“We Are Used to Ignoring our Body”: Rosan Bosch on Designing a Conscious Learning Environment

Don’t you have a feeling that new types of communication have appeared over time? Or are these metaphors so universal that they can be used forever?

So, OK, it’s not a religion (laughs). Look, we say Campfire, we mean “group work”. Working in a group, one way or another, will always be part of the educational process. But its expression in space, the form in which it flows may change. The examples are around us: the coronavirus has already greatly influenced the formats of group work. The “Cave” will always be relevant, because it is a metaphor for concentration, without it effective work is impossible. But all these metaphors are a way to express the principle of building an environment. The design of the space itself, the shape, change. We generally believe that the interior relevance period is three years.

How to change the system

If you wanted to revolutionize education through architecture and school design, who would you start working with first of all: the state or active private initiatives?

I think it is necessary to use both channels. And often this is our practice. We work simultaneously with private and public customers. If we cannot influence the design standards at the state level, we start with private schools, which become something like “showrooms” that demonstrate the capabilities and atmosphere of our design. Changes begin with them.

At the same time, I would not put the question like this: private versus public. This is incorrect. The private sector is very diverse. For example, there are private schools in Denmark that are actively funded by the state. Parents pay only a small part of the full tuition fee. But at the same time, a private school remains private: with the opportunity to do those things that the state does not go to, with the opportunity to experiment.

The state is a system. To change public schools, we need to change the system, which is very slow. Private schools react much faster. If we are talking about a revolution, then they can be its flagships meant to inspire and pull.

Do you think schools, offices, libraries are getting closer to each other? Is there a convergence of spaces?

Of course, the tendency of convergence of different spaces is felt. But it seems to me that this question has nothing to do with space as such. This is a question of social changes, changes in our way of life. They lead to a revision of the functions that a particular space offers.

Can it happen that the school as a separate specific building will eventually dissolve into other spaces? And will we, for example, get some kind of hybrid of coworking and school?

The answer to this question depends on what will happen to the school as an institution, and whether it will be able to play a clear and understandable social role in society, for example, to really remove the teaching functions from the parent.

The school will also be able to maintain its authenticity if it is a specialized place, like a hairdressing saloon. This is a space with a clear function, where you go to get a haircut. Also, the school is a specialized place for learning. If there is no focus on specialization, then the functions of the school will be blurred, and this will affect the space.

The concept of awareness is important here. Schools should become centers for the development of awareness and knowledgeability: how we gain knowledge, how we can develop and strengthen it, what our emotions about learning mean. Now we are leaving schools that do not have the task of forming a community sensitive to education, which would treat it carefully and consciously. We receive education in a passive way. We are inert relative to the space in which we study.

As a result of many years of work, I know that it is possible to strengthen my educational potential. You can train your memory, develop thinking, and in the same way you can boost your awareness about space.

As a result of many years of work, I know that it is possible to strengthen my educational potential. You can train your memory, develop thinking, and in the same way you can boost your awareness about space. Many people think that the physical environment is a trifle, a pleasant moment. The cherry on the cake. But we react physically to the physical environment, by our body. Our body, as a matter of fact, is the link between the brain and the world around us. Although we are used to ignoring it.

Photo: Kim Wendt, St. Andrew’s Scots School, 2019, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The concept of “awareness”

What do you mean, talking about a conscious attitude to space?

Many people think that the physical environment is a trifle, a pleasant moment. The cherry on the cake. But we react physically to the physical environment, by our body. Our body, as a matter of fact, is the link between the brain and the world around us. Although we are used to ignoring it.

We are not sensitive and not aware of our body. We sit on chairs all day long. And we don’t even notice, although we most likely understand with our heads how unnatural this is for us. If we were taught to listen to our body, we would immediately feel monstrous discomfort and start moving more and more often.

But this is exactly what free movement is not so often welcomed in a traditional school…

The architecture of most schools is the architecture of control. Behind it, there is the desire to control students, to control their behavior, their movements, to impose physical restrictions. And you know, there is only one other place where people’s physical activity is controlled just as rigidly. This is a prison. Where is bullying as a phenomenon most common? In schools and prisons.

Any physical space has a message for you. For example: “I respect you. What do you like? How do you want to work? What will be right and comfortable for you?” And this is very different from the message: “I dictate what you want. I will tell you what to do and how to do it.” It kills curiosity and initiative.

How do I start practicing this conscious attitude?

For example, space can be better realized by using hearing. We have a very primitive idea of hearing. Meanwhile, hearing is not only about the fact that we hear each other and the sounds around us. Hearing also registers space, makes it voluminous: thanks to hearing, we are aware of its physical boundaries.

If we develop our bodily sensations, we begin to feel this world in a completely different way. As a person who has got a real nose for wine and feels the diversity of its tastes, when for another all varieties “sound” the same.

There is another simple example. If a person is in a space with the main upper light, which is just typical for classes, then, according to neurophysiological studies, the body receives a signal: “Get up!” because the environment with such lighting turns out to be very active, difficult to concentrate on. And, for example, a camera spot light like in a restaurant or at a home desk helps to focus on the objects that lie in front of us.

We teach children to ignore body signals from about the age of two, and by the age of 20 they no longer feel them, they don’t know anything about it.

I don’t want to go around the world and tell people what to do. We create schools that inspire students, that allow them to reflect on themselves, look at the learning process from a different angle and create their own unique rules for the environment in which they spend so much time.

Photo: Kim Wendt; Western Academy of Beijing 2019, Beijing, China  

By the way, about age. Probably, a popular question about your educational interiors sounds like this: “Is this suitable for older children?”

We work with all ages. And it is not always obvious which design will be good for a teenager and which will not. Once we had an experience when we brought children over the age of 12 into a ready-made space and said: “Look, this is what we designed for the younger ones. Now let’s come up with something cool for you together.” To which they replied: “There is no need to invent anything, we want everything exactly the same.”

But no kidding, understanding age physiology is very important. The feeling of comfort and security depends on the proportionality of the body to the space. With age, not only the size of the body changes, which is obvious, but, for example, the field of vision expands: from 110 to 180 degrees. And this affects cognitive abilities, the ability to accept and learn about the world. Knowing these nuances, we understand that for a kid with his field of vision, a playground that occupies a large area will seem intimidating.

It seems that you have reasonable recipes for any spatial situation.

No. I don’t want to go around the world and tell people what to do. We create schools that inspire students, that allow them to reflect on themselves, look at the learning process from a different angle and create their own unique rules for the environment in which they spend so much time.