Scotland’s Building Excellence programme is exploring the implications of curriculum reform for school building design. It includes events which bring together teachers, designers, school managers and local authorities.

Austria is one of 10 countries involved in the OECD CERI (Centre for Educational Research and Innovation) Environment and School Initiatives (ENSI) project. Begun in 1986, ENSI is one of the first international projects to promote development and research in ambitious, environment-oriented...

The Austrian Institute for School and Sport Facilities (ÖISS), responsible for providing the country with guidelines, information and consultation in the field of school building, places special emphasis on school grounds. The ÖISS works to raise awareness of the importance of school grounds...

The legislative framework of the Italian education system has changed radically over the past five years. After decades of announcing, discussing, proposing and experimenting with reform, the school of tomorrow is rapidly becoming a reality. Is it possible today to construct school buildings...

The Torcy Junior High School is located on the outskirts of the new town of Marne la Vallée in the Paris suburbs, between a motorway and a stretch of ordinary countryside on a site overlooking a small lake. Special attention was paid to its geographic setting and to the various aspects of its...

The government of New Zealand delegates property expenditure decisions to each individual school. Such a decentralised environment creates a challenge for school boards and principals to obtain advice on the complex issues around designing schools. To inform schools, the Ministry of Education...

Greece’s School Buildings Organisation (SBO) is developing bioclimatic pilot schemes which are yielding positive results. Bioclimatic action has been one of the principal priorities of Greek school infrastructure planning since 2004. Among the activities undertaken by SBO to use renewable...

The School for the Physical City was built in an office building in the central business district of Manhattan for 500 students, in grades 7 through 12, who use the city’s infrastructure as a vehicle for studying traditional academic disciplines. It is one of the new, small theme schools...

Hungary’s Belvárosi Tanoda Secondary School offers an informal, flexible environment and alternative teaching methods for students who have had problems in other schools. The Belvárosi Tanoda (which translates as downtown school) is a second chance school for students who have dropped out of...