Schools

Abstract

The literature of school architecture tends to break in two different directions. On one hand, practical advice guides written by architects and educators date back to the middle third of the 19th century; they were supplemented by a continuous stream of articles relating to design issues in educators’ and architects’ professional journals. By the early 20th century, they developed into extensively illustrated records of contemporary school buildings and design standards. These design guides continue to be published today, often with brief historical analyses included, in recognition of the specialty field that school architecture has become. The other trend for school architecture literature is toward historical analysis. This path has been less vigorously pursued, however, and architectural histories of schools, their spaces, and equipment appeared infrequently until the 1990s. Today, the importance of school buildings, and the many functional, inspirational, and symbolic roles they play, is widely accepted. Scholars have favored post–World War II schools over counterparts from other times, and, in general, the 20th century has been more popular with historians than previous periods. The consistent narrative in these works has involved the impact of evolving ideas about educational theory and practice on architectural spaces. As more histories are published, the field is broadening beyond its long-standing emphasis on American and English topics and the dominance of English-language publications. This collection of sources, which looks only at primary and secondary education, unfortunately reflects that Anglo-American orientation.