You can watch the thirteenth Parlour LAB here!

In Parlour LAB 13 Dr Angela Kreutz and Dr Raechel French introduced us to the concept of affordances, which are action possibilities in the relation between people and a space or object. Affordances are not formal properties of spaces (such as the walls are green), but are defined by the relationship between a person using the space and the space itself (for example, a door affords opening if you can reach the handle). Angela suggested that if architects were to shift to designing for affordances, rather than form or appearance, we may be prompted with a set of questions that will help us design better. However, she also reminded us that we need to take the context, including cultural context, into account when thinking about affordances, as this changes what is possible. Raechel also reminded us that no matter how innovative or relevant the designs produced are, if school management, leadership or pedagogy is at odds with how the space is intended to be used, the spaces will not function well.

A key message from Raechel is to invest in relationships among teachers and between teachers and leadership. If you provide spaces for teachers to like and trust each other, they will be more likely to take new opportunities into their teaching. Angela prompted us to think about the connection between indoor learning spaces and outdoor play spaces; there is an opportunity for play in learning and unstructured settings for learning. Angela asked us to listen to young people’s voices when designing with/for them.