Dreaming Allowed, University of Westminster

Location
London
Client
University of Westminster
Cardiff University
Completion
2024
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Students as co-creators of learning spaces

Dreaming Allowed brought together staff, students, researchers and our architects and interior designers to co-produce a reimagined classroom at University of Westminster (UoW)’s Regent Street Campus, with the goal to address a critical alignment gap between university learning spaces and student learning experiences.

The project is a partnership between UoW and Cardiff University’s Future Learning Environments (FLE) research team, led by Dr Hiral Patel and supported by Stride Treglown, and creates a physical intervention of UoW’s ‘Student Partnership Framework’; where students and staff come together to shape their journeys through higher education.

Process and outcomes

Using FLE’s ‘Learning-Space Aligner Framework’, Dreaming Allowed entailed a range of creative exercises with UoW student ambassadors to understand their learning experiences, before developing shared visions for the reimagined classroom. Stride Treglown then translated the ideas from prototypes into architectural designs.

The first outcome is ‘The Knowledge Garden’ (pictured), a prototype classroom that challenges conventional teaching and learning practices through inclusive, authentic, and creative pedagogical approaches. Where traditional classrooms are often just a background—or container— ‘The Knowledge Garden’ is an active participant in the learning process, where students and staff can activate the space for (and through) their learning activities. The space use will be observed and adapted as necessary to respond to students’ needs.

Secondly, the process created five key design principles—specific to UoW’s student partnership commitment—centred around the themes of Nature, Play, Community, Curiosity, and Home. These design principles can be adopted by other spaces and services on the UoW campus.

Finally, the process developed through the ‘Learning-Space Aligner Framework’ offers a practical pathway for institutions to implement student partnership strategies when designing and managing university estates.

Photography © Rob Parrish