Places and spaces: tools for teaching

This paper draws from research undertaken for ‘Architectures of Art and Design Education’, a forthcoming book (RIBA Publishing, 2025) that investigates the form, structure and built environment of art and design schools across the UK. It explores how the physical studios and workshops — designed for learning, teaching, and making — influence and interact with curriculum, creativity, practice and community. This is a timely provocation on the position of arts education in relation to the current social and political landscape, and situates the post-pandemic British Art School within an international context.

If learning environments are pedagogical ‘tools’, we pose the question of whether these tools remain fit for purpose. The current trend to move away from dedicated learning places to multipurpose spaces can result in neutrality and liminal environments. Are educators at risk of promoting nomadic learners who are drifting through a succession of impersonal backdrops, which have the look and feel of nothing more than waiting rooms or departure lounges? How can we re-orientate where the students are situated — physically, creatively, and psychologically?