Feature
Designing for student wellness
Experts are focussing on designs and architecture in an endeavour to promote student’s mental health and well-being By Roma Arora Over the course of the years, academic experts have observed a strong relationship between student wellness and positive academic performance. The fact of the matter is, while it is true that a person’s well-being is largely influenced by their environment, the opposite is equally true. Educational institutes such as universities, schools, and kindergartens are often misinterpreted as office buildings for the “little ones” with the focus on spatial efficiency; a notion that unfortunately does not give consideration to the many facets of learning and teaching. A good learning environment needs more than a battery of classrooms and a corridor inbetween. We believe that an improvement of educational design – which is the base for the student’s well-being - is merely achieved by simply decorating spaces, but by a more holistic approach to incorporate the many aspects of a healthy learning environment. For students, this means that the educational facility they attend, and more specifically the classrooms where they spend the majority of their days, are both impactful on and impacted by
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their behaviours and well-being. The relationship is truly one of back and forth; when students feel comfortable in their environments, it reflects positively on their academic records and performances as well as the way they maintain and relate with their immediate environment, including their classrooms and peers.
The making of an effective modern classroom When it comes to designing for educational facilities, there are many factors to consider. Altug Ajun, executive director at ATI Consultants, Architects & Engineers, says: “Aside from traditional architectural constrictions, the students’ physical, mental, and social health play the biggest roles. Small Learning Community (SLC), a school organizational model that subdivides large school populations into smaller, autonomous groups of students and teachers, is already showing a surge in popularity as it encourages a more direct approach and gives students closer attention. To complement this model, design experts are
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