This paper has set out basic guidelines for universities including a description of
their
essential
features
and
has
provided
range
of
comments
and
Both the original design team and the monitoring team should be associated with or employed by the
university, in teaching or research roles.
144
332
333
The assessment of actions at the campus scale primarily targets the university
community, although its interactions with the civic community must be considered,
particularly where innovative actions involve university-city synergies. Here, assessment
may even confine itself to the readily quantifiable field of financial investment and cost
containment in public spending, with reference to implemented public (or community)
services.
In more complex instances, assessment research must have recourse to the tools
and professionals of sociology, even where these data can be cross-referenced to
economic, demographic and even energy figures, which are a vital significance for the
evaluation of sustainability-related actions. Again, it is to be borne in mind that
sustainability is not a dogma but a scientific objective, and must accordingly be subject
to appropriate verification.
The analysis of aspects such as personal satisfaction, sense of security or sense of
permanence calls for the methods of the social sciences not only at the quantitative
level as already regular practiced in our universities' academic surveys but, more
significantly, at the qualitative level, via in-depth personal interviews and focus groups.
This form of monitoring goes beyond standard university protocols and must therefore
be commissioned from specialized researchers, preferably (as already pointed out
elsewhere in this paper) members of the university itself.
A standout instance of this mode of assessment was undertaken by Susan
Painter for the School of Engineering of the University of Southern California. The aim
was to evaluate the sense of belonging arising from the addition of an innovative
space to the campus, a student centre called Tutor Hall:
Tutor Hall is the place where students begin and end their days quite
frequently. It is a base-camp for their day throughout classes in different
buildings145
For the purposes of this research 402 students and 116 School staff and
employees were interviewed. A large number of responses were collected like the one
quoted above, pointing to the university community's satisfaction and the precise
334
"sense of community the School was seeking to establish.146 In this specific case
success appeared to be owed largely to the outdoor caf and patio and other
meeting places of unspecified purpose and carrying low cost.
As a guideline, the following parameters can be used to assess the positive
impact of innovation in university premises from a perspective of transformation towards
excellence:
146
Ibid.
335
The assessment of actions at the scale of the individual building targets the
university community. Since the university community comprises distinct constituents
(students, staff, researchers, administrative and service staff, etc.), their mutual
interrelations and their interactions with the city community at large are vital to the
monitoring of implemented actions. Financial and energy data may be highly
significant for the evaluation of certain actions, but the most frequent source of
difficulty will be the assessment of sociological and psychological impact on the groups
and individuals involved.
Some assessment research focuses on user behaviour (phenomenology) with
reference to physical parameters (natural light, acoustics, etc.) which may affect
performance and even ability to cooperate. This mode of analysis can utilise surveys
and quantitative measurements, depending on the expected outcomes. For example,
one study supervised by Susan Painter regarding a sustainable open-plan building147
showed that, while natural light notably improved researcher satisfaction and their
ability to work as a team, there were problems with the acoustics (owing to nearby
conversations and telephones). The study results prompted a solution to the problem
via the implementation of "soundproofed rooms" for informal meetings and telephone
calls and the emission of white noise to absorb human voice frequencies.
As a guideline, the following parameters can be used to assess the positive
impact of innovation in individual buildings from a perspective of transformation
towards excellence:
147
336
The assessment of actions at the classroom scale embraces students and staff,
the societal base of interactions in the core space of education. Phenomenological
analysis of both groups and individuals is of particular importance. However, significant
comparative quantitative results are obtainable, even using a standard quality survey.
One interesting example, again, is provided by Susan painter's research for CSU
San Marcos (College of Business Administration). She combined purpose-designed
surveys with surveys of the university's own to generate a set of quantitative data on
comfort, ability to concentrate, lecturer performance, presentation quality and student
interest in each given subject. Assessment consisted of establishing identical subject
matter content taught to two different groups of students; classes took place in
different classroom environments, so that the differences arising exclusively from the
type of spatial organization within the classroom (distribution of furniture into horseshoeshaped rows instead of straight rows) could be evaluated. The sample encompassed
all students in both classes. Their answers to the same set of questions were widely
different. The survey was completed with in-depth interviews with the teaching staff
involved. Their comments on student engagement and focus were consistent with the
quantitative survey data.
As a guideline, the following parameters can be used to assess the positive
impact of innovation in individual classrooms from a perspective of transformation
towards excellence:
337
VII. REFERENCES
1. BOOKS
338
de
Excelencia
339
HUAN YANG: Campus Landscape Space planning and design using QFD.
Berln: Verlag Dr. Mller, 2009
340
341
342
3.2. JOURNALS
343