By now it’s surely not a secret anymore that the spaces where we work influence our mood and productivity. Fortunately, this acknowledgment led to an increasing attention towards the lighting sources, the shapes, the furniture and the accessories that merge into our offices and homes.
But there is another space that we still seem to neglect – the classroom. And isn’t that weird? Our children spend a lot of time there and they basically shape themselves in there. But most of the schools (in Romania) are still furnished in the same style that we saw in our time and the generations before us. Maybe some of the materials have changed a bit and maybe there are places where color made its way through, but that’s not enough.
In fact, it’s not even about the furniture itself, but also about how it’s placed and about the space, as a whole. Space which, of course, reflects the attitude towards the teaching act.
To make things clearer, we’d like to show you Sweden’s example. A group of schools in Sweden decided to give up on the whole “classical” concept of the classroom and transformed the entire space of the school into an environment meant to stimulate the children’s “curiosity and creativity”. This means open spaces, areas for independent work, islands for group projects, unconventional furniture, plenty of natural lighting, a lot of white and energetic spots of color. Furthermore, the space is quite inviting when it comes to play and conversation.
Sure, space alone can’t revolutionize education, but as we already said, it reflects the attitude towards education. Unconventional is everywhere and it’s not by chance that the northern countries have the best results on international tests and it’s also not by chance that the citizens of these countries are among the happiest in the world.
So we’re looking forward to rethinking the study spaces in Romania and we’d love to contribute to shaping the furniture in the classrooms. Meanwhile, our current array of furniture for schools and kindergartens already includes chairs and desks with modern notes, colorful designs and only ergonomic and comfortable pieces for the pupils.
