Changing Era, Expanding School

(Redefining School through Openness and Community)

In a rapidly expanding urban landscape and a society undergoing profound structural shifts, schools can no longer remain as closed institutions dedicated solely to education. Schools must be redefined as open community platforms—places that reflect contemporary needs and actively engage with the surrounding urban fabric. Although the names and purposes of schools have evolved throughout history, their physical form has remained largely unchanged. In ancient Greece, the Agora, and in the Middle East, the Madrasa, schools once functioned as open civic arenas where people gathered to debate and share knowledge. However, since the modern era, schools have solidified into structures driven by efficiency and control. As a result, the spatial form used by our grandparents a century ago still persists today. Rural schools struggle to fill empty classrooms as student numbers decline, while urban schools repeatedly reduce playground areas and construct taller buildings to compensate for limited space—an ongoing and contradictory pattern.

“People shape buildings, and buildings shape people.” – Winston Churchill

As this quote suggests, the environment in which students spend their time profoundly influences their thinking and emotional development. Previous generations spent their school years playing in wide-open yards and interacting with nature, but today’s students disperse to academies and apartment buildings after school, gradually losing contact with natural environments. As school buildings grow taller and playgrounds shrink, students have fewer opportunities to step outside, receive sunlight, or move their bodies even during short breaks. This shift represents more than a simple architectural change—it has become an educational concern that diminishes students’ emotional and physical growth. At the same time, the structural closedness of schools deepens their separation from the community, turning them into isolated islands within the city. These conditions make it difficult to redefine school spaces in ways that respond to contemporary needs, placing significant constraints on efforts to restore their essential public character and openness.

 

1. Redefining School Space – From Education to City, From Closed to Open

This project seeks to overcome these limitations by redefining the school as a community hub that is directly connected to the city. A school should not function solely as a place of learning; it should become a multifunctional platform where citizens learn, interact, and share everyday life. Within schools already exist numerous spaces with the potential to be shared with the community: playgrounds, auditoriums, libraries, music rooms, studios, and study rooms can all serve as public resources once classes end. The core challenge is determining how to open these spaces safely and flexibly. Because schools must balance public value with the responsibility of student safety, complete openness is not possible. Therefore, a phased system of openness that adapts to the character of each space is required.

 

2. Integration of Urban Schools – From Fragmented to Unified, Toward a Collaborative Platform

In contemporary cities, kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools are dispersed across different locations. While this provides benefits in accessibility and diversity, limited urban land makes it difficult for schools to function as community hubs. Urban schools, in particular, face spatial restrictions such as small playgrounds, duplicated facilities, and a lack of publicly shared areas. For this reason, this project proposes consolidating educational institutions from kindergarten through high school into a single Integrated Campus. A connected educational district enables collaboration between schools and creates an urban learning platform where interaction across age groups becomes possible. To address the chronic shortage of urban playgrounds, a large Integrated Playground is placed at the heart of the campus. Serving as a physical education space during school hours and a civic plaza for leisure, relaxation, and social interaction after school, this integrated outdoor environment becomes a shared axis where the city and the school converge. Additionally, a Community Learning Center is incorporated into the campus to support cultural, artistic, and technical programs for both students and citizens. Students gain opportunities for learning beyond the formal curriculum, while citizens access lifelong learning infrastructure—expanding the role of education into the broader community.

 

3. H.M.S System – A Flexible Operational Structure Enabled by Layered Openness

Because schools cannot fully open all spaces to the public, this project introduces the H.M.S System (Hard–Mild–Soft), a phased spatial framework that maintains the school’s essential functions while enabling controlled openness. Hard Space consists of core interior areas such as classrooms, teacher offices, study rooms, and student lounges—protected zones that shape the school’s identity and support its daily operations. Mild Space expands underutilized interior areas outward into semi-indoor shared zones including studios, music rooms, small libraries, auditoriums, and study rooms. These spaces are accessible to citizens after school, functioning as transitional buffers that link the school with the surrounding community. Soft Space removes physical barriers by integrating the school’s playgrounds and plazas into a fully open green landscape. On weekends and after school, this area transforms into an urban park and community sports ground, ensuring that the school remains a safe, active public platform rather than a dark and vacant space. Together, these three spatial layers connect interior, intermediate, and exterior zones, creating a hybrid structure that balances closure and openness.

 

4. The Open Urban School – A Future Model for Public Space

This project reinterprets the school not simply as an educational facility, but as a living structure that enhances the city’s resilience and strengthens community networks. During weekdays, students use the campus for learning and exploration; after school and on weekends, the fountain plaza and integrated playground become vibrant spaces where citizens gather, rest, and interact. The school transforms into an open platform operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No longer an isolated institution behind walls, the school becomes a living community hub where students and citizens grow together. This new school model signals a transition from a closed educational era to an open urban one. Schools must become public grounds shared by the city and its citizens. At the core of this transformation lies the H.M.S System, which reorganizes school spaces to meet contemporary needs while preserving the essence of education. This system enables the school to function as a living organism and presents a new vision for a future community campus where students and citizens learn and evolve together.