Architecture as the Fourth Teacher

Abstract

The image of a typical Ghanaian basic school is predictable: rows of age-segregated and unitized classrooms arrayed along a corridor, with interiors gridded by tables and chairs. This architectural type is actualized by a standardized educational curriculum, a historically colonial influenced, teacher-centric “talk and chalk” model. These schools prioritize efficiency and conformity to the exclusion of all other modes of learning, a condition perpetuated by its strict and monotonous architecture. The introduction of a formalized education model in the country was reinforced through the imposition of conformity under colonialism. The first schools were established in colonial forts – lasting symbols of imperial control and oppression. Even post-colonial education is modeled after the British system, with buildings that follow the tenants of Tropical Modernism, further evidencing layers of conformity in curriculum, culture, and architecture. If this highly formalized and strict curriculum has produced a particular type of architecture and citizen, could a new type of curriculum and its attendant architecture counter this?

This thesis argues for a translation of non-standardized educational models and philosophies – Reggio-Emilia, Waldorf, Montessori, Emergent, etc. – into a new intrinsic architecture that better reflects its context, culture and native teaching methods. Set against the fishing community of James Town, this new typology challenges the standardized curriculum, which is homogenized and non-contextual, by introducing site-specific craftsmanship and vocation into the school complex. This pairing of a non-conformist curriculum with an equally transformative architecture constitutes a new type of school that fosters learning in all its spaces.