Playful learning is at the heart of St. Andrew’s Scots School. For the bilingual IB school in Buenos Aires, Rosan Bosch Studio has created a holistic learning landscape that activates the school’s Scottish heritage and sets the framework for students’ growth and development.
Imbued with characteristic Scottish landmarks, the design creates a learning journey through the flat beaches of the lowlands to the rocky and untamed highlands. Set in Argentina, a lot of the imaginative designs have been customized specifically for the newly built campus.
In kindergarten and early years, the students are grouped around the open beach-inspired areas of the Lowlands. The environment offers a flexible and comfortable learning space with padded surfaces, ideal for romping and movement. Each beach has a distinctive coral sculpture to give the space identity and promote a playful learning atmosphere.
With the imaginative design, the learning environment sparks the children’s curiosity, make them wonder and excited about their first steps on their life-long learning journey.
Integrated lightboxes in the wooden podiums give the youngest students a place to train fine motor control by tracing and drawing patterns on their own.
As the students grow older, they move on to the Highlands where their territory gradually expands, offering them more choice and autonomy in the learning activities.
Inspired by the sculptural rocks along the Scottish coast, the hexagonal basalt columns present an intriguing learning setting. Here, students can work in groups, gather for presentation or find shelter to concentrate on their own in between the towering pillars.
In the differentiated learning environment of the Highlands, the students can work hands-on in the makers' lab, present in the circular Nessie theatre and exhibit their work on the platforms of the exhibition forests.
The open and shared learning environments of St. Andrew’s Scots School have both bookable and unbookable spaces. The flexibility gives the teachers opportunities to plan according to the needs of the students – and improvise as new learning space needs arise during a project.
In the learning landscapes, the students are encouraged to explore and learn how to learn independently. The new campus design gives the school a unique identity and fosters the development of 21st Century Skills.
FACTS
St. Andrew’s Scots School was established by Scottish immigrants in 1838.