Source: https://static.independent.co.uk/
Have you ever imagined a going to school, and instead of reading and studying all these useless topics you will never make use of in the real world, that it was focused on heath and happiness instead? This is what architect Danish Kurani is trying to achieve in Chennai, India. Riverbend is a new concept of a boarding school is focused on teaching happiness and positivity, as well as including intellectual and physical aspects. Kurani wants to forget about how the learning was made in traditional classrooms by changing the whole design philosophy of what a school is supposed to look like. Gone are the boxy designs of schools with endless hallways filled with classroom doors on both sides. You cannot Pass or Fail a psychometric assessment. They are structured to understand the way you think, analyse and react to the given situations. This new school design is done more organically, with diversifying the look and the functions of the classrooms to leave the children more space for creation and imagination.
The Riverbend School Campus’ design is inspired by a village, where most of our early onset relationships happen best. In the center of this organic interrelation of structures lies the communal spaces, on the outside are the spaces for learning and working, and the last portion would be the housing units.
Source: https://kurani.us/
Although it is designed as a boarding school, the students will be encouraged to go home and spend time with their families on weekends. Riverbend’s philosophy believes that there are so many values and skills children can learn from their parents and they don’t want opportunity that to be taken away from their students.
To report on the progress of this unconventional style of teaching, researchers will be working at the school to track and report on its practices and send these studies to the global education community to see the benefits of these modern risks they are taking.
The school is expected to be fully operational by 2020.
