폭스에듀케이션 | FoxEducation

The construction of a new building presented an opportunity to redefine the role of the library within Aiglon College. The teaching staff wanted to bring it firmly into the heart of the school, creating a space that was open, inviting, supporting and included a makerspace. The idea was to ensure the library was an expression of one of the school’s Guiding Principles, which encourages its students to be ‘inquisitive and motivated learners, able to reach an understanding of the world around them through rigorous and critical thinking and the acquisition of a strong body of knowledge’.

What students said:

Upon meeting some of the students it was apparent how much they enjoyed their location, high in the Swiss Alps, and the stunning views from the balcony. They said they’d like to be able to curl up on the balcony with a hot chocolate and a good book, enjoying fresh air and the beautiful mountain outlook.

Solution:

All three of the zones in the Centre for Enquiry have access to outsidespace and not just because the students like it: physical movement and being in a natural environment are both proven to boost cognitive performance. The school had considered extending the library into the space occupied by the balcony but its benefits to learning and the students’ reaction convinced them otherwise.

A defined area with tiered seating and individual tables where you might find a sixth former working on an extended project for their IB, a group gathering for a plenary session or, for example, a presentation from a visiting author or guest. The mobile tiered seating can be moved in order to subdivide the space, or to create a tightly focused arena for presentations or readings. This space also has mobile Learning Surface® Bite tables with flip tops so they can be nested to the side to create clear space. This is an area where students can move around, choosing how and where they want to work.

At the heart of the Centre for Enquiry, you find a zone replete with books and nooks for reading where you can enjoy some alone time. Rather than a librarian looming, sentry-like, at the entrance, the Centre for Enquiry runs on a trust system and students check out their own books. Support is at hand but in a more relaxed, ambient supervisory fashion. Rather than owning fixed territory, staff use trolleys as mobile, personal storage units and move them to wherever they wish to work. A central tucked away storage area provides space for storing and processing books. One side of this zone has study booths and tub chairs – it’s a sophisticated, grown-up study space reserved for the sixth-form and feels like a first-class aircraft cabin. Opposite is the café area where you’ll find books on travel and cookery as well as graphic novels. With comfortable sofas and coffee tables this is a relaxed and social space. Books still play a key role in the Centre for Enquiry, but the collection has been streamlined (students can request books from the archive if they are not on the shelves) to free up space for knowledge creation and exploration.

At the opposite end of the library to the quiet study zone is the makerspace, which is where the hands-on exploration and self-directed, practical learning happens. On one side you’ll find 3D printers, workbenches, green screen and ceiling-mounted power with pull-down cables complemented by soft seating and tiered seating (for instruction and demonstrations), with book storage in the back. The opposite side is dedicated to paper: printers, cutting mats, tools for laminating, collating and binding, plus recycling bins. The central area of the makerspace zone is a clear space for demonstrating your creations, with a chalkboard paint floor so you can measure how far your elastic band car / paper plane / robot gets. In this space the balcony could act as a drop zone for experiments involving gravity.

The construction of a new building presented an opportunity to redefine the role of the library within Aiglon College. The teaching staff wanted to bring it firmly into the heart of the school, creating a space that was open, inviting, supporting and included a makerspace.

The idea was to ensure the library was an expression of one of the school’s Guiding Principles, which encourages its students to be ‘inquisitive and motivated learners, able to reach an understanding of the world around them through rigorous and critical thinking and the

acquisition of a strong body of knowledge’.

From its original modest quarters across the road from the main campus, the library now occupies a whole floor of a Swiss chalet-style teaching block right in the centre of the school. The Centre for Enquiry, as the new space is known, marks the evolution of the library from somewhere you might go to borrow a book to an expansive hub of learning; an engaging, interactive social space, where you create as well as acquire knowledge. With social zones, a café area, a fully equipped makerspace and tiered seating where groups can gather, it’s a paradigm shift from the traditional library concept.

What students said:

Upon meeting some of the students it was apparent how much they enjoyed their location, high in the Swiss Alps, and the stunning views from the balcony.

They said they’d like to be able to curl up on the balcony with a hot chocolate and a good book, enjoying fresh air and the beautiful mountain outlook.

Solution:

All three of the zones in the Centre for Enquiry have access to outsidespace and not just because the students like it: physical movement and being in a natural environment are both proven to boost cognitive performance.

The school had considered extending the library into the space occupied by the balcony but its benefits to learning and the students’ reaction convinced them otherwise.

A defined area with tiered seating and individual tables where you might find a sixth former working on an extended project for their IB, a group gathering for a plenary session or, for example, a presentation from a visiting author or guest. The mobile tiered seating can be moved in order to subdivide the space, or to create a tightly focused arena for presentations or readings. This space also has mobile Learning Surface® Bite tables with flip tops so they can be nested to the side to create clear space. This is an area where students can move around, choosing how and where they want to work.

At the heart of the Centre for Enquiry, you find a zone replete with books and nooks for reading where you can enjoy some alone time. Rather than a librarian looming, sentry-like, at the entrance, the Centre for Enquiry runs on a trust system and students check out their own books. Support is at hand but in a more relaxed, ambient supervisory fashion. Rather than owning fixed territory, staff use trolleys as mobile, personal storage units and move them to wherever they wish to work. A central tucked away storage area provides space for storing and processing books. One side of this zone has study booths and tub chairs – it’s a sophisticated, grown-up study space reserved for the sixth-form and feels like a first-class aircraft cabin. Opposite is the café area where you’ll find books on travel and cookery as well as graphic novels. With comfortable sofas and coffee tables this is a relaxed and social space. Books still play a key role in the Centre for Enquiry, but the collection has been streamlined (students can request books from the archive if they are not on the shelves) to free up space for knowledge creation and exploration.

At the opposite end of the library to the quiet study zone is the makerspace, which is where the hands-on exploration and self-directed, practical learning happens.

On one side you’ll find 3D printers, workbenches, green screen and ceiling-mounted power with pull-down cables complemented by soft seating and tiered seating (for instruction and demonstrations), with book storage in the back. The opposite side is dedicated to paper: printers, cutting mats, tools for laminating, collating and binding, plus recycling bins. The central area of the makerspace zone is a clear space for demonstrating your creations, with a chalkboard paint floor so you can measure how far your elastic band car / paper plane / robot gets. In this space the balcony could act as a drop zone for experiments involving gravity.

THE RESULT

From its original modest quarters across the road from the main

campus, the library now occupies a whole floor of a Swiss chalet-style

teaching block right in the centre of the school.

The Centre for Enquiry, as the new space is known, marks the evolution

of the library from somewhere you might go to borrow a book to an

expansive hub of learning; an engaging, interactive social space,

where you create as well as acquire knowledge.

With social zones, a café area, a fully equipped makerspace and tiered

seating where groups can gather, it’s a paradigm shift from the

traditional library concept.