Block Puzzle

General Layout

How many different ways can school buildings be arranged? It may at first seem that there are an infinite number of possibilities but most schools will have their main buildings or blocks set out in one of just a few common arrangements.

Arranging Spaces

Analyse a floor plan of your own school and consider which of the following descriptions best fits the arrangement of its various parts:

• Campus arrangement

A Campus might be spacious and airy : but quite windswept and exposed in winter perhaps?

• Now think about which spaces should be next to each other
• What are the advantages?
• Can you think of disadvantages?
• Perhaps you can think of other arrangements?

• Street Plan

Streets may offer opportunities for communal arcades but how long must they be and what will this mean for lesson change-over time?

• Now think about which spaces should be next to each other
• What are the advantages?
• Can you think of disadvantages?
• Perhaps you can think of other arrangements?

• Main Square

Squares can be intimate and create good social areas but will they be cramped and need multi-storey blocks to make them work at all?

• Now think about which spaces should be next to each other
• What are the advantages?
• Can you think of disadvantages?
• Perhaps you can think of other arrangements?