Gone are the days when schools and libraries were large, impersonal institutions of learning. Today, architects are pushing the boundaries of learning spaces, putting kids in environments that we may not recognize as a school. Instead of a drab classroom, students are now learning in bizarre environments, designed to stimulate their imaginations. When they go to the playground, it’s not to play on a simple jungle gym, but to interact with objects and materials that create new and exciting discoveries each time they’re outside.
Learn for Life: New Architecture for New Learning chronicles some of the most exciting of these projects, from an outdoor library in Germany to a park made of recycled materials from oil rigs. We’ve chosen some of the most fun and interesting of the projects, which you can see in the slide show above. Perhaps youth is not wasted on the young, after all.
