Life Within Architecture From Design Process To Space Use

Life within architecture from design process to space use
Adaptability in school buildings today – A methodological approach
Carolina da Graça Cúrdia Lourenço Coelho
PhD Thesis in Architecture

supervised by Professor Mário Júlio Teixeira Krüger
and co-supervised by Professor Teresa Frederica Tojal de Valsassina Heitor
and presented to the Department of Architecture,
Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra
November 2017
Cover Image
Quinta das Flores School, Coimbra, Portugal, 2017 © Carolina Coelho

The research for this dissertation beneÀted from the Ànancial support of a Doctoral grant given by FCT - Fundaçmo para a Cirncia e a Tecnologia under the program
Q5(N-P2PH-Tipologia 1-Formaçmo Avançada, co-Ànanced by the (uropean Social Fund and by the national funds of the Portuguese Ministry of (ducation and Science
TITLE
Life within architecture from design process to space use
Adaptability in school buildings today – A methodological approach
KEYWORDS
. Adaptability
. Methodology
. School building
. Design process
. Space use
iv
ABSTRACT
Acknowledging school space as an enabler of the teaching and learning process,

this research proposes to problematise the relevance of space use in the learning
environments as a variable to be introduced in the design and spatial adaptability as
a possibility of enhancing that use.
Adaptability copes with the changes brought by the rapid developments from
the pedagogical practices, the curricular options and the information technology,
enabling a more lived educational space, which allocates more diverse activities and
users, within a longer lifecycle.
Despite having been previously studied, namely in the 1970s, adaptability in school
buildings today translates itself onto the current spatial and technical requirements
guided by the contemporary pedagogical practices and a more independent and
creative student proÀle. Therefore, this research intends to identify how the
concept of adaptability in the 21st century secondary schools is understood and
conÀgured and to deÀne a methodology able to observe and describe the condition
of adaptability within this context.
The original methodological approach presented aims to assess the schools’
ability to cope with the pedagogical and social evolving needs and to conclude
on the design attributes that potentially enhance adaptability, for a more lasting
and effective building performance. It systematically introduces procedures from
different epistemological provinces, providing a more extensive analysis on the
building’s description for a more supported retrieval of its adaptability potential,
sequentially as: description of the spatial sample, functional and morphological,
informing on how it supports activity allocation; description of all possible
activity allocations, informing on the pedagogical potential of each educational
environment; description of effective events, informing on actual behaviour and
spatial appropriation on the school; and description of the potential correlations
amongst each stage and transversally on all these variables. This last milestone
enables the retrieval of the school’s adaptability.
As a case study this research assesses space use in a Portuguese contemporary
artistic school, as a hub for a broader school community and a wider range of uses,
amongst which the deÀned methodology will be tested and calibrated.
Finally, the milestones of the proposed methodology are assessed and their
results correlated, in order to understand potential similarities and variances that
might be speciÀc of its application onto the case study, or that might imply more
general correlations between spatial morphology, entropy and effective spatial
fruition. Conclusions also lie on their respective implications towards adaptability,
acknowledging them both in the design and during the school’s fruition and
recognising potential pedagogical, social and cultural changes that might convey life
and learning within a school environment.
v
TÍTULO
A vivência na arquitectura do projecto ao uso
Adaptabilidade no programa escolar de hoje – Uma abordagem metodológica
PALAVRAS-CHAVE
. Adaptabilidade
. Metodologia
. Edifício escolar
. Processo de projecto
. Uso do espaço
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RESUMO
Ao entender o espaço da escola como potenciador do processo de ensino-

aprendi]agem, propomo-nos problemati]ar a importkncia da utili]açmo do espaço
em ambiente escolar como variável para o processo de projecto e a adaptabilidade
espacial como forma de promover esse uso.
A adaptabilidade visa a acomodaçmo da mudança provocada pelos rápidos
desenvolvimentos das práticas pedagógicas, das opções curriculares e da tecnologia
de informaçmo, permitindo assim um espaço educativo mais vivido, que alberga
actividades e utilizadores mais diversos, num ciclo de vida mais extenso.
Apesar de anteriormente estudada, particularmente nos anos de 1970, a
adaptabilidade nos edifícios escolares de hoje traduz as actuais exigrncias espaciais
e tpcnicas, balizadas por práticas pedagógicas contemporkneas e por um perÀl de
aluno mais independente e criativo. Pretende-se, assim, identiÀcar como se considera
e conÀgura este conceito nas escolas secundárias do spculo ;;I e deÀnir uma
metodologia capaz de observar e descrever a condiçmo de adaptabilidade adequada
a este contexto.
A abordagem metodológica original apresentada tem como objectivo aferir a
capacidade da escola em responder às contínuas mudanças pedagógicas e sociais e
concluir sobre os atributos espaciais que potencialmente promovem a adaptabilidade,
para um desempenho mais longo e efectivo do edifício. A metodologia introduz
sistematicamente procedimentos de diferentes campos epistemológicos, permitindo
uma análise mais completa da descriçmo do edifício, visando uma conclusmo mais
suportada quanto à sua adaptabilidade, sequencialmente da seguinte forma:
descriçmo da amostra espacial, funcional e morfológica, informando sobre como
esta suporta a alocaçmo espacial; descriçmo de todas as possíveis alocações de
actividades, informando sobre o potencial pedagógico de cada ambiente educativo;
descriçmo da fruiçmo efectiva, informando sobre a experirncia e a apropriaçmo do
espaço no edifício escolar; e descriçmo das potenciais correlações em cada etapa
e transversalmente entre todas estas variáveis. Esta última etapa permite concluir
sobre a adaptabilidade do espaço da escola.
Enquanto caso de estudo, avaliar-se-á o uso do espaço numa escola portuguesa
artística de hoje, como agregadora de uma comunidade escolar mais ampla e de um
leque de usos mais alargado, na qual se irá testar e calibrar a metodologia deÀnida.
Por Àm, as etapas da metodologia proposta smo aferidas e os seus resultados
correlacionados, no sentido de perceber semelhanças e variantes que possam ser
especíÀcas da sua aplicaçmo no caso de estudo, ou que possam implicar correlações
mais gerais entre morfologia do espaço, entropia e fruiçmo espacial efectiva.
As conclusões residem também nas suas respectivas implicações para com a
adaptabilidade, compreendendo-as tanto em projecto como durante a real fruiçmo
da escola e reconhecendo as eventuais mudanças pedagógicas, sociais e culturais
que possam pautar a vida e a aprendizagem dentro do edifício escolar.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This Doctoral Thesis results from a research path, which has come across several
people, often set in different geographic locations and different time limes on this
research, whose thoughts and actions, either more speciÀcally or more frequently,
from an academic or more informal manner, have contributed to this Ànal document.
To whom I have more to thank for are my Thesis Supervisors: Professor Mário
Krüger and Professor Teresa Heitor. I would like to express my deepest gratitude
towards Professor Mário Krüger, my mentor, whose widespread knowledge and
critical thinking have always been an extraordinary example of how several research
cultures and authors could be thought, critically and holistically, always aiming to
knowledge advancement within architecture. I have to thank Professor Mário
Krüger’s critical remarks on my work and all the challenges set and, foremost,
for showing me with such certainty where my path lies. No words could ever be
enough to express the honour that has been to have had the opportunity to be
supervised by Professor Mário Krüger, to be able to exchange thoughts and ideas
on the subjects under study and the testimonies on the Anglo-Saxon context and
respective research culture, and to have had the opportunity to lecture and to learn
during the Theory of Architecture classes on the Department of Architecture, who
we all acknowledge. It has been my biggest challenge to be taught by Professor
Mário Krüger, and surely by biggest honour.
To Professor Teresa Heitor also lies my deepest thank you, for making me advance
further and further, for presenting me with all the possibilities, for her wisest
conjectures on this research question and for sharing with me her approach to it. I
thank Professor Teresa Heitor for believing in the contemporaneity of this proposal,
its originality and its making, under a shared research interest and common academic
beliefs. It has been with the deepest admiration and humility that I have had Professor
Teresa Heitor’s extensive support and knowledgeable feedback for this study.
The contribution of Dr. William Fawcett since our initial contacts via email in April
2011 until more recent developments, have been paramount for the development
of this Doctoral Thesis whose state of the art lies very signiÀcantly in Fawcett’s
1978 Doctoral Thesis A Mathematical Approach to Adaptability in Buildings from the
University of Cambridge. Having been able to access his work on adaptability, as
well as the acknowledgement of his later developments on that behalf, have been
true opportunities that I deeply have to thank for. Moreover, Dr. William Fawcett’s
attentive reading of some of my papers and his critical remarks have been most
signiÀcant for the further development of this research and its contemporary and
original assessment.
viii
I also thank the architect José Paulo dos Santos for his availability in receiving me,
explaining me his work and the context of Quinta das Flores School rehabilitation
and for the interview that was kindly possible to be held in his ofÀce. I also thank
him very much for attentively reviewing the interview’s transcription and for
authorising its insertion in this Thesis as a support and as an original primary source
for the thoughts exposed throughout.
From Quinta das Flores School and the Music Conservatory of Coimbra, this
Thesis case study, the understanding and cooperative role of both theirs Directors
at the time of the research, Professor Ana Margarida Marques and Professor Manuel
Rocha, respectively, have been crucial for the undertaking of the methodology here
proposed, from our multiple reunions from early 2011, to the preparations of all
the procedures and the gathering of all the authorisations needed for entering
the School’s premises, recording the uses and the users’ feedback and actually
experiencing space has been truly fundamental. Along with their support, I also
express a word of gratitude towards all the school community. The students, for
their openness in portraying their lives within the School, the Student Association of
Quinta das Flores School and the Student Association of the Music Conservatory
for their eager in participating on the focus groups, their openness and availability
and for providing their photographic records of the Conservatory events, namely
by António Godinho and Mariana Veiga. Besides, the remaining Direction board
of both the School and the Conservatory, namely the then Vice-Director Catarina
Peixinho, who have all collaborated with this study. Also, the teachers and staff,
particularly the ones who were available to show the school’s spaces and to elaborate
on them and on the people’s routines in space, that have also been signiÀcant.
SpeciÀcally, I thank Inrs Pedruco, a dance teacher and their students, who have
accepted that I attended their dance class and record it for the purpose of this
Thesis. Furthermore, testimonies such as the one by Cláudia Fernandes, former
artistic student and teacher, enabled a more comprehensive understanding of
individual fruition in the building.
Naturally that a deeper word of acknowledgement goes to the contributors on the

focus groups and the parents of all the children involved that have understood its
relevance and have also authorised their participation. I thank the teachers from
the Conservatory: Helena Ruas, Fausto Moreira, Jaime Barbosa and Samuel Couto
and also the teachers from the School: José Olímpio, Luís Ala, Rosário Agra and
Maria da Luz Santos. I also thank the students from the regular teaching curriculum
that have contributed for the surveys: Joana Catré, Catarina Beirmo, Beatriz
Leite, Francisco Rocha and their respective parents that have authorised their
participation, namely Célia Filipe (Francisco Rocha’s mother) for their motivation
and understating. Finally, I thank the artistic students for their contribution and
for their very particular motivation in regard to depicting their lives within the
building, their critical thinking and interest in expressing their regards: António
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Godinho, Mariana Veiga, Beatriz Ramos, Margarida Lopes, Guilherme Gouveia,
Ricardo Falcmo and Luisa Falcmo. The high involvement of their parents also implies
a word of acknowledgement, particularly for Paula Sá (António Godinho’s mother),
Cláudia Azevedo (Guilherme Gouveia’s mother) and Cristina Fonseca (Ricardo and
Luisa Falcmo’s mother).
For the description of effective spatial fruition the team gathered to observe and
record all the procedures undertaken has played a crucial role: Micael Soares,
Stephanie Torres, Daniela Aires, Jéssica Barreto, Maria Catré and Juliana Ferreira. I
thank you all for your enthusiasm, availability and for your extreme rigour on each
task you were given. I could not have chosen a better and more devoted team.
From the beginning of this research, the gathering of all the materials related to
this project were paramount as a basis to work on, from an architectural perspective
on the implementation of this methodology. The supported provided by Parque
Escolar has, therefore, been of extreme relevance, namely by the architects Hugo
Carvalho and SoÀa Reis and also by Dr. Catarina Frazmo for the publication of
photographs of the schools. Besides, the support of Dr. Filipa de Jesus also implies
her acknowledgement for contributing to this Thesis references.
Throughout all this process, there have been many milestones to achieve and relevant
moments of input. The Àrst would have to be the presentation of the Thesis Project
after a year and a half of frequent classes on the Àrst Course on Architectural and
Urban Culture on the Department of Architecture in the University of Coimbra.
This has been presented in February 2012, and has had the critical assessment of
Professor Alexandra Alegre, whose attentive reading and remarks enabled a more
robust research question and a more supported state of the art. Since our initial
contacts regarding Professor Alexandra Alegre’s Doctoral Thesis, to the encounters
on Instituto Superior Técnico, or on several conferences, whose themes we share,
these have been relevant inputs to this Thesis and to the belief of a shared interest.
Also from Instituto Superior Técnico, I thank Professor Ana Tomé and Maria
Bacharel for promptly receiving me and providing me with more detail on the In_
Learning Project and the establishment of potential research synergies.
More recently, all the support from Instituto Superior Técnico concerning the
11th Space Syntax Symposium, namely by Maria Bacharel and Luísa Cannas, has
demonstrated common study Àelds and has contributed to input my personal
research. Also from the this symposium the relevant feedback by Professor Luiz
Amorim on the paper I presented (Coelho and Heitor, 2017) as a systematic outlook
of my Thesis has proven relevant in deepening the space and society’s relation in
regard to Basil Bernstein, also through the work of Claúdia Loureiro (Loureiro,
2000) that Professor Luiz Amorim has provided me with.
x
Besides, from this symposium, another most signiÀcant contact was received on
behalf of Adrian Leaman related to another paper presented there on the early
beginnings of space syntax (Gil and Coelho, 2017), that demonstrates its relevance
and originality, foremost by one of its most prominent intervenients, forty years
after his seminal paper with Bill Hillier (Hillier, Leaman, Stansall and Bedford;
1976). It is also acknowledged Adrian Leaman’s interest and his recognition towards
our work, promoting the pursuit of this theme even further, and his availability for
accomplishing it, as future developments of our research to be continued beyond
this Doctoral Thesis here presented.
Also from the previous 10th Space Syntax Symposium in London in 2015, I thank the input
from professor Bill Hillier, who has attended the session in which the paper that also
underlies my study on the approach of space syntax to entropy was Àrst presented
(Coelho and Krüger, 2015) and who advanced the interest of studying entropy, then
stating that “entropy is a fundamental measure to man”. Prior to this personal contact
with Professor Bill Hillier, an initial one by email has also been successful in regard to
the space syntax within the Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, and the authorisation
for publishing an image on that behalf, for the paper (Coelho, 2013c) and for the
presentation on the Teaching through Design: International Colloquium on Design
Studio Education in 2012. Under this context I also thank Paulo Providrncia and
Gonçalo Canto Moniz for the organisation of that colloquium.
Also from the Bartlett School of Architecture, I thank Kerstin Sailer for the prompt
reply, in 2013, in regard to their work on the Project Effective Workplaces (Sailer,
Budgen, Lonsdale and Penn, 2007a), speciÀcally for the authorisation for publishing
a diagram from that study, provided in high resolution, also within the scope of the
Teaching through Design: International Colloquium on Design Studio Education
in 2012 (Coelho, 2013c). Within the same paper, authorisation has also been given
for publication of images regarding the Larc 503 Design Activism by Ben Spencer
and by Professor Paul Jenkins for two of his diagrams (Jenkins, 2010)
Dillier ScoÀdio Renfro have been most helpful in enabling the publication of
images of their projects for this mentioned colloquium but also for the publishing
of other images for the 11th Conference of the European Architectural Envisioning
Association in Milan in 2013 (Coelho, 2013e). Furthermore, I also thank Atelier
Joana Vasconcelos for the cooperation in publishing an image from their work for
the same conference in Milan.
For the contacts exchanged during the International Conference and Workshop on
Architectural Education - Educating the Future: Architectural Education in International
Perspective 2013 in Istanbul, and all the publications provided also for the Department
of Architecture’s library, I thank Susanne Komossa and Sien Van Dam, from Delft
University of Technology. Also from Delft University of Technology, I thank
Jorge Mejía for his invitation for submitting a paper that has been published within
Writingplace - Laboratory for Architecture and Literature (Coelho and Gil, 2013f).
xi
For the information exchanged from the Arquitectonics Conference in 2013 in Barcelona
(Coelho, 2013b), until the most recently conversations on research cultures, I thank
Professor Josep Muntañola’s very insightful outlook and feedback from both papers
presented at the 11th Space Syntax Symposium, and also the acceptance in publishing my
paper (Coelho, 2017) on the relation between school and learning in the Architecture
and social space. Arquitectonics edited by him. During the same Barcelona conference,
other contributions have been exchanged namely with Professor Michael Holquist
over the work of Mikhail Bakhtin and also with Ramon Carvalho for his suggestions.
From the feedback gathered during the Nexus Conference in Milan in 2012 (Coelho,
2012b), I thank Dr. Maria Zack, and the contact established through her to Jimmy
Hite who has shared some input on his work from the American context of
adaptability. Besides, I also thank the feedback from Professor Cornelie Leopold
and Professor Michael Ostwald within the same conference’s context and further
contacts by email regarding very relevant suggestions.
More recently, I thank David Viana, Frankim Morais and Jorge Vaz for their
welcome and enthusiastic interest for my presentation on the 3rd International
Symposium Formal Methods in Architecture (Coelho, 2016) and future publication
of the full paper.
For the invitation for contributing to the Coimbra Biennial of Contemporary Art
700+25 Architecture at the UniverCity. Anozero’15, I thank Désirée Pedro, José António
Bandeirinha and Nuno Grande in (Coelho, 2015a and 2015b).
For the invitation for submitting a paper for the Ambiances Review, International
Journal of Sensory Environment (Coelho, 2015c), I also thank Eugenio Morello and
Barbara Piga, whose interest on my research started from the presentation in the
11th Conference of the European Architectural Envisioning Association in Milan in 2013
(Coelho, 2013e).
During his stay in Coimbra in November 2015, Anthony Vidler has shown the
interest on my personal research and has provided me with some feedback on it,
particularly with regard to his previous work, which I thank.
As the materials and references were not immediately accessible from Coimbra
regarding the case study and the references on adaptability, both contemporary and
from the state of the art. So, there are some contributors that have provided me
with papers and documents that could be retrieved elsewhere, to whom I thank.
I thank Odete Coelho from the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering for
providing me with a relevant reference for my research and I also thank Françoise
Le Cunff for the help on the search of two documents for the state of the art on the
subject. Besides, Mariana Carvalho has also provided me with the documents that
she has gathered from her study of the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering.
I also thank Ana Moreira for conveying me a very relevant paper on space syntax
xii
from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation library, as well as Raquel Margarido and
Filipe Silva for proving me with a paper from the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development from Paris, otherwise inaccessible from Portugal. I also
thank Susana Faria, a very present friend, for retrieving some essential papers from
the Bartlett School of Architecture and for the references exchanged whenever our
themes crossed each other. Also for the all the synergies found between our works,
I also thank Andrea Vieira as a colleague and a friend.
A word of thank you is also left to all my friends and colleagues whose informal
conversations have often inputted my work and my thoughts. I thank Luís Miguel
Correia, Susana Constantino, Nelson Mota, Miguel Oliva, Dalila Gomes, David Neto.
I also thank the caring friendship and support of Filipa Madeira and her family. The
frequent reunions organised by Professor Mário Krüger amongst all his PhD students
have been relevant sessions for knowledge acquisition and exchange amongst all the
different themes dealt by each PhD candidate, but that often approached our own
interests under common themes and authors. I thank Cristina Castelo Branco, Susana
Faria, Diogo Morato, Joana Maia, Cátia Ramos, Rui Aristides, Rodrigo Holzer de
Brito, Miguel Eufrásia, Andreia Margarido, Ana Tavares, Mariana Couto, Ana Tavares,
Alexandre Oliveira, Ana Aragmo and Joana Capela.
Besides, I also thank all the PhD candidates that have enrolled in the Course on
Architectural and Urban Culture on the Department of Architecture, who have
been my peers and also all the teachers of that Course for their invaluable lectures,
that have created signiÀcant moments of critical thinking and have also been the
start of very relevant professional and personal relations and friendships.
I would also wish to thank Professor José António Bandeirinha for teaching me
so much since my Graduation Thesis, as my supervisor, but also for standing by
my side on most of the Master Thesis that I have co-supervised, for teaching the
students and also for teaching me so much on the contents of approach but also
on their pedagogical conveyance, for the critical thinking on the possible research
questions and how to best respond to them. Foremost, I thank Professor José
António Bandeirinha for teaching me to follow my path, also socially engaged to
architecture, to the city and to the organisation of space towards people.
A word of particular acknowledgement to Gonçalo Canto Moniz, for all the friendly
and trustworthy moments of reÁection provided by our conversations on these
topics, for his support with some references and for the contacts towards a relevant
community of researchers on this Àeld and for his invitation, along with António
Rochette, for joining him in research project applications such as Learning Spaces:
Construction and Transformation of the Secondary School (2015) and Breaking
Walls (2017).
I also thank all my colleagues of the Department of Architecture, with whom

my daily professional life is spent in the Department of Architecture and whose
xiii
interest and companionship have always been so signiÀcant. I thank José António
Bandeirinha, Jorge Figueira, Gonçalo Canto Moniz, Nuno Grande, Rui Lobo,
Carlos Martins, Armando Rabaça, Paulo Providrncia, Pedro Pousada, Susana Lobo,
Adelino Gonçalves, Vítor Murtinho, António Bettencourt, Teresa Pais, Joaquim
de Almeida, António Olaio, António Lousa, Jomo Paulo Cardielos, José Fernando
Gonçalves, Pedro Maurício Borges, Jomo Mendes Ribeiro, Walter Rossa, Margarida
Relvmo, Carlos Antunes and Desirée Pedro. Furthermore, I thank my dear friend
Graça Simões for her constant availability and support.
Still, in the Department of Architecture, I also thank Sílvia Damas, Vanessa França,
Lurdes Figueiredo, Lurdes Eufrásio and António Cardoso that have been so
supportive for so many years.
My recognition also goes ineluctably to Nuno Nina, always available and very
rigorous, but foremost someone I consider a very special friend, with whom I could
always count on.
I also thank all of my students of the Department of Architecture, that has been my
home for so many years, I thank them for their interest and support, for also teaching
me everyday where my life lies and the joy I so honestly take from researching,
learning and lecturing. I thank them for enhancing even further my motivation for
simultaneously complying with lecturing different subjects of Theory and History
of Architecture and accomplishing a Doctoral research. I thank them all, the ones
still studying on the Department of Architecture and who I meet every day and all
the remaining ones, whom I hope to have assisted on their formation as current
architects, in the many ways of professional engagement possible.
I thank the Foundation for Science and Technology for providing me a PhD
scholarship (SFRH/BD/69433/2010) and the Centre for Social Studies and all its
team, for receiving me as the research unity associated with my Doctoral Research.
Finally, my thank you to those who were always a part of this personal and
professional project, that have travelled it alongside with me and have always believe
in it and contributed the most to its achievement and to my accomplishment. I
thank my family, my parents Carlos Coelho and my mother Conceiçmo Coelho,
for acknowledging this as my path and my life, and my grandparents António and
Idalina Coelho for their unconditional support. Also I thank Vasco and Luísa Gil.
To Bruno Gil, my husband, my colleague and my partner in life, I thank you for
sharing with me our past, our present and our future projects, for believing in all
of them. Thank you for being in my life, in each of its multiple layers, for climbing
each step with me and for always wishing for the next one. Thank you.
xiv
To those whom I love.
To those who love me.
To our future…
xv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
. Title iv
. Keywords iv
. Abstract v
. Título vi
. Palavras-chave vi
. Resumo vii
. Acknowledgements viii
1. INITIAL CONSIDERATIONS 1
1.1. Introduction 3
1.2. Motivation and background:
Architecture and Life - conceiving forms of engagement 6
1.3. The research question:
Adaptability as a form of engagement between Architecture and Life 17
1.4. Research objectives 22
1.4.1. General objectives 23
1.4.2. SpeciÀc objectives 24
1.4.3. SpeciÀc objectives regarding the approach on the case study 25
1.5. The case study 27
1.5.1. The Portuguese case study 27
1.5.2. Artistic schools as a speciÀc case study 29
1.5.3. The case study under this research 36
1.6. Methodological approach 45
1.7. Architectural disciplinary scope, relevance and originality of the research 52
1.8. Viability and feasibility 56
xvi
2. STATE OF THE ART AND CRITICAL REVISION OF THE CONCEPT
OF ADAPTABILITY 63
2.1. Adaptability: deÀnition and adjacent concepts 65
2.2. Adaptability in school buildings: approaches for growth and change 109
2.3. Adaptability for contemporary learning practices and environments 165
3. CONSTRUCTION OF THE METHODOLOGY 201

3.1. Space use assessment methodologies 203
3.2. Adaptability assessment methodologies: reviewing previous approaches 259
3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments 329
3.3.1. Description of the school space and how it supports activity allocation 341
3.3.2. Description of all possible activity allocations to educational environments 351
3.3.3. Description of effective events and experience in the school 363
3.3.4. Description of the potential correlations and retrieval of the school’s adaptability 367
4. APPLICATION OF THE METHODOLOGY IN THE CASE STUDY 373

Quinta das Flores School in Coimbra, Portugal
4.1. Presentation and justiÀcation of the chosen case study 375
4.2. The sequential procedure for the application of the methodology 405
4.2.1. Description of the school space and how it supports activity allocation 407
4.2.2. Description of all possible activity allocations to educational environments 479
4.2.3. Description of effective events and experience in the school 515
4.3. Systematisation of the results: Description of the potential correlations and
retrieval of the school’s adaptability 685
5. CONCLUSION 735
5.1. Revision of the concept of adaptability for contemporary school buildings 737
5.2. Assessment and validation of the methodology 739
5.3. Critical analysis of the results and potential future developments 750
BIBLIOGRAPHY 769
. SpeciÀc bibliography 774
. Books and publications in books 774
. Periodic publications and articles 800
. Publications regarding artistic schools 810
. Publications regarding the case study 813
. General bibliography 815
. Personal publications 818
INDEX OF IMAGES AND CREDITS 821
xvii
1. INITIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Introduction
1.1. Introduction
“You cannot talk about a corridor being narrow without making assumptions about
how buildings are used.” (Fawcett, 1995, p.8)
The Thesis presented is a result of a speciÀc research that took place since 2010,
but that has been previously supported by a strong motivation and a comprehensive
background on studies related to spatial experience and appropriation, space-use
reciprocity, participatory design processes and user research studies, throughout
the all Course for the Degree of Architecture. These studies culminated in the
Graduate Thesis The matter of the architect: the Portuguese society and the architect, today,
presented in the University of Coimbra in 2008, supervised by Professor José
António Bandeirinha and argued, on its Ànal presentation, by Professor Mário
Krüger, which already discussed the role of the architect and its interconnection to
society and the bond between space and life within.
Following Popper’s (19751) line of thought on the third world of the logical
relations between space and society, the Graduate Thesis aimed to answer some
of the questions that a yet to be architect would place, namely what are the needs
and wants expected to be answered by the architect and what are the answers the
architect expects to pursue towards answering society’s requirements.
Still, that Thesis already implied future developments and the investigation of a
speciÀc hypothesis, under a Doctoral Research in a near future. At this stage, this
Doctoral Thesis aims to deepen the knowledge on this embedded bond under a
speciÀc approach on a particular research question to be presented on chapter 1.3.
The research question.
The main title aims to resume all these motivations, focusing on the deep relation
between life and architecture, considered to be of signiÀcant relevance throughout all
the lifecycle extent of space, from the design process by the architect, to space use by
the inhabitants.
Besides, the sub-title aims to present the speciÀcity of this particular agenda from
1
First edition in English from 1972.
3
Initial Considerations
the more general interest of the main title, the case study and the time frame of the
Thesis, by referring to Adaptability in school buildings today.
In what concerns the Keywords, the chosen ones relate to the main issues in which
this Thesis centres around: Adaptability is the variable to be analysed; Methodology
implies the sequential means and stages by which adaptability will be analysed and
consists of a signiÀcant part of this Thesis, as it presents an original set of procedures
to undertake in order to determine adaptability within today’s pedagogical model
and educational spaces; School building is the brief and the building typology in which
the methodology will be applied in; and it is considered that adaptability is a variable
that concerns all the lifecycle extent of the building that, when considered during
the Design process, provides a longer and broader Space use from its future inhabitants.
This research is also supported by the contents provided during the Àrst three
semesters of the Course on Architectural and Urban Culture from the Department
of Architecture of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of
Coimbra, in which several subjects have been lectured and the Thesis Project more
clearly deÀned, from the classes and all the papers undertaken, from September
2010 to February 2012.
In fact, all the subjects lectured during this Course allowed to better inform this
issue already identiÀed as the research problematics, to broaden the data on the
state of the art, to widen the knowledge on the study area and respective authors
of reference, to realise other adjacent issues and study Àelds and to understand
their afÀnities and complementary contents for the current matter. It also provided
a development of the arguing skills, and foremost the abilities for researching and
reÁecting upon the contents, fundamental for the pursuit of the Third Cycle Studies.
The frequency of these three semesters entitled the Candidate with a Diploma of
Advanced Studies on Architecture. This process culminated in its Ànal presentation
in February 2012, with the presence of Professor Teresa Valsassina Heitor as Thesis
Co-Supervisor, Professor Maria Alexandra Alegre as Examiner and Professor Nuno
Grande as President of the Jury.
Throughout this research, academic papers have also been produced under the scope
of international conferences and publications such as: Nexus Conference (Milan 2012),
International Colloquium Teaching through Design (Coimbra, 2013), Arquitectonics Network
(Barcelona, 2013), Conference of the European Architectural Envisioning Association (Milan,
2013), International Journal of Sensory Environment (2015), International Symposium Formal
Methods in Architecture (Porto, 2015) and International Space Syntax Symposium (London,
2015; Lisbon, 2017)2. This attests the academic interest on the research question
and peer acceptance and validation on the work produced during this process.
2
All the personal publications are listed in the Ànal chapter of the Bibliography.
4
Introduction
Finally, this Thesis is presented with the Centre for Social Studies as the associated
Research Laboratory and has had a grant from the Foundation for Science and
Technology (SFRH/BD/69433/2010).
The following chapter aims to present and justify the choices made throughout
the remaining document of this Thesis, considering that a whole introductory
text comprising all the considerations here presented would need to be structured
into less extensive and speciÀc texts. That explains the need to section the Initial
Considerations chapter into eight topics for clariÀcation of each individual situation
that leads to the Ànal result on this Thesis’ following chapters, holding the main
contents’ relevance clariÀed in the Àrst.
This current Thesis is written in UK English and the references presented in the text and in the
Bibliography are cited in APA style (American Psychological Association). The quotes have been
presented in English, mostly through the reading of the versions translated to English. When
Portuguese, French or any foreign language quotes are needed, they have been translated by the
author of this Thesis to English for better understanding by non-speakers of those languages. In
these cases the original version is added in a footnote on that page.
5
1.2. Motivation and background:

Architecture and Life - conceiving forms of engagement
“Architecture has its own realm. It has a special physical relationship with life. I do
not think of it primarily as either a message or a symbol, but as an envelope and
background for life which goes on in and around it, a sensitive container for the
rhythm of footsteps on the Áoor, for the concentration of work, for the silence of
sleep.” (Zumthor, 1988, p.1)
This initial text aims at providing a background understanding and critical

reÁection upon the possibilities of engagement between Architecture and Life,
so the subsequent ones may speciÀcally present the concept of adaptability as
a form of that engagement, considered in the design of space and experienced
throughout its fruition.
Overall, the living experience is deeply embedded in architecture, as a feature but

foremost as a signiÀcant part of its being, to be thought while conceiving the initial
drafts until its effective occupancy. The interconnection between space and the
body is profoundly embedded in architecture and is understated when describing,
conceiving and assessing its spatial outcome. This condition can consider space as
a stage for action to happen, but also and upmost as an enhancer of the interaction
between space and body, the self and the contextual surroundings, and ultimately,
architecture and people3.
Straightaway, it becomes quite signiÀcant to highlight the different terms and their
respective meanings, used from this point on and throughout the all Thesis. The
initial concept used for this research has been the Portuguese word vivência, whose
3
This approach on the connection between Architecture and Life has been presented in the 11th conference of the
European Architectural Envisioning Association, in 25-28 September 2013, Milan, for testing and academic validation.
It has also been published in the Conference’s proceedings as: Coelho, C. (2013). Designing and assessing the
living experience from brief to use. In E. Morello; B. Piga (Eds.). Envisioning Architecture: Design, Evaluation,
Communication- Proceedings of the 11th conference of the European Architectural Envisioning Association. Milano, 25-28
September 2013. (pp.183-191). Politecnico di Milano. Milano: Edizioni Nuova Cultura.
Besides, and by furthering the study on this dichotomy, another publication has been produced and published
in a peer review journal as: Coelho, C. (2015). The Living Experience as a design content: from concept to
appropriation. Ambiances Review, International Journal of Sensory Environment, Architecture and Urban Space [En ligne].
Experiential simulation.
6
Motivation and background
translation to English may be disputable. Even if some concepts can be considered,

such as: experience, fruition, appropriation, use, usage or occupancy, they all report to
different contexts and connotations, with subtle, yet actual, distinctions from the
original Portuguese word vivência.
From this point, life has been considered to be the widest concept in scope, which
had similar connotations under this subject area. Because life embraces human
activities, whatever they may be. By proposing an engagement between Architecture
and Life, it is understated an embedded connection between space and any form of
spatial experience: mental of physical; under any building task; or any individual or
collective, formal or informal manifestation of spatial appropriation. This explains
the main title of this Thesis.
Nevertheless, when considered suitable, this notion will also be described as experience
when regarding spatial fruition overall, or when a more analytical connotation is
implied, the term use will also be introduced.
Therefore, at this stage, it becomes relevant to clarify not only the divergences in
approach between the two concepts, but additionally that there are also dissimilarities
in each one’s meaning, when regarding particular authors or study Àelds.
The concept of experience has been interpreted in different ways according to the
authors of reference. Commonly connected with the practical action and to the
way how to capture the exterior, epistemologically it relates to feeling, spatial
fruition and, hence, the sensorial stimulus projected by space onto its occupants,
and simultaneously the occupants’ reactions that this stimulus arouses in them,
strengthening people’s engagement to space.
Commonly, it is regarded as an inner feeling that is perceived by each individual

according to his personal Àlters of interpretation, cultural and social dimension; but
it can also be acknowledged as a shared feeling by a community, with a common
social denominator.
Philosophically, it could also be regarded as an intellectual conception of space

by means of our structures of understanding and perceiving space, or it could be
understood as a sensitive experience of space made through the way space arouses
our senses. According to the authors of reference, it can be both intellectual -
according to Plato or Descartes; or sensitive - according to Locke or Hume. In his
work Critique of Pure Reason, Kant (20014) acknowledges perception as a gathering
of these two approaches - intellectual and sensory, implying that a certain object
triggers a sensitive experience in the self, that is later processed by our structures of
understating, producing an intellectual interpretation.
4
Consulted edition in Portuguese from 2001, original edition from 1781.
7
As a matter of fact, the relation between the spatial features and the inhabitant’s
experience of space has been interpreted by different and most diverse approaches,
from the study Àelds of literature, art or philosophy, to several studies within
architecture itself: from the well-known quote by Churchill “We shape our
buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” (Churchill, 19435); to Hillier
and Hanson’s work on The Social Logic of Space (1984) where it is stated “Society
must be described in terms of its intrinsic spatiality; space must be described in
terms of its intrinsic sociality” (p.26). Also in Markus’s Buildings and Power (1993),
the author supports that different buildings and respective features can induce
asymmetries in the power holding and thus in society. Accordingly, and despite
the differences in outlooks, all these approaches centre around the bond between
space and behaviour.
Thus, while conceiving experience as the Àrst step in the uptake of the exterior
stimuli, it becomes relevant to understand how the individual perceives and
understands it.
Within another context, Jauss (19866) develops for literature the reception theory, from
the opening lecture given in 1967 at the University of Konstanz entitled What is and
Toward What End Does One Study Literary History?. According to this theory there are
three poles dynamically related: production, reception and communication. The
reading is always considered to be production and the reader a creator of sense.
Thus, the literary work has both a meaning implied by the work itself and another
deÀned by a given subject. Also from the School of Konstanz, Gadamer (1976,
20047) formulates the concept of hermeneutics8, which he brings into the aesthetic
of the artwork, assuming that it also enables an interaction between production,
reception and communication.
Previously to this literary context, some authors stand out as precursors of the
relevance given to the reader, of which Hohendahl, Lanson, Schucking, Benjamin,
5
Quote from Winston Churchill’s speech in the House of Commons in 28th October 1943 about the
reconstruction of the Parliament after the bombing from World War II, according to The Churchill Center
in http://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotations/499-famous-quotations-and-stories (consulted in 6
January 2016). According to the same source, the broader quote would be:
“On the night of May 10, 1941, with one of the last bombs of the last serious raid, our House of Commons
was destroyed by the violence of the enemy, and we have now to consider whether we should build it up again,
and how, and when.
We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us. Having dwelt and served for more than forty
years in the late Chamber, and having derived very great pleasure and advantage therefrom, I, naturally, should
like to see it restored in all essentials to its old form, convenience and dignity.”
Brand states that Churchill had already used this quote in 1924 before the Architectural Association like so:
“There is no doubt whatever about the inÁuence of architecture and structure upon human character and action.
We make our buildings and afterwards they make us. They regulate the course of our lives.” (Brand, 1994, p.3).
6
Consulted version in Spanish from 1986, original version from 1977.
7
Consulted edition of Philosophical Hermeneutics from 1976 and original edition from 1967. Consulted edition of
Truth and Method from 2004, original edition from 1960.
8
“According to its original deÀnition, hermeneutics is the art of clarifying and mediating by our own effort of
interpretation what is said by persons we encounter in tradition.” (Gadamer, 1976, p.98)
8
Brecht, Escarpit and Sartre. Both Barthes with his The Death of the Author (19779)
and Benjamin’s The Author as Producer (198210) had already assumed the role of
the reader as a conceiver of an individual and situated narrative, questioning the
concept of authorship by implying that the spectator’s fruition was also a way of
authorship:
“For the reader is at all times ready to become a writer, that is, a
describer, but also a prescriber. As an expert - even if not on a subject
but only on the post he occupies - he gains access to authorship.”
(Benjamin, 1982, p.259)
Later, Lefebvre (1974) develops a mechanism for analysing the relationship

between concrete and abstract space, which can be transposed to understanding
the relationship between experts and nonexperts. Thus, Lefebvre, by establishing
the binomial conceptual/lived space, induces a dialogic relationship between the
space envisioned by architect and lived in by the user.
In a different approach, Bakhtin’s concept of “chronotope” (1981), a space-time

connection that Holquist (200211) transposes to architecture with the possibility
of a building being read as a book “in a ongoing multi-level exchange” (Holquist,
201312), also stresses experience as being situated in and calibrated by the individuals’
space and time.
Even in the artistic Àeld, the artwork is only completed when perceived by the
spectators, that can be actively engaged with the piece, fulÀlling its deÀnition with
each individual’s emotional fruition. Once more, this bond can either be intellectual
and enable mental experiences based on semantic changes and conceptual
interpretations of the individual, but it can also be more sensitive and actively
trigger the spectators’ physical condition.
This is clear in the work produced by Duchamp with his ready-mades, whose
conceptual meaning is not only carried on by the objects themselves but in what
they convey to each user (Fig. 1). Considering that each user has a particular
cultural background and a social and cultural dimension, the fruition becomes also
individual. Similarly, in Joseph Beuy’s Olivestone (1984) - a stone vat Àlled with oil
that slowly becomes embedded in the stone, disseminates its scent into the air,
actively triggering people’s senses. And in doing so, the artwork’s fruition passes
from perception to being embedded on the individual(s).
9
Original edition from 1968.
10
11
12
From Holquist’s lecture “Numbers, words and dialogues”, in Barcelona, 29th May 2013, for Arquitectonics
Network.
9
Fig. 1. Before Duchamp’s piece on MoMA : To Be Looked at (from the Other Side of the Glass) with One
Eye, Close to, for Almost an Hour (1918)
(Photo by Carolina Coelho)
Paralleling this to architecture, both the fruition and appropriation of space

made by the inhabitants provide it with features that complete its semantic and
physical deÀnition. And although architecture and art carry speciÀc values and
are perceived at different functional, aesthetical and environmental dimensions,
they share the concept of living experience, embedded in real time and actual use.
Particularly, for architecture, the feedback of spatial fruition is implicit in the way
people move, act and enjoy space. This assumption was already pointed out by
Barragán in 1955:
“The sense of all the beautiful things created, resides both in the soul
of the beholder as in the soul of those who produced it.Yes, it is also
the viewer who pays to the beautiful thing its myriad meanings, and
makes it wonderful for us, putting it into a new relationship with the
time […]”13 (Barragán, 1955, p.379)
Yet, architectural experience carries signiÀcant speciÀcities, given that the inhabitant,
as a contextualised subject, will interpret the values raised by space within his cultural
coordinates, in real time and space. Also, because spatial experience takes places at
different levels, such as aesthetic, social, environmental or functional, whether of a
13
Free translation to English from the Spanish quote: “El sentido de todas las cosas bellas creadas reside tanto,
por lo menos, en el alma del que la contempla como en el alma del que la produjo. Sí, más bien es el espectador
quien presta a la cosa bella sus mil sentidos, y la hace maravillosa para nosotros, colocándola en una nueva
relación con la época […]” (Barragán, 1955, p.379).
10
more intentional or unconscious way, that bear meaning to this analysis.
Hill (2003) relates his approach of architecture to Barthes’ literature outlook on

The death of the author (197714), due to their common outlook on the relevance of
a triangular connection between author, work and user/reader, introducing in this
relation the work as a enabler of meaning constructed by the reader or the user:
“The building is not directly comparable to the text. Instead, I suggest

that writer–text–reader relations as a whole are analogous to architect–
building–user relations. Barthes’ reformulation of the author and the
reader suggests a model for architecture in which there is not a clear
linear route from the architect to the user. To use a building is also to
make it, either by physical transformation, such as moving walls or
furniture, using it in ways not previously imagined, or by conceiving it
in a new way. Just as the reader makes a new book through reading, the
user makes a new building through using.” (Hill, 2003, p.70)
Hill continues by stating that, although Barthes does not imply the artistic work,
this could also be applied to it by the “artist–viewer relations” (p.70), that can also
be considered in architecture.
When addressing the individuals or communities that proceed with the occupancy
of the space after its design and construction, the concept in question can also be
discussed. Generally, users are naturally the subjects who use space, and inhabitants
the ones who inhabit the space. To inhabit here can also bear different approaches,
from the common dwelling someone’s residence and ultimately, someone’s home,
but it can also be considered to live in, spend time, occupy a particular space, whose
connotation can now imply spatial fruition or occupancy from a set of individuals
or a collectivity amongst a conceived space. Appropriation bears also relevance as
a concept at this stage, because, if a space bears a certain sense of belonging to
people, then appropriation (rather than property15), can be acknowledged, by making
that space their own. According to Lefebvre:
“It may be said of a natural space modiÀed in order to serve the

needs and possibilities of a group that it has been appropriated by
that group. Property in the sense of possession is at best a necessary
precondition, and most often merely an epiphenomenon, of
‘appropriative’ activity, the highest expression of which is the work
or art.” (Lefebvre, 199116, p.165)
14
15
Property is a concept that can imply the possibility of someone’s possessions to be sold/purchased, whereas
appropriation is the possibility of someone to consider a sense of belonging to a space, often public or from a
collectivity, but that is aimed at providing a more personal way of living in that space, occupying it.
16
11
Thus, appropriating space is a stage of a building’s lifecycle that can also, and
cyclically, redeÀne/reinterpret the conceived space by the architect. In fact, by living
in space, dwellers shape space, shape it to their needs and wants, to their cultural
and social background, acknowledging them as producers and creators of meaning,
rather than mere spectators of an “empty vessel” (Hill, 1998, p.2).
When referring to the different ways by which people occupy space, Hill refers
to: “passive, reactive and creative”17 (2003, p.27). As for user creativity, the author
also considers it in Àve different dimensions: “mental”, “bodily”, “physical”,
“constructional” or “conceptual”18 (p.86).
Ultimately, if the experience provided does not emanate directly from the space,
but it is constructed by the inhabitant, through his active and creative appropriation,
that changes it, deÀnes and completes it, this may acknowledge him as a producer
and a creator of meaning, rather than a spectator or a passive user. Then, he is also
an author, an “illegal architect”:
“The illegal architect questions and subverts the established codes

and conventions of architectural practice, and acknowledges that
architecture is made by use and by design.” (Hill, 2003, p.131)
In this sense, a spatial conception that conditions a Àxed and speciÀc use of
space will conÀne its appropriation to a pre-determined spatial experience. From
the paradigm of the house as a machine à habiter to Grete Schütte-Lihotzky 1927’s
Frankfurt Kitchen, particular spatial uses were suggested, narrowing the actions and
dwellers to a modernist standard. Thus, function is understood as a single part of the
potential of the building’s usage. If Modern architecture always wanted to improve
the living conditions of the people, it also imposed lifestyles, enticing the dwellers to
use it in a pre-determined way, as passive receivers of the spatial experience.
The individuality expressed in this appropriation was a relativised variable by

modernist principles, when in 1928 the declaration of La Sarraz, the Ànal act of the
Àrst CIAM, would express the desire to Ànd solutions for the modern man deÀned
as a stereotype, where the variants of each one did not enter in the equation of space:
17
“I suggest three types of use: passive, reactive and creative. The passive user is predictable and unable to
transform use, space and meaning. The reactive user modiÀes the physical characteristics of a space as needs
change but must select from a narrow and predictable range of conÀgurations largely deÀned by the architect.
The creative user either creates a new space or gives an existing one new meanings and uses. Creative use
can either be a reaction to habit, result from the knowledge learned through habit, or be based on habit, as a
conscious, evolving deviation from established behaviour.” (p.27)
18
“I identify Àve types of user creativity, which can be accidental or intentional, and occur singly or in
combination: mental, a change in understanding, such as renaming a space or associating it with a particular
memory; bodily, a movement or series of movements, independent of or in juxtaposition to a space, such as
a picnic in a bathroom; physical, a rearrangement of a space or the objects within it, such as locking a door;
constructional, a fabrication of a new space or a physical modiÀcation of an existing form, space or object,
such as removing the lock from a door; conceptual, a use, form, space or object intended to be constructed,
such as a door.” (p.86)
12
“[...] they expect from the consumer (that is to say the customer who
orders the house in which he will live) a revision of his demands in the
direction of a readjustment to the new conditions of social life. Such a
revision will be manifested in the reduction of certain individual needs
henceforth devoid of real justiÀcation; the beneÀts of this reduction
will foster the maximum satisfaction of the needs of the greatest
number, which are at present restricted.” (CIAM, 1928)
This statement would be later criticised and reviewed, assuming that use does not
have to be Àxed, pre-determined or only connected with functionality. It is also a
broad term, not only constricted to a functional use, but to the diverse “building
tasks” (Norberg-Schulz, 199619, p.109) possible to happen in that space. According
to this author, they can have different implications and be studied according to four
dimensions: “physical control” (p.112), “functional frame” (p.114), “social milieu”
(p.118) and “cultural symbolization” (p.122). But all in all, a space may enclose all
of these dimensions, implying that the building task can be considered “as a whole”
(p.127), sheltering life and all the ways in which life is held:
“The preceding sections have suggested that most building tasks

comprise all the four dimensions we have introduced. The physical
control is interconnected with particular functions, and the functions
on their hand are determined by social conditions which presuppose the
existence of cultural objects. The four dimensions not only allow us to
render an account of the functions, interactions and values which make
up the building task, but they also make a comparison and classiÀcation
of the building tasks possible.” (Norberg-Schulz, 1996, p.127)
Conversely, the term living experience comprises the various ways in which to
inhabit a building, involving individual or collective spatial fruition, commonly in
a more phenomenological approach. The intangibles, measurable only by forms
of appropriation of space, are not amenable of analysis when only analysing the
functions of space, considering the space as a Áexible vessel for ownership and,
thus, a facilitator of experiences.
The sensorial stimulus, as a vehicle for a deeper and closer interaction between
space and inhabitant(s) in architecture, has already been recognised and dealt by
diverse approaches and respective authors. Rogers (1958) refers to “esperienza
dell’architettura” and Rasmussen (1962) as “experiencing architecture”. Pallasmaa
more recently encapsulates it as “understanding architecture” (McCarter & Pallasmaa,
2012). By and large, and despite the choice in verb, architecture bears life within and
possibly inÁuences the actions that it shelters. So, the living experience, contextual
and cultural as it is, is placed in space and time, and architecture is its vehicle.
19
Consulted edition from 1996, original edition from 1963.
13
Furthermore, Tschumi argues that the unpredictability and the events are central
for architecture, which can then be deÀned by actions rather than by shapes that
merely create the boundaries of that experience: “Architecture is deÀned by the
actions it witnesses as much as by the enclosure of its walls.” (1994b, p.100).
Experience is, in fact, deeply discussed in Pallasmaa’s extensive work on

phenomenology, recognising space as an emotional vehicle for individual
appropriation and a sensorial catalyst, beyond measurability:
“A building is encountered; it is approached, confronted, related to

one’s body, moved through, utilised as a condition for other things.
Architecture initiates, directs and organises behaviour and movement.
A building is not an end in itself; it frames, articulates, structures, gives
signiÀcance, relates, separates and unites, facilitates and prohibits.”
(Pallasmaa, 2005, pp.63-64)
For Pallasmaa, “signiÀcant architecture”20 (Pallasmaa, 2005, p.11) or “life-enhancing”

architecture (Goethe apud Pallasmaa, 2005, p.44) engages the inhabitant(s) by means
of all the senses and is not limited to the “ocular bias” (p.30): the primacy of sight
over the other senses. This adds to the fact that, instead of an ocular centrism, space
is lived in and not only looked at 21. Pallasmaa much rather refer to the “epistemology
of the senses” (2005, p.17) or what Bachelard identiÀes as “the polyphony of
the senses” (1960, p.6) that is perceived by the body, thought by the mind, and
internalized by our consciousness in a whole, articulated process.
According to Holl, Pallasmaa “[...] practices the unanalysable architecture of the

senses whose phenomenal properties concretise his writings towards a philosophy
of architecture.” (Holl, 2005, p.7). This assertion is most insightful since the space
is considered to individually arouse the senses, but foremost this “phenomena”
is considered “unanalysable” and that “transcends geometry and measurability”
(Pallasmaa, 2005, p.64).
Kahn corroborates this statement with his famous saying: “A great building must
begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being
designed and in the end must be unmeasurable.” (Kahn, 1961, p.149)
On the other hand, Hacking in his essay The creation of phenomena (1983) claims for
another perspective of the term phenomenon, which he shares with the realm of
science:
“My use of the word “phenomenon” is like that of the physicists.

It must be kept as separate as possible from the philosophers’
20
“SigniÀcant architecture makes us experience ourselves as complete embodied and spiritual beings.” (p.11)
“We behold, touch, listen and measure the world with our entire bodily existence, and the experiential world
21
becomes organized and articulated around the centre of the body.” (p.64)
14
phenomenalism, phenomenology and private, Áeeting, sense-data. A

phenomenon, for me, is something public, regular, possibly law-like,
but perhaps exceptional.” (Hacking, 1983, p.222)
Whereas phenomenon is considered by Pallasmaa’s outlook to be based on an

implicit and non-generalisable relation between architecture and the individual, or
speciÀcally, between the space and the body, acknowledging the body as the vehicle
for sensation, and “the locus of perception” (Pallasmaa, 2005, p.10). Ian Hacking
describes “phenomenon” guided by a more analytical approach within the Àeld of
science, considering it to be as a regular, collective and deÀnite happening. So, while
the Àrst assertion acknowledges architecture as perceived by each person’s relation
to space, the latter may be translated into the recursive and collective features of
use, and hence the actions a certain space is likely to project, assuming a common
denominator for all.
Conversely, according to Tadao Ando, architecture gathers a mental and a sensory

dimension to be regarded as a whole, both while conceiving the design and also
throughout its occupancy:
“Architecture consists of two elements. An intellectual element in that

we have to create a space that is logical and clear, that has a logical or
intellectual order. At the same time, you have to use your senses to
imbue the space with life. These are the two main aspects of creating
architectural space. One is practical and theoretical; the other is sensory
and intuitive...” (Ando, 200222)
Thus, thinking about the condition of architecture as a vehicle for life within, is
thinking about the contextual layers of architecture, not at the expense of functional
or aesthetical values, or even by breaking the architect’s professional boundaries,
but by recognising architecture’s feature of conceiving a space that will contain life
within, on the diverse dimension it comprises, despite the diversity of approaches
undertaken by each author of reference.
The acknowledgement of the lived space complements the design process,

simultaneously approaching and validating concept and experience, creator and
user. Whether using the more traditional tools of architecture to the most recent
ones, even the most prominent architects anticipate life as part of their design,
often opening the space to multiple interpretations and living experiences.
Thinking about the living experience implies acknowledging what is immediately

outside of ourselves and how we, as individuals, perceive and are engaged by it.
Assuming that the deÀnition of experience is addressed by different study Àelds but
equally valued, for architecture it holds particular relevance.
22
Tadao Ando interviewed by Michael Auping (Auping, 2002).
15
As seen throughout this initial reÁection, within the discipline of architecture, and
despite this shared concern, the diverse approaches to identify and conceive the
living experience in the space envisioned are very broad, hence the diversity of their
respective methods of assessment.
Despite the choice in concept regarding both the action and the subject, and all
the possible different considerations of the tasks and activities held in space, the
acknowledgement that they are, in fact, of different nature, will sustain this Thesis
and will also support the methodology constructed to analyse the broad scope of
usages, experiences and people in space23.
This introductory approach intended to provide a background reÁection on

Architecture and Life as an initial motivation, almost as a foreword for the following
research outputs. It has also pondered experience and life, acknowledging them
throughout all the stages of the building’s lifecycle, from the brief and the design
process in which it becomes a motivation and an expectation, until the space’s
occupancy, when it is actually accomplished, in order to produce a more insightful
and comprehensive outlook on this issue.
This has been the general motivation that guided all the process of research even
before if became a Doctoral Thesis. In fact, the reciprocity between space and
experience, architecture and life, represents a bond that has been embedded in
our previous reÁections and academic publications since a very early stage in the
Course of Architecture. In this Thesis, this issue aims to be deepened, by a speciÀc
approach on this general problematics, to be raised and explained in the following
chapter, but which has an understated motivation on the paramount bond between
Architecture and Life.
23
As it will be detailed in chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning
environments.
16
The research question
1.3. The research question:

Adaptability as a form of engagement between Architecture and Life
“Only by means of a full understanding of the tasks may we Ànd the means relevant
to their solution. It is more important for the result to put correct questions than to
give correct answers to wrong questions.” (Norberg-Schulz, 199624, p.130)
In recognising architecture’s embedded relevance for society and simultaneously

the incidence of the context where architecture is made as its source and product,
it is also acknowledgeable the deep relation between the professionals and the
inhabitants25, and the place with the actions it shelters and promotes26.
The previous chapter recognised space as a social and cultural set that deeply
inÁuences users’ experiences, and also that users change space by experiencing
it27. Therefore, it becomes crucial to conceive space use as an input to the design
process28. Space use, in its multiple dimensions and all the activities it comprises,
is therefore the validation of the design process and the ultimate test to realize if
it fulÀls the users’ needs.
Understanding that space is both designed by the architect as a cosa mentale and
experienced by the inhabitants as a contextualized object (Lefebvre, 1974), and
acknowledging use as part of architecture’s intrinsic being, is therefore ineluctable.
After the design process and its construction, the building becomes part of reality,
where the needs for which it was created start to be answered by its actual inhabitants
24
25
Respectively the architects and society at large.
26
The relation between space and people, particularly applied to school buildings, has been discussed in the
communication presented in the International Workshop Architecture, Education and Society. Creative chronotopes,
cultural landscapes and dialogical imagination, Jornadas CientiÀcas COAC Barcelona 2013. It has been published in the
Conference’s proceedings as: Coelho, C. (2013). Place and action: The school building as an enhacer of the
learning process. In Jornadas CientiÀcas COAC Barcelona 2013. Rede Arquitectonics. Barcelona, Espanha: Universitat
Politècnica da Catalunya_Departement de Projectes Arquitetonics. ISBN 978-84-695-9424-7.
27
For a detailed explanation of the bond between design and use, please see the previous chapter: 1.2.
Motivation and background: Architecture and Life – conceiving forms of engagement.
28
The research question of this Thesis has been the focus of the Àrst paper to be published and the Àrst
communication undertaken, within the process of investigation for this Doctoral Research. It has been presented
in the Nexus 2012 Relationships Between Architecture and Mathematics, in 11-14 June 2012, Milan, for testing and
academic validation. It has also been published in the Conference’s proceedings as: Coelho, C. (2012). From
design process to space use: Adaptability in school buildings today. In M. Rossi (Ed.), Proceedings of the Nexus 2012
Relationships Between Architecture and Mathematics. (pp.23-28). Politecnico di Milano. Milano: McGraw-Hill.
17
in real time. This “real time” assertion implies the recognition of a broad range
of users and actions that will take place in that space, along with the changeable
circumstances that occur throughout the whole space’s lifecycle.
Adaptability is here considered a form of engagement between Architecture and

Life29. Truly, it is a building’s feature that has to be planned during the design
process, which maximises future uses, linking design and appropriation, conceived
and lived space. Hence, it enables a more diverse range of activities and a broader
variety of uses and users in an expanded lifecycle, aiming at more fully suiting the
designed space to forthcoming tasks.
This has particular relevance for school buildings, because they have the potential
to answer and foremost to enhance the learning process. Monahan (2002) considers
schools as “built pedagogies”, Heitor (2005) as an “educational tool”, and more
recently, Lippman (2010) construes the concept of “transactional settings”.
Bernstein (1971) points out that schools mimic the social construction of society
and Fawcett (201130) also supports the school programme as an appropriate case
study for academic research of the space-use relation, due to the variety of general
behaviour patterns, combined with the variability of small daily happenings that
can be generated. Furthermore, both Lippman (2010) and Hertzberger (2008)
underline the relevance of working on the school programme.
Thus, it is up to the architect, in his social and professional responsibility, to

understand this correspondence and rethink the design process and goals, not just
technical or aesthetic, but also semantic, as creators of meaning and social and
human development:
“Just as we see learning as second nature and an enlargement of one’s

space, it should be second nature to architects to prime space to those
ends.” (Hertzberger, 2008, p.9)
So, there is a wide range of recent literature on today’s school buildings and on how
to translate the current learning processes to spatial features, namely by OECD
(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) - attesting that it
is a current and emerging theme. This situation is mostly due to the pedagogical
paradigm shift brought by the contemporary teaching practices, the prominence of
informal and non-academic spaces, the wide use of information technology, and
the social and economic changes, which result in the creation of the present-day
way of understanding the formation of the student and the educator, as well as
the teaching and learning proÀle. School space should thus respond, be adapted to,
and strengthen this change, to the current and up-coming social, pedagogical and
functional needs, as a vital part of the whole process:
29
See chapter 1.2. Motivation and background: Architecture and Life - conceiving forms of engagement.
30
Communication by e-mail from 26 April 2011.
18
“Educational facilities need to accommodate both the known and

identiÀable needs of today, and the uncertain demands of the future.”
(OECD, 2001, p.vii)
Therefore, schools are a paradigmatic case study on space’s inÁuence on life within
it, since they are also an active enhancer of the learning process, an “educational
tool” (Heitor, 2005). By aggregating a wide range of activities and users, both
internal users (students, teachers and staff) and external (users of schools’ public
spaces), schools can become an intensively lived space for a broad community.
Due to current pedagogical developments, educational spaces have undergone

alterations in their organisation and materialisation, recognising the school as a
“catalyst for change” (Worthington, 2007, p.15) that acts as both a facilitator and also
an enhancer of the learning process (Coelho, 2013b), much recalling Markus’s (1993)
assumption, already referred to, that the diversity in spatial solutions can motivate
differences in the actions allocated to spaces and ultimately in the power holding.
Today schools are guided by new pedagogical practices, a creative and pro-active
student proÀle and demanding spatial and technical needs. The teacher acts not only
as a “content provider”, but mostly as a “facilitator” of knowledge (Lippman, 2010)
that can be conveyed on active learning environments, not necessarily formal or
academic. The decentralization from the classroom to a variety of informal spaces
is explained by a broader concept of learning. New technologies partly explain this
change to a non-face-to-face paradigm31.
In Portugal, as the existing school buildings were becoming obsolete, the school
rehabilitation process that has been undertaken since 2007, aimed at endowing
schools with the ability to perform pedagogically, technologically and socially with
the current educational needs. These renewed school buildings have undergone an
“adaptive reuse” process that enabled them to become adaptable and to answer
more thoroughly to the current and future demands. Thus, this research will be
particularly applied to the Portuguese current reality, assuming general invariables,
but also cultural speciÀcities.
So, adaptability enables a more lived school space, able to cope with changeable
learning processes, curricula and students’ proÀle, within a lasting and more
sustainable built object.
In fact, an adaptable school building, by coping with the current requirements

and the future unpredictable changes, will enhance its performance and answer
the community’s needs, as a more endurable and sustainable building, considering
adaptability as an attribute for exemplary educational facilities today (OECD, 2011).
31
This will be further developed in the chapter 2.3. Adaptability for contemporary learning practices and environments.
19
Therefore, this Thesis recognises the relevance of adaptable educational architecture

towards evolving pedagogical, technical and social needs, for a more complete
spatial answer and a better building performance over time. The research question
resides in “how” and “by what means” can a contemporary school be considered
on its degree of adaptability, recognising formal classrooms as content providing
places, as well as informal spaces where peer communication bears an acknowledged
relevance towards educational experience and student achievement.
All things considered, this research aims at gathering design and appropriation,
through the assessment of objective variables of space use that will inform future
design processes. This is, hence, a theme directly engaged with the current reality
that aims at providing valuable and operative input to architectural design process.
This Thesis considers the hypothesis that adaptability in school buildings today can be
a feature that enables a wider variety of uses and users, when conceived as a variable
to be thought during the design process and validated by space use. In fact, the choices
in spatial attributes like: dimension, conÀguration, coating, networks, environmental
conditions, accessibility and spatial morphology; can condition the adaptability of the
building and, consequently, its ability to cope with the current and future needs overall.
Besides, after recognising school space as relevant to the actions and outcomes
that it provides, conversely it becomes crucial to study use in order to inform
on the frequency, range and actors of the actions that happen in that building.
But foremost, these serve as tools to test expected and effective use along space’s
lifecycle, realising Àrst if its social and functional purposes are being fulÀlled, and
secondly accompanying the natural and inescapable changes on activities and
people’s wants and needs, since its completion and throughout its use.
So, it is proposed that adaptability, applied to contemporary school buildings,

actively potentiates high performance building and today’s learning process. Thus,
it is potentially considered to be a “responsive approach” (Lippman, 2010, p.3032)
to the design process, based on space use studies, because it allows that today’s
unpredictable needs can be answered by effective spatial responses later on.
The central problematics of this research is to identify the concept of adaptability

when applied to school space, the features of an adaptable space deÀned during the
design process, and the ways to analyse an adaptable space by means of space use
research, using a Portuguese secondary schools as a case study.
32
“A responsive approach is an alternative to current practice whereby the creation of a place not only involves
aesthetics, but is also grounded in research on the social environment, learning, and the physical environment.
The responsive approach, which is the ideal, views each learning environment as unique and as raising a variety
of issues that include, but are not limited to, the following: understanding the diverse ways in which people
learn, how the learner and the social environment inÁuence and shape learning, how pedagogy is used, how the
physical environment may be designed to promote people’s engagement in goal-oriented activities, the use of
technology, and sustainability.” (Lippman, 2010, p.30)
20
All in all, the research question can be placed like so:
By acknowledging that, from the current pedagogical practices

derive the current spatial requirements of the schools, which
inÁuence the learning process, how is the concept of adaptability
deÀned in the secondary schools of the 21st century, and how can
it be considered throughout the building’s lifecycle – translated
into the design process and enhancer of the spatial usage?
Besides proposing an original methodology to assess adaptability in school buildings

today and to prove its validation, this Doctoral Research aims to conÀrm or refute
the validation of the following hypotheses:
1.
The deÀnition of adaptability as “the ability of the built form to maintain
compatibility between activities and spaces, as those vary”33 (Krüger, 1981a,
p.1169) remains appropriate today and particularly suitable for the school brief.
2.
Adaptability can be thought in the design process, by introducing speciÀc
attributes that enable a more diverse range of activities and users further on,
during the building’s occupancy.
3.
The methodology proposed by this Thesis is proven to be robust and to
provide a comprehensive conclusion on the condition of adaptability in
school buildings today, and is speciÀcally appropriate for the schools of the
context under this study.
4.
The methodology provides a valid outlook on the adaptability of that school
building and is able to be applied to other schools. It can be understood as
operative data, transposable to future designs as knowledge advancement and
also to future interventions on the buildings already assessed.
Furthermore, the conclusions on the hypotheses above, will also potentially

represent valid contributions for both the academia and the practice in
architecture.
33
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A adaptabilidade será caracterizada pela capacidade que
a forma construída apresenta para manter a compatibilidade entre atividades e espaços, à medida que aquelas
variam.” (Krüger, 1981a, p.1169)
21
1.4. Research objectives
“The interplay of architectural design and user creativity needs to be a constantly

expanding Àeld of discourse, experience and practice.” (Hill, 2003, p.3)
As previously addressed, this research has been guided by an embedded motivation

concerning the dichotomies between design process and spatial experience, architect
and user, conceived and lived space.
Therefore, general motivations continued to be pursued under this research from

its initial stages, which already derived from a previous background on this subject
area. Namely the following:
1.
To formalise design strategies with the future users of the lived space, rather
than for the users in the conceived space.
2.
To clarify the users and the architects’ interactions and contributions to the
design and to space, in which adaptability plays a relevant role for approaching
design process and space use.
3.
To problematize the importance of spatial experience as a variable to the
design process, recognising adaptability as an enhancer of that experience
provided for in the design.
These questions underline general research interests that centre around spatial
experience and appropriation, space-use reciprocity, participatory design processes
and user research studies34.
34
A more general approach on this topic introduces this Doctoral Thesis in chapter 1.2. Motivation and
background: Architecture and Life - conceiving forms of engagement.
22
Research objectives
Nevertheless, this Doctoral Thesis aims at deepening the body of knowledge in this
subject area, by specifying the research on adaptability, as previously explained35.
In fact, by addressing adaptability - considering it to be a design feature introduced

during the design process that will potentially enable a wider, more diverse and
longer spatial experience - it is believed to draw professionals and inhabitants closer
together, and to consider design and fruition as part of a whole spatial lifecycle.
But foremost, thinking about adaptability implies thinking about designing and
adaptable space and also how, by whom and to what extent, can space be experienced
throughout its lifecycle. Consequently, adaptability will potentially imply designing
space considering “life within architecture”36 further on during its occupation and
fruition, so it copes with the effective needs and experiences in space.
1.4.1. General objectives
Consequently, after explaining the general motivations, this Doctoral research

aims at addressing and resolving the research question clearly pointed out in the
previous chapter:
By acknowledging that, from the current pedagogical practices

derive the current spatial requirements of the schools, which
inÁuence the learning process, how is the concept of adaptability
deÀned in the secondary schools of the 21st century, and how can
it be considered throughout the building’s lifecycle – translated
into the design process and enhancer of the spatial usage?
This can be translated into the following general goals of this Doctoral research:
1.
To identify the concept of adaptability applied to contemporary school
buildings and to analyse whether deÀnitions such as the ones provide by the
OECD37 (1976) and Krüger38 (1981a) are still suitable today and particularly
appropriate when concerning educational facilities.
35
See chapter 1.3. The research question: Adaptability as a form of engagement between Architecture and Life.
36
For a more thorough explanation of both the similarities and differences between spatial experience and use,
please see chapter 1.2. Motivation and background: Architecture and Life - conceiving forms of engagement.
37
OECD deÀned adaptability as: “the quality of a building which facilitates adaptation; adaptation may require
relocation, replacement, removal or addition in respect of either the constructional elements, services or the
Ànishes of the building - essentially large magnitude/low frequency change” (1976, p.10).
38
Krüger deÀned adaptability as “the ability of the built form to maintain compatibility between activities and
spaces, as those vary” (1981a, p.1169) (Free translation from the original Portuguese paper), which implies the
building’s potential to allocate a range of activities without any physical transformation.
23
2.
To identify the spatial attributes for an adaptable contemporary school
building, conceived in the design, which promote a wider usage, throughout
the whole building’s lifecycle.
3.
To construct a methodology to identify and assess adaptability in school
buildings today and to prove that it provides a comprehensive outlook on
the adaptability condition of the buildings in which it is applied, and that it is
adequate to its particular context, with its respective spaces, users and activities.
4.
To apply the methodology proposed to a particular case study, retrieving the
results on its adaptability, and also to validate and calibrate the methodology,
if needs be.
5.
To consider the methodology as a robust contribution for the practice,
informing on variables that potentiate adaptability, and also for the academia,
as an original methodological approach to adaptability in the context of
contemporary schools, that could be applied to future research projects.
1.4.2. SpeciÀc objectives
The pursuit of these responses shall have an effective foundation based on the
following speciÀc objectives, concerning the signiÀcance and operability of spatial
experience for the design process of school buildings today:
1.
To identify areas of research and methodologies of analysis whose study Àeld
regards spatial experience, and to investigate how the contribution of these
areas can be introduced as a design-oriented tool.
2.
According to Brand: “Age plus adaptivity is what makes a building come to
be loved. The buildings learn from its occupants, and they learn from it.”
(Brand, 1994, p.23).
It is intended to analyse whether adaptability in school buildings today
potentiates spatial experience and appropriation.
24
Research objectives
3.
Following Duffy et al.: “Designing for adaptability forces everyone to join in
predicting the future. And because it encourages shared responsibility in the
decision-making process, it tend to lead to affordable solutions.” (Duffy et
al., 1998, p.76).
Therefore, it is proposed to examine whether adaptability can be an operative
tool that engages design and fruition, the architect and the inhabitant.
4.
To analyse forms of horizontal and vertical discourse acquisition and
circulation (Bernstein, 1999) and its correspondence with the structure of
relations between the agents involved, namely professionals and inhabitants.
5.
To relate spatial morphology with activities and movements of users in space
and to compare them with the current forms of education and their relevance
to the learning process.
1.4.3. SpeciÀc objectives regarding the approach on the case study
By transposing the concept of adaptability and establishing the methodology to

identify and assess this condition in a particular case study, generalities are to be
maintained, but speciÀcities have also to be accounted for, according to: the social
and cultural proÀle of the school community, the school management that can
condition the range of activities in space, and its urban condition that can contribute
to a more or less openness of the school to activities and communities.
So, the following speciÀc objectives are placed, particularly addressing the case
study under analysis:
1.
To identify the deÀnition of adaptability on its speciÀcities, when applied to
this particular case study and its social and urban context.
2.
To describe the school space and how it supports activity allocation, by the
deÀnition of a spatial sample, by a functional and morphological analysis39.
39
This is proposed in this Thesis in chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in
learning environments.
25
3.
To describe all possible activity allocations to educational environments.
4.
To describe effective events and experience in that school.
5.
To describe the potential correlations from school space, potential activity
allocation and effective experience in the school, and to retrieve the results
on the school’s adaptability.
6.
To validate and calibrate this methodology in this speciÀc school.
7.
To analyse whether expected spatial use from the design coincides with
effective uses and to identify the conditions that promote or hinder a wider
range of activities and a more diverse community to experience school space.
26
The case study
1.5. The case study
1.5.1. The Portuguese case study
“Research has a lot to do with the context, it is not a sum of events, it has to create
complicities, it has to show that it is useful.” 40 (Portas, 2011).
The choice of a Portuguese case study on the school space is justiÀable by diverse
causes. First and foremost, because Portugal is involved in a basic and secondary
school rehabilitation process since 2007, whose aim is to endow schools with more
current spatial solutions that respond and potentiate today’s learning context,
guided by a more creative and critical student proÀle, as well as by the relevance of
informal and non-pedagogical spaces, and also with active learning environments in
which communication and socialisation are vehicles for learning, along with today’s
pedagogical practices endorsed by information technologies. Consequently, if the
learning experience in school space today is conceived differently, then the design
of the school space has possibly to be rethought.
Hence, the Portuguese context brings forth the concepts of memory and transformation,
past and change, acknowledging the memory of the original school buildings, their
continuity into the present and their continuation onwards to the future, as able and
valid spaces for learning41.
The memory of the school space, both individually or collectively, often comes
associated with the gathering of students in the classroom directed by a teacher
that provides knowledge and contents. Yet, the current pedagogical practices reÁect
40
Quote from a communication by Nuno Portas at the Department of Architecture of the University of Coimbra,
for the Doctoral Course, in October 2011.
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A investigaçmo tem muito a ver com o contexto, nmo é uma
soma de acontecimentos, tem de criar cumplicidades, tem de mostrar que é útil.” (Portas, 2011).
41
The connection between memory and changing experiences has been dealt in the communication with the
following reference: Coelho, C. (2013). A memória do espaço e a transformaçmo das suas vivrncias: dinkmicas
da arquitectura escolar recente. Communication in the IV International Colloquium of PhD students of Centre for
Social Studies - Coimbra C: Dialoguing with the Times and Places (s) World (s). 6 e 7 December 2013 in the University
of Coimbra.
27
an evolutionary development from these memories in the long run, leading to

new dynamics in the construction and communication of knowledge and also to
different interpersonal relationships in the educational context42.
From these pedagogical practices come new functional, constructive and

environmental needs and new relations with the places, which architecture has been
studying, through conceptual and technical responses, respectively contextualised
in each Portuguese intervention under the Secondary School Modernisation
Programme43.
Actually, in the speciÀc case of Portugal, this issue had relevant impact since the
existing buildings presented different spatial solutions dating from different time
periods. This fact reÁected a disparity in the quality of the construction, in the capacity
to answer the pedagogical, functional, environmental, technical and technological
needs of today, and foremost to support the current learning experience in school
space. The Secondary School Modernisation Programme has been developed under
this need to rehabilitate the existing school buildings, in order to provide them with
pedagogical and social spatial solutions consistent with this current framework.
Additionally, the school’s lifecycle is being reconsidered, under a perspective of

rehabilitation and potentiation of the exiting spaces, according to the current needs
and aspirations of the contemporary life and learning in school buildings.
The option for rehabilitation, which enables the buildings to extend their lifecycle, as
opposed to the assumption of their obsolescence and the pursuit of a construction
ex nuovo, illustrates the value of spatial memory and also brings environmental and
sustainable gains:
“Moreover, the reuse of school buildings - as opposed to the decision

to demolish and build new ones - will contribute to support healthy
living and promote environmental awareness and social responsibility,
as part of a comprehensive and lifelong approach.” (Heitor, 2011, p.35)
Furthermore, the Portuguese experience of the Secondary School Modernisation

Programme can be considered a recent project of great investment at different
levels. But much remembering Bernstein’s work on sociology of education in the
1970s, under the London context of the Institute of Education, this Portuguese
programme naturally introduces a disciplinary reÁection on the way the current
student performance and achievement have been impacted by the renovation of
the existing school spaces under this current spatial and pedagogical requirements,
guided also by the contemporary social and pedagogical context.
42
See chapter 2.3. Adaptability for contemporary learning practices and environments.
43
In Portuguese: Programa de Modernizaçmo do Parque Escolar destinado ao Ensino Secundário (http://www.
parque-escolar.pt).
28
The case study
Hence, the recent interventions in the Portuguese secondary schools reveal a

dialogue between the memory of a space and of a collectivity and the current need
for spatial rehabilitation after the assumption of change.
This process also expresses the relation between the beginning and the present,
possibly the future circumstances of the buildings and the people within it, with
respect to the context in which it happens, recalling Kahn’s text “I love beginnings”
(197244).
From this choice, this study aims at concluding on the adaptability level of the
Portuguese schools analysed, but also their contextual constraints and assets, and to
point out their speciÀcities, namely cultural, social and pedagogical.
So, according to the upper quote by Nuno Portas (2011), at a Conference at the
Department of Architecture of the University of Coimbra, for the Doctoral Course,
research has to “understand change” and to face the context in which change is
occurring. Therefore, it is up to research to understand the current boundaries of
the actual context of Portuguese school buildings and to contribute, in an operative
and disciplinary manner, for the knowledge advancement in architecture, for both
the past but also for future happenings45.
Besides, the closeness to the case study allows a more in-depth knowledge and
more frequent visits to the school, which enable a deeper awareness of the living
and learning process within, and a further acquaintance of all the school community
and its activities.
1.5.2. Artistic schools as a speciÀc case study
“Music has an important part to play in helping schools to deliver against a range of
targets, from the emotional health and well-being of young people to the development
of family learning and wider community engagement. For example, spaces can be
reconÀgured so that parents and community groups can access them safely and
independently when they are not timetabled for curriculum use.” (Department for
Education46, 2010, p.11)
Assuming that each school enables different spatial experiences and in order to
accurately deÀne this methodology, the current research is developed within
44
“I love beginnings. I marvel at beginnings. I think it is beginning that conÀrms continuation.” (Kahn, 1986,
p.150). From the communication The Invisible City, International Design Conference, Aspen, Colorado, 19 June 1972,
afterwards mentioned as “I love beginnings”.
45
Quoting once more Portas: “perceber melhor o que se fez para trás e encontrar pistas para o que vem a
seguir.” (Portas, 2011), which means in a free translation to English: “providing a better understating of what
has been done before and Ànding leads for what is to come” (Portas, 2011).
46
This quote is taken from a publication by the English Department for Education London.
29
a particular case study of a school that holds both artistic and regular teaching,
assuming its speciÀcities and acknowledging their relevance for the application of
the proposed methodology.
The speciÀc choice of these artistic schools for this research is justiÀed by the fact
that these particular schools combine both the regular - with basic and secondary
levels - and also the artistic teaching of music and dancing. This implies that the
space and the institution itself are impelled to aggregate a broader school community
to occupy the same space for numerous activities.
In this speciÀc case, the coexistence of different student proÀles, such as the artistic
and the regular ones, in the same school environment, has fostered the conception
of even more lived and aggregated spaces. Furthermore, as in the case of artistic
schools this covers a wide range of activities, with a broad internal and external
community, there is an urgent need for spatial diversity for speciÀc and multi-
purpose uses, individual and collective, as well as informal and adaptable spaces.
In fact, these schools have a more demanding need for reconÀgurable spaces -
Áexible and/or adaptable47, both formal and informal ones, for the variety of
performances with different spatial needs, with varying number of performers and
of diverse nature. Since shows can be for the students alone, for the students’
parents or for a wider community, spatial requirements vary and space should,
potentially, meet them.
Consequently, the adaptability requirement is more pressing in these schools. The

concept of adaptability is also justiÀed by the fact that these schools have been
adapted from pre-existing spaces amongst the intervention for their modernisation.
Thus, schools have maintained their pedagogical function, but have physically altered
their space in a large magnitude initiative. According to the deÀnition adopted of
adaptability48 this corresponds to a process of adaptation, rather than a need for
Áexibility (OECD, 1976, p.10).
Indeed, the schools with regular and artistic teaching have to comprise with spatial
cohesion under this multiple options teaching regime. Besides the spatial features
needed for each teaching regime, the features necessary for the external uses of
a music and dance school with an auditorium brings additional demanding and
technical requirements, as well the observation of the environmental quality,
comfort and acoustics needed for each space and for the school overall.
47
These concepts and deÀnitions will be further developed in chapter 2.1. Adaptability: deÀnition and adjacent
concepts.
48
See chapter 2.1. Adaptability: deÀnition and adjacent concepts.
30
The case study
a) b)
Fig. 2. a) Diagram of the component of a music department and the potential relations it can have
with other parts of the school; b) Diagram of the possibilities of expansion of the department of
music with other activities, as proposed by the English Department for Education
(Department for Education, 2010, pp.9, 13)
As a relevant and current study, the publication by the Royal Institute of British
Architects (RIBA) (Department for Education, 2010) focuses speciÀcally on the
spatial needs of music activities in secondary schools today, particularly with regard
to: the design of space, the speciÀc needs of “individual spaces” for activities
related to the artistic use, “furniture and equipment”, “services and environmental
design” (ibid.).
Besides, the artistic learning process also provides the school with a particular
ambiance, often with a particular emphasis on spontaneous performances for
practising or even for leisure purposes, both in collective gatherings or solo
happenings. Even formal learning and performances, according to the nature of
the events and the expected audience, can occur in different spaces of the schools,
besides the formal studios, the orchestra room or the auditorium.
So, the artistic practice does not have to be conÀned to the individual studios and
can be played in formal and informal school spaces. The artistic formation also
carries a theoretical and practical character, which demands both personalised and
collective encounters and formation. It can even be considered a social activity of
bounding and knowledge spread, as a way of social participation in a community
and, cyclically, of social aggregation of the community with the educational
practice (Fig. 2a).
When the music department works as “social hub” (Department for Education,
2010, p.13), it has the possibility of connecting with other subjects and to extrapolate
the music outside the department, particularly to the school and the community
31
(Fig. 2b). Under this perspective, there are numerous forms that music has to be
related to the school, to all students (and not only the ones with artistic education)
and also to the community.
Besides, when the artistic teaching shares its spaces with other subjects, and
reÁexively when common use spaces are the stage for artistic performances to
happen, either internally or externally, they come closer to the rest of the school
community and to the external community overall. This has consequences in the
design of space, in the requirements of each space individually and also on the
spatial morphology of the entire school and the location of each compartment.
Fautley and Savages’s approach (2011) to the “cross-curricular” teaching in

secondary schools, accentuates the need to face each student’s curriculum as a
whole and “co-equal” (p.31) process, not isolated by speciÀc subjects and where
the artistic teaching plays a relevant and equivalent role in the students’ formation:
“In the co-equal cognitive integration style, learning in and through

the arts is placed on a similar footing to other curriculum areas. To
work in this way will require signiÀcant input both at the planning and
enactment stages from arts teachers. In many ways this style is the most
appropriate to cross-curricular arts learning in terms of the ways in
which knowing in and through the arts is treated.” (Fautley and Savage,
2011, p.31)
A “cross-curricular” school provides interdisciplinary links between the subjects

each student attends, but also between the competences needed to attend each one
as a cohesive pedagogical path, and it also introduces a transdisciplinary formation.
This formation has also “cross-curricular” dimensions on: “themes” (p.4) lectured
transversally on several subjects; and “skills” like: “communication, numeracy,
problem solving, information technology and study skills” (ibid.).
Furthermore, in the publication Arts and Cultural Education at School in Europe

(Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, 2009) that provides
an “overview of the state of artistic and cultural education in Europe” (p.3),
it is also speciÀed the “cross-curricular links between the arts and other areas
of the curriculum” (p.15). In addition, also the “learning aims/outcomes”
that arts and cultural education49 intend to develop, can be both speciÀc and
transversal such as: “artistic skills, knowledge and understanding”; “critical
appreciation”; “understanding of cultural heritage”; and “of cultural diversity”;
“the development of individual expression and the development of creativity”.
49
This publication’s scope gathers the areas of “visual arts, music, drama, dance, media arts and crafts”
(Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, 2009, p.12).
32
The case study
Besides other speciÀc goals, these are also complemented by more general
ones like: “the development of social skills”, “the development of ‘pleasure/
satisfaction’ and ‘communication skills’”, “‘raising pupils’ awareness of their
environment” and “development of ‘self-conÀdence or self-esteem’” (pp.20-21),
which are enriching to all students overall.
Furthermore, the QualiÀcations and Curriculum Authority (2009) also mentions

the need for “cross-curricular dimensions” (p.150), whose cohesiveness, associated
with the cross-curriculum teaching, aim at fostering a whole individual, both in
school and in society:
“The cross-curriculum dimensions reÁect some of the major ideas and

challenges that face individuals and society, and help make learning real
and relevant.
The dimensions are unifying areas of learning that span the curriculum
and help young people make sense of the world. They are not curriculum
subjects, but are crucial aspects of learning that should permeate the
curriculum and the life of a school.” (QualiÀcations and Curriculum
Authority, 2009, p.1)
Thus, in these schools the relation between the contents and information provided,
and the ways of proceeding, thinking and doing, are fostered in a “multi-layered
and simbiotic” way (Fautley and Savage, 2011, p. 3051; Russel and Zemblylas, 2007,
p.28852). According to Russel and Zemblylas:
“[…] if we stop thinking in dualisms and move beyond the either

(disciplines) / or (handmaidens) dichotomy, we may begin to examine
arts integration on a totally different level of thinking – that is, as
multilayered and symbiotic with other learning.” (Russel and Zemblylas,
2007, p.288).
They are envisioned as a whole that works as a uniÀed curriculum. In fact, the
narrowing of interdisciplinary relationships in the formation of a student proÀle
enables a more holistic training and education founded on creativity, collaboration
and individual customisation.
Thus, these students’ proÀles have a quite speciÀc condition, since the students
50
In this publication the “cross-curriculum dimensions” are: “identity and cultural diversity”, “healthy lifestyles”,
“community participation”, “enterprise”, “global dimension and sustainable development ”, “technology and
the media” ,“creativity and critical thinking” (ibid.).
51
In the full quote: “The notion of being “multi-layered and simbiotic” is a key one in terms of thinking,
planning and enacting cross-curricular learning [...]” (p.30).
52
The terms “multi-layered and symbiotic” have already been used by Russel and Zemblylas in 2007 and are
cited by Fautley and Savage (2011, p.30).
33
have to understand and develop the artistic ability, through the development
of skills on production, perception, reÁection upon contents and techniques,
and also have to reveal interpretative skills and the ability to make aesthetic
judgments. Actually, the arts students’ proÀle reports a sensitivity and creativity,
and results in a totality of contents and skills from different subject areas, quite
enriching and wide. So, the school’s spatial usage, bounded to the activities that
are played by students in space, can potentially be a reÁection of this active and
creative proÀle.
SpeciÀcally, there is also an appraisal on the artistic education from the Portuguese
Ministry of Education undertaken by a team of researchers (Fernandes et al., 2007)
and intended, among other purposes, to focus on the practices and outcomes of
the specialised teaching of Music, Dance and the Visual Arts towards a possible
development (p.5), particularly on the public schools (p.8).
The relevance of the artistic education is left clear for being associated with “cognitive
abilities” for other subjects and activities (p.28) and for holding themselves an
“increasingly more signiÀcant set of activities” associated with future employment:
“[…] all national and international indicators show that a great variety
of artistic manifestations are assuming an increasing and decisive
importance in the generation of a diversiÀed, and increasingly more
signiÀcant set of economic activities generating young employment.”53
(Fernandes et al., 2007, p.24)
The overall legislation for the Basic Courses of Dance, Music and Gregorian Chant
are established in speciÀc legislation54 and the different possibilities of attendance
of the teaching regimes of the secondary courses of Dance, Music and Singing are
clearly put by the legislation55, establishing three possibilities for attending them
in the following regimes: “integrated, “articulated” and “supplementary”56. The
integrated teaching occurs in only one institution that lectures both the general
formation and the vocational component, whereas the articulated teaching is held
in two teaching facilities where one lectures the regular teaching components with
53
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “[…] todos os indicadores nacionais e internacionais
revelam que uma grande variedade de manifestações artísticas estmo a assumir uma importkncia crescente e
decisiva na geraçmo de um conjunto diversiÀcado, e cada vez mais signiÀcativo, de actividades económicas
geradoras de emprego jovem.” (Fernandes et al., 2007, p.24)
54
This process and legal framework is expressed in detailed in Portaria nº 267/2011, DR 178, Série I, from
15th September, which is the Àrst alteration to Portaria n.º 691/2009, from 25th June, which creates the Basic
Courses of Dance, Music and Gregorian Chant and that approves their syllabus.
55
This is explained in the legislation: Portaria 225/2012, from 30th July; Portaria nº 243-B/2012 from 13th August.
56
From the Portuguese “integrado”, “articulado” and “supletivo”. As these concepts refer to a speciÀc
Portuguese lexicon related to artistic teaching regimes of attendance (“regime de frequrncia”), it was chosen to
use a literal translation to English.
34
The case study
the general subjects and the others lectures the specialised artistic components. In
the supplementary regime both components are lectured in separate institutions
and have independent curricula (p.135).
This report also suggests the integrated teaching (Fernandes et al., 2007, p.51), by
enabling the institutions57 to be schools “in the true meaning of the word” with
“consistent and feasible educational projects” and that “reduce the absenteeism,
retention and abandonment by the students” (p.27). It is also stated that “articulations
and/or associations with regular teaching schools” are suggested by some and are
even endorsed by regulations (p.70).
Contrarily, it discourages the supplementary regime when compared to the

remaining two options. Because, despite being considered the most frequent
of the three because of the difÀculties often found in the gathering of the two
institutions’ schedules for enabling the articulated teaching (p.136), it does not
imply a concentration of efforts from the institutions, aiming at a whole cohesive
curriculum (p.71). Furthermore, it is argued that:
“A conservatory fully integrated in the educational system will certainly

be more supported, more contextualised, more suitable to become a
school of reference and excellence in the Àeld of Dance or Music.”58
(Fernandes et al., 2007, p.26)
Hence, when compared to analogous situations on other countries, the report

concludes that these are diverse but converging towards a tendency to a “more
integrated and pedagogically more Áexible experiences, in the sense that the system
allows training to start at various times in the student’s life” and for “providing
conditions for a higher qualiÀcation within regular education”59 (p.222). It is
determined that, despite each country’s different curricular offer, articulated and
integrated artistic education are the future options to be developed, not only in
Portugal but internationally (p.223).
57
The report identiÀes the Music Academy of Santa Cecilia in Lisbon and the Calouste Gulbenkian Music
Conservatory of Braga to have integrated teaching of music and also the Dance and Music Schools of the
National Conservatory. Besides, after the rehabilitation of Rodrigues de Freitas School, the Conservatory
of Porto has been relocated and began holding the integrated teaching of music in 2008/2009 (Inspecçmo-
Geral da Educaçmo e Cirncia, 2014a, p.1; Nogueira, 2015, pp.61,79; Conservatório de Música do Porto,
2008, p.9).
58
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Um conservatório integrado plenamente no sistema
educativo estará, com certeza, mais apoiado, mais enquadrado, mais apto a transformar-se numa escola de
referrncia e de excelrncia no domínio da Dança ou da Música.” (p.26)
59
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Este modelo parece ceder o lugar a experirncias mais
integradas e pedagogicamente mais Áexíveis, no sentido em que o sistema permite que a formaçmo se possa
iniciar em vários momentos da vida do aluno. A aposta parece ir mais no sentido de proporcionar condições
para uma qualiÀcaçmo de maior excelrncia adentro do ensino regular.” (p.222)
35
Fig. 3. Quinta das Flores School, Coimbra

(http://www.josepaulodossantos.com)
1.5.3. The case study under this research
“The project assumes the generous and fruitful cohabitation between secondary
education and the teaching of music, regarding that neither the existing, nor the new
proposal, have predominance over the other, enabling a careful interaction between
the parties.”60 (Santos, 2008)
The case study of this research is the current Quinta das Flores School in Coimbra,
Portugal, which is a Basic and Secondary School with the Artistic School of the
Music Conservatory61 (Fig. 3).
This school was built in 1968 as a Basic and Secondary school, and has undergone a
process of rehabilitation in 2008-2009 by the architect José Paulo dos Santos (Traço
Banal), which joined the music and dance teaching of the conservatory with the
regular teaching of Quinta das Flores School that already took place there.
Within the context of the Portuguese School Building Modernisation Programme

this school has undergone a process of “adaptive re-use”, which implies the space
60
Free translation to English from the original quote from the architect in Portuguese: “O projecto pressupõe
a generosa e frutuosa coabitaçmo entre o ensino secundário e o ensino da música, havendo o cuidado de quer
no existente quer no proposto novo nmo haver predominkncia de um programa sobre o outro, havendo uma
cuidada interacçmo entre as partes.” (Santos, 2008)
61
In Portuguese “Escola Artística do Conservatório de Música de Coimbra”.
36
The case study
has been changed to be adapted for the current activities and to comply with
contemporary pedagogical, functional and social requirements, rather than changing
a particular space or its functions within. So, adaptability plays a relevant role
because the school is now adapted to current demands and to today’s curriculum.
This validates this school as a relevant case study for adaptability in Portuguese
school buildings today.
Consequently, Quinta das Flores School has been adjoined to the Artistic School,
working within the “articulated” music teaching regime, which means that both the
Basic, Secondary and Artistic Schools share the common areas and services, such as:
the main hall, the cafeteria and the outdoor spaces. In these spaces the students get
openly together and these are often the stage of spontaneous artistic performances
amongst an artistic ambiance shared generically by all and individually internalised by
each one. This follows the understanding of the cross-curricular teaching quoted earlier
(Fautley and Savage, 2011), as a whole, interdisciplinary curriculum for each student.
It also favours group dynamics, social cohesion between students and a

trandisciplinarity of competences and abilities that are trained in each teaching
regime and passed out to students and amongst each other in this shared moments
and spaces.
Thus, the spatial cohabitation also implies a sharing of the living experiences between
all the school community. In this school all students beneÀt from the artistic and
cultural milieu of the music and dance school and the common and generic spaces
aggregate all students, teachers and staff from both teaching regimes, having to
comply with their needs and daily activities and routines. This is an example of an
equilibrium between the needed autonomy of each regime and the speciÀcity of
some spaces, but also a shared co-existence between them all, implying knowledge
and environmental exchanges and a pedagogical and spatial tie.
In Coimbra, the Artistic School of the Music Conservatory has both articulated
and supplementary teaching, because it has students that have lessons within the
conservatory independently of their curricular options elsewhere after the school
hours in the supplementary teaching regime. It also has students that are enrolled
in the articulated teaching regime attending Quinta das Flores School. Ultimately,
even if the ofÀcial teaching regime is articulated, the spatial fruition can be argued
to be integrated, because effectively the space is the same for all students of Quinta
das Flores School and the Music Conservatory, sharing the same building’s facilities
and common spaces and living with each other as a whole community. So, despite
the co-existence of both institutions - the School and the Conservatory -, indeed
the spatial experience of the subjects taught by both are held in the same building
and even spread throughout the school’s overall facilities, from the entry of the new
building built under the modernisation process, to the existing and rehabilitated
pavilions and external courtyards used by students on their breaks.
37
a)
b)
Fig. 4. a) Project of the initial Artistic School, by José Paulo dos Santos
b) Project of the Ànal Artistic School in Quinta das Flores School, by José Paulo dos Santos
In fact, all the school community uses the same entrance and the common spaces
are shared, even if there are separate ofÀces for both administrations. So, all
the staff, students and teachers use the same spaces built or modernised within
the rehabilitation process and that provided the space with a more enlarged and
enriched curricular options and community, that have become broader by both
the conservatory and the school’s students, parents and an external audience for
attending the performances of them both.
Hence, this gathers more activities from different nature, frequent and occasional
users, and by and large, an enriched and broader community from the school and the
conservatory, and even others for using the facilities for extra-curricular activities or
specially spaces such as the auditorium, which have enlarged the possible uses and
activities as a community and urban aggregator.
As this Thesis’s scope is within space and architecture, it is considered that the
spatial blend between the users and the activities that occur within this building are
integrated in a whole built space, despite the institution to which they belong, which,
at a large scale, could surpass the institutional speciÀcity of the conservatory or
the school, and act as a cultural and urban cohesive core.
Previously to this, the architect José Paulo dos Santos had already conceived the
project of Santa Cecília Music Academy62 in Lisbon, which is a school with the
62
From the Portuguese: “Academia de Música de Santa Cecília”.
38
The case study
integrated teaching of music:
“Long before the conservatory I did a project for the integrated teaching
of music, the Music Academy of Santa Cecilia in Lisbon. [...] the project
is organised in complementarity: one hallway for pre-primary, primary,
secondary, and gymnasium; the recovery of the garden, where a small
palace is located, north of Lisbon, and north of Lumiar, with a hallway
only for music, which has more or less the same programme as the
Coimbra conservatory.”63 (Santos, 2017)
In the Àrst project by José Paulo dos Santos the conservatory was located in a
near-by site to the school in Vale das Flores, as an isolated building, which only
accommodated the conservatory (Fig. 4a). This had double-loaded corridors for
instrument rooms and single-loaded corridors for rooms for groups (Santos, 2017).
But after the consideration of a possible access between that project and the
existing school, it was considered to place the new conservatory in the existing
Quinta das Flores School site, after an initial possibility of placing it in José Falcmo
School. In the Ànal project it was not possible to use single-loaded corridors and so
it was decided to place the largest spaces in the extremities of the linearly developed
building (Santos, 2017).
The Ànal project results from the possibility of joining both institutions: the
conservatory and the school, by the rehabilitation of the existing pavilions of the
school and with a new building that comprises the new spaces (Fig. 4b). It thus,
aggregates both the regular teaching of the school and the music teaching of the
conservatory independently, and also the teaching attendance that is possible by the
articulated teaching where the regular formation is joined with the artistic formation
in a whole curricular option. The project provided spatial, technical, social and
environmental features that enable and potentiate this current pedagogical status
and the spatial diversity and speciÀc requirements on acoustics, soundprooÀng,
lighting, furnishing and information technology of each one.
SpeciÀcally, the intervention on this school designs a new building (Fig. 5a)
that consolidates the street façade that was once a defragmented set of smaller
buildings facing the posterior façade of a commercial building. Now, this new
volume is a part of the city, it presents the school as a community equipment with
its respective representativeness.
63
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the interview with the architect: “Muito antes do
conservatório Àz um projecto para o ensino integrado de música, a Academia de Música de Santa Cecília em
Lisboa. [...] o projecto organiza-se em complementaridade: uma ala para a pré-primária, primária, secundária,
e ginásio; a recuperaçmo do jardim, onde está instalado um palacete, a norte de Lisboa, e a norte do Lumiar,
com uma ala só para a música, que tem mais ou menos o mesmo programa que o conservatório de Coimbra.”
(Santos, 2017)
39
a) b) c)
Fig. 5. a) Quinta das Flores School - The preexisting school (top) and new façade (bottom)
b) Quinta das Flores School - Pavilions before (top) and after the intervention (bottom)
(Top, Parque Escolar in http://www.parque-escolar.pt/pt/escola/067; Bottom, Carolina Coelho)
c) Quinta das Flores School - New rear façade connected to the existing spaces (Carolina Coelho)
Besides, it also, and metaphorically, aggregates all the community that uses this
space, by gathering and welcoming them all on this new building, which contrasts
with the previous spatial layout of a set of scattered pavilions from 196864. Yet, and
contrarily to Rodrigues de Freitas School whose patrimonial heritage is demarcated65,
Quinta das Flores School’s urban form is not so referential.
The spatial connection between the new and the existing spaces is assumed by
interior paths, shaped as arms, that link both the posterior façade of the new building
and the existing pavilions (Figs. 5b, c). This could be interpreted as a reÁection of
the willingness to join both teaching regimes and spatial solutions, which has been
one of the goals of the intervention, supported by the upper quote by the architect,
that introduced this chapter.
The school spaces are appropriated by the students, which enable a sense of
belonging to them by the activities that occur there. Interestingly enough, the main
hall (Fig. 6a), for example, is a clearly appropriated space for students and a place
of informal learning, in which there is a piano that is actively used by students for
64
The pavilion layout used for the schools is taken on since 1968 as a response to the massive growth in school
population and the increase in the compulsory school (Veloso, Sebastmo, Marques and Duarte, 2015, pp.60-63).
For further development on the stages undertaken by the building school construction in Portugal. See: Heitor,
T. (2014) 40 Anos de Construçmo Escolar: CartograÀa de um Percurso. In M. Rodrigues L. (Org.) (2014). 40
Anos de Políticas de Educação em Portugal. Volume II - Conhecimento, Atores e Recursos. (pp.495-529) Coimbra: Almedina.
65
According to the architect Fernandes de Sá: “In addition, the building is under heritage easement, encompassed
in the whole of Marques da Silva’s work classiÀed by the IGESPAR […]” (Fernandes de Sá, 2008, p.14).
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Acresce que o edifício está sob servidmo patrimonial,
englobado no conjunto da obra de Marques da Silva classiÀcado pelo IGESPAR[...]” (Fernandes de Sá, 2008,
p.14)
40
The case study
a) b)
Fig. 6. a) Quinta das Flores School, Coimbra - The school’s main hall
b) Quinta das Flores School, Coimbra - Artistic performances in informal spaces
(Student Association of the Music Conservatory of Coimbra)
spontaneous creations, training or collective informal performances, enhancing the

referred artistic ambiance. It also awakens the artistic interest of the remaining
students and the school community overall. The same is true in other areas of
common use, such as the cafeteria, where the two teaching regimes are congregated
by the space, by the environment and by the activities they share in common.
Interestingly, in Quinta das Flores School the design solution was to insulate the
individual music studios from each other, but not into the hall, which spreads the
music throughout the school, beyond the speciÀcity of its spaces.
The music thus takes many forms (because of the variety of different instruments
and genres that are played here) and also takes place in different spaces (Fig. 6b),
not just conÀned to the studio and to the individual teaching, but also as a creative
and social activity elsewhere.
In fact, this artistic school has the speciÀcity to bestow on the entire school
environment a particular sensory experience, because music is not restricted by
the boundaries of the formal classroom spaces, but is also played in the corridors,
outside spaces and in all informal spaces, truly acknowledgeable as active and
creative environments. It is also enjoyed transversally, not only by the music
students but by all the community, promoting emotional and sensory experience as
a vehicle for peer interaction and knowledge transfers amongst the students. The
living experience here bears a particular sensory and bodily dimension, by means
of informal performances from the students who take ownership of the space with
artistic casual displays of all types.
41
Fig. 7. Quinta das Flores School, Coimbra. Dance lesson

(Carolina Coelho)
Therefore, the study of the spatial experience in this particular school, with its
cross-curricular educational model, represents a more complex case study, that
stretches the boundaries of the living experience from an ordinary school into
a multi-layered sensory dimension, which inÁuences the social, pedagogical and
cognitive aspects of the students’ lives.
Moreover, along with this curricular and spatial change, the school’s activities and
inhabitants were visibly enlarged and diversiÀed. The school community (internal
users) now comprises students of the artistic teaching, of the regular teaching and
students of both regimes, besides all the teachers and staff. The school now has also
the ability to engage a broader range of external users, who attend it for occasional
public performances in the auditorium, or that recurrently use the school spaces
like general classrooms, the library, the gymnasium or the cafeteria for after work
activities arranged by associations that have protocols with the school board.
In addition to the artistic education, Quinta das Flores School has a very wide
educational offer within the regular education, which involves not only the general
courses, as well as options on different vocational courses, in sports, information
technology and arts, which implies other speciÀc spaces for lecturing these
subjects, besides providing spaces of common use for a broader range of student
proÀles. This is proven by the external evaluation report from the school that
conÀrms that: “The school shows a good ability to attract students and families,
for which contributes, among other things, the pedagogical offer and the existing
42
The case study
environment.”66 (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo,

2011, p.4)
Its integrating character for aggregating a vaster community, with different paths
and formations, is still reinforced by the fact that students, whose artistic formation
have been started elsewhere, mainly in local music schools, bands or philharmonic
groups, can pursue their formation here. This places the school, pedagogically, in
a very signiÀcant position, despite its rather peripheral placement in the city of
Coimbra.
Overall, this school could be considered a “social hub” (Department for Education,
2010, p.13) in the sense that the artistic school is not conÀned to its speciÀc spaces,
but rather establishes a proximity with other areas of the regular teaching, which
enables a deeper interrelation of activities and people altogether.
Furthermore, in Coimbra, the option of opening the school to the city and the
community is enabled by the space, but also by the management that provides
protocols with diverse associations, broadening the spatial usage of the school
outside the regular and artistic teaching, to extra-curricular, after-work or other
diverse activities for an enlarged external community67. This acknowledges the
school with the ability to be perceived as a communitarian centre and aggregator
of a wider and more diverse set of individuals and a higher mix of social and
pedagogical proÀles. Thus, music and dancing act as an urban, spatial and social
qualiÀer (Fig. 7).
66
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A Escola mostra uma boa capacidade de atracçmo junto
dos alunos e famílias, para o que contribui, entre outros aspectos, a oferta formativa e o ambiente existente.”
(2011, p.4)
67
The list of protocols from 2011 is cited in the evaluation report: “Encontram-se celebrados alguns protocolos
e parcerias que contribuem para a operacionalizaçmo dos objectivos inscritos no Projecto Educativo. Destacam-
se os existentes com diferentes Faculdades e Departamentos da Universidade de Coimbra, Instituto Bissaya
Barreto e Instituto Miguel Torga (para a realizaçmo de estágios dos docentes e formaçmo), Centro de Saúde
Norton de Matos (no campo da saúde), Centro de Neurocirncias de Coimbra e com empresas que colaboram
na realizaçmo de estágios dos cursos tecnológicos e proÀssionais.
Para além dos projectos anteriormente referidos merecem destaque o Cirncia Viva, Optimizaçmo do Ensino das
Cirncias Experimentais e o Projecto de Educaçmo Sexual em Meio Escolar.” (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da
Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2011, p.11)
Free translation to English: “There are some signed protocols and partnerships that contribute to the
implementation of the objectives of the Educational Project. Noteworthy are the existing ones with different
Faculties and Departments of the University of Coimbra, the Bissaya Barreto Institute and the Miguel Torga
Institute (for teachers training and formation), the Health Centre Norton de Matos (in the health department),
the Center for Neuroscience of Coimbra and with the companies that cooperate in the internships of
technological and professional courses.
In addition to the above-mentioned projects there are also noteworthy the Live Science, the Experimental
Sciences Teaching Optimization Project and the Project for Sexual Education in School Environment.”
(Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2011, p.11)
43
Even if other schools could be mentioned by their pedagogical curriculum or their

openness, this school’s particular urban and communitarian engagement is very
representative of a wider set of activities that are held in its space, a broader range
of people that use it, and a deeper and more diverse range of spatial requirements
to be answered.
All things considered, the choice of Quinta das Flores School as the case study is
validated by the fact that it is a very particular and enriching learning environment.
It is also due to its pedagogical perspective based on the curricula it lectures that
is truly aggregator of the artistic and regular teaching and that gathers diverse
educational options, lectured in spaces with assorted spatial features, namely: space
for public and private use, for individual or collective classes, of speciÀc or general
occupancy, according to the array of spatial needs that this school’s curricula implies.
44
Methodological approach
1.6. Methodological approach
“The idea is to help people report to architecture, to help architecture report to

people, and to help people to report themselves.” (Sejima, 2010)
As explained earlier68, this research aims to deÀne an original operative methodology

to identify and assess adaptability, speciÀcally intended to the case study of the
recently rehabilitated Portuguese school buildings that gather regular and music
teaching in a cross-curricular pedagogical model.
All in all, the structure of this Doctoral Thesis is based on three stages, in which
each stage will inform the subsequent69:
First, it is crucial to clarify the concept of adaptability directly applied

to contemporary school buildings, in terms of activities, users, spatial
features and design.
Secondly, the research aims at deÀning an operative methodology capable

of identifying and assessing adaptable school space. Presumably, space
use methodologies applied to formal learning environments in the 1970s
(such as Fawcett’s (1978) mathematical approach), may differ from the
analysis of today’s Áows of users in a more informal space or one with a
non conventional shape (like the current use of video recording (Heitor
and Tomé, 2009)).
Hence, it resorts to the contributions from related areas in the scope of
space use assessment methodologies (e.g. evidence-based design, post-
occupancy evaluation, space syntax, facilities performance evaluation,
68
69
The general methodological approach of this Thesis has been the Àrst paper to be published and the Àrst
communication undertaken within the process of investigation for this Doctoral Research. It has been presented
in the Nexus 2012 Relationships Between Architecture and Mathematics, in 11-14 June 2012, Milan, for testing and
academic validation. It has also been published in the Conference’s proceedings as: Coelho, C. (2012). From
design process to space use: Adaptability in school buildings today. In M. Rossi (Ed.), Proceedings of the Nexus
2012 Relationships Between Architecture and Mathematics. (pp.23-28). Politecnico di Milano. Milano: McGraw-Hill.
45
usability studies70), assuming that the use of different methods brings

quantitative and qualitative data and speciÀc advantages, resulting on a
more thorough conclusion. The crossing of data on school spaces and
users’ patterns of movement for each schedule, informs on the actual or
potential activities for each space and its speciÀc adaptability features.
Thirdly, the methodology is tested in a school with a variety of spaces to

validate its adequacy and effectiveness.
As it will justiÀed in chapter 371, the methodology for this research that more fully
answers the problematics72 is considered to be a combination of distinct methods
that provide speciÀc results and comprise different levels of the living experience,
considering the speciÀcity of the artistic school. Hence, in order to develop a
more comprehensive analysis, it is intended to use a triangulation of methods, by
crossing different approaches for a more thorough output, on both individual and
group fruition, emotional and physical experience in space. This can be achieved by
crossing distinct frameworks under space use assessment methodologies, as detailed
in the following description of the methodology here proposed:
I. Description of the spatial sample by a functional and a morphological

analysis.
Space syntax studies analyse the building’s morphology, assuming that

“the degree to which spaces are used for movement is a function of their
conÀgurational position” (Hillier, 200773, p.392). By formulating axial and
convex maps and determining the values of the parameters such as integration,
depth or connectivity, these studies provide data on the degree of centrality
of a space or a pathway within the whole system, the features of proximity
and sinuosity of a particular pathway, and ultimately its intelligibility and
easiness of perceiving the space. The conclusions provided by these studies,
when subject to cultural and social interpretation, can suggest whether the
variables related to spatial morphology affect spatial fruition.
70
Those particular study Àelds and respective authors and bibliographic references will be cited in the chapter
3.1. Space use assessment methodologies, where these will be further detailed.
71
See chapter 3. Construction of the methodology.
72
The problematics has been explained in chapter 1.3. The research question: Adaptability as a form of
engagement between Architecture and Life.
73
46
II. Analytical feasibility matrices quantitatively display the relation between

spaces and activities, by matching spatial attributes to the activities they have
the potential to support. These outcomes are collected in charts subject to
interpretation, concluding on the attributes that enable the highest entropy
levels74, and consequently which spaces are the most probable to shelter
the widest range of activities. A set of matrices displays what are the actual
activities that can take place in every space. This describes the formal
activities thought for each space and that can be experienced by a collective
ensemble, previously determined by the management of the school. The
compared results between matrices provide information on how and under
what conditions each space is occupied and its “loose-Àt” (Becker, 1990)
potential to shelter other activities and occupants.
This information when crossed with the data collected by Space Syntax
studies indicates whether the location of a particular space can inÁuence
its occupancy, both on the frequency of use and on the range of activities
held.
III. Observations of effective spatial fruition and self-reports for personal

testimonies and deliver individual qualitative descriptions on spatial fruition
and complement the previous, more general conclusions, with a more
detailed assessment of the living experience. This is particularly relevant in
contemporary school buildings that value informal spaces and activities as a
crucial part of the learning process, such as casual events that take place in
public spaces like the cafeteria or the school’s common hall. In addition, since
it is aimed at an artistic school, the nature of the activities and inhabitants
involved has to be considered. Hence, feedback by means of self-reports
describes more thoroughly individual experience in space and informal
appropriation. The information in these reports illustrates, in another context,
how Jauss’s (198675) reception theory can be transposed to the school’s
inhabitants, as active readers of the space, creators of sense, or authors of
their own narratives, as Benjamin (198276) described it.
74
Further explanation on this subject will be provide in chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing
adaptability in learning environments.
75
The book version consulted is in Spanish and dates from 1986, but the original version is from 1977.
76
47
IV. The Ànal stage of this research corresponds to the interpretation of

the results gathered, translating them into operative knowledge for a broad
depiction of the space and the spatial features that enable the identiÀed
experiences, either individual and collective, formal and informal, in Quinta
das Flores School.
The expected outcomes are a comprehensive outlook on how, when and by

what means does space enable or constrain the spatial experience envisioned
by the architect, or whether effective spatial fruition overlaps the expected
one. Overall, this gathering of methods and respective results describes
more fully the spatial experience, quantitatively and qualitatively.
For the purposes of overcoming the expected outcomes of this research, it is crucial
to progressively introduce information from a theoretical research on literature on
the state of the art of adaptability in school buildings, as well as adaptability overall,
the evolution of spatial solution in schools, and also related to space use assessment
methodologies.
Then it will proceed by explaining in detail the construction of the methodology,

speciÀcally constructed for the purposes of this research, amongst the diverse
methods of assessing space use.
Subsequently, the practical Àeldwork will be depicted, and the methodology will be
applied to the case study under examination.
Afterwards, the conclusions achieved will be described, to subsequently inform both

the theory and the practice of architectural research, and also to raise the possibility
of applying this methodology to other schools as future potential developments.
Therefore, the Thesis will be organised in the following chapters:
1. Initial considerations
2. State of the art and critical revision of the concept of adaptability
3. Construction of the methodology
4. Application of the methodology in the case study
5. Conclusion
Bibliography
48
Chapter 1: Initial considerations aims to introduce the research question and

to contextualise it under a deeper and more extensive personal and academic
motivation. It is also where the research objectives are promptly clariÀed, so that
the approaches to reach them become clear and gradually answered throughout
the all document. Also under this chapter lies the justiÀcation for the choice of the
case study and the speciÀc presentation of the school where the methodology will
be applied in, with its respective speciÀes that lead to the choice on the approaches
to assess its adaptability. Additionally, this chapter will also justify the scope of
the Thesis under architectural research, considered to be signiÀcant for knowledge
advancement on this subject and also to perceive it as an original and state of the
art approach on the matter.
Chapter 2: State of the art and critical revision of the concept of adaptability
intends to address the concept of adaptability and adjacent terminologies according
to the authors of reference and then, more speciÀcally, to point it out to the
educational brief and, particularly, to the scope of the contemporary learning
environments for today’s varied curricular options.
As previously explained in this chapter, this research is structured by four stages, in

which the previous will inform the subsequent. So, after the initial considerations
placed in chapter 1, chapter 2 will focus on the concept of adaptability and its state
of the art and authors of reference, analysing whether its previous deÀnitions can
continue to be understood contemporarily and whether the approach to the school
buildings can constrain the speciÀcity of the deÀnition.
Chapter 3: Construction of the methodology presents various space use

assessment methodologies from different study Àelds within architectural research,
which will be presented and analysed for identiÀcation of the ones considered more
signiÀcant for the assessment of the use(s) and experience(s) the space enables,
according to its potential level of adaptability.
This chapter introduces the methodology deÀned for this research, which aims
at identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments, after the
comprehensive study of the different approaches, study Àelds and respective
outcomes that each one provides. Therefore, it acts as a very signiÀcant part of this
Thesis that explains in detail this original methodology, the options that support it
and the expected results from its application.
49
Chapter 4: Application of the methodology in the case study introduces the

case study in detail and aims at validating the methodology that has been previously
deÀned in abstract, within a case study, introducing it in a real life scenario.
This chapter corresponds to stage three of the research, which is the testing of the
methodology in a variety of spaces in the case study, to analyse its adequacy and to
test its robustness.
Chapter 5: Conclusion draws the Ànal outcomes, according to the results

provided by the application of the methodology in the case study. Each stage of
the proposed methodology is analysed and critically assessed, the results are studied
and the potential correlations between the results from each approach from the
overall methodology is identiÀed towards a more general framework of application.
Bibliography corresponds to the Ànal part of this document and lists all the
direct and passive references used for the purposes of informing the research, in
its diverse subject areas from which this Thesis has sought for information and
contents, based on different sources such as books, book chapters, articles in
periodic publications, websites of institutional and academic value… Finally, it also
speciÀes all the personal publications developed throughout this research process
that have already been subject of peer review and have been presented and/or
published as academic and original developments.
Overall, it is considered that this Thesis’s organisational structure can lead to the
achievement of the objectives deÀned in chapter 1.477 and the conclusion on the
hypotheses suggested in chapter 1.378. It is also considered that throughout all
these stages and respective chapters, the research question will also be addressed
and thoroughly answered. The identiÀcation of the concept of adaptability for
contemporary school buildings will be clariÀed in chapter 279, the methodology to
identify and assess it will be extensively explained in chapter 380, and its application
in the case study will be described and examined in chapter 481, for reaching the Ànal
conclusions presented in chapter 582.
77
Chapter 1.4. Research objectives.
78
Chapter 1.3. The research question: Adaptability as a form of engagement between Architecture and Life.
79
Chapter 2. State of the art and critical revision of the concept of adaptability.
80
Chapter 3. Construction of the methodology.
81
Chapter 4. Application of the methodology in the case study.
82
Chapter 5. Conclusion.
50
By identifying adaptability in school buildings, it is possible to assess it during its

spatial usage and understand how and by what means can an adaptable space be
projected and how can it enhance a wider range of experiences and users in space
throughout a longer period of time. Moreover, it also provides information on the
features of design that enhance the adaptability level of each space that can be pre-
perceived in the design, as a way to broaden its usage, in time and activities.
Hence, according to the Thesis’s organisational structure explained, and assuming

the sequence of information each chapter will bring, it is considered that the
research question identiÀed in chapter 1.3.83, under the context selected for this
research and accurately justiÀed in chapter 1.584, will be answered throughout the
all document and explicitly in the conclusion chapter.
All in all, the aim of this methodology is to take into account all procedures
that could bring further information to the Ànal result, in which nothing could
be added or taken off. In this same manner, this methodological structure also
aims at providing a thorough approach to this subject matter in an overall cohesive
approach. Hence, Alberti’s quote could then better explain this goal:
“For many components are required to Ànish the work, and as the
absence of any of them can impede or result in the ruin of the entire
structure, it is your duty not to miss anything that will add to the overall
scheme if present, but detract from it if absent.” (Alberti, 1988, p.3785)
83
Chapter 1.3. The research question: Adaptability as a form of engagement between Architecture and Life.
84
Chapter 1.5. The case study.
85
Quote from the English version translated in 1988 by Joseph Rykwert, Neil Leach and Robert Tavernor.
Alberti’s original work dates from 1485.
The original quote from the Latin as follows: “Cum uero tota diÀcii ratio ex singulis modulorum partibus
ita erit apud te spectata et cognita: ut nihil non animaduersum: nihil non adnotatum uspiam relinquatur: &
interea ita omnino decre ueris diÀcare: et apud te constabit unde sumptibus oportune satisÀat / parabis reliqua
ad opus ipsum exequendum necessaria: ne quid inter diÀcandum desit: quod a perÀciundi operis celerita te
auocet. Nam cum sint plura quibus ad opus absoluendum indi geas : cumque illorum quid uis ni adsit omnem
structuram possit aut impedire aut uitiare / ofÀcii erit nihil neglexisse / quod confe rat si adsit: aut noceat / si
desit.” (Alberti, 1485, Book 2, p.43)
Note also that the Àrst Portuguese translation was published in 2011 translated by A. M. E. Santo and the
Introduction, notes and disciplinary revision done by M.J.T. Krüger. In the Portuguese version this quotes has
been published as follows:
“Na verdade, sendo muitas as coisas de que necessitas para concluir a obra, e como qualquer delas, se faltar,
pode impedir ou prejudicar toda a construçmo, é teu dever nada descurar naquilo que é importante, se houver,
e prejudicial, se faltar.” (Alberti, 2011, p.195).
51
1.7. Architectural disciplinary scope, relevance and originality of the

research
“Change has become the greatest challenge, aesthetic as well as programmatic, of

contemporary architecture.” (Duffy and DEGW, 1998, p.11)
After recognising the advantages provided by adaptability when applied to school

buildings86 and, subsequently, determining the objectives of this research in order
to address this subject matter87, the relevance of adaptability for the discipline of
architecture can be considered to be established.
Adaptability, when planned in the design, goes hand in hand with sustainability, in
terms of a better environmental performance and the reduction of maintenance or
rehabilitation costs, which could be perceived as a better economic investment, in
the way it intends to avoid or postpone its obsolescence, assisting it to continue to
cope with the changing needs. Additionally, because it enables the achievement of
an appropriate response of a building not only for the present moment but also in
the long run, it also allows a better functional and material performance for longer.
Moreover, when applied to school buildings, adaptability is also recognised as an

architectural quality factor88 and a pedagogical quality promoter, as educational
spaces can act as community aggregators and potential enhancers of the learning
process and student achievement (Schneider, 2002b; Moore and Lackney, 1994).
According to the contemporary social, educational and constructive requirements

for schools, this is a topic which is being rethought. Indeed, due to the current
curricular and technological changes, along with today’s signiÀcance of the learning
86
As seen in chapter 1.3. The research question: Adaptability as a form of engagement between Architecture
and Life.
87
See chapter 1.4. Research objectives.
88
As noted by the OECD in its publications (1976, 1996, 2001, 2006), but also by other literature references
on this subject area like the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (2007), National
Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (Bingler, Quinn, Sullivan, 2003; Nair, Fielding, 2005), Commission of
the European Communities (2007) and Educause (Oblinger, 2006; Oblinger, Oblinger 2005). And for both the
American and the English secondary school programmes, both Áexibility and adaptability are essential in the
design for exemplary schools as “Important issues to consider early on” (CABE, 2007, p.7).
52
Architectural disciplinary scope, relevance and originality of the research
experience in space, within its wide possibilities and speciÀcities, contemporary

educational spaces’ requirements have also evolved and the concept of adaptable
schools has evolved along with them.
In fact, given the role of informal spaces, the prominence of knowledge creation
through individual and group work, the non-face-to-face model for lecturing and work
production, conceivable due to the information technology, and coexisting with the
traditional face-to-face model, where the physical co-presence plays a fundamental
role, besides the profusion of teaching methods by means of the new information
technologies and the curricula changes; hence, spatial responses will necessarily be
different from previous design solutions.
In the case of a subject openly debated in the 1970s (OECD, 1976; Ader, 1975a, 1975b;
Oddie, 1975), it becomes relevant to study it according to the present educational
paradigm, and speciÀcally into the current Portuguese reality. Undeniably, the
Secondary School Modernisation Programme implemented in Portugal, suggests
a deeper understating of the need for an adaptable school, while planning the
renovation designs for fulÀlling the pedagogical and social requirements, within a
more fully and informed spatial answer.
So, this is a research that is committed to the current Portuguese reality89, intending
to achieve operative results, within an area that is being discussed nationally
and internationally, which adds to its relevance for both the country’s research
development, and the knowledge advancement for the discipline of architecture.
Thus, the methodology will be supported by the most representative references on

the state of the art of adaptability and particularly of adaptability in school buildings,
but will also be critical towards them, introducing the approaches considered to
be more informative and projecting them into the current Portuguese context of
educational spaces. So, in chapter 3.3.90 when the methodology will be extensively
described and justiÀed, its originality will again be referred, as the methodology
constructed under the scope of this Doctoral Thesis will be justiÀed, and the
approaches to authors of reference for its validation will be critically analysed. At
that point, its originality will become even clearer in a more explicit manner, while
comparing existing approaches to the one presented, in the number of procedures,
in the sequence suggested, in the approaches undertaken and, foremost, in the
features considered and assessed and the process to do it so, such as: possible
activities, effective events, spaces, users and allocations.
All in all, for both the theory and the practice of architecture, the study of
89
The relevance and originality of the choice in the case study have already been subject of reÁection in
the chapter 1.5. The case study, from the Portuguese schools, then to the artistic schools and Ànally to the
identiÀcation of the speciÀc case study, where the methodology will be applied on and for which it will be
constructed.
90
See chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments.
53
adaptability in school buildings can represent a knowledge advancement when

designing educational spaces, aiming at lasting longer, being potentially more
sustainable and coping with the inevitability of social, pedagogical and technical
changing requirements.
Also for the theory of architecture, this research plays a signiÀcant role, since it
approaches both the concept of adaptability today, but also the wide scope of
user research studies that can potentially report and inform spatial fruition. It
also analyses their potentialities and scope, and concludes on the methodological
approach to identity and assess the concept under the context of the case study.
Then, intending to test the methodology in a case study for which it has been
speciÀcally constructed, this methodology aims at being translated to the practice
of a real life scenario. This testing and validation will ultimately make it more robust
and able to be further applied to other schools, for assessing their adaptability
and the ability of their educational spaces to cope with the current and future
requirements, but also to inform future designs on the needs to be answered if a
rehabilitation process is in order.
So, likewise, and recognising that the school programme has been the subject of
an extensive architectural, building and Ànancial investment, this research will seek
to advance on the disciplinary knowledge for both the intervention in the building
here analysed as case study, as in others later on.
Overall, this acknowledges this research as an architectural study that aims at

deepening the subject matter of adaptability in school buildings, whose relevance
is supported by literature and organisations’ work throughout, and which becomes
even more signiÀcant under the present pedagogical context and directives.
But, speciÀcally, its application under the Portuguese context, supports it as even
more relevant for the study of the current reality for both the theory and the practice
of architecture in Portugal, making it more signiÀcant to understand the process
undertaken, the current spatial potential of the renovated schools and possibly their
ability to cope with future developments.
Hence, the relevance of this research lies within the need to study and assess the
current spatial fruition in today’s active learning environments, as a very signiÀcant
contemporary challenge for the discipline of architecture, as seen in the quote that
introduced this chapter by Duffy and DEGW (1998)91.
It is also pointed out to a speciÀc school that could be considered a more complex
case study, since it holds a more plural set of inhabitants and actions, and whose
91
“Change has become the greatest challenge, aesthetic as well as programmatic, of contemporary architecture.”
(Duffy and DEGW, 1998, p.11)
54
Architectural disciplinary scope, relevance and originality of the research
activities act as a relevant cultural, social and educational centre for a broader
community.
This reference to the case study of a particular school that gathers artistic and regular
curricula is an example of a space rehabilitated to potentiate a broader range of
activities by a wider community that ultimately can be best assessed by an extensive
range of methods in order to fully identify its multi-layered experience in space. It
is also an example where the change in space has potentially an implication in the
learning process, ultimately bonding architecture and experience and including the
human condition in the design.
All in all, the originality of this research lies in the methodological approach to
adaptability, under the contemporary context and within the choice of the artistic
contemporary school building as case study, assessing its speciÀc ambiance
experienced at several levels. The fact that it is originally targeted, speciÀcally, to the
Portuguese artistic schools, also designates that the deÀnition and the methodology
to be adopted should originally match its characteristics and contextual speciÀcities.
Furthermore, it aims to be informed by several research cultures, focused on
the adaptability’s methodological approaches studied on the state of the art, but
proposing an original and contemporary speciÀc methodology applied to current
school buildings that potential demonstrate its possible gathering.
Overall, it aims at providing original and state of the art knowledge to the subject
of architecture, displacing the advancement from the achievements of the relevant,
yet previous authors, but also their possible interconnection(s). It also intends to
contribute with a thorough and refreshed outlook regarding adaptability in school
buildings today, as an input to the theory of architecture, the deÀnition of the
concept and its respective methodological approach, but similarly to the practice,
considering adaptability already in the design process and as an asset throughout
the buildings’ occupancy.
55
1.8. Viability and feasibility
“The question is not whether we have to adjust with difÀculty to what has been
produced with even more difÀculty, but whether we make something which from the
beginning is totally part of ourselves, for better or worse.” (Habraken, 1972, p.1392)
Having explained the methodological approach93 and its suitability to the research
question and to the objectives sought94, the research development and foremost the
achievement of the deÀned the goals could be concluded as feasible.
Furthermore, the option for a case study from the Portuguese context also justiÀes
the adequacy of the study object to the purposes of the research and the adequacy
of the means to the goals.
Besides, the established contacts allow us to conclude on the availability of the entities
to provide data and relevant interviews for this research. Namely the availability of
Parque Escolar95, as the entity in charge for the School Modernisation Programme
and the upholder of the technical drawings, plans, sections and elevations from the
case study, as well as the descriptive text written by the architect, which has provided
crucial material for the research, enabling the application of the methodology in the
case study.
SpeciÀcally, the study of Quinta das Flores School can also be considered viable
and feasible, due to the availability of the data needed for this investigation, as well
as the cooperation of the stakeholders.
In fact, the Direction of Quinta das Flores Basic and Secondary School, by its
Director - Professor Ana Margarida Marques, and the Artistic School of the Music
Conservatory of Coimbra, also by its Director at the moment of the research
- Professor Manuel Rocha96, have been available for interviews of particular
92
Translated from the Dutch by B. Valkenburg. First edition in Dutch from 1961.
93
See chapter 1.6. Methodological approach.
94
95
We deeply acknowledge Parque Escolar for its availability, as indicated in the Acknowledgements section.
96
In chapter 4.1. Presentation and justiÀcation of the chosen case study, these titles will be explained in detail
56
Viability and feasibility
signiÀcance and have allowed several visits to the space. Besides, also the architect
José Paulo dos Santos has been accessible for interviewing under the scope of this
research.
Furthermore, the established contacts that took place throughout all the research
process, both by email or in person, on peer meetings and international conferences,
have considered this issue to be suitable and viable for presentation in its sequential
stages of development.
Likewise, publications, conferences and contacts, have also provided input for
consideration and critical assessments that enable a more supported answer and
sequential reÁections on the progresses of this research.
Nevertheless, the research question on adaptability that underlies this Doctoral

Thesis implies additional efforts to fully and more comprehensively address it,
which have been noted from past researches, as well as by the practice. In fact, the
pursuit of adaptability and the methodological approach to assess it, have been
considered by literature to hold some constraints that need to be acknowledged,
to be tackled in this research process, because of the potential they could bear for
hindering adaptability’s feasibility in space.
In fact, the relation between the changing needs of the people and the lasting
character of the built form, can be difÀcult to answer in the design (Duffy and
DEGW, 1998, p.5397). Adaptability addresses this dichotomy because it implies the
buildings’ ability to relentlessly respond to changing needs, whether functional,
technical, aesthetical, environmental,... despite the reductive constancy of its
physicality.
Therefore, an adaptable building will supply the current demands of all its users,
throughout its lifecycle, acknowledging potential changes in the future and the need
for spatial adequacy. This fact can introduce a difÀculty in providing and “designing
for the future” (Duffy and DEGW, 1998), which is at the time of the design still
uncertain98. According to DEGW:
“Designing for adaptability forces everyone to join in predicting the

future. And because it encourages shared responsibility in the decision
-making process, it tend to lead to affordable solutions. How much
adaptability is something that can be calculated after thinking through
scenarios of change. To what extent and in what areas adaptability
is needed are questions that help to inform realistic and sustainable
solutions.” (Duffy and DEGW, 1998, p.76)
and the institutional differences explained.

97
The work of DEGW will be assessed in detail. See chapter 2.1. Adaptability: deÀnition and adjacent concepts.
98
Becker and Sims (2000) called this “the uncertainty dilemma” (pp.5-7).
57
Indeed, this implies an equilibrium between supply and demand, now and in the
future. One of the possible approaches is the “strategic brieÀng”99 for identifying
those requirements and making them possible to be answered later on, ensuring the
buildings performance over time. Rather than providing a deterministic space for
people and activities, this considers an openness of the space for other endeavours
and people that might occupy the building in the unknown future100.
But, in fact, the transference of adaptability from brief to use has not always been
carried out in the most appropriate or effective manner, namely by unÀtting designs
and solutions, or even by a mismatch between the emergent demands and the
available supply and, ultimately, the lack in communication between professionals
and future inhabitants.
The divergence between expected and effective spatial fruition may be due to
“under-provision” (Fawcett, 2010b), when spatial constraints hamper the building’s
ability to cope with the upcoming demand, like an increase on the number of people
that occupy the space and more demanding spatial requirements from activities that
have not been perceived at the time of the design.
Therefore, a certain degree of spatial indetermination can be considered in order

to cope with future options on activities and, speciÀcally for schools, curriculum
variations. This can be considered an “elastic Àt” (Becker, 1990)101 that copes with
this lack of certainty. Already in 1975 this was a spatial concern by the OECD:
“The rigour which is implicit in the brieÀng and design process does not
preclude a certain degree of indetermination in all multi-option school
projects, the practice of an education of options leads to a random
factor in forecasting requirements, the allocation of the different spaces
within the school must be capable of variation and it must also be
possible to change teaching practices as time goes by.” (Ader, 1975a, p.7)
On the other hand, the problem of “over-provision” (Fawcett, 2010b) of the

design can be due to excessive solutions set out in the project-phase, involving
unnecessary costs, availability of space and exaggerated technical resources or a
range of systems, that future users will not take advantage of. As an example of
“over-provision”, Fawcett (2010b) points out the Free University of Berlin102.
99
“According to Colin Cave, former chief executive and now consultant at DEGW, strategic brieÀng is about
“Envisaging how buildings are going to be used. It is a matter of identifying strategic requirements, describing
possible solutions and setting the critical success factor for a project, together with the means of measuring or
calibrating success.”” (Duffy and DEGW, 1998, p.54)
100
“Strategic brieÀng could be seen – wrongly – as an infallible method of determining the ideal size, layout,
furnishing, servicing and overall look of a building, which magically materialises at the end of the process.
DEGW’s objectives in the strategic brieÀng process are not, however, to encourage architectural determinism:
the idea that there is only one “correct” solution. Rather the aim is to lay down a strategic and overarching
framework within each client, architect and other professionals may work to achieve optimum results.” (p.67)
101
From Becker’s (1990) “elastic organization” “loose-Àt” and “tight-Àt” concepts.
102
“A classic example of over-provision for Áexibility is the Free University of Berlin by Candilis Josic Woods.
58
In fact, oversupply and unnecessary solutions, do not often guarantee a more durable
and effective investment in the long term, but rather a needed balance between
what adds value to space but is also cost-effective in the design. This is identiÀed by
the work of the Research Project Adaptable Futures at Loughborough University:
“For many people, it [adaptability] has been branded as costly, an

‘extra’, rarely used, and involves state-of-the-art gadgetry which only
works half the time. This is all in an effort to safe-guard the end user
against unpredictable changes in organizational structure, functional
use, spatial arrangements, technological advances, and so on. This
perceived view has been driven by technical attempts at future prooÀng
buildings through the application of speciÀc solutions.” (Schmidt III
et al., 2010b, p.4)
Instead, DEGW identiÀes three conditions to match more accurately spatial supply
with the user demand, which are: proÀcient management, user engagement in both
the design and management, and innovative design options, for enabling adaptability
overall (Duffy and DEGW, 1998, p.77)103. Hence, besides facilities management
and actual knowledge on how to use them, adaptability conceived in the design
by the professionals plays a signiÀcant role for the overlapping of the effective
requirements and the spatial potential to cope with them, and is a contribution
speciÀcally made possible by the discipline of architecture.
Having already addressed the design solutions that provide for adaptability and
the urge to balance its provision with the effective use value they convey, at this
point we will now focus on the two remaining conditions: management and user
involvement, referred above by DEGW.
The school management policy can, in fact, condition its occupancy. So, its
openness may be a reÁection of “the style of management in the school” (Fawcett,
1976a, p.10), but also of its pedagogical options, more than just the individual and
spontaneous space use per se. In this sense, Quinta das Flores School, by promoting
agreements with other several institutions, gets closer to the community and opens
itself to the city.
Won in competition in 1963 and built in 1967-74, it is an indeterminate two-storey network […] By the 1990s
a major refurbishment was required. Comparison of the plans in 1974 and postrefurbishment show that the
building envelope did not move, and the main internal alteration was the division of larger spaces into small
ofÀces – which could be done in studwork without the totally Áexible construction system. It seems that
the architects drastically over-valued the excessive (as it turned out) provision of physical interchangeability.”
(Fawcett, 2010b, p.14)
103
“Matching demand and supply so that user needs are continually reconciled with building capacity is the
basis of a successful real estate, property of facilities strategy. To achieve this in a time of change, DEGW has
recognized that three requirements must be met: facilities management must achieve far higher levels of service
and professionalism; users must be involved in space design and management to stimulate solutions that are far
more innovative and cost-effective; and Ànally new design and managerial techniques are needed to make the
working environment far more adaptable.” (p.77)
59
Actually, the current needs from the local collectivities and the places and buildings
available to accommodate them, has led to rethink the diversity of pedagogical and
community uses that may occur in the school buildings, both during and outside
school hours, which has been subject of reÁection on the Séminaire L’élargissement des
Fonctions des Bâtiments Scolaires (1996)104. Issues like co-usage or shared spaces have
been discussed, as well as “full service schools” as a place where it is provided an
integrated and broader pedagogical, social, family, health and working care (p.23).
Overall, the possibility of opening the schools for external uses, during weekends,
after work hours and vacations’ breaks, as a way to capitalise the investment on the
school building and on its maintenance, has been subject of consideration. Besides,
this is also a way to answer the growing social needs for spaces for: leisure activities
of children and adolescents outside school hours; to accommodate cultural,
sporting or communitarian activities for adults; for activities concerning the use
of new technologies and information resources; and the creation of community
centres with social and cultural assets, which can potentially be fulÀlled in school
buildings (p.9).
Furthermore, DEGW also mentions user engagement for overlapping supply and
demand, which suggests that users take part in the design decisions and actively
appropriate space.
A weak role of the user in the decision process often results from the unawareness
of the beneÀts it brings, the lack of a design methodology that incorporates this
input and also the lack of investment in the interrelationship between the user(s)
and the architect(s), or even the media attentiveness to the aesthetic dimension of
the built form105, rather than the use value of the inhabited building (Coelho, 2008).
Habraken (1972), reÁecting on an alternative system to “mass housing”, also refers

to the importance of user involvement, because, otherwise, the end result may not
be as suitable and people may not feel a sense of belonging there.
Moreover, often the lack of ownership can be related to an intricate cultural

factor and a resistance in changing habits and routines. If there is no community
involvement, people may not fully enjoy the new possibilities of space, enabled by
the school modernisation, and so, potentially, unpairing projected with effective
space use.
Consequently, the translation of the concept of adaptability to the design and to its
effective spatial fruition is conditioned by a balance between supply and demand,
104
This seminar took place in Lyon in 1995, as a OECD PEB initiative.
105
Quoting Gehl: “Usually there are no people on photographs in architectural magazines, but in actual life
there are almost always people to be seen in and around buildings, due to the very simple fact that buildings are
made to accommodate various human activities.” (1970, p.62).
60
cost and value, intended and effective use. An adaptable building will then respond to
the effective use and actual requirements in due time, because of its early provision
in the design for a solution that can meet changing spatial demands.
Yet, and despite the difÀculties of approaching this issue mentioned above, its
relevance urges to address it and the sequential stages identiÀed in the methodology
consider it viable to be achieved.
But foremost, and retrieving once more DEGW, it is an inspiring subject for the
discipline of architecture and a motivation for the creation and the advancement of
the architectural knowledge:
“Designing for change over time should be stimulating rather than

constraining for designers. Architects ought to enjoy the constant,
demand-led renegotiations that are inevitable when many diverse
constituencies involve themselves not just in the design process but
equally in the reinvention of the use of space over time. […] Such
challenges are not bad. They stimulate invention.” (Duffy and DEGW,
1998, p.53)
61
2. STATE OF THE ART AND CRITICAL REVISION OF
THE CONCEPT OF ADAPTABILITY
Adaptability deÀnition and adMacent concepts
2.1. Adaptability: deÀnition and adjacent concepts
“A building operates on many levels, aesthetic and practical, public and private, but,
increasingly, buildings need to be seen not just in space, as physical objects, but also
in time, as organisms which have a lifespan during which they will inevitably change
and adapt.” (Duffy and DEGW, 1998, p.54)
This quote by Duffy and the DEGW is central to acknowledge the building and
its lifespan during which it is subject to change. Adaptability will then provide the
building for coping with those possible changes during its lifespan.
This chapter intends to focus on the concept of adaptability and to provide an

informative outlook on the authors that have tackled it, their research contexts
and their deÀnitions. This will be followed by its speciÀcation to schools on the
following chapter and how it has been perceived in the design of past adaptable
school buildings106. The Ànal part of chapter 2 will focus on contemporary learning
environments, how can these be perceived in relation to the current learning
paradigm and the role of adaptability to correlate them both107. Only after the
study of the concept of adaptability, how it has been observed and studied and,
particularly, how it has been translated onto schools and how it has been transposed
for contemporary learning spaces, can the methodology to be proposed by our
current Thesis be perceived in the following chapter 3.
SpeciÀcally, this initial part aims at providing a far-reaching outlook on the concept per
se for understanding the possible approaches to it, their outsets and early intentions
and their developments onwards, so that an adequate deÀnition can be achieved. Only
after understanding the adequacy of the deÀnition of adaptability towards the chosen
brief and the current case study application, can the methods to assess it be proposed.
Before examining the concept of adaptability in detail, it is relevant to identify

that the building holds, in fact, a lifecycle in which changes occur, which are still
unforeseeable in the brief and in the design process, regarding the “many levels” in
which the building acts, referred in the upper quote by Duffy.
106
See chapter 2.2. Adaptability in school buildings: approaches for growth and change.
107
See chapter 2.3 Adaptability for contemporary learning practices and environments.
65
State of the art and critical revision of the concept of adaptability
. An approach to the building’s lifecycle
The time coordinate is essential to analyse buildings along their pathway, relating
the architect(s) and the user(s), design and use, assessing the buildings’ costs and
validating the design choices. Byrne (2012) on a communication at the Department
of Architecture for the Doctoral Course referred to the fact that buildings had a
lifecycle that is prolonged from the brief, stating that:
“From the moment that buildings are ready they have a life of their
own. The buildings’ own life results from the fact that that structure,
thought and built, is prepared to resist in time, with the life that occur
within it.”108 (Byrne, 2012)
Under closer examination, the building is, in fact, a living organism that is developed
within a persistent structure that is the physical space. This coincides with Byrne’s
assumption of the building as a “life container”109. Living buildings continue to
respond to what is asked of them along the time, reacting functionally, aesthetically
and socially, urbanely,… to those requests. This ability to respond is related to the
building’s “change readiness”, which makes them available to gather people within,
strengthens their relation to people, and which ultimately makes them alive. The
concept of “change readiness” is very directly approached to an ability to answer
the current and also the future, still unknown needs, as explained by Finch (2012a,
2012b):
“[…] the ability to conÀgure systems and assets such that they can meet
the requirements of various possible futures. Again, not only do we
have the ‘presenting problem’ of current day concerns, we also need to
identify concerns of tomorrow.” (Finch, 2012a, p.14)
In Lynch’s (1958) paper Environmental adaptability110, Áexibility, plasticity and

adaptability are tackled, in which the Àrst relates to “active participation”, the second
to “personal repair or modelling” and the latter to “the generalized adjustability of
an environment or artifact, with minimum effort, to future changes of use” (Lynch,
1958, p.16). As opposed to a “strait jacket” (p.16) adaptability “allows growth or
development”111, being “permissive” to it (p.23). Lynch presents the duality between
a “narrow adaptation to the immediate situation” and the “looseness of Àt”, as
the “conÁict of basic objectives” that implies a balance solution and a contextual
108
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A partir do momento em que os edifícios estmo
prontos trm vida própria. A vida própria de um edifício resulta do facto da relaçmo dessa estrutura, pensada
e construída, estar preparada para resistir no tempo, com a vida que se processa dentro dela.” (Byrne, 2012)
109
Expression often used by architect Gonçalo Byrne of “contentor de vida” (Byrne, 2007, pp.23 -24).
110
This paper will be analysed in further detail in the chapter 3.2., as a signiÀcant contribution for the state
of the art on a methodological approach to adaptability assessment. See chapter 3.2. Adaptability assessment
methodologies: reviewing previous approaches.
111
Italics from the original quote.
66
decision-making (pp.23-24).
Two years later, Weeks argues for Planning for growth and change, focusing on a design
that can cope with changing requirements. Weeks focuses in hospitals because of
their needs for possible far-reaching transformations, like expansion or compression
in size, but also to more frequent changes that do not involve such alterations or
larger scale (Weeks, 1960, p.20). Flexibility is approached using the metaphor of the
“dufÁe coat” that can shelter different situations, as the “common denominator of
space required for various routines”, rather than a speciÀc “tailor-made garment”,
which could be paralleled to Lynch’s recognition of the “conÁict of basic objectives”
(Lynch, 1958, p.24):
“In order to get maximum Áexibility within a department it is necessary

to provide rooms which Àt around the activities which are to be carried
on in them like a dufÁe coat. The dufÁe coat, provided by the Navy for
its ofÀcers, was not a tailor-made garment. A few sizes were made and
these were related to the known range of sizes of sailors so that it was
usually possible to Ànd one that would Àt very reasonably, and keep the
sailor quite snug.” (Weeks, 1960, p.20)
Weeks assumes the difÀculty between planning the whole building and simultaneously
meeting the speciÀcities of the brief and the clients’ meticulous demands that hold
great signiÀcance for the patient’s well-being, which he compares to a dwelling, and
that cannot be bounded only by aesthetical decisions:
“The architect must produce a system of space development relevent

[sic] to the planning needs and correct in the scale of building; devise
a method for ordered small scale decision-making within an overall
design system, and refrain from the arrogant denial of function through
private delight in form.” (Weeks, 1960, p.22)
Cowan (1963) also approaches this subject on his paper from Studies in the growth,
change and ageing of buildings112, establishing that: “The rate of change in human affairs
is accelerating very quickly.” (Cowan, 1963, p.56). Being subject to change, growth
and ageing, the buildings’ equilibrium - as their “homeostasis” - is achieved by a
balanced outlook with their contextual systems, which simultaneously impact them
and that the buildings cyclically inÁuence113.
112
This paper will be analysed in further detail in the chapter 3.2., as a signiÀcant contribution for the state
of the art on a methodological approach to adaptability assessment. See chapter 3.2. Adaptability assessment
methodologies: reviewing previous approaches.
113
“I have shown them as part of the general system of human affairs which is constantly changing, and have tried to
indicate the way in which buildings affect and are affected by the larger systems of human development. The key lies
in recognising the changing balance of such systems. Homeostasis, which describes the shifting balance between an
organism and its environment, is a condition which we should seek to achieve in our buildings.” (Cowan, 1963, p.82)
67
In regard to the unforeseeable grown and change in organisations114, in the

following year Weeks’s paper Indeterminate Architecture assumes this subject to be
already disclosed, even if it had not been before:
“Almost unnoticeably a new class of architectural problem has isolated

itself during recent years. I use the word “unnoticeably” since although
the elements of the problem are now relatively easy to identify and
it has been with us for some time architects have behaved either as
though it could be contained within existing architectural manners or
that it is in some way anti-architecture, and must be fought against.
It has not been given, therefore, characteristic form. Its emergence
therefore is ‘unnoticeable’.” (Weeks, 1964, p.85)
Still, according to Weeks, the buildings are conceived for a more tight approach to
a speciÀc function, which hinders them to accommodate changing uses115. Using as
example the hospital at Renkioi on the Dardanelles by I. K. Brunei and the Crystal
Palace, Weeks ascertains that these have been conceived with “determinate” and
“indeterminate” elements that responded to “an incomplete brief ” and accounted
for change. Weeks discusses solutions for coping with that unpredictability and
concludes that a design that regards growth and change holds the control of the
building’s development more so than not comprising them:
“I have tried to show that the aim of achieving an indeterminate

architecture can be a positive factor in design and that control exercised
over the way a building will grow is not achieved through indecision,
but by decisions taken at every point in design.” (Weeks, 1964, p.104)
Prior to Weeks’s focus on hospitals for their possible changes in this paper, Llewelyn-
Davies’ pioneer work during the 1950s is also to be mentioned, when he ran the
NufÀeld Foundation Division for Architectural Studies. This is a research centre
were Weeks was also a contributor. Studies on movement (Fig. 8) or space use were
plotted against speciÀc layouts for assessing their performance. Llewelyn-Davies
stated the relevance of these studies by the operative information they could infer,
assuming Deeper knowledge, better design (1957):
“It is in some ways the only substitute we have for tradition. Tradition
was built up after a long period of trial and error. They tried all sorts
of rooms, windows, etc., over many years, research of a slow and very
114
“The problem is that of sheltering an organisation which has a rate of growth and change which is so great
that it makes its buildings obsolescent before they decay naturally.” (Weeks, 1964, p.85)
115
“Buildings today are built to lesser space standards and to higher standards of service provision than in the
past. Rooms today are tailored more and more accurately to the work to be done in them and reÀned tools are
now available to increase this accuracy. They are not, therefore, easily able to absorb larger populations except
with a loss of amenity through the greater density of use. Their service provision is often both elaborate and
accurately provided and so inhibits the easy change of use of space.” (Weeks, 1964, p.86)
68
Fig. 8. “The movement record of a Àrst year nurse’s typical day of work. […] The nurse’s
movements were recorded by threading string around corresponding points on a plan ”
(Llewelyn-Davies, 1952, p.105)
expensive kind. Now we can’t afford to do that; we must use more

intensive methods, to get the old quality into architectural design.”
(Llewelyn-Davies, 1952, p.105)
The emphasis on these studies between space and activities would be later transferred
to the context of the schools of architecture, namely the Unit for Architectural
Studies, at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London (Unit
for Architectural Studies, 1968). Then, a speciÀc study on research laboratories,
also pursued within the scope of the NufÀeld Foundation, would be taken on by
the Unit for Architectural Studies, coordinated by Musgrove in 1967. SpeciÀcally,
this study focused on the “use of space and facilities in universities” regarding the
rooms’ “characteristics” that enabled a wide range of functions within, instead of a
speciÀc function paired to each room: “Thus it is not the permanent characteristics
of the room but its loosely Àtting function which is used to classify it in every day
parlance” (Musgrove and Doidge, 1970, p.31).
For this study “port-a-punch cards” (Fig. 9) were used for assembling room
information regarding: their “room code number” from previous drawings (A), their
“location” (B), “size and shape”, “current primary room use” and “environmental
factors” (E). This allowed to gather information on “the nature of the activity; the
number of people involved; and the location of the activity in relation to others”
(Musgrove and Doidge, 1970, p.32) according to the data from each room116. These
are informative data for our current research for matching activities to spaces
according to their spatial features.
116
See the feasibility matrix on chapter 4.2.2. Description of all possible activity allocations to educational
environments.
69
Fig. 9. “Port-a-punch card used for collecting room survey data”

and “main classiÀcation categories”
(Musgrove and Doidge, 1970, p.32)
Similarly, at Cambridge, the University Study117 was being developed at the Centre
for Land Use and Built Form Studies since 1967118, where one of the goals was to
understand “growth and change in pure science buildings”119, as well as “evaluation
of performance, structure and Áexibility” by the use of models (Bullock, Dickens
and Steadman, 1969120):
“Only in exceptional circumstances are buildings constructed for a

speciÀc purpose and then demolished when no longer needed for this
use. A building which provides a range of room sizes can quite often
serve a number of purposes so long as the new activities do not have very
specialised requirements.” (Bullock, Dickens and Steadman, 1969 p.93)
117
This study will be analysed in further detail in the chapter 3.2., as a signiÀcant contribution for the state
of the art on a methodological approach to adaptability assessment in educational facilities. See chapter 3.2.
Adaptability assessment methodologies: reviewing previous approaches.
118
This study started in 1965 with a grant from Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
119
“Growth and change in the structure of buildings are largely brought about in response to changes in their
use – for example population growth, changes in activity, or alterations in space standards. For these reasons it
is essential to see growth and change in buildings as the product of such factors, and not just to study building
changes in their own right.” (Bullock, Dickens and Steadman, 1969, p.93)
120
Consulted edition from 1969, Àrst edition from 1968.
70
. Other concepts related to adaptability
Other concepts related to change over time could also be mentioned, according
to other authors, holding adjacent meanings to adaptability. Hertzberger’s (2001)
theoretical and practical work applied directly to the school brief rejects Áexibility,
in the sense that it is not committed to uses, and refers to “polyvalence”, related
with: “providing conditions for different things” (Hertzberger, 2010121).
“Polyvalence”, which Ader (1975b, p.45) deÀnes, in a publication by the OECD

regarding multiple option schools, is considered as “the ability that a set of facilities
has for being simultaneously used for different activities” and also “the possibility
of holding successively different activities in the same space”122.
The concept of “plasticity”, which Lynch also approached on his 1958 paper is, in
fact, an important reference that is here transposed from the neurosciences, and that
approximates adaptability, as the system’s ability to react to environmental changes.
Likewise an adaptable building, facing environmental alterations, reacts according
to the changes of uses that occur in it, and through its ability to cope with change
and be enriched by it. Adaptability is thus, assumed as the relationship between the
object/the building and the external environment (Fig. 10).
Simon’s123 (1996124) approach to “the sciences of the artiÀcial” argues that their Àeld
of action resides in the interstitial space between the “inner environment” and the
“outer environment” - the “interface”, because adaptability is their problematics.
Architecture, precisely as a science of the artiÀcial, deals with problems of adaptation
between environments. It products - the “artifacts”, must adapt their “internal
structure” to the context (“external environment”), aiming for a “purpose”. And
so, this could be transposed to a building that has to be adapted to the changes from
the “external environment” and for continuing to act as an “interface” for people
and activities.
Furthermore, Iselin and Lemer (1993) on their book The Fourth Dimension in
Buildings: Strategies for Minimizing state that obsolescence is not necessarily regarded
to a “dysfunctional” building, but when these “do not measure up to current needs
or expectations” and may be a consequence from “change in the requirements or
expectations regarding the use of a particular object or idea” (Iselin and Lemer,
1993, p.11). The authors also focus on the concept of “service life” of a building
121
This seminar had the presence of Herman Hertzberger and Manuel Tainha, was organised by Parque Escolar
and took place in the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering, in 20th May 2010.
122
From the quote in French: “a) La polyvalence est la possibilité qu’offre un ensemble d’installations d’rtre
utilisé simultanément pour des activités différentes. […]
b) La polyvalence est la possibilité offerte de pratiquer successivement des activités différents dans un mrme
ensemble. […]” (Ader, 1975b, p.45)
123
Herbert Simon was Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics in 1978.
124
71
environment
Flexibility’s scope -
building / inner space
building
Adaptability’s scope -
relation with the environment
Fig. 10. Spheres of inÁuence of the concept of adaptability and Áexibility (edited to English)
Free translation from the Portuguese: “Çmbitos de inÁurncia do conceito de adaptabilidade e Áexibilidade.”
(Heitor and Tomé, 2007, p.4)
as: “the period of time over which a building, component, or subsystem actually provides
adequate performance” before engaging in obsolescence (p.68)125.
The concept of “lifespan” or “lifecycle”, as it is currently referred to, is understood

by König et al. (2010) encompassing “the actual life of a building” and is divided
into four stages: “new building” ranges from the design to its building, “use” refers
to occupancy and maintenance from the end of the building’s construction to its
rehabilitation, “refurbishment” implies an intervention: partial or full renovation,
“deconstruction” regards demotion with the intention of ending its use (Fig. 11).
The acknowledgement of all these phases intends to make “strategic designs” for
the present and the future in a whole “life cycle-oriented design” (König et al., 2010,
p.19). This can be perceived as a more complete perspective of the design, that
involves not only its intervention but also the following stages after it is handed over
for occupancy. According to König et al. this perspective on the design comprises
options that will cater for use afterwards and recognise their impact:
“In the case of life cycle considerations, it is a multidimensional solution

corridor. The Ànal choice of possible solutions in the solution space
depends on social, formal or other criteria considered and adapted on a
case by case basis. New design tools integrate this view by establishing
life cycle-oriented solution spaces in the brieÀng/programming phase.”
(König et al., 2010, p.18).
But it is also highlighted that as some information is not available from the
beginning of this cycle, it is through time that its starts to be known. If this is not
regarded from the start “the project can undergo continuous reÀnements”. These
may be costly, environmentally hazardous or socially inconvenient, and users may
also be themselves responsible for following interventions in the building that are
125
72
Fig. 11. “Life cycle phases”

(König, et al., 2010, p.19)
not informed or, in unity, with the original concept and design options. Overall,
this could lead to: “inconsistencies and multilateral dependencies of, for example,
environmental burdens and costs, durability and Áexibility etc. […] SigniÀcant
potential synergies are therefore lost.” (ibid.).
Planning tools may contribute to assume the use during the initial design,
preventing premature design interventions and refurbishments and, potentially,
postpone obsolescence. This implies a process of “future-prooÀng” as “the
number of options they hold for the future” (ibid.). Adaptability is here enclosed as
a building’s provision that caters for future change on the initial information and
overall resilience for upcoming demands, as a “strategic decision” that comprises
the building’s overall stages and ultimate intends to delay the last.
All in all, König et al. refer to “life cycle design”, which embraces different solutions
that commonly regard the four stages they mention by resorting to “scenarios to
determine and quantify the development of the requirements, the aging process
and the loss of value over the life of the building” (p.19). This refers to the relations
and impacts of the initial options on the building’s following stages, for the whole
or for parts of it, according to the speciÀcities of its context and use, that are
paramount to be reÁected upon during the design process.
When a building ceases to fully perform, losing its “use value” (Duffy and DEGW,
1998, p.49), it is deployed of the life that originates the process. The process of
“obsolescence” (MansÀeld and Pinder, 2008) is triggered based on the discrepancy
between today’s needs and the needs that the building was able to meet at the
time of its construction. Obsolescence implies a loss of value, in relation to its
function (“functional obsolescence”), aging or need for maintenance of the
materials (“physical obsolescence”), technical standards (“technical obsolescence”),
current regulations (“legal obsolescence”), revenue of the building (“economic
obsolescence”), or aesthetic value according to present-day standards (“style
73
obsolescence”) (König et al., 2010, p.32). So, the study on adaptability also focuses
on the way in which the permanence of life within the building can be extended,
assuring its performance capacity and delaying its obsolescence.
By and large, adaptability allows the building to contain life more fully and for
longer. It is thus, a factor of spatial quality, ensuring a dynamic and economically
sustainable, functional, constructive and environmental performance of a space
that reacts to people and with people. It is a way of introducing time into the
equation, in a shared way by users and architects, within this “strategic brieÀng”.
It is also a feature of space to be considered in the design and to validated by use:
“Adapting the working environment to respond both to rising user

expectations and to diminishing time horizons for decision-making is
as much a design issue as it is critical for management. (Duffy and
DEGW, 1998, p.76)
. The concept(s) of adaptability
By analysing the concept of adaptability, we Ànd, on the one hand, the profusion of
bibliography dating considerably from the 1970s and, on the other hand, the lack of
uniformity in its deÀnition and on the proximity of adjacent concepts, with rather
indeÀnite limits and varying according to the authors.
During the post-war period, adaptability went hand in hand with rapid and cost-
effective school building construction. Today, adaptability is a spatial qualiÀer
that goes along with spatial customisation, to accommodate different educational
activities with evolving spatial needs. Current literature gathers adaptability
with users’ engagement and a sense of belonging in space, along with building
management and an adaptable building design process, as relevant conditions to
match expected and effective use.
In the Design Participation Conference (Design Research Society) in Manchester,

Eastman (1971) presents an approach to design entitled Adaptive-Conditional
Architecture. Eastman starts by making reference to a long process of adaptation
provided by architecture as it adapts “the surroundings to desired human
behaviour” (Eastman, 1971, p.51). In the spirit of the early 1970s, and also of
the conference, his conception of “modern design” criticised the functionalist era,
arguing for the “ethic” of architecture by freeing the man-environment relation of
any “constraints”:
“[…] the ethic of modern design is to take human activities as given,

without constraints, and to create an environment which maximally
supports them. Instead of constantly adjusting his own actions to
meet the structure of the environment, a person in a well designed
74
environment is free to act with the environment fully supporting him.

Freeing man from the constraints imposed by the environment has
been one inÁuence allowing the surge of creative power evidenced in
western material technology.” (Eastman, 1971, p.51)
For this purpose, the author refers to three aspects related to Àt: “measuring Àt for
anonymous users”, “predicting Àt in new environments”, and “controlling Àt for
activities which change over time”. The latter refers to the evolution of activities
and a hypothesis of how to approach its predictability, by designing a space with
fewer constraints:
“In removing the constraints of an existing environment, the

designer may signiÀcantly improve the Àt between the activities in
the old environment and the new space. […] Production procedures,
organisational structures, treatment in health care, teaching methods
in a school, life patterns of the family are but a few examples of the
changes imposed by wider social inÁuences which affect the Àt between
activities and space.” (Eastman, 1971, p.52)
Actually, the relation between the environment and people, spaces and activities,
was transversal in the several studies presented in the above conference. Most of
them reÁected upon how life patterns change and building should cope with them
(Wellesley-Miller, 1971) 126, surpassing what Friedman (1971, pp.45-46) considered
as a “fallacious” attempt by the architects and planners of designing for “the average
future user”127.
Similarly, Wellesley-Miller made reference to the basic and speciÀc needs in the
developing countries and their demand for solutions in low cost housing, even
if “not only in developing countries but also in the West the future environment
is becoming increasingly complex and probabilistic” (Wellesley-Miller, 1971, p.60).
Hence, the author maintained that the “problem of designing a dwelling for a
family whose future membership, social status, pattern of living and economic level
is unknown but open to change” (p.60).
Nevertheless, when designing for a large number of people, the difÀcult problem
persisted of simultaneously considering the effective requirements and, at the same
time, the evolving family patterns, to which housing should be planned in advance,
126
In his communication Self organising environments, Wellesley-Miller distinguished between “hard” design and
“soft” design by arguing that: “A deÀnitive solution embodied in a ‘hard’ design that will remain valid for the
complete life span of the building is impossible. What we have to search for is a ‘soft’, adaptable design that
can be made to respond over a short period of time to the changing needs of its occupants.” (Wellesley-Miller,
1971, p.60)
127
“I don’t think that I need to explain in detail what were the results: there is massive discontent manifested
by all individual users of architects’ products. The reason for this discontent is obvious: the average user is a non-
existent one! If there are satisÀed but the average client’s needs, it is logically implied that no speciÀc needs of any
individual user can be sufÀciently satisÀed. Thus, we satisfy the non-existent client instead of satisfying the existent
one.” (Friedman, 1971, p.45) (Italics from the original quote)
75
within an open global strategy, making it adaptable to change. This question was
frequent in many meetings of the International Union of Architects (UIA) at the end
of the 1960s on the ‘habitat’, namely the one in Agadir in 1968, where Habraken’s
research team presented their work on the “supports to mass housing”128.
Also the Lima PREVI (Proyecto Experimental de Vivienda) – experimental

housing project – after John Turner efforts, underlined strategies for open design
and customised building. All these experiences were translated onto many projects,
where adaptation and Áexibility were part of the same solution: a house that could
evolve in time.
Indeed, the “personal element in housing” was aimed by Rapoport’s (1968) research
on open-ended design, where he quotes examples of studies that contradict the
idea of dwellings designed for generalised categories of people129.
Amongst these examples are the studies by Portas at LNEC (National Laboratory
for Civil Engineering130), the public research institute in Portugal. The study
Habitação Evolutiva, written in 1971 as a report and published in 1972 by Silva Dias
and Portas (1972), would regard precisely an evolutionary approach to dwellings131,
while aiming at the equilibrium of a global strategy for the large number of people
and the evolution of speciÀc patterns132:
“Thus, the aim is therefore to devise a possible strategy to reach the

largest number recognising a structural situation characterised by scarce
resources aggravated by the trend towards growing needs. This is the
Àrst of these referred levels: considering housing not only as a physical
system in which needs and possibilities to satisfy them will evolve in
time, it seems that also the physical structures of urbanisation and
resistance will have to be adaptive, that is, designed in such a way that
can, with a minimum of institutional friction and cost, improve, expand
or renew, along with the evolution of the users and, or, by the resources
allocated to the social sectors.”133 (Silva Dias and Portas, 1972, p.101)
128
Habraken’s approach to adaptability will be further developed in this chapter.
129
Considering housing in Britain as a case study, Rapoport argued that “adaptability and open-endedness do
not seem to be a consideration in development or acceptance of system building” (Rapoport, 1968, p.302).
Rapoport also refers to Chombart de Lauwe, and the “basic discord between designers and inhabitants [that]
can take different forms: unconscious or conscious, passive or active. Man adapts to the dwelling in analogous
ways – consciously or unconsciously, actively or passively. The preferred pattern of resolving the conÁict and
adapting is through the participation of the inhabitants (conscious, active – creative).” (p.301). See also Lauwe,
Des Hommes et des villes. Consulted edition 1970, original edition 1963.
130
From the Portuguese: Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil.
131
This would also be pursued in a more recent study by Coelho and Cabrita (2003) Habitação evolutiva e adaptável.
132
Likewise, Silva Dias and Portas (1972, p.104) mention Rapoport and his distinction between “qualitative
visual” and “quantitative physical” densities, where the Àrst results from the enclosure and intricacy degrees.
Finally, besides mentioning PREVI, Silva Dias and Portas recall other similar examples, as in Morroco by
Azaguy, or at the Edimburgh University by Byron.
133
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Assim, procura deÀnir-se uma estratégia possível
76
Departing from the theory “low rise high density” as developed by the Centre for
Land Use and Built Form Studies in Cambridge from the second half of the 1960s
that argued for low rise solutions, the study by Silva Dias and Portas designed
three low rise typological solutions (“narrow plot”, “medium plot”, and “square
plot”134) that could evolve, where infrastructure was completed from the beginning
to “discipline the future construction”135 (Silva Dias and Portas, 1972, pp.109-110).
Additionally, the dwelling envelope would follow one of two strategies: it should be
either built immediately in its Ànal completion and consequently subdivided, with
interior partitions; or it should be expanded from the initial construction (estimated
on 1/3 of the Ànal dwelling). The overall provision would be accomplished as long
as the three stages were progressively fulÀlled: “1st, initial construction”; “2nd, Àtting
adjustment” and “3rd, stabilised habitat”136 (p.108).
On other contexts, other studies would consider the paradoxes behind the research
of the “man-environment paradigm”, as Hillier and Leaman (1973) argued. Besides
the consideration of an ever-changing environment, some researchers would rely
on structuralism for reaching the deep structures of the paradigm, cultural and
anthropologically perceived. Someone who launched an analytical approach to this
paradigm was Alexander (1964), who evolved through that paradox, after an early
study on form through a synthesis systematically obtained in Notes on the synthesis
of form. Adaptation was seen as a “homeostasis” between form and context over
time, which would work better in an “unselfconscious” process rather than in a
“selfconscious” 137 one:
“The basic principle of adaptation depends on the simple fact that the
process toward equilibrium is irreversible. MisÀt provides an incentive
to change; good Àt provides none. In theory the process is eventually
bound to reach the equilibrium of wellÀtting forms. However, for the
Àt to occur in practice, one vital condition must be satisÀed. It must
have time to happen.
The process must be able to achieve its equilibrium before the next
culture change upsets it again.” (Alexander, 1964, pp.50-51)
para atingir signiÀcativamente o maior número tendo em conta uma situaçmo estrutural caracterizada pela
escassez dos recursos agravada pela tendrncia para o crescimento das necessidades. Este o primeiro dos níveis
referidos: considerando a habitaçmo como um sistema nmo apenas físico em que necessidades e possibilidades
de as satisfazer evoluirmo no tempo, parece que também as estruturas físicas de urbanizaçmo e resistrncia termo
de ser adaptativas, ou seja, concebidas por forma tal que possam, com um mínimo de atrito institucional e de
custos, melhorar, ampliar ou renovar, a par e passo com a evoluçmo dos utentes e, ou, por recursos atribuídos
aos sectores sociais.” (Silva Dias and Portas, 1972, p.101)
134
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “lote estreito, lote médio e lote quadrado”.
135
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “disciplinar a construçmo futura”.
136
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “1ª fase, núcleo inicial; 2ª fase intermédia, de ajustamento;
3ª fase, ‘habitat estabilizado’.”
137
According to Alexander, a “selfconscious” process acknowledged planning, whereas “unselfconscious”
resulted from an adaptation through experience over time. (Alexander, 1964, p.33)
77
After an auto-critique of this initial work, Alexander started to consider the timeless
patterns as a way to conceive the future through the invariants of past experience.
In his books Timeless Way of Building (Alexander, 1979) and A Pattern Language
(Alexander, 1977), both written at the Center for Environmental Structure,
University of Berkeley, Alexander and his research team reached a large number of
axioms. In “208. Gradual Stiffening” it is stated:
“The fundamental philosophy behind the use of pattern languages is

that buildings should be uniquely adapted to individual needs and sites;
and that the plans of buildings should be rather loose and Áuid, in
order to accommodate these subtleties.” (Alexander, 1977, p.963)
Other references to adaptable spaces, presented in A Pattern Language – “146 Flexible

work space”; “148 Small work groups” – consisted on the idea of an adaptable
workspace, where used a mixture of conÀgurations was used, rather than Áexible
partitions within an open space (Fig. 12).
Moreover, according to Alexander’s assumption in The timeless way of building, each

part of the building had to be autonomous and simultaneously adapted to the whole:
“The quality without a name, like all forms of organic wholeness, depends
essentially on the degree of adaptation of the parts within the whole.
In a system which approaches the character of nature, the parts must be
adapted with an almost inÀnite degree of subtlety: and this requires that
the process of adaptation be going on through the system, constantly.
It requires that each part at every level, no matter how small, has the
power to adapt itself to its own processes.
This cannot happen unless each part is autonomous.
A building which is natural requires the same.”138 (Alexander, 1979, p.163)
Returning to the disbelief in the self-conscious process, already stated in The Notes
on the synthesis of form, Alexander concludes that “Adaptation of buildings to people
becomes impossible.” 139:
“Even when experts make buildings which are “adaptable,” to solve

this problem, the result is still trivial, because the unique particulars
are still subservient to the common generalities. Huge machine-like
buildings which allow people to move the walls around, so that they
can express themselves, still make them subject to the “system.””
(Alexander, 1979, p.239)
138
139
78
a) b)
Fig. 12. a) “Mixture of room sizes.”; b) “Possibility of many different sized rooms”
(Alexander, 1977, p.692, 694) (edited)
Despite Alexander’s disbelief, theoretical studies speciÀcally regarding adaptability

have also been developed, from the end of the 1960s, considering spaces and
activities’ reciprocity. Within this subject matter, Markus’s initial studies at the
Building Performance Research Unit in the School of Architecture at the University
of Strathclyde associated building and people140:
“It is obvious that buildings are for people. People pay for them;
people use them; people design them. The design of a building consists
of people making decisions on behalf of other people which affect
another set of people.” (Markus and Building Performance Research
Unit, 1972, p.1)
Thus, this approach resorts to “complex interactive processes” modelled by a system

(p.2) (Fig. 13). “Adaptive systems” held biunivocal stimuli and modiÀcations between
the individual and the environment: “the individual modiÀes the environment in
order to achieve his goals and he modiÀes himself and his goals in order to Àt into
the environment” (ibid.). In a detailed approach, this system entailed diverse variables,
namely “building”, “environment”, “activity”, “objectives” and “resources”141,
considered to be intertwined. Adaptability was considered within the “objectives
system”142, along with “production”, “morale” and “stability”. Adaptability is here
considered as the reaction from environmental changes, which could be both the
introduction of a new elements or the replacement of existing ones143:
140
This research will be analysed in further detail in the chapter 3.1., as a signiÀcant contribution for the state of the
art on a methodological approach to space use assessment. See chapter 3.1. Space use assessment methodologies.
141
“Resources system” is added in 1972 (Markus and Building Performance Research Unit) to the initial study
from 1967 (Markus, 1967).
142
“Objectives system” is the concept used in the book from 1972 (Markus and Building Performance Research
Unit), while in 1967 these are entitled “organisational objectives” (Markus, 1967).
143
Markus and the Building Performance Research Unit studies in schools will be further developed in the
following chapter 2.2. Adaptability in school buildings: approaches for growth and change.
79
a)
b)
Fig. 13. a) “The building / environment / activity / objectives / cost / system”;

b) “The building-environment-activity-objectives system: a conceptual model”
(Markus, 1967, p.1570); (Markus, 1970, p.90)
“A slightly less obvious organisational objective is that being able to

adapt. As we noted earlier survival is based upon a two way process of
this simulation adaptation and for an organisation the ability to change
itself in response to changes in the environment is a crucial one. As
with other organisms it is likely that also with organisations some of
the most crucial limitations on adaptation are set by physical structure.”
(Markus and Building Performance Research Unit, 1972, p.6)
The approach to this system is also comprehended in time (Fig. 14), reaching the
“homeostatic balance” between environment and activity that the model of the
“building-environment-activity-objectives system” already observed in the two-way
arrows between both systems that determined them to be “mutually interactive”.
As it had also been previously addressed by Cowan regarding the “shifting balance
between an organism and its environment” (Cowan, 1963, p.82), this interaction
is also identiÀed here as: “an organisation moving into a somewhat unsuitable
environment alters its activities to make the best use of it, and in turn moulds the
environment” (Markus, 1967, p.1571).
80
a)
b)
Fig. 14. a) “The System Extended over Time”; b) “The system model extended in time”
(Markus, 1972, p.29-6-9); (Markus and Building Performance Research Unit, 1972, p.16) (edited)
Leaman144 in the 1990s would retrieve the building performance research Àeld
launched by Markus in the Building Performance Research Unit. After the initial
studies with Hillier (Hillier and Leaman, 1973, 1974, 1975; Hillier, Leaman, Stansall
and Bedford, 1976) at RIBA, Leaman along with Bordass focused on performance
evaluation, which resulted in a “series of twenty published building performance
evaluations between 1995 and 2002”145 (Bordass and Leaman, 2013). Within this
context, Leaman and Bordass consider adaptability as one of the key-points for
future prooÀng, surpassing Áexibility:
“[…] long-term adaptability may be a better and most cost-effective

way of meeting unforeseeable future changes than quick-Àx Áexibility”
(Leaman and Bordass, 2004, p.147)
This approach on both Áexibility and adaptability revealed a more recent development
of the concepts and their speciÀc assets, but during the post-war era Áexibility was
already sought for coping with the needs of public and private buildings:
144
See Leaman, 2016, 2002, 2000; Leaman and Bordass, 2015, 2005, 2004, 2001; Bordass, Cohen, Standeven and
Leaman, 2001a, 2001b; Cohen, Standeven, Bordass and Leaman, 2001; Bordass, Leaman and Ruyssevelt, 2001.
145
In the context of PROBE (Post-occupancy Review of Buildings and their Engineering).
81
“The talent of housing architects since World War II has been almost
solely devoted to solving the two problems of ‘architecture’ deÀned
by Durand around 1800: the problem of private building, which is to
provide the optimum accommodation for the smallest sum of money;
and the problem of public building, which is how to provide the
maximum accommodation for a given sum.” (Rabeneck, Sheppard and
Town, 1973, p.698)
In 1973 Rabeneck, Sheppard and Town in an article published in Architectural Design,

introduce several options for Áexible houses in different countries, because these
authors considered that “there is now a sufÀcient number of realized Áexible
housing projects to allow us to learn from the results and to develop new direction
in housing design, and a new concept of housing process.” (ibid.) (Fig. 15a).
Flexibility or “multi-use of restricted space” introduced a design solution for

“providing opportunities for choice or personalization”. So, Rabeneck, Sheppard
and Town consider that, despite the projects published in this issue, “many important
questions remain unanswered” (ibid.).
In the following year, Rabeneck depicts an “adaptable row housing in Norway”

proposed by Erik Hultberg in collaboration with Professor Nils-Ole Lund, in
an article in Architectural Design (Rabeneck, 1974, p.655). This project proposed a
variability of two-story row-houses for Skjetten, according to “the interpretation
of these possibilities in terms of the life-style of the inhabitants” (p.656) (Fig. 15b).
The aim for adaptable houses is explained by the difference between the architect’s
information and the inhabitant’s expectations:
“There are many reasons for the inhabitants to have differing

expectations of the place where they are going to live. No architect can
know what these expectations are or what the occupants’ performance
requirements would be if they were consulted. This is the fundamental
reason for building adaptable houses.” (Rabeneck, 1974, p.657).
Recently, Rabeneck has contributed to Fawcett’s 2016 book (2016a, 2016b146)

regarding the subject of “Flexibility for activity change”. In this book Fawcett
deÀnes adaptability within a correlation between activities and spaces. Moreover,
Fawcett overlaps adaptability to Áexibility under the same deÀnition, even if authors
can distinguish the two in regard to implication of physical change:
“In this chapter the words ‘Áexibility’ and ‘adaptability’ are taken to be
synonyms, describing the ability to cope with change.
It is possible to use the words to identify distinct concepts. This was
146
Fawcett 2016a refers to the e-book available online entitled Built Space in the Digital World: the Activity-Space
Research initiative and 2016b refers to the published book called Activity-Space Research: built Space in the Digital World.
82
Fig. 15. a) Architectural Design 11/ 1973 (Rabeneck, Sheppard and Town, 1973, cover)
b) “Alternative forms of expansion” (Rabeneck, 1974, p.659)
done by Andrew Rabeneck in the 1970s, when he proposed that

Áexibility meant the ability to change the physical conÀguration of a
building, and adaptability meant the ability of a building to absorb a
variety of use patterns without physical change (Rabeneck et al. , 1973
& 1974). […]
Using the two words to refer to different aspects of Áexibility/
adaptability risks confusion, so here only one word ‘Áexibility’ is used.
When particular aspects of Áexibility or adaptability are discussed they
have to be deÀned explicitly.” (Fawcett, 2016a, p.48)
The assumption that adaptability and Áexibility may be used for analogous approaches,
has also been done in the paper Investing in Áexibility: the lifecycle options approach:
“In this context the words Áexibility and adaptability overlap in meaning.
Sometimes a distinction is drawn between the precise meanings of the
two words but, confusingly, this is not done in a consistent way. In
this paper Áexibility is used exclusively, but the words are regarded as
synonyms and the choice is arbitrary.” (Fawcett, 2011b, p.13)
In Fawcett’ s previous extensive work on adaptability from his Doctoral Thesis147

A Mathematical Approach to Adaptability in Buildings (Fawcett, 1978) presented in
147
Fawcett’s (1978) Doctoral Thesis A Mathematical Approach to Adaptability in Buildings will be subject of detailed
analysis in chapter 3.2. Adaptability assessment methodologies: reviewing previous approaches.
83
Cambridge and supervised by Lionel March, adaptability was already perceived

under the scope of the “relationship between activities and spaces” (Fawcett, 1978,
p.i)148. Analogously to the simultaneous research elaborations being undertaken in
this decade and that have also informed Fawcett’s state of the art, adaptability is
comprehended within an analytical approach, regarding adaptability as a “quantiÀed
measurement” (p.54) achieved by “mathematical elaboration” (p.i).
This approach is also perceived from the papers from this time period within Fawcett’s
research, such as School Management and School Design (Fawcett, 1976a), Measuring
Adaptability (Fawcett, 1976b), Activity-space systems: four isomorphisms (Fawcett, 1977)
and following Fawcett’s Thesis completion the papers published in Environment and
Planning B: All possible and most probable schedules in organizations (Fawcett, 1979a) and
Catalogue of activity schedules for small organisations (Fawcett, 1979b).
SpeciÀcally in the paper School Management and School Design (Fawcett, 1976a) Fawcett
points out the schools, to be a particularly relevant case study for this research, for
having a complex building that accommodates diverse activities in several schedules.
The design has to comply with these affordances, associating people, activities,
and spaces (Fig. 16), in a whole arrangement thought by allocation, managerial
constrains and time schedules:
“School is Àrst and foremost an activity, and secondly a place. School

activity generates the need for built space, and school design begins
by considering activities. A design procedure typically counts up all
the expected activities in a school, deÀned with respect to subject,
functional activity, size and frequency of occurrence, and generates a
schedule of spaces from this, again deÀned by type, size, and number.”
(Fawcett, 1976a, p.10)
Fawcett introduces “style of management in the school” that may change both the
activities and the space where those activities are held and that may be unforeseeable
during the brief (ibid.)149. Thus, adaptability holds a central role for schools, because
broader “potential arrangements” enable a more open allocation of activities to
spaces:
“A school building that not only accommodates a set of school activities

but also accommodates them in many different ways and includes a
variety of different sets of school activities, is an adaptable school
building.” (Fawcett, 1976a, p.11)
148
“We argue that adaptability is a fruitful subject for research, and offer this thesis as a contribution to
architectural research into the relationship between activities and spaces.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.2)
149
Management has also been addressed by Broadbent (1973), arguing for its centrality for space use: “All users
of buildings are constrained by administration, using that word in the broadest possible sense to describe any
person or group of people who decide what may or may not be done within a building or to the building fabric.
[…] Administration in the form of the headmaster lays down rules about how pupils and teachers shall behave
in school, which entrances the pupils may use and so on […]” (Broadbent, 1973, p.172)
84
Fig. 16. “Organizational structures in a comprehensive school”

Fawcett introduces the concept of adaptability related to the “looseness” for

accommodating activities to spaces. In this sense, the broader the range of possible
spaces, the broader their adaptability. This is associated to the “uncertainty of the
probability distribution”, related to the information theory’s concept of entropy 150:
“In this method adaptability is deÀned as a measure of the variety of

ways that a set of activities can be allocated to a set of spaces. Considering
individual activities, some might take place feasibly in many different
spaces whilst others might be feasible in just one. […] The greater the
number of choices that an activity has, the more loosely, we can say, it
is accommodated. If there is one overwhelmingly appropriate choice
but others that would in addition be possible, then this is looser than
if there were only the one; but if the same number of choices were
more evenly distributed then it would be looser still. […] The looseness
of the activity then corresponds to the uncertainty of the probability
distribution. The looseness, and uncertainty, is zero if one possibility
has a probability of one, and is high if many possibilities are equally
likely. Information theory provides a unique, unambiguous criterion
for the amount of uncertainty in a probability distribution, and this is
called the entropy of the uncertainty distribution Si = -Yj pijlnpij.
Thus adaptability is seen as the looseness of Àt of an activity schedule
into a physical schedule, and the concept of entropy seems likely to be
a helpful tool in measuring it.” (Fawcett, 1976a, p.17)
The paper Measuring Adaptability from the same year (Fawcett, 1976b) displays a very
comprehensive outlook on Fawcett’s approach to adaptability, from a combinatorial
perspective that tackled two approaches: “loose-Àt” by means of feasibility matrices
and microstates, and engaged entropy for assessing adaptability. Here a deÀnition
of adaptability is recognised which will be central to our current research:
150
This will be paramount for studying adaptability in our proposed methodology and will be addressed in
further detail in chapters 3.2. regarding Fawcett’s Thesis and chapter 3.3. when our methodology is explained
in detail. See chapters 3.2 Adaptability assessment methodologies: reviewing previous approaches, and chapter
3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments.
85
Fig. 17. “Diagram showing that the entries in an activity-space feasibility matrix can be based on
many attributes, not just Áoor area (from Fawcett, 1978, p.205). Each attribute acts as a Àlter, and
the activity (ei) must be compatible with the space (hj) with respect to all the Àlters in order to
arrive at an overall entry of 1 in the feasibility matrix. If the activity and space are incompatible
with respect to one or more Àlters, the entry in the feasibility matrix is 0.”
(Fawcett, 2011c, p.207)
Fig. 18. The traditional model for decision-making (upper diagram) vs Fawcett’s “lifecycle
options” (bottom diagram)
86
“Adaptability is the ability to maintain compatibility as the activities

change – as they will.” (Fawcett, 1976b, p.5)
Fawcett’s approach to adaptability has evolved into more recent developments

over lifecycle assessment, also related to sustainable strategies, associating both
adaptability and Áexibility. The paper The Sustainable Schedule of Hospital Spaces:
investigating the ¶dufÁe coat’ theory of Áexibility (Fawcett, 2011c; 2010a) centres around the
hospital programme, rather than the previous study on schools, still acknowledging
change, considering: “large and complex buildings presenting many challenges
for design and management, amongst them problems of growth and change”151
(Fawcett, 2011c, p.193). Fawcett approaches Áexibility to the metaphor of the
“dufÁe coat” tackled by Weeks in 1960, suggesting that higher Áexibility would be
subject to “greater interchangeability between activities and spaces” and “designs
with a smaller number of distinct room sizes provide more interchangeability and
so increase Áexibility”, as Fawcett systematises (Fawcett, 2011c, pp.194-195).
Despite recognising that Weeks’ approach had been largely acknowledged, Fawcett
does not validate it by a “mathematical model”. Fawcett assumes that other strategies
would be needed for understanding Áexibility and the built-in features of the design
that would maximise the feasibility matrix for the activities-space allocation, besides
the room size studied by Weeks, including other features that would determine the
spaces’ capacity constraints, as he had already presented in his Doctoral Thesis
from 1978 (Fig. 17):
“Flexibility is quite rightly seen as a high priority for the long-term value
and sustainability of hospital buildings, but it is poorly understood.
Weeks’s dufÁe coat theory was an intuitive response to a complex
problem, but it should now be set aside in favour of better-researched
strategies for Áexible hospital design.” (Fawcett, 2011c, p.208)
In recent publications Fawcett (2010b, 2011a, 2011b, 2016) also sustains the
approach to “lifecycle options” that “transfer decision-making from people in
the present to people in the future who will know more about the changing state
of the world.” (Fawcett, 2011b, pp.2-3). Thus, it does not imply a decision in the
present moment, but allows future decisions to be made, with a lower degree of
indeterminacy from the initial moment and when more information is available
(Fig. 18). In this model, the risk of “over” or “under-provision” is lower, as well
as the cost of undertaking those decisions, thus avoiding options that might prove
unnecessary: “In this approach, a lifecycle option is a feature of a design or plan
that makes it possible for new decisions to be made in the future.” (p.2).
151
“Loose-Àt design, providing Áexible hospitals that work for the initial activities and can also cope with activity
change over time, would increase the long-term usefulness of the Ànancial, social and resource investment in
hospital buildings, and would be highly sustainable. Therefore it is important to investigate whether the Áexible
design strategies that have been put forward are likely to contribute to this desirable objective.” (Fawcett, 2011c,
p.194)
87
These options vary according to each situation and the decision-making should be
well-adjusted between the cost / time / beneÀt of introducing each one, as well
as the “amount of uncertainty” on future change, as well as being informed by
user research (Fawcett, 1995)152. This can be corresponded to Rabeneck’s recent
thoughts on Flexibility in practice, published in Fawcett’s book Built Space in the Digital
World (2016a). According to Rabeneck’s:
“Note that a design’s Áexibility depends on the set of activity states used
for the test. The same design will perform differently with different sets
of activity states; and if the Áexibility of alternative designs is being
compared, the ranking may change according to the set of activity
states used for evaluation” (Rabeneck, 2016, p.48)
Even more recently, the book Adaptive Architecture: Changing Parameters and Practice
(Preiser, Hardy and Wilhelm, 2017) centres around “the challenge of adaptive
design” (Fawcett, 2017a, p.65), namely in Fawcett’s chapter, where it also states
the relevance of assessing adaptability: “The arguments in favour of adaptive
architecture will be stronger if its adaptive performance can be measured.” (Fawcett,
2017b, p.67)
Also in Cambridge, Krüger’s work from his Doctoral Thesis comprises an analytical
approach, in this case applied to built forms’ connectivity within an urban modelling
strategy. This has been published in Environment and Planning B as a series of papers
regarding An approach to built-form connectivity at an urban scale (1979a, 1979b, 1980,
1981b, 1981c):
“An attempt is made to model the distribution of partitions (party walls)

and built-form arrays within the entropy maximization and information
minimizing formalism for the ninety-Àve kilometre-square cells used to
record the town of Reading, England.” (Krüger, 1981b, p.41)
The paper Maximização da adaptabilidade153 holds particular signiÀcance for our

current Thesis because it presents a straightforward deÀnition for adaptability as
“the ability of the built form to maintain compatibility between activities and spaces,
as those vary”154 Krüger’s (1981a, p.1169), which implies the building’s potential to
allocate a range of activities without any physical transformation.
This is similar to Fawcett’s (1976b, p.5) deÀnition from an early paper: “Adaptability
is the ability to maintain compatibility as the activities change – as they will.”,
152
“A good user model is in fact a precondition for setting many different design criteria.” (Fawcett, 1995, p.9)
153
Original Portuguese title that is translated to English as “Maximising Adaptability”.
154
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A adaptabilidade será caracterizada pela capacidade que
a forma construída apresenta para manter a compatibilidade entre atividades e espaços, à medida que aquelas
variam.” (Krüger, 1981a, p.1169)
88
considering that both Krüger and Fawcett have a common research background
at Cambridge, relatively simultaneous and embedded into an analytical approach.
The common consideration of adaptability related to activities, the assumption that
activities might change in the future and that adaptability is associated to pursuing
“compatibility”, in the sense of an adequate Àt for coping with the changing
activities, are central issues in both deÀnitions.
The context of Fawcett’s quote155 already speciÀes a direct correlation between

space and activities in “feasible” and “non-feasible” and displayed in a feasibility
matrix. Besides, Fawcett also considers adaptability to be a feature to be assessed in
the building from its initial construction. These already imply the acknowledgement
that adaptability is identiÀed by an analytical approach on this correlation and that
it is built-in, which could compel the introduction of other approaches on the
methodology to be proposed on our current Thesis.
This deÀnition is also considered to be comprehensive and forthright for the

purposes of our current Thesis, because it immediately acknowledges spaces and
activities. It also recognises the possibility of growth and change in the future
between what may impact both the activities and its correlation to space. Besides,
the deÀnition is open enough to be adequate for the current context and applied
generally to complex buildings, but is also leaves its assessment open to further
speciÀcities that our current research might comprise for regarding contemporary
school buildings.
The paper Maximização da adaptabilidade (Krüger, 1981a), as well as Modelos

Probabilísticos em Estudos de Arquitectura156 (Krüger, 1984) are central for Kruger’s
study of adaptability, that also discusses Fawcett’s work. From Krüger’s deÀnition
of adaptability, it is established that adaptability concerns the building’s design
process, conceived with the information gathered at the time, regarding both
future management and users’ behaviour (Krüger, 1981a, p.1169). This could be
matched to Fawcett’s approach considering adaptability a feature of the building
conceived with the information provided in the present instead of the future
unforeseeable data157.
155
“We can consider an institution as a function consisting of a number of activities, and some accommodation
consisting of a number of spaces. It will be either feasible or non-feasible for the activities to take place in
the spaces - and it is preferred to maintain the former state. If, after time, the accommodation can no longer
house the function, it is obsolete. Adaptability is the ability to maintain compatibility as the activities change -
as they will. If adaptability can be measured at Àrst-build, then it must be with the data available at the time of
building.” (Fawcett,1976b, p.5)
156
Original Portuguese title that is translated to English as “Probabilistic models in architectural studies”.
157
“But how, when our knowledge of future activities is uncertain, can our subjectively held estimate of a
building’s adaptability be established? We cannot test whether a building will become obsolete by reference
to what actually happens to it in the future since we do not know: a workable measure must rely wholly on
information available in the present.” (Fawcett, 1978, pp.54-55)
89
Krüger also distinguishes Áexibility and adaptability. On the one hand, Áexibility
is achieved by means of “technological solutions that aim to alter the interior
partitioning of the built forms over time”158 that aims to hinder obsolescence, brought
by an incongruity between activities and spaces (Krüger, 1981a, pp.1169-1170). On
the other hand, adaptability is achieved by means of building programming rather
than technological strategies concerning the “spatial characterization of each room
in order to allow a diversiÀed use of the spaces by its occupants.” 159(p.1170). Despite
their differences, “both adaptability and Áexibility maximising intend to minimise
the pre-determination of the users’ needs by enabling a spatial occupancy that is
not univocally deÀned in the design” 160(p.1170). This is central because it provides
the straightforward differences between Áexibility and adaptability, in which the
Àrst implies physical alterations over time and the latter its initial consideration in
the design. Besides, adaptability also anticipates a diversity of activities in spaces,
instead of a speciÀc provision of spaces to activities that can change onwards.
Finally, it also states that Áexibility and adaptability accommodate changing activities
in time, as opposed to a single Àxed functionality for each room161.
For maximising adaptability Krüger (1981a, 1984) proposes different possibilities

within a probabilistic outlook on the pairing of activities to spaces namely the
focus on the feasibility matrix approach, which leads to the “number of biunivocal
corresponding matches between the sets of activities {ai} and spaces{ej}”162
(Krüger, 1981a, p.1171). A high adaptability design will be the one that is provided
to accommodate a higher number of activities within spaces, increasing the
corresponding matches on the feasibility matrix (p.1180).
158
Free translation of the full original quote in Portuguese: “A Áexibilidade em projeto de arquitetura baseia-se,
em geral, em soluções tecnológicas que visam a alteraçmo da compartimentaçmo interior das formas construídas
ao longo do tempo, o que pressupõe, geralmente, o uso de divisórias interiores ligeiras, estruturas porticadas
de grandes vmos, envolventes construtivas pré-fabricadas em peças monolíticas e ainda a pré-localizaçmo e
dimensionamento das áreas de serviços e equipamentos.” (Krüger, 1981a, pp.1169-1170)
159
Free translation of the full original quote in Portuguese: “A segunda abordagem, a da adaptabilidade, aponta,
nmo para uma soluçmo que se baseie em processos tecnológicos relativamente soÀsticados, mas para um estudo
programado, ainda em fase de projeto, da caracterizaçmo espacial de cada compartimento de forma a possibilitar
aos seus ocupantes uma diversiÀcada utilizaçmo dos espaços que habitam.” (Krüger, 1981a, p.1170)
160
Free translation of the full original quote in Portuguese: “Tanto a maximizaçmo da adaptabilidade bem como
da Áexibilidade visam minimizar a pré-determinaçmo das exigrncias dos usuários ao permitir uma ocupaçmo
espacial que nmo é deÀnida univocamente em fase de projeto.” (Krüger, 1981a, p.1170)
161
Nevertheless, this approach is not always consensual and may vary according to the authors. Dluhosch
in 1974, suggests the twofold approach between variability and Áexibility under the context of mass housing.
According to this author, Áexibility does not involve physical changes and variability does:
“- FLE;IBILITY may be deÀned as the ability to achieve a change of conditions, without changing the basic
system as such;
-VARIABILITY may be deÀned as the ability to achieve a change of conditions by changing the system.
Thus, FLE;IBILITY refers primarily to adaptations to change, while VARIABILITY refers more to change
as such.” (Dluhosch, 1974, p.40)
Dluhosch also assumes that adaptability gathers both Áexibility and variability: “Strictly speaking, adaptability
assumes both Áexibility and variability, either as programmatic elements or as regular features of design” (ibid.)
162
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “[...] o número de correspondrncias biunívocas entre os
conjuntos {ai} e {ej}” (Krüger, 1981a, p.1171).
90
Additionally, Krüger centres around the correlation between activities’ size and
frequency that takes a gamma distribution, consistently with Fawcett’s (1978)
approach to schools and to Bullock, Dickens and Steadman (1969163) in university
campi. Krüger then proposes to maximise adaptability by means of maximising
the entropy, on the uncertainty about the information on a situation, according to
Shannon’s information theory outlook.
The paper on Modelos Probabilísticos em Estudos de Arquitectura (Krüger, 1984) develops

this subject matter even further, pointing out different possibilities to address
probabilistic models, based on the Krasil’nikov’s164 (1928) early mathematical
work. The relevance of probabilistic models lies in the possibility of reaching
the most probable states based on the uncertainty of the distribution, even if it
is acknowledged that these might also be constrained by behavioural variables
that cannot be modelled and that are embedded in real situations (Krüger, 1984,
p.1694)165. Nevertheless, probabilistic models can infer data towards “improving or
correcting solutions for a good adjustment between the systems of activities and
that of spaces”166 (ibid.).
For adaptability this holds signiÀcance because it deals with the uncertainty of
future activities states and their requirements for being adequately accommodated
in space. Krüger therefore, explains the combinatorial approach to micro, macro
and hyperstates and these imply the uncertainty of a situation: “the most probable
macrostate is the one with the highest entropy”167 (Krüger, 1984, p.1700).
Krüger concludes that the paper intends to “present a systematisation of an

approach to architectural studies, developed, instrumentally, as probabilistic
models of activities/spaces at the scale of the building”168 (p.1718). By introducing
capacity constraints the model can be closer to a real situation (p.1719). However,
it is concluded that these studies do not aim at an “optimisation measure” and are
163
164
Translated to English by Catherine Cooke in 1975 and published in Environment and Planning B: Planning and
Design.
165
“Evidently, probabilistic models always make hypotheses about the relationship between variables that are
ultimately behavioural in nature, that is, how people use certain spaces, lacking, overall, a methodology that
indicates the real utility of the most probable solutions.” (Krüger, 1984, p.1694)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Evidentemente que os modelos probabilísticos fazem
sempre hipóteses sobre o relacionamento de variáveis que, em última instkncia, smo de natureza comportamental,
isto é, de como as pessoas utilizam determinados espaços, faltando, em regra geral, uma metodologia que nos
indique a utilidade real das soluções mais prováveis.” (Krüger, 1984, p.1694)
166
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “[...] a melhorar e a corrigir estas soluções de forma a se
obter um bom ajustamento entre o sistema de atividades e o de espaços.” (ibid.)
167
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: ”[...] o mais provável macrostado é o que apresenta
entropia máxima.” (Krüger, 1984, p.1700)
168
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: ”Este estudo teve por objectivo apresentar uma
sistematizaçmo de uma abordagem aos estudos de arquitetura, desenvolvida, instrumentalmente, como modelos
probabilísticos de atividades/espaços à escala da ediÀcaçmo [...]” (p.1718)
91
considered as “piecemeal” to the studies that comprise diverse layers of analysis169.

Still, these studies enable to critically confront expected and perceived results for
the advancement on “a body of knowledge” in the area of the “spatial organisation
of the human habitat”170(p.1721).
Both Fawcett’s and Krüger’s approach will be central for our proposed methodology
for assessing adaptability in contemporary school buildings for the entropy approach
to adaptability171.
Kruger’s deÀnition may also be complemented by the OECD’s (1976) study on

Adaptability and Flexibility in School Buildings, which established a clear deÀnition of
adaptability applied to the design of buildings and that is followed by a speciÀc
approach to schools172:
“[…] adaptability, the quality of a building which facilitates adaptation;

adaptation may require relocation, replacement, removal or addition in
respect of either the constructional elements, services or the Ànishes
of the building - essentially large magnitude/low frequency change”
(OECD, 1976, p.10)
In this deÀnition another correlation is present: magnitude/frequency, in which

adaptability is of great magnitude, justiÀed by the building’s material changes and
low frequency because they are only performed a few times, while Áexibility is the
concept of contrary correlation. A year earlier, in another publication, also on behalf
of the OECD, the relationship between spaces and activities was explained by Oddie:
“Adaptability is the ability to physically change, by moving, replacing

and removing components, or by subsequent addition of other
components. Flexibility is the quality of the building as it exists at
169
Full quote in English: “It remains to draw attention to the probabilistic nature of the three models analysed,
which are intended solely to describe the more probable states of behaviour and not to submit the whole design
or study of architecture to an optimisation measure that, however good it may be, will not fail to be piecemeal
and non-comprehensible of all possible dimensions present within architectural studies. “ (p.1721)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Resta ainda fazer uma chamada de atençmo para a natureza
probabilística dos trrs modelos analisados, que pretendem unicamente descrever estados mais prováveis de
comportamento e nmo submeter todo o projeto ou estudo de arquitetura a uma medida de optimizaçmo que,
por melhor que seja, nmo deixará de ser parcelar e nmo compreensiva de todas as dimensões possíveis presentes
nos estudos de arquitetura.” (p.1721)
170
Full quote in English: “This allows public criticism of this knowledge, its process of formation and gestation
until we are able to objectively construct the theory of architecture, that is, until we are able to formulate the set
of principles that describe and explain a body of academic, professional and disciplinary knowledge that has as
its object the spatial organisation of the human habitat.” (p.1721).
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Isto permite a crítica pública deste conhecimento, do seu
processo de formaçmo e gestaçmo até sermos capazes de construir objetivamente a teoria da arquitetura, isto é,
até sermos capazes de formular o conjunto de princípios que descrevem e explicam um corpo de conhecimento
professional, acadrmico e disciplinar que tem por objeto a organizaçmo espacial do habitat humano.” (p.1721).
171
See chapter 3.3 A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments.
172
Recall from the previous reference to Fawcett, that he also states that adaptability is often associated with no
physical change for authors of reference such as Rabeneck.
92
any time, which makes it possible to modify the type of activities

that it can accommodate, without the need to perform a material
adjustment. As a result, the greater the Áexibility, the later the need for
adaptation.”173(Oddie, 1975, p.37)
Blyth and Worthington (2001) assume adaptability as the most pressing characteristic
to predict in design:
“Flexibility deÀnes change that can be made quickly and with relatively
little effort or cost (short-term and tactical) whilst adaptability is
concerned with larger scale changes over longer periods of time
(long-term and strategic). Adaptability implies the ability to change,
whilst still leaving options open and not being unnecessarily costly or
complicated. [….] Lack of adaptability is more serious, resulting in
premature obsolescence.” (Blyth and Worthington, 2001, p.45)
Likewise, DEGW also shares this view and advocates adaptability as a more
promising solution, as opposed to Áexibility, because it implies that the building
has been designed with this capability, not in a redundant but open way to change:
“Adaptability is a much better - and much cheaper - term to use because

it means including within the design the capacity to add features later:
planning for change, rather than catering for anything that might
happen.” (Duffy and DEGW, 1998, p.76)
Habraken (1972174, 1998) also plays a relevant role for the state of the art of
adaptability, Àrst for the relevance bestowed upon user engagement, for approaching
design to user participation in a holistic process and for recognising several stages
for the space’s completion175. Secondly, for conceiving a framework that comprises
two separate levels: “support” and “inÀll”, so that the built space, here particularly
focused on dwellings, can be thought and materialised according to the user’s
intentions and expectations176:
“It is therefore necessary that we consider housing as a totality of
173
Free translation to English from the quote in French: “L’adaptabilité est la capacité de changement matériel,
par déplacement, remplacement et suppression des composants, ou par addition ultérieure d’autres composants.
La Áexibilité est la qualité du bktiment tel qu’il existe à n’importe quel moment, qui permet de modiÀer le type
d’activités qu’il peut accueillir, sans qu’il faille procéder à une adaptation matérielle. En conséquence, plus la
Áexibilité est grande, plus loin dans le temps peut rtre repoussé le moment o l’adaptation sera nécessaire.”
(Oddie, 1975, p.37)
174
Consulted edition from 1972, original Dutch edition from 1961.
175
“It cannot be denied that in thinking of the user we are dealing with an actual force in the total process, for
if this were not so there would be no reason to fear his involvement as a disturbing and intractable inÁuence.”
(Habraken, 1972, p.7)
176
“If we investigate the nature of the inÁuence which the inhabitant can exercise it will soon appear that it is
not negligible, for because it arises from the everyday actions of people it is closely connected with essential
human activities.” (Habraken, 1972, p.9)
93
events which cannot be looked at meaningfully in isolation from each

other. We are dealing with mutually related forces arising from all sides
of society and which, if all goes well, act in equilibrium.” (Habraken,
1972, p.5)
From the title of his book Supports: an Alternative to Mass Housing, “mass housing”
is no longer an amount of similar spaces for all, implying the consideration of the
user, as an alternative to it that encompasses “personal considerations and decisions”,
enabling the achievement of a “personal environment where one can do as one
likes” (Habraken, 1972, p.12). According to Habraken, space cannot gain sense with
appropriation, it has to provide meaning from the start and additionally, buildings
are not considered secluded structures from the context of the users or “ready-
made dwellings” (p.94), and so they are developed as part of life.
This is especially central for the design of dwellings because, as Habraken states,
a home is only a home when it is a home to someone. It is not a mere practical or
technical answer to a well-deÀned functionality, but rather a space to accommodate
life within177. Therefore, this concurs with the idea that mass housing can be
conceived as such, with similar spaces for all, because activities and peoples are not
themselves uniform from the start178. Habraken, therefore, presents his “support
structure”, and deÀnes it as such:
“A support structure is a construction which allows the provision of dwellings which

can be built, altered and taken down, independently of the others.”179 (Habraken,
1972, pp.59-60)
Habraken argues for a “support structure” to the unknown future developments,

enabling a diversity of housing180 (Habraken, 1972, p.61). Building on the
recognition of users’ participation on the decision-making, the relevance attached
to appropriation and the idea of separate levels of the building leads also to the
‘open building’181 approach (Kendall, 2004; Kendall and Teicher, 2000).
177
“A dwelling is only a dwelling, not when it has a certain form, not when it fulÀls certain conditions which have
been written down after long study, not when certain dimensions and provisions have been made to comply with
municipal by-laws, but only and exclusively when people come to live in it. […] The notion of ‘dwelling’ is entirely
subjective and is certainly not related to any particular form.” (Habraken, 1972, pp.15-16) (Italics from the original quote)
178
“The form of housing we supply for ourselves conforms to an invented, restricted world, and has thus
indeed become barrack living, and in comparison with the inexhaustible variety of real existence can therefore
be called unnatural to a high degree.” (Habraken, 1972, p.23)
179
180
“A support structure, on the other hand, is built in the knowledge that we cannot predict what is going to
happen to it. The more variety housing can assume in the support structure, the better. (Habraken, 1972, p.61)
181
“Residential Open Building is a new multi-disciplinary approach to the design, Ànancing, construction,
Àt-out and long-term management processes of residential buildings, including mixed-use structures. Its
goals include creating varied, Àne-grained and sustainable environment, and increasing individual choice and
responsibility within it. In Open Building, responsibility for decision-making is distributed on various levels.”
(Kendall and Teicher, 200, p.x)
94
This is followed by more recently studies on the built environment that are
also envisaged in The structure of the ordinary: form and control in the built environment
(Habraken, 1998). Under a closer regard, change is specially focused in this book,
assuming that it occurs through time, and for the environment to continue as a lived
“organism” it has to change and to adapt:
“Moreover, built environments have lives of their own: they grow, renew
themselves, and endure for millennia. Conservation may serve to freeze
works of art in time, resisting time’s effects. But the living environment
can persist only through change and adaptation” (Habraken, 1998, p.6)
This thought on the environment’s transformation in time so it continues to

be lived in, relates to the need to accommodate and react to change and also to
the human interaction of the people / the “builder”, as an “agent of change”
(Habraken, 1998, p.7). Inherently, it could be argued that this may be intrinsic to
adaptability, for accommodating and responding to change and changing uses. On
this regard, Habraken states that: “We must learn to look afresh at the intricate
ongoing symbiosis between people and built matter.” (p.8).
Habraken’s approach to “supports” and “inÀll” (1972) may be paralleled with

Duffy (1990) and Brand’s (1994) “shearing layers of change”, which lead to
diverse adaptable solutions. Duffy (1990) identiÀed four layers: “shell”, “services”,
“scenery” and “set”, all relating to different elements of the buildings, respective
lifecycles and frequency in the need for change in order to accommodate upcoming
spatial needs foreseen after the brief (Fig. 19). Brand’s (1994) enlarges Duffy’s 4S
model to six “shearing layers of change”: “site”, “structure”, “skin”, “services”,
“space plan” and “stuff ”182(Fig. 20).
These developments can be analysed and overlapped, according to the literature

interpretation of both references and authors. Consequently, conclusions on
eventual new developments, concepts or deÀnitions from 1990 to 1994 can be
produced and structured in the form of a chart (Fig. 21).
182
“SITE - This is the geographical setting, the urban location, and the legally deÀned lot, whose boundaries
and context outlast generations of ephemeral buildings. ‘Site is eternal’ [...]
STRUCTURE - The foundation and load-bearing elements are perilous and expensive to change, so people
don’t. These are the building. Structural life ranges from 30 to 300 years (but few buildings make it past 60, for
other reasons).
SKIN - Exterior surfaces now change every 20 years or so, to keep up with fashion or technology, or for
wholesale repair. Recent focus on energy costs has led to re-engineered Skins that are air-tight and better-insulated.
SERVICES - These are the working guts of a building: communications wiring, electrical wiring, plumbing,
sprinkler system, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), and moving parts like elevators and
escalators. They wear out or obsolesce every 7 to 15 years. Many buildings are demolished early if their outdated
systems are too deeply embedded to replace easily.
SPACE PLAN - The interior layout - where walls, ceilings, Áoors, and doors go. Turbulent commercial space
can change every 3 years or so; exceptionally quiet homes might wait 30 years.
STUFF - Chairs, desks, phones, pictures; kitchen appliances, lamps, hair brushes; all the things that twitch
around daily to monthly.” (Brand, 1994, p.13) (Italics from the original quote)
95
Fig. 19. Duffy’s layers of change.

(Duffy, 1990, p.17)
Fig. 20. Brand’s shearing layers of change.

(Brand, 1994, p.13)
96
DUFFY (1990) BRAND (1994)
Alterations from one

NAME DEFINITION TIME NAME DEFINITION TIME
author to the other
“Geographical Ethernal New concept

SITE setting, the
urban location”
“Structure” 50 years 183 “Foundation and 30-300 years Lifetime

SHELL STRUCTURE load-bearing corresponds now
elements” to 30-300 years
“Exterior 20 years New concept

SKIN
surfaces”
“Cabling, 15 years “Working guts of 7-15 years From 15 years to

plumbing, air a building” 7-15 years
SERVICES SERVICES
conditioning,
elevators”
“Layout of 5-7 years “The interior 3 years From 5-7 years

SCENERY SPACE PLAN
partitions” layout” to 3 years
“Shifting of Months to weeks “Chairs, desks, Months to days From months

furniture by phones, to weeks, or to
occupants” pictures; kitchen days
appliances,
SET STUFF
clamps, hair
brushes; all
the things that
twitch” 184
Fig. 21. Interpretative comparison of both Duffy’s and Brand’s models

(Carolina Coelho)
From the chart’s interpretation, there are similarities but also differences in the
concepts themselves, respective deÀnitions and also on the duration of each layer.
Brand introduces “site” as a new concept that embraces a larger / territorial scale
and which he considers to be timeless, implying it to be everlasting, according to
this author, and the sole to withstand amongst the remaining layers. Duffy’s “shell”
and “Brand’s “structure” can possibly be overlapped, because both refer to the
“foundation elements” of the building, considered by Duffy as lasting 50 years and
for Brand between 30 to 300 years. Brand also introduces the concept of “skin” that
he indicates as the “exterior surfaces” and presumes to last for 20 years. Curiously,
both authors use the same concept of “services”, even though Duffy relates it to 15
years, whereas Brand points out that it could go from 7 up to 15 years. The interior
layout is named by Duffy as “scenery” and by Brand as “space plan”, going from
5 to 7 years according to the Àrst and only 3 according to the latter. Finally, and to
mention a smaller scale layer, Duffy refers to “set” that can be moved and changed
between months to weeks, while Brand considers a possible more frequent change
from months to days.
183
According to Duffy: “Rather than describe and measure buildings in material terms - amounts of concrete, glass
and steel - it is necessary to describe them in terms of time: shells that last up to 50 years, services that last 15 years
before they must be replaced, scenery which, these days, has a duration of Àve years or even less.” (1990, p.17)
184
The deÀnitions in quotes are from Brand’s (1994). How buildings learn: What happens after they’re built.
97
These features, organised here from the most general to a more detailed scale, as
presented by these authors, bear relevance for the space’s individual characterisation
and for the system’s internal dynamics. But foremost, the choice in each of these
levels will lead to different spatial responses in relation to activity allocation, the
ability to cope with change, and lastly, adaptability. More recently and based on
Brand’s previous approach for composing layers of a building, Leupen’s approach
to Áexibility (2006, 2005) uses Àve ones: “structure”, “skin”, “scenery”, “access”
and “services” and proposes two components: the lasting “frame”185 and “the
generic space” (Leupen, 2006, p.10).
The gathering of all these layers composes to the building that has a lifecycle over time:
“My approach is to examine buildings as a whole - not just whole in
space, but whole in time. Some buildings are designed and managed
as a spatial whole, none as a temporal whole. In the absence of theory
or standard practice in the matter, we can begin by investigating: What
happens anyway in buildings over time?” (Brand, 1994, p.2)
To illustrate “what happens when they [the buildings] are built186” Brand shows
two similar houses in New Orleans from 1857 and how they have changed and
differ in 1993 (Fig. 22). Brand states: “Both buildings grew. They diverged. Their
skins changed markedly.” (Brand, 1994, p.1). These images illustrate these buildings’
persistence through time, but also their ability to change from their early construction.
The perceived changes regard physical expansion, coating materials, ground Áoor’s
space’s functionality, and small other attachments (ibid.). These changes could be
thought regarding Brand’s shearing layers of change, for acknowledging that the
most superÀcial and removal layers, like skin, have been transformed, but that
others, more permanent ones, like site and structure, have endured since 1857. These
alterations, additions and renewals of different scale and frequency, recall Brand’s
quote on the “shearing layers of change”: “Because of the different rates of change
of its components, a building is always tearing itself apart.” (Brand, 1994, p.13).
These changes are conveyed by and from its occupants along its lifespan:
“Age plus adaptivity is what makes a building come to be loved. The
buildings learn from its occupants, and they learn from it.”187(Brand,
1994, p.23)
Brand concludes that buildings change and adapt through time, for being suitable
for their users, but along with their changes, their age and history are also embedded
within them (p.209). From Brand’s concluding remarks: “an adapted state is not an
end state” (ibid.), it can be argued that if change is not an end in itself, it is the
possibility of continuing in time and along this path, continuing to change. So,
providing for change is enduring in time.
185
“This present study takes not the changeable but the permanent as its departure-point. This, I hope, will
open up new perspectives. The permanent, meaning the more durable component of the house, constitutes the
frame within which change can take place.” (p.9) (Italics from the original quote)
186
From the book’s title: How buildings learn: What Happens After They’re Built.
187
98
a) b)
Fig. 22. a) “4 May 1857. New Orleands [sic] Notarial Archives, Plan Book 43, Folio 46”
b) “November, 1993. Robert S. Brantley, New Orleans”
(Brand, 1994, pp.viii-1)
Rusell and Moffatt (2001) understand that adaptability encloses not only Áexibility,
but two other concepts: “Áexibility” for smaller changes (potentially regarding the
previously addressed low magnitude changes), “convertibility” as a possibility to
alter the uses of space and “expandability” for future spatial increases188 (Rusell
and Moffatt, 2011, p.2). These authors also state the beneÀts of adaptability related
to: “more efÀcient use of space”, “increased longevity” and “improved operating
performance” (p.4). The central proposal the authors make is for evaluating
the building’s “elements” in order to conclude on their adaptability, matching
Brand’s approach to the “shearing layers of change”. These are considered as
such: “foundation” that copes with possible growth, “superstructure” desirably
of reinforced concrete to allowing internal and external changes, “envelope” that
should be detached from the structure, “services” that enable modiÀcations in the
system, and “interior spaces” that accommodate different uses (p.12).
Having already recalled Duffy’s works in previous quotes, an after a review on potential
approaches to Brand’s “shearing layers of change”, the DEGW’s work will be focused
regarding their approach to design for change189 (Duffy and DEGW, 1998). This has been
founded as JFN in 1971 in London, and established as DEGW in 1974 by Francis
Duffy, Peter Eley, Luigi Giffone and John Worthington (pp.11-12). Duffy190 and
DEGW’s work are paramount for the state of the art on this subject matter directed
towards building’s uses throughout and the “social phenomena of change” (p.11).
Similarly to Brand’s approach, time is a central variable on their research because it
is over time that building’s needs and users change, acting as a “critical dimension of
188
“The concept of adaptability can be broken down into a number of simple strategies that are familiar to
most designers:
Flexibility, or enabling minor shifts in space planning;
Convertibility, or allowing for changes in use within the building; and
Expandability, (alternatively shrinkability) or facilitating additions to the quantity of space in a building.”
(Rusell and Moffatt, 2011, p.2)
189
From the title of: Duffy, F.; DEGW (1998). Design for Change: The Architecture of DEGW. Basel: Watermark/
Birkhauser.
190
“Francis Duffy is an apostle of change – but change with a human face.” (Duffy and DEGW, 1998, p.24)
99
a) b)
Fig. 23. a) Facilities has been launched by DEGW in 1983
b) “Building appraisal techniques played a key role in deÀning the brief for the Broadgate project
and set the benchmark for all future development. Prepared for Rosehaugh Stanhope this diagram
sets Broadgate in a world context. Accommodating and managing change are key factors.”
(Duffy and DEGW, 1998, pp.46,48)
architectural design” (Duffy and DEGW, 1998, p.40). Time can be considered through
the building’s occupancy, as Brand interprets it, but it could also be perceived towards
the practice, in the design of the building itself. This will converge time with functional,
Ànancial and effective requirements onto: “the need to create an architectural aesthetic
that combines permanence and transience and gives to each its due meaning and
importance. Such an aesthetic will shape the twenty-Àrst century.” (p.41).
From the 1980s that DEGW’s work has displaced information on building
managements and design and on the interactions between “cities and people and
buildings and organizations” (p.47), which also coincided with their launching of
the journal Facilities in 1983 (Fig. 23a).
The initial ‘ORBIT’ Studies191 also date from 1981/82 focused on “the impact of
information technology (IT) on ofÀce buildings” and these are a central example
of DEGW’s work, concerning “the physical and the organisational” (Duffy and
DEGW, 1998, p.47). ‘ORBIT 1’ studies have been undertaken to assess the building’s
“capacity to accommodate change”, and have been followed by the ‘Building
191
“The three main practical consequences of the ORBIT studies are, Àrst, the development of systematic
methods to measure the capacity of buildings to accommodate change; second, an increasing reliance on
sectoral studies of the development of client requirements to both validate and calibrate such measurements
of building capacity; and third, the development of time-based models which are intended to explain, in as
elegant a way as possible, the likely consequences of change.” (Duffy and DEGW, 1998, p.47) (Use of capital
letters from the original quote)
100
a)
b) c)
Fig. 24. a) “Matching patterns of user demand with building supply is essential to any successful
commercial property strategy”; b) “A diagram from The Responsible Workplace, showing the tension
between an organisation’s need to minimise costs while simultaneously adding value at different
levels of decision-making”; c) “Another diagram from The Responsible Workplace, showing how a
time-based redesign of the work process is the most effective way to minimise cost and add value”
(Duffy and DEGW, 1998, pp.50-51,76)
Appraisal techniques’192 (Fig. 23b) informing on “future prooÀng”193 (pp.47-49) and

by the ‘Responsible Workplace’ model, whose diagrams may be comparable to our
current research in the cost/value of different criteria (Figs. 24b, c)194.
By focusing on change, considering time in both the design and the buildings’ use
and also having recognised strategies for assessing building’s “future prooÀng”,
adaptability is inherently emphasised by DEGW. Thus, adaptability relates to
the accomplishment of user requirements and consequently, attaining building
performance (p.76) through a changing situation.
From a managerial perspective, building quality concerns its “suitability” towards
a variety of uses. In this sense, it correlates users’ “demand” and the building’s
ability to cope with them - the “supply” (Fig. 24a). As these can Áuctuate over
time, its accomplishment is bounded by facilities management, user engagement
and design solutions, all contributing to an adaptable working space (Duffy and
DEGW, 1998, p.77).
192
“[…] Building Appraisal techniques […] analyse and compare the conÀguration of the whole building,
Áoorplates and servicing systems with regard to speciÀc user requirements and different commercial sectors
[…] The typical result of a building appraisal exercise on an existing or a proposed building is a relative rating
against other buildings […] If a building has the capacity to accommodate several predeÀned proÀles, it has, by
extrapolation, the ability to accommodate a lot of change.” (Duffy and DEGW, 1998, p.49)
193
“‘Future prooÀng’ is a shorthand way of describing what building appraisal does for an investor’s portfolio,
for a developer’s project or for a user-client’s outline project. Building appraisal has the advantage of both
modeling and testing the impact of change on ofÀce buildings.” (Duffy and DEGW, 1998, p.49)
194
These studies have been informed by Duffy’s PhD Thesis in 1969, presented in Princeton.
101
Several works could be mentioned within DEGW’s research, but two speciÀc papers
are cited for its representativeness in an earlier construction of these withstands:
Duffy and Worthington (1972) Designing for changing needs and Duffy and Worthington
(1976) Organisational design and space195. The Àrst assumes that: “Organisations grow
and change very rapidly.” (Duffy and Worthington, 1972, p.463). On their approach
to ofÀce buildings’ “predictive planning” rather than “deÀnitive”, the authors
acknowledge the building’s “over time”196 exceeding the present time of the brief.
A “paradox” is thus pointed out, on the strict accomplishment of current needs
that can be overly rigid for future demands, and which could be perceived in other
building types such as the school (ibid.):
“The paradox is that concentration on design for short term needs leads
very quickly to an understanding of the long term limitations built into
ofÀce building shells.
The lesson is that in ofÀce design it makes sense to distinguish between
different levels of design activity purely on the basis of how long the
things designed can usefully last.” (Duffy and Worthington, 1972, p.463)
The latter paper also recognises the discrepancy between “short term” and “long
time” design decisions, respectively as the ones that accommodate current needs
and the ones that are general and enduring towards “the capacity of various kinds
of building shell to accommodate activities over time” (Duffy and Worthington,
1976, p.605). It is also stated to be a signiÀcant research one that would not only
be focused in future change, but that would observe how buildings have adapted to
change in the past, which might reveal the interactions, uses and users throughout.
Worthington, also a member of the DEGW, has also several publications on

this subject, particularly applied to ofÀce buildings. In Reinventing the workplace
(Worthington and DEGW, 2006197), Worthington associates change in the workplace
to: technology, which impacts the working process, with more diverse and Áexible
possibilities; the working equipment, that needs to be economical, sustainable; and
possible locations, both virtual and physical. All in all, architecture should continue
to pursue design solutions to cope with these demands, rather than the most
traditional ones used for another working models and processes198 (pp.6-7).
Duffy’s contribution in the book Building Evaluation Techniques (Baird et al.,1996)

regarding change, as well as the book Managing the brief for better design by Blyth and
Worthington (2001) demonstrate that building assessment is currently a widespread
195
This paper will be referred on the sate of the art for a methodological approach. See chapter 3.2. Adaptability
assessment methodologies: reviewing previous approaches.
196
197
198
“For providers and their architects, the challenge is to avoid conventional solutions. Working simultaneously
both physically and virtually is certain to result in workplaces that are very different from the norm.”
(Worthington and DEGW, 2006, p.7)
102
a) b)
Fig. 25. a) “REACT model – the framework for ‘facilities change management’”;
b) “Levels of organizational change”
(Finch, 2012b, p.13); (Mintzberg and Westley 1992, p.42)
study Àeld both in approaches, as in researchers and respective afÀliation centres199.

Also within Voordt and Wegen’s (2005) Architecture in Use: An Introduction to the
Programming, Design and Evaluation of Buildings, Áexibility an multifunctionality are
suggested, enabling individual appropriation, much recalling Weeks’ metaphor of a
coat vs a tailor made jacket:
“Just as a tailor-made suit only Àts one wearer, so a space designed to

suit only one function is often rather badly suited to other functions.
However, both use and users change with time. This is why many
architects try to produce structures that are suitable for multiple use,
allowing individual interpretations and interventions.” (Voordt and
Wegen, 2005, p.32)
Finch (2012a) addresses Facilities Change Management, reÁecting upon “the challenge
of making the physical environments we inhabit Àt for a future that will be
signiÀcantly different” (Finch, 2012a, p.xi). This book has several contributors
from different countries and representing different institutions, revealing that it is a
transversal and contemporary research matter, essential to be studied.
Finch presents the ‘REACT model’ (Fig. 25a) that acknowledges change in different
situations of the building and involves distinctive actions, because if change is
“recognised” from the start, assessed in each stage, and if it is monitored towards the
future, then its “carry out” phase is more informed and supported for the demands
in time. This is relevant because this framework enlarges the change process beyond
the building’s lifecycle in itself, being subjective to other variables, such as “new
technologies, new working practices, reorganisations, new service solutions” that
are also transformed throughout, in a more comprehensive outlook (p.12). This is
supported by the previous approach on Cycles of organizational change by Mintzberg
and Westley (1992), which model change in a centric framework (Fig. 25b).
199
This subject will be studied in detail in chapter 3.1. Space use assessment methodologies.
103
Another signiÀcant conclusion from Finch’s approach to change is the recognition

that the ‘punctuation’ (meaning the stage for radical transformation) is responded
by the building and its management, but that these are also embedded themselves in
that change. So much so that: “buildings and facilities themselves have the potential
to shape and change the organisation. They are not simply an instrument of change
- they are the change.”200 (Finch, 2012a, p.8).
On this approach to change, Finch tackles the concept of “change readiness” (Finch,
2012b), as previously mentioned, that can be twofold: regarding the “willingness”
provided by facilities management and Áexibility, as its physical provision, or its
“the state of being” able to cope with change, as opposed to preventing it. The
equilibrium resides on a balance between being “over-speciÀed for improbable
futures” and “under-speciÀed for futures which could have been anticipated”, that
can be surpassed by recognising the wide array of forthcoming possibilities on both
design and management (Finch, 2012b, p.17). The scope of possible speciÀcations
resembles Becker’s (1990) concepts of “elastic Àt” and “elastic organization”201.
When translating this concept onto space, the “elastic” Àt can be considered as the
possibility of a built spatial framework to manage the upcoming changes, differently
from what the author calls “tight-Àt” or “loose-Àt” (Becker, 1990, pp.18-22).
Despite approaching change and “change readiness” to Áexibility, Finch’s deÀnition

is closer to the building’s ability to adapt, and his approach holds signiÀcance for this
current Thesis, as a holistic consideration upon building’s change that is impacted
by several variables, to which the building has to respond, “adapt” and “react”
(Finch, 2012b, p.21)202.
Thus, if Áexibility copes with change and if change tackles many variables of the
building, then Áexibility can also be perceived according to each situation. Finch
even relates this idea to Duffy’s (1990) layers, assuming that Áexibility can be
thought on each one’s regard203. This resembles Pinder et al.’s (2012) approach on a
variety of possible “adaptable design strategies”204 and also on the building’s ability
to either “support and facilitate change” (Pinder et al., 2012, p.26). Nevertheless, it
is Àrst required to understand how does change weigh on the buildings and by what
means can these cope with it, in order to, then, comprehend how can the buildings
weigh on change (p.27).
200
201
“The elastic organization encourages diversity within well-deÀned frameworks, and it provides clear
guidelines within which decentralized groups can quickly make decisions to respond to changing conditions.”
(Becker, 1990, p.21).
202
“A good building design can adapt in response to changing circumstances. This in-built capacity, which we
describe as Áexibility, refers to a facility’s capacity to support change readiness.” (Finch, 2012b, p.21)
203
This has been advanced by Sethi and Sethi (1990), who have identiÀed the following Áexibilities: “machine
Áexibility”, “material handling Áexibility”, “operation Áexibility” (these three related to “component
Áexibilities”), “process Áexibility”, “product Áexibility”, “routing Áexibility”, “volume Áexibility”, “expansion
Áexibility” (these concerning to “system Áexibilities”), “program Áexibility”, “production Áexibility” and
“market Áexibility” (these comprised in “aggregate Áexibilities”).
204
“The degree to which the adaptable design strategies described above are used in practise depends on a wide
range of factors, the interplay between which will be different from building to building.” (Pinder et al., 2012, p.33)
104
Fig. 26. “Mapping of literature against AF strategies”

(Schmidt III et al., 2010b, p.6)
It is concluded that this ability to accommodate change is prior established by the

design solutions the building is provided with, leading to “a time-based view of
design” and approaching Brand’s (1994) perspective of building’s endurance over
time. This also engages a “dynamic and long-term view of the built environment”,
where buildings are continuously changing, according to the contextual changes that
impact them, rather than Àxed structures, as Habraken has put it in his 1998 book The
structure of the ordinary: form and control in the built environment (Pinder et al., 2012, p.38).
Recent research on adaptability is undertaken by Adaptable Futures, a research

group from Loughborough University (Eguchi et al. 2010, 2011; Kelly et al. 2011a,
2011b; Manewa et al. 2009a, 2009b; Pinder et al. 2011; Schmidt III et al. 2011,
2010a, 2010b, 2009a, 2009b, 2008). Their proliÀc research identiÀes adaptability to
be: “a deÀnable design characteristic with a principle consciousness towards time
and layers” (Schmidt III et al., 2009b, p.1). This approach to adaptability also bears
a clear deÀnition:
“Adaptability as a design characteristic embodies spatial, structural, and

service strategies which allow the physical artefact a level of malleability
in response to changing operational parameters over time.” (Schmidt
III et al., 2010b, p.1)
For this research group, these are ways for space to pursue adaptability, according to
the performance of its elements. This interpretation gathers widespread concepts
from the state of the art on adaptability, such as: “scalable”, “reÀtable”, “movable”,
“available”, “reusable”, “Áexible”, “versatile”, “convertible”, “adjustable” (Schmidt
III et al., 2010b, p.6) (Fig. 26). According to this perspective, the research also
105
Fig. 27. “Summary of Strategies in relationship to other dimensions”

(Schmidt III et al., 2010b, p.7)
established a parallel between these “design strategies” and the “type of change”,
“a decision level”, “a built-environment scale” (B-E scale) and “a time scale or
cycle length” (p.7). This association can be compared to Brand’s (1994) previously
refereed “shearing layers of change”, concluding on which strategies were associated
with each layers (Fig. 27).
Several contemporary design buildings are shown in the book Flexible: Architecture
that responds to change (Kronenburg, 2007) demonstrating that change can be
accomplished by different designs because it also responds to different situations:
“Architecture that is designed for adaptation recognizes that the future

is not Ànite […] Adaptable buildings are intended to respond readily to
different functions, patterns of use and speciÀc users’ requirements.”
(Kronenburg, 2007, p.115)
If previous approaches to adaptability have associated it to technology, in the sense

that the introduction of ICT triggers new patterns of use and work processes,
Kronenburg also conveys contemporary “adaptable architecture” to the promptly
introduction of increasingly more developed technological devices (Kronenburg,
2007, p.116), having “adaptable servicing”. It is also related to “multi-use”, “loose-
Àt”, “retroÀt” and “adaptive reuse” and, within this contemporary approach, since
adaptability provides for a longer building’s life, it hence, leads to higher sustainability
(pp.137-142).
The approach to adaptive reuse has been taken on by several authors in recent
approaches like Kincaid’s (2003) book Adapting buildings for changing uses: Guidelines
for change of use refurbishment, where adaptive reuse is deÀned as: “a complex process
which requires that the participants in the process have a clear understanding of
how to determine what future uses will be most appropriate for a particular building
in a particular location and for a given period in time.” (Kincaid, 2003, p.10). This
is linked with changing needs and also to the building’s feasibility to hold other uses
different from the initially conceived ones.
Recent publications and conferences concerning this subject matter have also
been proliÀc, as the 14th Docomomo International Conference (Docomomo, 2016) held
106
in Lisbon, that was centred in ‘Adaptive reuse: The modern movement towards
the future’205, or its 2015 Docomomo Journal 52 which was called ‘Reuse, Renovation
and Restoration’ (Docomomo, 2015)206. All these have gathered a wide research
community around this issue and consequently gather different perspectives and
contributions towards knowledge advancement.
This chapter aimed at providing an overall outlook on the deÀnition of adaptability,

regarding the different contexts of approach. As it has been perceived, adaptability
was much addressed in the 1970s by a wide array of authors207. This context was
close to assessing building performance and understanding this problematics
within a more analytical framework of research. Models hold signiÀcance for these
perspectives on a relation between variables, namely environment and behaviour.
Having been addressed in previous studies for providing for an “indeterminate”

future within a physical built space, adaptability has been studied in different building
briefs, such as ofÀce buildings, much related to high performance workplaces, as well
as hospitals and schools. By and large, the focus on “complex buildings” is enabled
by the possible relations between closely deÀned requirements for speciÀc functions
and a general idea for the building as a whole. Moreover, these are buildings in which
change and growth are considered to be most signiÀcant, since future requirements
have to be met and be guided by legal, functional and social needs for future users.
The approach to “complex buildings” by Krüger (1992)208 is, hence, relevant

to understand what they are and that diverse programmes can be considered as
such. According to Krüger, “complex buildings” are the “structuring artefact[s]
of diversiÀed spatial relations”209 (Krüger, 1992, p.2), these have “a hierarchical
organisation of elements and sub-systems”, can be considered “interfaces between
the different categories of users”, are transformed by “growth and change factors”
and can be decomposed for the purposes of their performance analysis210 (ibid.).
205
The following, in 2018 in Slovenia,will also revolve around this perspective, entitled: ‘Metamorphosis. The
Continuity of Change’.
206
Docomomo holds a particular role in this behalf, raising awareness towards this subject and fostering the
debate on the future of the modern movement buildings.
207
This will also be noticed in regard to the methodologies to a assess adaptability. See chapter 3.2 Adaptability
assessment methodologies: reviewing previous approaches.
208
This paper will also be studied in detail regarding programmed and non-programmed activities and productive
and supportive spaces, when developing our own methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability and
speciÀcally for the characterisation of spaces and activities. See 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing
209
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “artefacto estruturador de relações espaciais
diversiÀcadas” (Krüger, 1992, p.2).
210
According to Krüger “complex buildings” are enclosed by the following features: “a hierarchical organisation
of elements and sub-systems for their programming”, “descriptive systems of their spatial and programmatic
organisation for being considered interfaces between the different categories of users”, “growth and change
factors that enable their evolving transformations within their organisation” and “the decomposition of their
parts for the analysis of their performance or the establishment of their programming” (ibid.)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “organizaçmo hierárquica dos elementos e sub-sistemas
que estes edifícios apresentam na sua programaçmo”, “sistemas descritivos da sua organizaçmo espacial e
107
Hence, the adaptability approach from several of the referred building briefs, that
have been applied to ofÀce buildings or hospitals, might also be translated onto
schools, as all of them are “complex buildings” subject to growth and change on
their structures.
These initial studies have been paramount for the approaches to adaptability
onwards, which have been widespread in deÀnitions, programmes and methods
of approach, as it has been remarked. Besides, adaptability continues to be an
aggregating subject matter that assembles a broad research community today.
Thus, the concept of adaptability is diverse per se and closer to other concepts
that embrace change over time, according to the authors of reference. For this
current research this chapter aimed at informing on the several advances towards
adaptability, aiming to support the proposed methodology displaced on chapter
3211. This can only be constructed after a critical assessment on the concept of
adaptability when applied to our current research question and to the case study of
contemporary school buildings.
After tackling the conceptual frameworks under which adaptability has been
studied, their purposes and connotations, the following part will specially address
adaptability in school buildings212, in order to provide an outlook on the different
design strategies in which adaptability has been materialised, their design contexts
and the learning practices that guided these projects over time. This intends to
displace data on relevant moments when adaptability was considered towards
schools and how and by what means has this been conceived in the design. Their
acknowledgement will be informative towards the consideration of the current
learning process and learning spaces, reÁected upon chapter 2.3.213. After analysing
the concept of adaptability and approaching it to the schools and to contemporary
learning environments, the framework of this research is expected to be speciÀed
in order to continue on towards the methods that have been established to assess
it in chapter 3.
programática face à sua caracterizaçmo como interfaces entre diferentes categorias de utentes”, “factores de
crescimento e mudança que levam a transformações evolutivas na sua organizaçmo”, “decomponibilidade das
suas partes tendo em vista a análise do seu desempenho ou o estabelecimento da sua programaçmo”. (ibid.)
211
212
213
108
Adaptability in school buildings: approaches for growth and change
2.2. Adaptability in school buildings: approaches for growth and change
“Beyond the standard question of “how to provide facilities suitable to the

educational objectives of the multi-option school” we Ànd another more complex
question, how to ensure that these facilities allow multiple answers to the needs
of modern education and that they encourage the invention of new activities and
behaviour not strictly foreseeable at the time of their design?” (Ader, 1975a, p.11)
After the previous study on adaptability and the contextual framework under
which research on this subject matter has been established214, this following part
will address the materialisation of adaptability in school buildings throughout
prominent examples of past schools.
Kahn (1960) has addressed the school space along with learning, at its “beginning”:
“I think of school as an environment of spaces where it is good to

learn. Schools began with a man under a tree, who did not know he was
a teacher, discussing his realization with a few who did not know they
were students. […] the existence will of school was there even before the
circumstances of a man under a tree. That is why it is good for the mind
to go back to the beginning, because the beginning of any established
activity is its most wonderful moment.” (Kahn, 1960, pp.64-65)
Nevertheless, the school space is no longer acknowledged solely by seminars or

the exposition of contents. Learning is conceived outside the classroom and by
means of diverse activities of knowledge creation and communication, it is, in
fact, “an environment of spaces where it is good to learn”, understood in an open
and holistic manner. According to Hertzberger: “learning has to be more than just
absorbing basic knowledge” (Hertzberger, 2008, p.8).
Along with the evolution of the pedagogical practices, the evolution of the
school space derived from new means of teaching, but also as a search for new
models of space and during the 20th century these are subject to experimentation
214
109
a)
b) c)
Fig. 28. a) Open-Air School, Cliostraat, Amesterdmo, by Duiker and Bijvoet, 1927-30
b) Arnhemse Buitenschool Monnikenhuizen, Arnhem, by H. B. van Broekhuizen, 1930
c) Petersschule, Basel, by Hannes Meyer and Hans Wittwer, 1926.
(Hertzberger, 2008, pp.14, 19)
and rethinking. Therefore, learning environments as considered today, imply the

reconsideration of their formal and material features for coping with the practices
they accommodate215.
In this chapter, experiences will be described that portray this change towards the
current educational paradigm and that embody adaptability as it has been perceived
in signiÀcant examples along the 20th century, so that the following part can explain
the current educational paradigm and its correlation with adaptability according to
the present educational, physical and social demands.
The initial quote placed above (Ader, 1975a, p.11) from the book Building Implications
of the Multi-Option School, published in 1975 by the OECD, exposes the urge to cater
for diverse activities and experiences in school space that are not perceived at the
time of the brief, but to which the built school space will have to answer later on.
The relevance of adaptability is hence, put forward for coping with the learning
practices that also suffer transformation.
This chapter does not intend to chronologically detail the evolutionary course of
the school space, but rather to point out moments, designs and authors that begin
to identify spatial features that suggest the concept of adaptability and/or adjoining
215
Contemporary learning will be further developed in the next chapter. See chapter 2.3. Adaptability for
contemporary learning practices and environments.
110
Fig. 29. Open-Air School, Suresnes, by Beaudouin and Lods, 1931-1935

(Hertzberger, 2008, p.18)
concepts such as Áexibility or polyvalence, and also that favour informality and
socialisation in school space as a means for learning, which consequently demand
for adaptability.
. Approaches to future growth by means of cost-effective and

industrialised solutions
Concerns about creating conditions for student comfort, lightning, openness and
greater freedom beyond the central core of the classroom, had already begun
to be considered from the early inÁuences of the hygienist movements in the
schools of the second half of the 19th century, passing through Dudok’s schools
(1st generation) and Hulshoff, Lansdorp, Marnette and Westerman schools (2nd
generation), built in the 1920s and 1930s by the Public Works in the Netherlands;
and also by the Open-Air schools by modern architects such as Duiker and Bijvoet,
in Cliostraat, Amsterdam (1927-30) and Hannes Meyer and Hans Wittwer who
designed the Petersschule, in Basel (1926) (Figs. 28 and 29).
Even though these schools did not change the traditional teaching-learning
structures, they had the ability to consider the immediate environment provided to
the pupils and were also deployed of the massive and traditional envelopes, being
111
a) b)
Fig. 30. Impington Village College by Gropius and Maxwell Fry. a) “a close-up of the end of the
class-room wing, showing the sliding windows, facing south-east, that can be thrown open to the
garden”; b) “model of the whole scheme” and plan
(The Architectural Review, 1939, pp.227,229)
perceived in a more approachable manner between the interior and the outdoors in
transparent and healthier spaces (Hertzberger, 2008, pp.11-21).
Also, Impington Village College (Fig. 30) by Gropius and Maxwell Fry, in
Cambridgeshire (1938-40), for 240 students between 11 and 15, showed concern
for exterior openings from the classrooms to the garden, holding a “promenade”
that “consists of a covered space 20 ft. wide and 140 ft. long from which all rooms
in the building are approached” (The Architectural Review, 1939, p.232) (Fig. 30b).
More than the learning or design advancement, the relevance of this school lies in
“the sense of congruity between form and social intention: the relaxed grouping
of classrooms, community space and shared hall” (Saint, 1987, p.42). This bond
between “learning and living” that guided the village colleges would subsequently
support the “origins and shape of the integrated community comprehensive schools
of the 1960s and ‘70s” (p.44).
Afterward, from the Second World War onwards, a paradigm shift has been observed
in the concept of school space, not only to respond to the quantity needs – due to the
post-war baby-boom and the increase in the level of compulsory schooling, but also
in quality and adequacy to the new educational context. Schools intended to respond
to the social and economic needs of higher qualiÀcations, which implied a change of
the educational models to answer to a “post-industrialized, knowledge-based society”
112
(Kühn, 2011, p.21). The respective architectural response sought for Áexible schools
models that would allow for change in accordance with future demands.
Despite previous experience in prefabrication in the 1930s, in 1957 the British

Ministry of Education had already suggested that changeability in educational
pedagogies had to be accounted for in post-war school building construction:
“[…] these spaces must be adaptable not only to a present variety of uses,
but also to the changes which the future is bound to bring, sometimes
suddenly, sometimes imperceptibly.” (Ministry of Education, 1957,
p.15)
Thus, it was now up to the architects to structure responses to these new

requirements, through spaces that allowed a wider variety of uses and different
levels of interaction, from self-learning to individualised teaching, through dialogue
and group work, along with the quantity needs for more schools guided by the
rising educational principles.
The pioneering English experience of Hertfordshire216, aimed to account for an

increasing birth-rate and the resulting spread in student population, which was
particularly signiÀcant for the New Towns and that resulted in an estimate urge for
50 new more primary schools. The urgency for school building demanded that an
industrialised production was considered that would respond to it in a more rapid way
than the traditional construction building (Llewelyn-Davies and Weeks, 1952, p.367).
Aslin, the head of the architecture department for Hertfordshire County Council
(Herts), along with Marshall and Newson as chief education ofÀcer, had the
difÀcult task to conceive these schools by means of an innovative prefabricated
construction that would comprise both the structure, light and heating servicing in
a complete system217.
Thus, based on an industrialised production, it sought to build schools as a rapid

response to the needs created by the war, which was then enlarged throughout the
country. It was intended that each school afÀrmed its individuality, the spaces should
result in varied forms and the construction should be made with Áexible components
in a suitable manner for each site. The light steel grid with beams and columns had
modules of 8 feet 3 inches (Fig. 31), the Áat roof was made out of pre-cast concrete
slabs and the exterior envelope used reinforced concrete slabs (p.368).
216
Keath (1983) has studied this issue on his Doctoral Thesis. See KEATH, M. (1983). The Development of School
Construction Systems in Hertfordshire 1946-64. Doctoral Thesis. London: Thames Polytechnic.
217
“There was at the time no ready designed system of prefabricated building suitable for the purpose, nor were
the architects trained in the appropriate design methods.” (Llewelyn-Davies and Weeks, 1952, p.367)
113
a) b)
Fig. 31. a) “The system of construction, based on a number of standard components, used for
all the Hertfordshire schools”; b) “The modular cage. The 8 ft. 3 in. planning grid and the 8 in.
vertical module control the dimensions of every constructional element”
(Llewelyn-Davies and Weeks, 1952, p.368)
Fig. 32. “Diagrammatic plans of Herts primary schools, 1947-50, showing grouping, siting and
contours. The shading indicates the north side, classrooms are shown by numbers. H=Hall;
D=Dining; K=Kitchen. 1, Monkfrith Infants School, East Barnet. 2, Cowley Hill School,
Borehamwood. 3, Belswains School, Hemel Hempstead. 4, Morgans Walk School, Hertford
5, Aboyne Lodge Infants School, St. Albans. 6, Spencer School, St. Albans. 7, Warren Dell School,
Watford. 8, Templewood School, Welwyn Garden City.”
(Saint, 1987, p.69)
114
Despite their individuality, these schools were guided by invariables, namely the
valorisation of the children’s requirements, which implied a preference for smaller
scale schools, the importance of their appropriation and the possibility of several
activities within the classrooms to be arranged as “workshops, studios and play
spaces”. The common spaces of the entrance, assembly hall and dining room were
usually placed in a central core, connected between them and often divided by
detachable partitions (p.370). The Àrst was a school in Cheshunt in 1946-47 and by
1951 over 40 schools had been built (p.368) (Fig. 32).
Llewelyn-Davies and Weeks (1952) entitled the Hertfordshire experience as “a

very great achievement” because: “The cost per place is similar to that of the best
designed schools in traditional materials, the average time from start to completion
is considerably less, and the use of prefabricated buildings has greatly increased the
total number of schools built in the county since the war.” (p.368).
In 1952 The Architectural Review has published four of these schools: Aboyne
Lodge Infants School, St. Albans; Pentley Park Primary School, Welwyn Garden
City; Junior School at Croxley Green; and Day Nursery at Garston. The latter had
already the 3 feet 4 inches grid (The Architectural Review, 1952). In fact, criticism
on the original grid’s large span recommended by the Wood Report in 1944, which
hindered the diversity of its internal partitioning, made it evolve later on to the
smaller 3 feet 4 inches, having been recommended by the 1948 Report of Technical
Working Party on School Construction, and afterwards to 2 feet 8 inches. All in all,
this is considered to have launched “the possibilities of a new architecture” yet to
be developed on its separate components and their assembly in a whole (p.387).
Beyond the use of the resources made available in the post-war times for employment
and investment; the engagement of users, professionals and clients; and the aim for
equal opportunities even in times of scarcity; Herts is also epitomised as “a new
‘language of architecture” where Áexibility was also accounted for:
“The Herts architects created the ground work for a new ‘language of
architecture’: not a style, not a mode of construction, but something
approaching a complete technology of building which was broadly
applicable and tolerably Áexible, something which designers could work
in and develop. This transformed the possibilities of prefabricated
building.” (Saint, 1987, p.111)
In fact, Herts achievement brought a “revolution in attitudes” that would “spread to

the rest of the country”. In regard for the post-war scarcity the Ministry announced
the need for “annual programmes for school-building” for control over costs, which
would rationalise the investment and lead to cost-effective solutions by “regular
production and standardized techniques” (Saint, 1987, p.113). Under this scope, in
1949 the Ministry would establish an annual “cost per place”218 for each children in
218
This would be achieved “by combining a notional number of square feet per place and an estimated cost of
building per square foot” (p.118).
115
primary and secondary levels but no speciÀc design solutions were suggested given
they kept to this Àgure (p.118). Solutions like lowering ceilings heights, diminishing
circulation space, the use of double-loaded corridors and compact designs were,
therefore, sought to cope with the Àgures proposed, along with the use of the hall
both as a dinning space and circulation (Alegre, 2009, pp.64-65; Bullock, 2003,
p.56-57)219.
The Development Group, that was responsible for “research, building, theory,
collaboration and experiment” (Saint, 1987, p.115), would then “design a series
of school-building systems, each in partnership with a single manufacturer or
builder” (p.131). This resulted in the development of 5 systems for secondary
schools between 1949 and 1957 that had common features on the preponderance
of using the 3 feet 4 inches module220 and “light construction”, avoided wet trades
such as brickwork for economic purposes and were intended to have three or four
storeys and “a view to the future interchangeably of components” (ibid.). These
were innovative proposals that “involved starting from the beginning and inventing
a new vocabulary of design which might be called upon to shoulder a complete
building programme of schools” (p.135).
By and large, with the implementation of the Education Act in 1944221 the State had
full accountability for the education at all levels, from the Nursery to higher levels
(Keath, 1983, p.22). Besides, the compulsory schooling age reached the age of 15
and it was also intended that all had schooling equally (Alegre, 2009, p.61). This
urged to expand secondary schools to accommodate more students, to comprise
the students’ competencies and age ranges (Keath, 1983, pp.21-22) and, overall, to
rethink the space.
Paralleling the primary school experiences, amongst the secondary schools there
were three possible schools: Grammar School, Technical School and Modern
School, providing for different educational or professional future paths. These
could be separate, but they could also be gathered. Consequently, the comprehensive
secondary schools were thought to comply with these three possibilities in a shared
space to all the school population nearby (Alegre, 2009, p.93). This model implied
“a broader variety of learning activities within, able to concentrate more resources
219
“To reduce the cube of the building, for example, ceiling heights were trimmed, a limited though relatively
pain-free way of reducing cost. By far the most effective way to cut costs was to reduce Áoor area, and to do
so by reducing the amount of space used solely for circulation. In secondary schools the use of double rather
than single-banked corridors offered immediate savings. In primary schools real savings were made by the shift
from the ‘Ànger plans’ of the late 1930s-1940s to more the compact layouts of the 1950s, a shift made possible
by the double use of the hall as dining room and circulation space. The Development Group estimated that this
reduced the proportion of the area given over to circulation from twenty-three percent to seven percent, and
in non-teaching accommodation from thirty-eight percent to twenty-Àve percent. Overall, these new compact
plans made it possible to reduce the area per place by nearly forty percent in under Àve years without cutting the
areas available for teaching, thus enabling architects to meet the demands for economy without compromising
quality.” (Bullock, 2003, p.56-57)
220
Only one system of these did not use this module.
221
Also called the Butler Act as it has been presented by Butler in the previous year.
116
a) b)
Fig. 33. a) Woodberry Down High School : « Top : the proposed high school from the west with
two gymnasia in the foreground. Centre: from the north-east, showing the arts and crafts wing,
with the workshops in the foreground.»; b) Woodberry Down High School, plans
(Matthew, 1949, pp.465,466)
and specialised equipment, for providing a quality education for all”222 (Croft de
Moura, 2001, p.249).
Leslie Martin and Robert Matthew’s schools for the London County Council (LCC)
in the beginning of the 1950s were already comprehensive schools. The Àrst to be
designed was Woodberry Down High School in 1949 (Matthew, 1949, p.465) (Fig.
33), but the London School Plan encompassed 67 comprehensive schools aiming
at: “providing for all pupils equal opportunity for physical, intellectual, social and
spiritual development, which, whilst taking advantage of the practical interests of
the pupils, should make the full development of personality the Àrst objective”
(The Architects’ Journal, 1951, p.75).
In 1956, Jordan critically analyses in The Architectural Review the LCC schools, at that
time coordinated by Powell. After its often scattered predecessors in Impington and
in Hertfordshire, the LCC schools assumed a more “rationalized solution of the
compressed plan, formalized around an internal courtyard” (Jordan, 1956, p.323).
Jordan highlights the school in Alleyn for its “highly Áexible Assembly Hall, capable
through moving screens and its varying levels, of serving lectures, concerts, exhibition,
drama and social functions” (ibid.). The comprehensive schools were considered a part
of the solution for the substantial increase in post-war population that was reaching
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “[...] abrangendo uma maior variedade de actividades
222
dentro de si, podendo concentrar mais recursos e equipamentos especializados, a Àm de conseguir uma
educaçmo de qualidade para todos.” (Croft de Moura, 2001, p.249)
117
now the secondary schools and another 26,000 more places in secondary schools
were needed by 1961, added to the 28,000 already accounted for (ibid.).
Additionally, 48 comprehensive schools in Scotland, built between 1958 and 1966,

would be studied by the theoretical model presented by Markus and the Building
Performance Research Unit (1972) in the University of Strathclyde223. The reasons
for choosing comprehensive schools were listed:
“In the present case the Unit’s interest in developing an understanding

of, and techniques for, building performance appraisal led to the need
to select a building type in which a large number of similar examples
could easily be reached, in which background information on the
buildings could be readily obtained and in which there was some hope
of assessing the actual product of the organisation which the building
housed. From a social viewpoint we felt that a building type of which
many examples were likely to be built in future years would provide the
possibility of research Àndings actually being incorporated in future
designs. All these considerations pointed to schools […]” (Markus and
Building Performance Research Unit, 1972, p.52)
It is also stated the changes the schools have been suffering comprising: “the
comprehensive system, advances in educational technology, breakdown of subject
divisions, introduction of learning-based instead of teaching-based curricula”,
which have impacted both the practices within the building stock and their design
anew (p.131).
The report from the Building Performance Research Unit on the comprehensive
school has been published in the RIBA Journal in 1968 (Markus, 1968), where
Markus argues for the “robustness of design solutions” that comprise adaptation,
rather than “Áexibility” or “open-endedness”:
“Robustness of design solutions should be the designer’s Àrst goal,

for robust designs are able to withstand the pressures of social and
economic change by their in-built capacity for adaptation. Yet, no
sooner is this stated, than the fashionable catchwords ‘Áexibility’ and
‘open-endedness’ are produced, as if they make further thought or
forethought unnecessary.” (Markus, 1968, p.425)
This gains added value for the comprehensive school that was already considered to
have to cope with “curricular Áexibility”, “administration changes” and “community
involvement, both in education and in the use of school facilities” (ibid.).
“The Àrst full appraisal of a building in use” has been published in the Architects’
Journal in 1970 on St Michael’s Academy Kilwinning and intended to be a “detailed
examination of the match between an ever changing need (education) and a provision
223
118
a)
b)
Fig. 34. a) “BPRU conceptual model”; b) “BPRU conceptual model applied to a school”
(Building Performance Research Unit, 1970, p.10)
(the building environment) and it puts forward the perhaps starling idea that
matching of activities to building spaces is a process which, far from Ànishing when
the architect’s work is done, continues as long as the building may last”224 (Building
Performance Research Unit, 1970, p.10).
This is also developed in the report from 1968, where Markus states that the
spatial environment is “critical” for designing “robust solutions” and reports to the
“patterns of activities”. Still, the designer does not know in advance the activities’
schedule and its possible changes and thus, he is guided only by “rules of thumb”
for designing space for future timetabling. This is especially critical in schools, were
the timetables set the activities in a very extensive way to children’s experience in
space (Markus, 1968, p.425). Moreover, the Àndings established that some schools
had vacant spaces, even if they stated to be full, which demonstrates a mismatch
between space and activities that research might account for (p.426).
A very signiÀcant development on the appraisal from 1970 is the Building

Performance Research Unit’s conceptual model applied to schools (Building
Performance Research Unit, 1970, p.10) (Fig. 34b). The generic conceptual model
related the “hardware of which buildings consist”; the “environment created by
the building”; “the activity, or behaviour, of the users” and the “objectives of the
organization which builds or occupies the building”. This is perceived in a “circular
system” that the cylinder metaphor can illustrate225 (Markus, 1968, p.425) (Fig. 34a).
224
225
BPRU conceptual model has already been explained when addressing adaptability in a more general approach
119
In the model applied to schools, the central interactions between the environmental
and the activity systems have been speciÀed on each of the four systems, in regard to
the interactions between “the education authority the school staff, the environment
in which they work and the building fabric” (Building Performance Research Unit,
1970, p.10).
Finally, the appraisal has established that, amongst several other outcomes, both
“curriculum and organisation of the school have all changed very considerably
from the concepts upon which the brief for the design was based”, which is also
a reÁection of people and human organisations’ adaptation to the environment.
Moreover, changes on the “school leaving age” and on the “curriculum” may
involve further adaptability that the school can no longer cope with (p.46).
The study concludes that “the building and its environment” are subject to extensive
variables besides the architect’s input, and appraisal may be operative to inform
on “the real design process”, ultimately, for improving “the quality and value of
buildings” (p.48).
Meanwhile, increasing needs of school were also stated on the RIBA Journal and
according to its article on Schools consortia and the future (Wigglesworth226, 1966)
published in 1966, in the following 20 years it was believed that the school population
would increase 50 per cent, which could not be paired with a similar growth in
architects or manpower (p.265). Assuming that the traditional construction could
not cope with these needs, this urged for a solution on prefabricated systems that
was guided by previous past experiences on Hertfordshire and the multi-storey
systems advanced by the Development Group in the 1950s.
CLASP (Consortium of Local Authorities’ Special Programme) was one of the

school building consortia227, especially one that “started earlier, it grew to be bigger,
and it has lasted longer”, able to “fulÀl the old Herts ideals about production,
collaboration development and use” (Saint, 1987, p.175) (Fig. 35):
“CLASP was – and is – two things. It was a system of building based

upon light-steel construction, adapted to combat the difÀculties of sites
liable to mining subsidence; and it was the earliest venture in bringing
British local authorities together and pulling their resources to build
more and better schools. Both these advances sprang from the post-
and it is referred again in this chapter for its speciÀc application to schools.. See chapter 2.1. Adaptability:
deÀnition and adjacent concepts.
226
Wigglesworth was Assistant Chief Architect from the Department of Education and Science, in collaboration
with the consortia.
227
Other consortia have been constituted after CLASP: SCOLA (Second Consortium of Local Authorities)
from 1961, SEAC (South-Eastern Architects Collaboration) from 1963, CMB (Consortium for Method
Building) from 1963; CLAW (Consortium of Local Authorities in Wales) from 1963; ONWARD (Organization
of North-Western Authorities for Rationalized Design) from 1965; and the Metropolitan Educational Building
Consortium for the London Area (Wigglesworth, 1966, p.265).
120
Fig. 35. “LEAs in membership of building consortia”

(Wigglesworth, 1966, p.267)
war tradition of co-operative research, experiment and development in

architecture, always strongest in the education building world, where
ideals were high, clients amenable and approachable, and the Gropian
vision of long-term production could be turned from dream to reality.”
(Saint, 1987, p.157)
The Àrst CLASP school was concluded in 1957 at MansÀeld and from there
448 more schools have been built (Wigglesworth, 1966, p.265). In 1962 Banham
publishes an article in the The Architectural Review on CLASP, considering it “the
most sophisticated as well as the most convincing prefabricative system that has
ever gone ‘on stream’” (Banham, 1962, p.350). Nevertheless, for the question “Is it,
then, an architecture autre, an other architecture?”228, Banham argues:
“This is not, in any visible sense, architecture considered as one of the

accepted Àne arts; not architecture as the expressed will of a highly
developed personality. And yet it carries its own visual conviction, the
air of being the expressed will of something or some body of things,
the product of some sort of highly developed creative force. Above all,
it can clearly co-exist with architecture in the accepted sense without
being reduced to that snob’s desideratum ‘background buildings.’”
(Banham, 1962, p.352)
228
121
Fig. 36. The UK School at the Triennale

(Royal Institute of British Architects, 1960, cover, p.415)
Banham praises the CLASP School built at Milan for the Triennale in 1960,
awarded with the Special Grand Prize by “the most sophisticated jury that judges
any comparable even in Europe”, as it proves that CLASP “it is mature enough to
stand on its own feet” (Banham, 1962, p.349).
The UK School at the Triennale was also published in the RIBA Journal of 1960 (Fig.
36), depicting it as a “typical three-class primary school for about 100 children”,
by the architect Lacey, with a steel-frame and built with the CLASP prefabricated
system of standard components (Royal Institute of British Architects, 1960, p.415).
Lacey would himself publish an article on the RIBA Journal of 1965 recalling the Àrst
Hertfordshire school of Cheshunt, that in retrospect, could have been predecessor
of CLASP on their common intentions of: “(1) providing the buildings at the
right time, (2) providing a stimulating and gracious environment, and (3) providing
good value for money” (Lacey, 1965, p.298) (Fig. 37). He assumes that CLASP
acknowledges the architect to arrange the components and deÀne the design229,
providing that cost constrains are a “regulator” of that design and that the building
construction is a means for achieving it230.
229
“The Consortia do not attempt to design buildings centrally; they provide the means, but the design of the
individual buildings is still in the hands of the individual architects in the different ofÀces.” (p.303)
230
“Economic factors of cost and man-power are accepted as regulators of design, with industrialized building
methods as the contemporary means of providing the buildings at the right time.” (p.304)
122
Fig. 37. “Cheshunt J. M. I. School, Hertfordshire”

(Lacey, 1965, p.298)
Lacey also addresses Áexibility, when stating that CLASP holds a module of 3 feet
4 inches, smaller than the original 8 feet 3 inches used in Hertfordshire. This would
enable a more Áexible “planning arrangement” and a less visible expression of
the structure. This continues to be developed even further on CLASP’s Mark 4,
with a “3 ft basis, but the spacing of internal partitions is on 1 ft grid and the
arrangement of solid panels and window on the external wall has a 1ft Áexibility”.
It is concluded that “to handle this greater Áexibility competently will no doubt
be more demanding, but in the hands of the skilful designer it should give new
opportunities” (p.304).
Besides the public programmes, other schools were also conceived in more
individual approaches to school design that also search for innovative spaces and
solutions embedded in the contextual constraints of that time. The Hunstanton
Secondary Modern School (Fig. 38) by Alison and Peter Smithson (1949-54) in
Norfolk reveals that construction methods are being rethought by architects in
a more authorial approach231 and not only in the schools from the programmes
mentioned. It was intended as a “three-stream mixed county modern secondary
school for 450 children, with additional accommodation for primary and adult
education” (The Architects’ Journal, 1953, p.323).
231
In 1953 the architects stated that this steel frame was “unique”: “The system of construction is a result
of our conception of the requirements of this particular school. It is therefore, unique to this school.” (The
Architects’ Journal, 1953, p.325)
123
b)
a) c)
Fig. 38. a) Hunstanton School, Norfolk, by Alison and Peter Smithson, 1949-1954, plans
(Architects’ Journal, 1953, p.324); b) “The school and separate gymnasium block from the north-
west” (Architects’ Journal, 1954, p.341); c) “Industrial Ànishes at Hunstanton: technology triumphant
and celebrated, not subordinated to the priorities of teaching and learning.” (Saint, 1987, p.185)
This school also demonstrates that schools’ socialisation spaces for the students can
be central in the design, as the assembly hall is the central space of the school near
the dinning room and the internal courtyards in a compact plan.
On the report for the competition winning design (Hall, 1950) it is stated that from
the 56 proposals “the majority of the competitors failed to show an understanding
of the functions of a school, or contemporary school architecture, or failed to
appreciate that, since the war, there has been an almost annual change in the
planning and construction of school buildings” (p.486). Still, the winning proposal
by Alison and Peter Smithson is considered to give “an outstanding contribution
to school design” (ibid.). Superimposing the teaching spaces on the Àrst Áoor is
considered innovative. The internal courtyards conceived as open spaces are left
to be appraised in the future. But another design option considered relevant is the
alternative functions that the dinning room could enable:
“In this scheme, use has been made of the dinning spaces for alternative
purposes. The dining areas are extremely Áexible and can be thrown
into the Hall, or alternatively part divided by movable screens making
additional teaching area overlooking the East Court.” (Hall, 1950,
p.488)
The duality that can be controversial in this school lies between the coldness of
124
Fig. 39. Free University Berlin. Candilis, Josic and Woods, 1964
the industrialisation and the rigor of the technique applied in a school that values
spaces for gathering (Saint, 1987, pp.185-186), according to what would be Team
;’s inspiring principles. It was disputed whether “to deÀne it as architecture at all”
as closer to an “individualistic essay in the Miesian aesthetic” deployed from “soft”
materials and perhaps disregarding the children that would occupy it (ibid.). To
these architects have countered to have fulÀlled both the educational and the design
briefs in a “handsomer, cooler, stronger design than any other secondary school
built since the war” (p.185).
The valorisation of the social and human dimension in the educational space is also
evident in another project of other elements of the Team ;: Candilis, Josic and
Woods, whose project Free University Berlin (1963) (Fig. 39) displayed in a “single
continuous structure functioning like a roofed academic agglomeration” would
enable “a network of interrelationships and opportunities for communication”,
in which partial components could be added and subtracted according to those
relations (Hertzberger, 1991, p.116).
This is been conceived as an “instrument” rather than a “monument”, “for carrying

out and developing multiform programmes that may also change over time” (Feld
and Smithson, 1999, p.31). Peter Smithson, on the introductory text to the book Free
University, Berlin: Candilis, Josic, Woods, Schiedhelm, claims for this building’s consideration
as “one of the few really innovative buildings of its period” (p.3).
125
. The debates on learning practices and educational spaces and the

relevance of providing for the unforeseeable educational future
The 1960 Milan Triennale also held the Educational Building Congress, where it was
decided to arrange a subsequent meeting in London. The International Educational
Building Conference took place between 25th July and 2nd August, organised by the
United Kingdom National Commission in association with UNESCO. The RIBA
Journal announced the conference in June, presenting its goals:
“One of the problems to be discussed at the conference is how best

to share amongst the countries of the world the limited resources of
professional, technical and administrative skills available for educational
building. The conference will also be asked to consider the need for a
permanent organisation for international collaboration in educational
building” (Royal Institute of British Architects, 1962, p.208)
From this conference it was decided that four regional commissions would be
set: Europe and North America; Africa; Latin America; Asia and Oceania. A Àfth
commission would focus on “international co-operation” hence, as Kretchmer
(1962) sustained:
“As a result of the conference, a clear pattern for world-wide co-operation

in educational building emerges. It was agreed that an international
centre should be created by UNESCO in close consultation with the
International Union of Architects […]”232 (Kretchmer, 1962, p.414).
In fact, this would be the basis for the future OECD’s Programme on Educational
Buildings (PEB) formed in 1972 (Alegre, 2009, p.76).
Sir Robert Matthew, who was then both the president of RIBA and the International
Union of Architects, attended the conference and underlined the relevance of the
English experience towards school building:
“Our experience in Britain, where the successes in the Àeld of social

buildings have resulted from going back to Àrst principles has had an
important inÁuence abroad. […] I am hopeful that the success of the
London Conference on school building will lead to a similar world
conference on housing, to be sponsored by the United Nations.”
(Matthew, 1962, p.407)
Accordingly, discussion on school design and its diverse possibilities was happening
and the British achievements were paramount. In 1968, RIBA held a conference in
232
126
Cambridge on Building for education (Royal Institute of British Architects, 1968). The
Honorary Secretary of RIBA and Chief Architect of the Department of Education
and Science, W. D. Lacey, reported the issues addressed in the conference as such:
the search for design solutions that enable growth and change from both the
organisation and the education methods were considered to have “high priority”;
the school was valued as a centre for the entire neighbouring community and thus,
the building should have “additional provision” to accommodate them; the school
had urban representativeness and should be accounted for in urban planning;
both administration and education should go hand in hand in the same pace of
development, being reviewed to cope for each other’s development; technical
development should cope with functional requirements and users’ needs aiming
at a better school environment; higher and further education were amenable to
growth and change to which the school building should account for; and it was also
concluded that partnerships with professional sectors were implied to continue on
with further developments in school buildings (Lacey, 1968, p.349).
These concerns demonstrate the changing models of thinking about educational

practices and school spaces and the continuous search for newer ones, guided by
the “changing relationships between teacher and taught, staff and student, the
redeÀnition of teaching spaces as learning spaces, all having a dramatic effect on
school planning” (ibid.).
Indeed, developments in educational methods demand new spatial and organisational

structures that should convey social and community concerns, economic regards
and accommodate the still unforeseeable changes that these developments might
convey. Undeniably that accounting for change might imply future adaptability
concerns, as well as the multi-purpose functionalities of a school for the provision
for a whole community and the educational options that raised from distinctive
possibilities, as the comprehensive school already established.
Flexibility is tackled, but it is closely associated with “dull monotonous spaces of

uniform character”, which relates it to pre-fabricated grids of uniform spans that
convey also uniform interior layout, partitions and learning spaces. Adaptability
is not spoken of, but the need for a space to provide “for the large group and
for the individual” is speciÀed as a “professional responsibility”. After all the
previous developments on school building and construction, Lacey states the need
to “analyse a good deal more clearly what Áexibility in use means before embarking
on any new concepts” (ibid.).
Another contributor to this conference is Vaizey, Professor of Economics at Brunel

University, conÀrming the “architectural implication of educational change” and
proposing the built space to cope with the imminent change brought from this
discussion, sustaining that:
127
“[…] wherever possible the buildings should be easily changed from

one use to another, and that only in the most extreme instances should
any building be so designed that it can be used for one purpose and one
purpose only.” (Vaizey, 1968, p.352)
Vaizey addresses the changes also in the subjects taught, which can alter their
representativeness in the curriculum and, ultimately, stop being lectured. These also
carry administration and spatial changes and, in this regard, Vaizey argues for the
direct need for Áexibility:
“The architectural implications of these changes in the curriculum

seem again to point in the direction of Áexibility and the need to face
up to change.” (Vaizey, 1968, p.353)
Technological advances such as “the computer-assisted learning” are here already

stated as potentially enablers of future development in educational practices.
Furthermore, it is also recognised the relevance of group work and “closely-
monitored” pupils, parting with the traditional “system of classes” and asking for
“Áexibility” in space and for easy access to all learning situations:
“If the individual child comes together with other children only when
it is important for groups of children to be together because they have
to learn to live and work as a group, or because it happens to be the
easiest way to impart a particular kind of information, the emphasis
within the school must be upon Áexibility of lay-out. There will be
a need for quite places for teachers to work with individuals or small
groups of children, there will be needs for large places where big
groups can congregate; the school needs to be organized in such a way
that children can move quickly, easily and quietly from one bit of it to
another […]” (Vaizey, 1968, pp.353-354)
Another contributor also takes this on at this the conference, focusing on ‘The school
building: an environment for learning’ (Pearson, 1968). Pearson addresses “the role
of the teacher” in what might be interpreted on new learning environments233 that
were starting to be depicted, and sustains the possible constrains a traditional school
building might convey to the new relations between the school population and the
learning situations where learning takes place:
“If someone asked me what I considered to be the greatest change in

education over the last 20 years it would be in the pattern of personal
233
“We should see a school as designed around thousands of possible learning situations, outside the building
as well as inside. School is a place where interests are roused and fed; it is the place from which great voyages
of discovery about the works of man and the wonders of nature begin.” (Pearson, 1968, p.372)
128
relationships (pupils, teachers, parents, heads). But the physical

limitations of walls and of institutional furnishings largely remain with
us, and regrettably we still design too many classrooms which represent
a pattern of human relationships now obsolete.” (Pearson, 1968, p.372)
Also within this conference, Manning (1968) reÁects upon the “needs, trends and
design for the future” (p.377) and argues for the need to evaluate the British post-war
school buildings of which “we in this country and this profession are very proud”,
but that are embedded “in such an aura of self-satisfaction that one feels it practically
indecent to suggest that all is not quite as well as it might be” (p.376).
Manning praises the need to cater for the future: “not only today’s [practices
and needs] but what they might become tomorrow, and the day after”, assuming
that “neither education nor the use of buildings is static”. Besides, Manning
already tackles “formal and informal” 234 uses and sustains that buildings should
accommodate them both “in as many ways as we can conceive”. Thus, he argues
for the need to identify if the buildings being built can actually accommodate them:
“Our heritage of old schools, similarly designed to serve the educational

practices of their day, have now to be adapted as well as is possible
to the needs of contemporary educational practices. There is a great
danger that contemporary school buildings will restrict tomorrow’s
educational practices more than yesterday’s schools restrict today’s
practice.”235 (Manning, 1968, p.377)
At the end of this article, the American magazine Progressive Architecture is quoted by
Manning for systematising the possible future “attitudes” of the profession. In fact,
this magazine has speciÀcally published an issue on change on the same year of this
conference, guided by the assumption that change is a condition for the “school
scene” (Progressive Architecture, 1968) (Fig. 40a):
“The subtitle of this issue, “Change and More Change,” indicates that
the continuum of change is the key element in contemporary (and
future) scholastic life. Just as in all other areas of human activity, closed-
ended solutions in the Àeld of education will not work if education is
to be a viable activity of a dynamic man living in a dynamic society.”
(Progressive Architecture, 1968, editorial)
Change is dealt at several levels from the “technological tools” (pp.135-139) that
were being developed (Fig. 40b), the “new spaces” (pp.143-144), the “changing
role of the architect” (pp.157-158), the “learning environment evolution” (p.161)
234
235
129
a) b)
Fig. 40. a) Progressive Architecture, April 1968 (Progressive Architecture, 1968, cover, back cover);
b) Technological tools (Progressive Architecture, 1968, p.137)
and the “school as a generator of urban form” (pp.162-164), besides many other
issues that were being discussed and a profusion of examples of American school
buildings.
Flexibility is also one of these pressing issues on the “school scene” as “the central
factor emerging on school design”. But it is here tackled as more than the “movable
partition”, instead it is suggested “a total Áexibility encompassing the school building
and the learning process itself ” (p.154). Moreover, the provision of internal Áexibility
can be overlooked if the building as a whole does not cope with the superimposed
Áexible solutions. It could be argued that the magazine is suggesting a broader
assumption of Áexibility that surpasses the interior layout, towards the whole building
and deployed of physical small-scale transformations, which can be regarded as
adaptability, even though this is not stated236. This is supported by the suggestion of
what the publication entitles as “extreme Áexibility” on “structure, space enclosures,
Ànishes, mechanical and electrical” and “restraint in the design”, establishing that a
“simpliÀed design can more easily meet the needs of change” (ibid.).
Hence, in 1968 the debate on schools was transversal in England and the United
States. In 1969 Giancarlo de Carlo (1969)237 writes to the Harvard Educational Review,
the article Why/How to Build School Buildings, raising four paramount questions on
school spaces and proving a critical thinking on their answers:
236
The concept of adaptability and the difference between adaptability and Áexibility have been previously
studied in chapter 2.1. Adaptability: deÀnition and adjacent concepts.
237
Originally published in the Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 39, No. 4, 1969 and consulted in the reprint edition
included in: Coates, G. (Ed.) (1974). Alternative learning environments. (pp.96-108). Stroudsburg, Pa: Dowden,
Hutchinson & Ross.
130
“W1. The Àrst question: “Is it really necessary for contemporary

society that educational activity be organized in a stable and codiÀed
institution?”
W2. The second question: “Must educational activity take place in
buildings designed especially for that purpose?”
W3. The third question: “Is there a direct and reciprocal relationship
between educational activity and the quality of the buildings in which
it goes on?”
W4. The fourth question: “Must the planning and construction
of buildings for educational activity be entrusted to specialists?””
(de Carlo, 1969, p.96)
The answer to the Àrst question concerning the need of the school as an institution is
signiÀcantly inÁuenced by the students’ protests of 1968 by demonstrating a disbelief
in the school238. De Carlo adds that “the least suitable place in which to carry out
educational activity is the school building, because encapsulating teaching and learning
in a unitary, isolated, and closed off space, it tends to cut off contacts with the complex
content of society.” (p.104). Furthermore, he suggests: “In this prospective we can
imagine the school as a double network – laid out in the environmental context – of
places in which multiple activities go on, including education, and places in which
the more speciÀc instruments of educational activity necessary for the Ànding,
elaboration, and transmission of knowledge are concentrated.” (p.104). And, thus, de
Carlo argues for the “non-place school, disaggregated and dispersed” (p.105), which
inherently questions the space and the building.
Moreover, de Carlo argues for “new comprehensive structures” that should be

regarded on the school building. The diverse programmes within the school are
suggested to be more interconnected, gathering diverse activities in a holistic space
for learning. These spaces can either be open to the external community or be
shared with this community but located elsewhere (p.106).
For answering the second question on the need for a speciÀc building for learning,
de Carlo sustains that even though buildings are needed, they represent only a
“part”, the other part is brought by the experience and thus, occurs beyond the
school building.
The third question proposed for discussion concerns the possible association
of the learning activities to the buildings’ quality. This holds particular relevance
because de Carlo argues for the evolving nature of the buildings according to its
environmental surroundings, which disregards Àxed settled forms and suggests the
238
“With the student revolt, education has returned to the city and to the streets and has, thus, found a Àeld
of rich and diversiÀed experience which is much more formative than that offered by the old school system.
Perhaps we are headed toward an era in which education and total experience will again coincide, in which
school as an established and codiÀed institution no longer has any reason for existence.” (p.98)
131
need for “unstable conÀguration continually re-created” for the still unforeseen
future239(p.102).
This statement also puts forward the following answer to question four, on the
demand for the specialists. De Carlo goes against the strong institutional space,
its Àxedness in aesthetic intentions rather than its engagement with time and
use240 (p.103). The higher entropy within space would mean the accommodation
of a broader and fuller experience and not limited to a sole “connotation” or
“event”:
“The institutional objective pursued – and worse, rarely reached

because of a recurring technical imperfection – is the least possible
entropy, which means the minimum quantity of connotations necessary
to designate the event, the contrary of what happens in every spatial
situation endowed with universal meanings and, therefore, rich in signs
accumulated and stratiÀed, in time, through a continual involvement
with society.” (de Carlo, 1969, p.103)
Consequently, de Carlo makes the Ànal remarks, considering that the design of
schools can no longer be bounded and strict, enabling an “intense education” by
“multiple active experiences”. Thus, the design is no longer Ànished by the architect,
but “continually readjusted by those who appropriate it (the students, the teachers,
the people who use it for other things as well” (p.107). This is central for assuming
the school as a lived space that comprises various activities facilitated by space and
not bounded by it.
The considerations taken on by de Carlo, are embedded in the questioning of the

school and its spatial environment as previous contributions have already shown,
such as the 1968 Conference or periodical publications like Progressive Architecture
regarding change, also from the same year. Change is acknowledged and discussed,
on the activities the school space may accommodate but also on their possible
unforeseeable variances:
“The job of the architect who designs a school is to outline the

organizational structure which should realize educational activities
in space, whatever the complexity and the degree of contamination
with other activities which they may take on with time. The
239
“The school should not be an island but part of the physical context, or more precisely, the physical context
as a whole, conceived as a function of the requirements of education. It should not be a closed apparatus but a
structure spread out in the network of social activities, capable of articulating itself to their continual variations.
It should not be an object represented according to the rules of an aprioristic aesthetic code, but an unstable
conÀguration continually re-created by the direct participation of the collectively that uses it, introducing into
it the disorder of its unforeseeable expressions.” (p.102)
240
“[…] the physical forms shape themselves as Ànished, inÁexible representations, presumed to be that
much nearer to aesthetic perfection the less space they leave for the accidental character of time and use.”
(p.103)
132
a)
b) c)
Fig. 41. a) Simultaneous teaching. Class (Alegre, 2009, p.28)
b) Mutual teaching (Lancaster method). Classroom, 1811 (Alegre, 2009, p.28)
c) Geschwister-Scholl-Schule (Lünen, 1956-62) by Scharoun (Architectural Forum, 1961, p.107)
organizational structure will contain within itself the seeds of the

formal conÀguration to which it will give rise or the basic ingredients
of which it will be composed, or completely deÀned fragments
around which its future development will evolve according to the
circumstances, the intentions, and the reactivity of the situation in
which one is working. The most important thing is that structure and
form leave the greatest possible space for future evolution, because
the real and most important designer of the school should be the
collectively which uses it.” (de Carlo, 1969, p.107)
These thoughts and the eager for searching new solutions for them, along with
experience in new constructions methods that had been occurring, enhance the
discussion on the school building, its layout, its means to achieve it and the students’
engagement and relevance for designing space to house them anew.
Beyond previous past experiences such as the conventional classrooms of the

“simultaneous teaching” (Fig. 41a) system where students are lined in rows facing
the educator, or Lancaster’s large classroom for the “mutual teaching” system where
students are taught all together with the aid of monitors (Fig. 41b), the search for
new learning environments continues to be pursued (In_Learning, 2010; Alegre,
2009, p.26-35).
Thus, the classrooms as the “basic unit of the school building”241 were being rethought
for: their conÀguration, surpassing the traditional rectangle and experimented in
241
Free translation of the original Portuguese title: “A sala de aula como unidade base do edifício escolar e a
evoluçmo do edifício escolar”. For further reading see Alegre (2009, pp.81-92)
133
octagons or hexagons (such as attempted by Scharoun); the environmental features

that enable physical comfort; the openness to adjoin external spaces providing
air and light; and also in their functionality for allocating simultaneous learning
activities portrayed by different sets of pupils in a more enriching and Áexible space
for a broader learning experience (Alegre, 2009, pp.81-92).
The search for classrooms that responded to pedagogical changes and that
accommodated a variety of activities within was particularly evident in the
Munkegaard School (Soborg, 1949-57) by Jacobsen; in Geschwister-Scholl-Schule
(Lünen, 1956-62), Darmstadt (1951) and Marl (1960-71) by Scharoun. In Lünen,
Scharoun attempts to materialise his Klassenwohnung or classroom-dwelling idea,
embedding in the classroom the feeling of a home. The “upper-school unit”
is encompassed with the neighbouring spaces for “coats” and “projects” and a
“court” for groups of pupils, enabling a Áexible arrangement of the groups while
undertaking different sets of activities, both in the classroom and in the surrounding
spaces (Architectural Forum, 1961, p.107; Alegre, 2009, pp.135-136) (Fig. 41c).
Hertzberger (2008) sustains that Scharoun is an architect that “applied himself to

space for learning with dedication and conviction”, intending to materialise his
educational prospects of introducing the individuals into the society in his schools,
even if his “open Áoor plans of an almost nest-like structure” did not reveal further
expansions (pp.157-159).
Previously, in the US the Crow Island School in Winnetka, by Eliel and Eero Saarinen
with Perkins, Wheeler and Will (1939-40), already displayed L-shaped classrooms
with individual gardens gathered along a pinwheel plan, raising awareness for
subsequent schools (Ogata, 2008, p.566) (Fig. 42a).
In addition, Neutra’s (1935) article New Elementary Schools for America242 or his Corona
Avenue Elementary School (1934-35) also represented the search for new learning
spaces. Neutra argues for the review of the cell of the classroom as a central
issue, also integrated whiting the whole (Neutra, 1935, p.49). He also mentions his
the studies on an “active school” commissioned for Los Angeles (p.53) and the
environmental comfort of the classrooms that also suggests the outside space243, in
what could be argued as a closer approach to the open-air schools (Fig. 42b).
Afterwards, in a speciÀc manner, post-war schools focused on the Áexibility of the

classroom for distinctive learning allocations, also prolonging it to the communal
places shared by all and onto the overall scheme of the school throughout the day.
242
See Neutra, R. (1935). Nouvelles écoles élémentaires pour l’Amérique. L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, 7eme
année, n.º 5, Mai 1936, 49-55. Originally published in Neutra, R. (1935). New Elementary Schools for America.
Architectural Forum, January 1935, 24-35.
243
From the original French quote: “L’éducation strictement conÀnée à « l’intérieur » sera réduite au minimum.”
(p.55)
134
a) b)
Fig. 42. a) Crow Island School, Winnetka, 1939-40, Eliel and Eero Saarinen, with Perkins, Wheeler
and Will (Architectural Forum, 1955, pp.130, 131, 132)
b) Class of a primary school, Neutra, 1934-35 (for small children) (Neutra, 1935, p.51)
This was often pursued either by physical transformation of the interior partitioning
by “Áexibility”, or by the possibility of accommodating several activities for a
“polyvalent space use” (Alegre, 2009. pp.91-92).
Indeed, besides the use of industrialised solutions for cost-effectiveness and

rapid processes, post-war school construction went along with Áexibility,
considered not only on the interior units, but regarding the structure understood
in the whole scheme:
“The desire for “Áexibility,” a key term of postwar building, enhanced

the popularity of new materials and Ànger or cluster plans for school
plants. “Flexibility” was both a desirable quality for the structural
aspects of the building, embodied in open corridors, non-load-bearing
partitions, and zoned ventilation and heating systems, but it also
included the provision of folding walls for small groups, moveable
cabinets, and lightweight furniture deemed vital to new methods of
instruction.” (Ogata, 2008, p.568)
“Low-rise schools” with “continuous fenestration” were sought when recalling

the perils of the war that claimed for easy evacuation but also for the desire of
future growth, stairs were perceived as “hazardous and unnecessarily expensive”
and the steel industry also endorsed this solution as “cost-effective, rapidly built,
and Áexible” (ibid.).
In the American scene, Kumpf in 1952 already tackled The adaptable school, assuming
that the “newly emerging needs” (Kumpf, 1952, p.4) were greater than ever and
arguing that:
135
a) b) c)
Fig. 43. a) “Air and the pupil” ; b) “Sound and the pupil”; c) “School planning starts and ends
with the pupil. Every factor must relate in some way or other to the school child. […] We want
schools that serve the needs of our youngster - emotional needs as well as physical needs”
(Caudill, 1954, pp.2, 6, 7)
“Educators today are faced with a challenge to their educational

procedures which transcends that of any previous period in educational
history” (Kumpf, 1952, p.3).
Thus, if the learning processes were changing, then adaptability244 was considered
to cope with that change by matching the new learning processes and the new
needs:
“Only adaptability can serve as the test of modern education in a world

in which the only thing of which we can be certain is change. A prime
cause of stagnation and sluggish adjustment of educational practices in
the past has been the static nature of the criteria by which the adequacy
of these practices was judged. Now, through the application of the
criterion of adaptability, a dynamic instrument is available that places
no limitations on progress.” (Kumpf, 1952, p.4)
Schools were already considered under the scope of heath, civic, leisure and creative
requirements. Therefore, an adaptable school was perceived as a school that could
accommodate the change on all these dimensions and was “capable of continued
modiÀcation to keep pace with the changing needs and concerns of children as
brought about by world and local developments” (p.6).
Two years after this book and also focusing on the American reality, Caudill (1954),
who had also praised the Crow Island School innovative solution, publishes Toward
better school design, also assuming the “progress in educational architecture” as
244
“[…] adaptability means the discarding of outworn practices and the adoption and invention of newer
practices to meet newly emerging needs” (p.4).
136
Fig. 44. “Formality vs. Informality”

(Caudill, 1954, pp.22-23)
“tremendous” (p.iii). The introduction written by Neutra also states the relevance
of rethinking the school as it “stems from the community and again powerfully
feeds back into it” (Neutra, 1954, p.xi), establishing that:
“If there is any place or occasion where the need for planning and its
urgency cannot be doubted, it is in matters of a school system or a
schoolhouse.”245 (Neutra, 1954, p.xi)
Caudill’s comprehensive approach to schools and the contemporaneity of the issues

raised is signiÀcant. He addresses the prominent subjects for schools such as: light,
air (Fig. 43a), sound (Fig. 43b), time, atmosphere, scale, colour and texture, comfort
and security, towards the pupils’ physical and emotional well-being (Caudill, 1954,
pp.1-20) (Fig. 43c).
Then, Caudill revolves around education, discussing “the aims of education of

today’s elementary and secondary schools from those of yesterday’s schools” (p.21).
Formality and informality are already discussed, pondering that informal learning
was achieved by reciprocal communication from the student to the educator and
also amongst students (Fig. 44). This implied that the classroom might hold group
work besides seminar and content provision from the teacher: “The formal and
directional type of classroom must give way to the informal, non-directional type.”
(p.23). It also implies rethinking the “classrooms arrangements” beyond the formal
setting (p.29) (Fig. 45).
These thoughts also involve “Áexibility”, considering that buildings should

accommodate “inevitable educational changes” and that these might still be
245
137
Fig. 45. “The following series of photographs, posed by an actual elementary class, demonstrates
the space requirements of typical classroom activities”
(Caudill, 1954, pp.30-34)
unknown246 (p.36). Flexibility is developed further on the book, where it is detached

between “four qualities of space - Áuidity, versatility, convertibility, and expansibility”
(p.139) Caudill assumes to have claimed for Áexibility and “made it the most
common word in our planning nomenclature”, but also recognised the prevailing
difÀculty of building for Áexibility (ibid.). Nevertheless, Caudill considered it to be
a central issue for future practice and recurrent to the previous four possibilities:
“It is reasonable to expect that we shall in future years see schools

based on the open plan which will afford a free Áow of space in the
general teaching areas. The architects, educational consultants, and
school administrators who plan these schools will talk more about
Áuidity, versatility, convertibility, and expansibility of space and the
ways to achieve these desired characteristics of a good school plant,
and talk less about concrete block versus plaster partitions. The
planners of these Áexible schools will be space architects, not room
layout draftsmen. They will put new emphasis upon volume instead of
mass; they will work with space as their medium: they will think in three
dimensional space instead of two. And Áexibility will be the keynote of
their architecture. (Caudill, 1954, p.140)
246
“[…] since the function of any building changes from year to year, each should be designed to allow changes
to be made efÀciently and economically without marring the beauty or distorting the truth of expression.”
(p.37)
138
a) b)
Fig. 46. a) “Perkins and Will, Heathcote School, plan” (Ogata, 2008, p.573); b) “Flexible school
made up of classroom clusters, 1954. The Architects Collaborative” (Royal Institute of British
Architects, 1956, p.231)
Furthermore, the cluster plan at this time also recalled for “Áexibility, domesticity,
and economy” (Ogata, 2008, p.572). Groups of classes arranged together in clusters
determined a new learning experience from the school, opening the spaces to each
other and focusing on group activities within a central core247. This was the case of
Heathcote Elementary School by Perkins and Will, from 1953 in Scarsdale (Fig. 46a).
In 1954 Gropius’s established Àrm The Architects Collaborative (TAC) conceives

a school prototype that the RIBA considers to be “Áexible” (Royal Institute of
British Architects, 1956, p.231) (Fig. 46b). Its scheme was based on a “syncopated
grid of square classrooms created intimate gardens and “outdoor classrooms” that
were interspersed throughout the school grounds” which could accommodate
future expansion. In this grid sets of four classrooms were assembled around a
core. Internally spaces had “moveable self-contained spaces” that also comprised
Áexibility considerations (Ogata, 2008, p.575).
In the same year Gropius writes Eight Steps Toward a Solid Architecture where Áexibility
was suggested as one of these steps248, disregarding “Preconceived ideas of form,
whether the outcome of personal whims or fashionable styles, tend to force the
stream of life in a building into rigid channels and to hamper the natural activities
247
“In organization and details, the prominent cluster schools of the early and mid-1950s reÁected a new
sensitivity to the child’s perception.” (Ogata, 2008, p.572)
248
“2. Design buildings to accommodate the Áexible, dynamic features of modern life – not to serve as
monuments to the designer’s genius ” (Gropius, 1954, p.177)
139
of the people for whom the buildings were built.” Gropius claims for buildings
as “receptacles for the Áow of life which they have to serve” and that were “Àt to
absorb the dynamic features of our modern life” (Gropius, 1954, p.177).
The search for Áexibility was also associated with the interior design of the
classrooms and its layout that accommodates several activities as considered at the
time and no longer centred only on the educator:
“Just as “Áexibility” became the byword among school architects and

planners, the Áexible classroom was promoted as a fundamental aspect
of modern school design and modern pedagogy.” (Ogata, 2008, p.579)
In 1950 Cocking and Mercner provide a clear deÀnition of Áexibility and adaptability,
also considering the “multiple use” of shared areas of the school to be beneÀcial:
“Flexibility is the ability to alter the size of a room, and adaptability is

its ability to change with social and educational changes.” (Cocking and
Mercner, 1950, p.56).
Another attempt to research for different learning spaces were the open-plan
schools, built since the 1950s in the US, deployed of separate classrooms and
congregating groups of students in large spaces (Fig. 47). Despite the possibilities
that the co-existence of the students socially enabled, these spaces did not have the
speciÀcities needed for the classrooms, the privacy required for each group to work,
or the smaller individual features to engage the groups.
In the 1960s school construction projects were being undertaken and in the United
States of America, the School Construction Systems Development, developed by
Ezra Ehrenkrantz for the Educational Facilities Laboratories249, intended to test
a modular system for rapid and cost-effective school construction, grounded on
the Hertfordshire previous experience (Ogata, 2008, p.582). These schools had
only one Áoor and had the technical devices for ventilation and artiÀcial lighting
arranged on the roof, in order to accommodate different groups and activities
and to create different environments (Kühn, 2011, p.22). Besides rapid and cost-
effective construction these schools also acknowledged future change and so, their
spans could be divided into smaller spaces without uniformity constraints (Ogata,
2008, p.582). This would guide the open school conception of both “long spans
and systems of low or demountable walls for internal Áexibility” (p.583).
However, the discomfort caused by the artiÀcially lit interior, as well as the
community’s inability to use these schools, especially their lack of engagement in
249
“In the 1960s and 1970s, Educational Facilities Laboratories, a non-proÀt corporation funded by the Ford
Foundation’s Fund for the Advancement of Education, brought together educators, architects, manufacturers,
and government ofÀcials responsible for school building to encourage new ideas about both curriculum and
architecture.” (Ogata, 2008, p.581)
140
Fig. 47. “An open-plan school in the United States”

(Manning, 1968, p.378)
the process, prevented the Áexibility project from materialising into appropriation
and living:
“But Áoor plan layouts are just one aspect of innovation: as in other
areas, this has to be distinguished from idea and innovation. Both of
these are but two stages in a wider process that includes a change in
attitude on behalf of many stakeholders.” (Kühn, 2011, p.22)
In 1968, a report for the Educational Facilities Laboratories is published on Educational

Change and Architectural Consequences that already assumes the “unprecedented phase
of questioning, changing, and experimenting” (Gross and Murphy, 1968, p.15) that
education was traversing and suggests a school design guided by “the spirit of
change”, encompassing “Áexibility, variety, variability, pedagogical receptiveness –
above all, a quality of openness both human and architectural”. After depicting
learning situations that were already valued at the time, such as “independent study”,
“dialogue” or “small-group discussion”, the report presents possible designs of
schools, not as a panacea, but as a systematisation of the “best current ideas on
environments for learning” they consider to answer the “educational problems”
(p.40).
At the same time other programs were also being developed elsewhere. The Swedish
SAMSKAP program, set up in 1962, consisted of cooperation between architects
and educators for school construction in the Malmö region, as an example of the
possibility of dialogue and the conception of multi-purpose space. Furthermore,
the Canadian Study of Educational Facilites (SEF) of 1966 developed a school
building system for Toronto schools with maximum Áexibility and minimum costs.
Other programs are also closely related to industrialisation and rapid construction
such as: Finsplan (Denmark), Coignet and Ballot (France) - based on concrete
141
structures; Feal (Italy) and Crocs (Switzerland) - based on metallic structures (Oddie,
1975). Moreover, the CLASP came to be applied in Portugal, in schools such as the
Laranjeiro Secondary School (1974).
SpeciÀcally, in Portugal250, the schools were being widely developed by the OECD
Mediterranean Region Project, directed by Oddie, under the scope of the DEEB
(Development and Economy in Educational Building), which also involved Spain,
Greece, Italy, Turkey and the former Yugoslavia, from 1960 to 1975. This sought to
meet the professional qualiÀcation needs of these countries as a form of investment
on their development (Martinho and Silva, 2008; Blyth, 2011, p.13; Heitor, 2001a).
This suggested that Portugal should expand “post-primary” teaching and also the
use of cost-effective and prompt solutions for school building. Thus, between 1964
and 1966, a work group is established to rethink Portuguese “strategies, architectural
typologies and regulations”251 for school building (Heitor, 2014, p.503). This work
group proposed pre-fabricated and modular elements in standard projects and
traditional construction methods, using a pavilion layout, which could be set in
different site locations. The classrooms encompassed heating, light and sound
requirements and comprised “a square layout and the increase in area, enabling
higher Áexibility of use”252 (p.504).
From this, the ‘Pilot Project. Primary School’253 for 160 students was located in Mem
Martins School and was built in 1966 (Fig. 48a), directed by the architect Maria do
Carmo Matos254. This already showed environmental and comfort concerns and
emphasised the concept of Áexible work areas, through the spatial design based on
a polyvalent central patio with four hinged square classrooms in groups of two with
supportive areas and which resorted to easy to use furniture and storage, enabling
students’ work either individually or in groups (Martinho and Silva, 2008; Heitor,
2011a; Heitor, 2014).
The Mem Martins School and the parallel research developed at this time served as
the basis for the subsequent school architecture produced in Portugal. The open area
primary schools in Loures, Moita and Abrantes, had a common use space between
groups of three square classrooms and used movable furniture instead of partition
walls that enable the establishment of diverse spaces according to the learning
activities. These can be considered to hold the principles of Áexibility of the schools
250
For further reading on Portuguese school building, namely on the liceu building, see Moniz (2007) and Alegre
(2009).
251
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “[...] a deÀniçmo de estratégias, tipologias arquitetónicas
e normativos para a construçmo de edifícios escolares em Portugal” (Heitor, 2014, p.503)
252
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “[...] experimentando a forma quadrada e o aumento de
área, permitindo maior Áexibilidade no uso.” (p.504)
253
The second pilot project to be located in Mafra and coordinated by Augusto Brandmo was not built (Heitor, 2011a).
254
Maria do Carmo Matos has done an internship on the Development Group in 1966, hence being inÁuenced
by the English post-war school building (Alegre, 2009, p.274).
142
a) b)
Fig. 48. a) Mem Martins School, 1966 (Heitor, 2014, p.507. From: Mistério da Educaçmo e Cirncia,
Secretaria Geral, Direçmo de Serviços de Documentaçmo e Arquivo); b) “Plans of the Àrst “P3”
school built in Quarteira and inaugurated in 1974 (Martinho and Silva, 2008, p.5)
designated as P3 in 1970, within the Standardized Project of Primary Schools255 for

simple, cost-effective and easy maintenance school solutions (Heitor, 2011a).
The P3 schools, built transversally in the all country256, also showed Áexibility criteria,
allowing the change of uses without entailing changes in the built space. These
had two overriding objectives: a pedagogical objective – in order to allow various
activities of individual and collective learning; and a constructive objective – the use
of modules and little variation of constructive elements, holding as a reference the
English post-war project for pre-fabrication. The P3 schools aimed at being easily
expandable and adaptable to the changes in the number of students. Its spatial core
allowed variations in size and its modular construction enabled the compression
or expansion of the school, resulting in a great variability of the scheme. These
also resorted to a spatial arrangement that endorsed the congregation of diverse
learning activities on the whole building (Heitor, 2011a).
The Àrst P3 school was from 1974 and was located in Quarteira (Fig. 48b). It had
adjoint classrooms gathered together with shared supportive spaces and displayed
around a central courtyard for several activities (Gonçalves, 2011, p.135). The basic
layout for the P3 schools was conceived with a higher central area and its respective
supportive spaces closely connected with the classrooms. This held several diverse
activities from meetings and even external gatherings, to leisure, gym and eating,
which was also considered a learning space for a larger group (p.138). The project
255
From the Portuguese “Projecto Normalizado de Escolas Primárias”.
256
In 1985 there were already 371 P3 schools in Portugal (Martinho and Silva, 2008).
143
was conceived with “core spaces and connective modules”257 that enabled a variety
of Ànal solutions and also acknowledged the possibility of future expansion
(p.136). The classroom spaces could be partitioned by means of furniture, for a
more individualised learning (p.137).
Nonetheless, due to the difÀculties of teaching in an innovative space, namely by

its openness, the need for new habits and routines and a lack of engagement of
the community, compelled people to be resistant to appropriate these spaces and to
teach within them, hindering the learning process envisaged for these spaces:
“Soon walls were built inside the nuclei and the open space areas were
successively closed. The pedagogical practices did not change with
the architecture, and some teachers transformed the open plan design
into traditional classrooms where they could teach more comfortably.”
(Martinho and Silva, 2008, p.6)
From the 1970s and strongly pursued in the 1980s, the urge for rapid and cost-
effective school building led to the construction of schools using a scattered
pavilion layout and industrialised construction methods in simple schemes, also
resorting to systems such as CLASP. This implied the decrease in circulation areas
and non-curricular spaces and, hence, the increase in the “functional Áexibility” of
the conceived ones, aiming at an “intensive use of all school spaces”, resorting to
separate standard building blocks. The so-called 3x3 standard-project was widely
used in secondary schools. It used the square classroom of 50m2 as the basis for the
all scheme, contiguous to a central core with the vertical circulation and resembling a
cubic volume of 21,60 x 21,60m with a span of 7,20m, with varying height (Fig.49).
Over time, during the 1980s, this model was developed towards a more “compact”
solution from 1988, which aggregated the 3x3 blocks (Heitor, 2014, pp.513-514;
Heitor and Alegre258, 2010, pp.143-144).
Between 1978-88 the concept of “families of solutions” was tested by a team from
the General Directorate of School Buildings259, coordinated by Jorge Gouveia,
Jorge Farelo Pinto and Teresa Santos Silva, which allowed greater freedom for
gathering the programs, depending on their location, resulting in a broader range
of typological solutions, also and similarly to the 3x3 blocks, through the use of a
modular structure of 3,60 x 3,60m, equal to either curricular and collective spaces.
This concept is materialised in schools such as in Torres Vedras’s: Madeira Torres
Basic Secondary School and Padre Francisco Soares Basic School260 (Heitor and
Alegre, 2010, pp.145-146; Heitor, 2014, p.516).
257
Free translation from the Portuguese: “núcleos e módulos de ligaçmo” (p.136).
258
This publication is coordinated of Teresa Heitor and its text is by Alexandra Alegre.
259
From the Portuguese ‘Direcçmo Geral das Construções Escolares’, the entity for school building construction then.
260
Original Portuguese names of these mentioned schools: Escola Secundária de Madeira Torres, Escola Básica
2,3 de Padre Francisco Soares.
144
a) b) c)
d) e)
Fig. 49. “3x3 Project: different site locations”: a) José Saramago Secondary School, Mafra; b) Dr.
António Carvalho Figueiredo Secondary School, Loures; c) Ponte de Sôr Secondary School, Ponte
de Sôr; d) Plan of the standard-block – ground Áoor; e) Plan of the standard -block – upper Áoors
(Heitor, 2014, p.515)
. Making way for multi-option, lived and adaptable schools
Following the DEEB at the international level, the Programme on Educational

Building (PEB), precursor of the current Centre for Effective Learning Environments
(CELE), began working in 1972, for “improving the quality, speed and cost-
effectiveness of school construction” (Blyth, 2011, p.13). These requirements were
also associated with the changing pedagogical practices and curriculum proÀles that
claimed for innovative spatial solution consistent with these changes (ibid.):
“Accommodation no longer consists of uniform classrooms, each

equipped with thirty desks, a teacher’s chair and a blackboard. Standard
classrooms give way to a great variety of space. There are still areas for
formal instruction, lectures or demonstrations, but these are replaced
in part by: space for work in small groups, for discussions, for seminars,
space for independent study and investigation […]” (OCDE, 1973,
apud Blyth, 2011, p.14)
Attention has also been given to ways of rationalising the school space (OECD,
1976; Ader, 1975a, 1975b; Oddie, 1966; Oddie, 1975), in order to serve the
community more comprehensively and extensively. At this time, adaptability was
much related to industrialisation and went along with the easiness in shifting spaces
and, hence, the effectiveness of long-time investment by spatial efÀciency (Oddie,
1966) and industrial production (Oddie, 1975261).
See: Oddie, G. (1966). L’utilisation efÀcace des ressources pour la construction scolaire: options et techniques. Paris:
261
Organisation de Cooperation et de Developpement Economiques.
145
It is interesting to focus in the following quote from 1966, which already assumed
a potential pedagogical development related to “innovation, development and
research” regarding the future developments brought along by “educational needs”:
“It is clear that effective use of resources will only be possible through
innovation in all aspects of school building. This is particularly evident
when education is to be radically reformed. Thus the current trend
towards diversiÀed education provided in the same school requires
profound innovations, both in terms of the quantitative balance and
the character of the school premises.”262 (Oddie, 1966, p.147)
In another sense, adaptability is also related to the response for a “multi-option

school” (Ader, 1975a). The multi-option school speciÀcally “offers all pupils a
common education” and “offers each pupil the possibility of choosing from a wide
range of activities” (p.6). In the 1975 publication on this behalf, under the scope of
PEB, it is analysed and reÁected upon the spatial implications of this school, but
not for commending or imposing solutions, because this school’s intricacy may not
be fully fulÀlled by a model (pp.5-6).
Planning the school for sheltering the activities brings difÀculties when matching
them to spaces, and it is suggested to accommodate them in “sets of facilities”.
Nevertheless, difÀculties are pointed out regarding the compatibility between
activities and “sets of facilities”; the divergence between spatial specialisation and
polyvalence; and the internal organisation and relation between separate spaces
(p.7).
Also in this same publication from 1975, space and learning, or “the layout” and
“the type of education provided in it” are assumed to be in a dyadic relation, which
is considered to “had long been neglected”263. Hence, the innovative multi-option
school entails to think about the school space afresh, comprising the present and
the future evolution of the space and of the programme, overlooking previous
learning routines and corresponding spatial conceptions (p.11). The school of
Oddie, G. (1975). L’école et la construction industrialisé. Paris: Organisation de Cooperation et de Developpement

Economiques. Programme sur la construction scolaire.
262
Free translation to English of the French quote: “Il est manifeste qu’une utilisation efÀcace des ressources ne
sera possible qu’au prix d’innovations dans tous les aspects de la construction scolaire. Ceci est particulièrement
évident lorsque l’enseignement doit faire l’objet d’une reforme radicale. C’est ainsi que la tendance actuelle en
faveur d’un enseignement diversiÀé dispensé dans une mrme école exige de profondes innovations, tant en ce
qui concerne l’équilibre quantitatif que le caractère des locaux scolaires.” (Oddie, 1966, p.147)
263
“More recently - within little more than the last ten years for some countries and much less than that
for others - the emphasis has shifted to problems of quality. Some countries have been encouraged by the
magnitude of their programmes to concern themselves with improving the effectiveness of the solutions
proposed; in other countries, the obsession with numbers, having become less pressing, has given way to a
greater reÁection on the nature of the facilities to be provided. Thus, both educationists and those responsible
for school building have become conscious of a fact which had long been neglected, there is a close, and some
times decisive, relationship in school buildings between the layout of the accommodation and the type of
education provided in it.” (Ader, 1975a, p.10)
146
multiple choices is projected in a present-future relation, implying a certain degree of

“indetermination”264 of the options and their evolution onwards, and consequently
of the spaces to accommodate these indeterminate activities (p.50), that prevents
its inertia in rigid models:
“If the role and conditions of education are to change radically with
time, the facilities provided for it must be adaptable to that change. No
one formula for education (or given type of school such as the multi-
option school) can be regarded as deÀnitive. At the most, it can be said
that it provides the most satisfactory answer to the educational needs
of today’s society. It must therefore be considered and studied in a
context of change.” (Ader, 1975a p.10)
But it is above all in the OECD’s 1976 publication Providing for future change: Adaptability
and Áexibility in school building, that the relevance of adaptability for schools is clear
and understood as a quality factor. This publication results from an OECD’s study
and identiÀes the concept of adaptability, exemplifying it using case studies. It is
also stated to be putting forward “a new set of problems”, associated with change
to which the schools would have to comply:
“[…] the educational requirements which school buildings have to meet

evolve rapidly and unless the buildings can be made to accommodate
future change, they are liable to early and costly obsolescence.” (OECD,
1976, p.5)
This holds signiÀcant importance towards the current study on adaptability in

school buildings. Firstly, because it recognises that learning requirements “evolve
rapidly”, which is related to the assumption that the school community - on their
speciÀcities and number - and the learning practices and learning activities, imply
spatial needs that would be likely to change in the future. This conÀrms that learning
was already considered to be changing from the traditional expository seminar and
that the future needs were still unknown, in regard to what the learning activities
were besides the more conservative ones, how could they be considered in space
and within the remaining activities, and how often could they be accomplished:
“The latter type of changes are more complex than it may at Àrst
appear, since the educational methods now gaining currency are
increasingly characterized by the frequency of change in the nature,
balance, sequence and interrelations of activities.” (OECD, 1976, p.5)
Secondly, the recognition that the space would have to cope with these changes that
264
“The rigour which is implicit in the brieÀng and design process does not preclude a certain degree of
indetermination in all multi-option school projects the practice of an education of options leads to a random
factor in forecasting requirements, the allocation of the different spaces within the school must be capable of
variation and it must also be possible to change teaching practices as time goes by.” (p.7)
147
were expected to occur in the future is also very signiÀcant. This admits the need
for adaptability from the start, as it is deÀned further on. Thirdly, that adaptability
would prevent “early and costly obsolescence”, in the sense that would enable the
building to continue to answer these requirements. Fourthly, that adaptability is cost-
efÀcient when it avoids the abandonment of an investment. Finally, adaptability
is related to spatial provision, that it is also associated with educational practices,
“providing for future change”, as the name of the publication puts it, which relates
future practices to the current physical structure.
It is within this publication that adaptability and Áexibility are clearly distinguished,
in the sense that the Àrst implies “large magnitude/low frequency change” and the
latter “low magnitude/high frequency change” (OECD, 1976, p.5), which would
infer that “the greater the Áexibility the less the need for adaptation”265 (p.87):
“- adaptability, the quality of a building which facilitates adaptation;

adaptation may require relocation, replacement, removal or addition in
respect of either the constructional elements, services or the Ànishes
of the building - essentially large magnitude/low frequency change;
and
- Áexibility, the quality of a building which permits variation in
activities, timetabling, class size, etc., of a school without the need
for adaptation as deÀned - essentially low magnitude/high frequency
change.” (OECD, 1976, p.10)
The OECD 1976 publication also pinpoints the advantages brought by adaptability,
associated with the possible future changes on the learning practices and on the size
of the learning spaces according to the demographics of the school community, and
also the search for “the best match between environment and education” according
to the design choices possible for architects to make early on (OECD, 1976, p.9).
The report suggests that adaptability can be perceived in different ways according to
the type, frequency and magnitude of that change. These could be in: “the type and/
or level of education”, “the balance of activities”, “the inter-relation of activities”,
“activity sequence”, “group organisation and mode of learning”, “introduction of
new activities”, “technological innovation”, “non-educational change”, “foreseeable
change” and in the “supply of teachers” (pp.10-11).
Throughout this report, design options are considered for coping with change,
such as: a differentiation between “general” and “committed” spaces; the possibility
of expanding the building, providing spare space in the surrounding area; correct
265
Besides, in 1975 Oddie had also provided a straightforward deÀnition of adaptability, also within a OECD
publication, comparing it to Áexibility that coincided with this one. This approach has already been explained
in the previous chapter for the concept of adaptability. See chapter 2.1. Adaptability: deÀnition and adjacent
concepts.
148
Fig. 50. “A Áoor or roof structure which allows the easy incorporation of new horizontal services
runs, an important feature of adaptability”
(OECD, 1976, p.99)
solar exposure of the building; the possibility of relocating technical installations

and supportive elements for artiÀcial lighting, mechanical ventilation, heating and
controls; the rooftop possibility to allow the installation of all the technical cabling,
releasing the spaces from this gear (Fig. 50); removable, independent and easy
to store equipment and furniture. The structure shall also allow the replacement
of panels and elements of the rooftop or of the walls. It must also be modular
and easily expandable/retractable, in which the elements can be added, removed
or replaced. However, a non-uniform structure is suggested, because structural
uniformity would imply spatial uniformity266, which is not considered an appropriate
solution for coping with the need for spatial variety for learning (pp.84-103).
Overall, acknowledging change and providing for adaptability involve educational,
management, economic and planning, technological and design factors (pp.107-
108). Finally, the report ends with the recognition that further work would have to
be developed on this subject matter regarding contextual speciÀcities on more case
studies (p.108).
By and large, the report conclusively identiÀes spatial design options for providing
for adaptability namely the design of “single-story buildings”267 and “leaving space
on the site for future extensions”, which relates to future interventions. Providing
for current requirements is considered here to be related to Áexibility and it is also
recommend to: “provide an excess of workplaces over the number of occupants”;
266
“What is needed is a less regular grid that offers variation or choice in structural spans and can thus provide
for the diversity required.” (p.98)
267
Multiple storey buildings have more demanding ventilation and lighting requirements and a single-storey
building has a direct connection to the outdoor spaces, greater ease for organising the technical elements in
their relation to the structure and less obstacles for circulation.
149
“widen the range of activities which general space can accommodate by means of,
for example, mobile furniture and equipment”; “widen the range of specialised
workplaces”; “optimise the proportion of general to committed space”; “a plan
form which permits a continuum of activity zones punctuated or articulated with
committed spaces”, “avoid complex lighting, ventilation and circulation problems”
(p.108).
Additionally, it is also concluded that adaptability is deeply associated with the

“variety of environment” and its ability “to add, replace or remove” the “building
elements” at large, beyond “relocatability of partitions”. Finally, a critical revising is
set to previous solutions that use a structural frame, suggesting it to hold a variability
of possibilities for also coping with a variety of activities:
“The use of a structural frame rather than load-bearing walls goes

a long way towards easing the problems set by future change. But
uniformly long Áoor or roof spans contribute little to adaptability and
can prove expensive, diverting resources away from where they are
really needed. More important is to adopt a structural frame which
offers the possibility of arrange of spans or structural layouts in order
to match the diversity of accommodation which, in practice, is what is
needed.” (OECD, 1976, p.108)
Assuming the variability of learning spaces, the relevance of informality and

individual learning, Leggett, Brubaker, Cohodes and Shapiro (1977) created the
concept of ‘turf ’ (Fig. 51a), as a work unit for Àve students, in a multifaceted space
for various uses and forms of learning, organised in sets of twenty that result in a
‘cluster’. Their gathering in a set of ten makes up a school, and Ànally the grouping
of several schools creates a ‘multischool’:
“The Basic unit of the school is a turf designed for Àve students.
This will serve as a home base, study area, problem-solving area,
and learning space and, in fact, provide space for learning. When
specialized facilities or staff are needed, the student moves to the
appropriate areas in the school for a part of the day.” (Leggett et
al.,1977, p.65)
Also referring to Leggett et al.’s ‘turf ’ concept, Moore and Lackney (1994) conÀrm
that “well-deÀned activity pockets” are a spatial option that conveys wider student
engagement and, as these “redirect trafÀc, demarcate class boundaries, and create
small areas for privacy” they potentially convey “increased achievement” (Moore
and Lackney, 1994, p.30) (Fig. 51b).
From the 1995 seminar in Lyon on ‘making better use of school buildings’268
268
Consulted version on French. See: Séminaire a l’élargissement des Fonctions des bâtiments Scolaires (1996).
150
a) b)
Fig. 51. a) Illustration for the concept of “turf ” (Leggett et al.,1977, pp.66, 67); b) “Well-deÀned
acticity pockets” (Moore, and Lackney, 1994, p.30)
(Séminaire a l’élargissement des fonctions des bâtiments scolaires, 1996) it is also

understood that school design should conceive “places that easily adapt to a variety
of uses, either simultaneous or succeeding”269, acknowledging “co-utilisation of the
locations and an easy co-habitation of different groups of users”270, which could be
related, according to the publication to Áexibility (p.26).
The deÀnition of adaptability and its differentiation from Áexibility presented in

the 1976 OECD publication is very signiÀcant and continues to be used further
on. Clynes (1990) also within a publication by the OECD, assuming that Áexibility
and adaptability are often used in a “vague and interchangeable manner”271 quotes
these previous deÀnitions from the 1976 publication for more accurately analysing
Adaptability and Áexibility in school buildings and places272(Clynes, 1990, p.13). Then,
Clynes adds a further explanation on this regard for distinguishing the two, where
adaptability implies “substantial” or “large magnitude” change, whereas Áexibility
enables to more frequently change activities:
“In terms of adaptability, the approach is different. In this case,

adapting to changes involves modifying the construction and its layout
DiversiÀer les utilisations des établissements scolaires. Séminaire consacré à l’élargissement des fonctions des bâtiments
scolaires tenu à Lyon, 1995. Organisé par le Programme pour la Construction et l’Équipement de l’Éducation.
Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
269
Free translation from the French quote: “[...] concevoir des locaux qui s’adaptent facilement à une pluralité
d’usages”. (Séminaire a l’élargissement des Fonctions des bâtiments scolaires, 1996, p.26).
270
Free translation from the French quote: “[...] co-utilisation des locaux et une cohabitation aisée de différents
groupes d’usagers [...]” (p.26)
271
Free translation of the original full quote in French: “Dans des contextes divers, on emploi bien souvent les
termes d’adaptabilité et de Áexibilité d’une manière vague et interchangeable”. (Clynes, 1990, p.13)
272
From the French edition: L’adaptabilité et la Áexibilité des bâtiments et locaux scolaires.
151
a)
b)
Fig. 52. a) Fixed structure; b) Adaptable equipment

(Clynes, 1990, pp.23-24)
more or less substantially in order to create a framework that meets the

speciÀc needs of the current use.”273 (Clynes, 1990, p.17)
This publication also presents “design strategies”274 suggesting: separate or unique

buildings have both advantages and that the Ànal solution should be achieved
through collaboration between the “client, the users, and the conceivers”275. It is also
recommended the building should have an envelope for comprising common users’
needs and provided with more speciÀc provision areas. For this purpose Clynes
proposes a more “permanent module” that holds the remaining ones, composed
by: structure and ground, vertical circulations and Àrewall partitions276. The other
components, like furniture, can be more frequently changed, in an “hierarchy”
approach between components (p.24) (Fig. 52). This could be paralleled with
Brand’s “shearing layers of change” where a frequency of change is considered for
each element, or also to Habraken’s “support” and “inÀll”.
Besides, other strategies are also suggested such as: small size sections, a supporting
structure, avoiding load-bearing partitions and the location of servicing within
them, a straightforward path for technical ducts, a continuous ground level, placing
the openings so that future expansion can be possible and the use of removable
furniture (Clynes, 1990, p.26).
273
Free translation from the original French quote: “En ce qui concerne l’adaptabilité, l’approche est différente.
En l’occurrence, l’adaptation aux changements consiste à modiÀer plus ou moins sensiblement la construction
et son aménagement aÀn de créer un cadre qui réponde aux besoins spéciÀques de l’usage du moment.”
(Clynes, 1990, p.17) (Underlined word from the original quote)
274
Free translation from the original French quote: “stratégies de conception”.
275
Free translation from the original French quote: “le cliente, les usagers et les concepteurs” (p.21)
276
Free translation from the original French quote: “la structure porteuse et les sols, la circulation verticale et
les cloisons pare-feu.” (Clynes, 1990, p.24)
152
Fig. 53. Montessori School, Delft, by Hertzberger, 1960-2010

(Scholen, 2009, p.165)
Bridging what has been experimented in past schools to contemporary learning

practices and environments, Hertzberger’s wide thoughts on schools date back from
the 1960s and continue onwards to his most recent schools, for a critical revision of
the learning spaces and the educational practices they holds. In the Montessori school,
in Delft, (1960-2010) (Fig. 53), the informal spaces of encounter and socialisation
were already assumed as learning spaces and the classroom as a space for several
learning experiences, which was to be interpreted in Hertzberger’s extensive work
to date on his Lessons for students in architecture (Hertzberger, 1991, 2000, 2008, 2009).
Aware that the school’s scheme is bonded to the children’s “relational skills” within,
Hertzberger argues for the school “as a catalyst for contact and exchange” that
“strengthens the cohesion with the school population” (Hertzberger, 2008, p.118). So,
the school is liable to the children’s activities, relations and movements and the design:
“The quality of the space is not a given in itself but gains expression
through the people populating it and the acts it incites from them.
When not in use, the building is nothing more than an empty shell.”
This goes along with the concept of the Montessori system where children are
developed within the environment they are interacting with, experiencing it freely
rather than in strict or compulsory manner, and also on the relations amongst children
and between children and educators. According to Hertzberger, this opening may
be considered as a more practical contact with the world instead of a theoretical
approach carried out in traditional learning systems (p.77). The Montessori’s “original
network of walls” enabled the children to make further extensions and to play on
the sandpits. Although this has been replaced without the architect’s approval, it
was originally intended as a playground for children to actively engage in social
relationships instead of the more traditional playground (pp.180-181).
153
a)
b) c)
Fig. 54. a) “Basic classrrom” vs “Articulated classrroom”: “Articulated leads to multiple centres”;
b) Conceptual model of the classroom as a shell; c) De Monchy School, Arnhem, 2004-2007
(Hertzberger, 2008, pp.24-25, 32, 65)
The shape of the classrooms was also sought for answering the Montessori method,
developed from the initial Montessori schools in Amsterdam from the 1930s277. This
classroom does not require a parallelepiped conÀguration, favouring an “articulated
classroom” (Fig. 54a), prone to varied activities simultaneously occurring in space
and with different centres of attention, but organised in a cohesive spatial logic
(p.36). According to the Montessori method, this space, created from the shape of
a “snails’s shell”, should allow children to work alone in activities chosen by their
own, preventing them from distracting one another. So, the rooms are “L-shaped”,
without walls in a conjoint environment, as it happens in the Montessori School in
Delft (pp.24-33) (Fig. 54b).
Also according to Hertzberger, as an alternative to the classroom-based model, it

is suggested the “classroom dethroned”, in which the whole building embodies
and enhances learning, which transcends the formal rooms to more informal
spaces. From a pedagogical point of view it creates distinctive spaces, with singular
environments and also enhances the individual learning of each student. From an
economic, but foremost from an educational point of view, this is also favourable,
because each space, either formal or informal, is useful for the transmission and
construction of knowledge (Hertzberger, 2008, pp.22-33) (Fig. 54c278).
Thinking beyond the classroom, in the Apollo Schools in Amsterdam (1980-83)

a central space, in an amphitheatre arrangement, gathers all the children from the
six surrounding classrooms displaced in a “split-level design”, conveying a sense
The Àrst Montessori School in Amsterdam has been built in 1920s (Hertzberger, 2008, p.26).
277
According to Hertzberger, in the school displayed in the image “the classroom principle has been abandoned
278
entirely” (Hertzberer, 2008, p.64).
154
Fig. 55. Apollo Schools Amsterdam, 1980-83. “Top-lit central amphitheatre connects six
classrooms on three levels”Apollo Schools Amsterdam, 1980-83
(McCarter and Herzberger, 2015, p.158)
of unity to the whole primary school, visual acquaintance from the centre core
and assuming this space of gathering and socialisation also as a relevant learning
environment for diverse uses (Hertzberger, 1991, p.213) (Fig. 55). Other spatial
solutions from Hertzberger’s schools also demonstrate these upper concerns: the
open areas of the Extended Schools in Arnhem (2004-2007) that are only separated
from the corridors by a glass partition, the open spaces of De Monchy School,
also in Arnhem (2004-2007) with 12m spans that can be internally divided by
glass accordion partitions (Hertzberger, 2008), the use of steps to create learning
environments for gathering groups and for articulating spaces such as the Titaan
College in Hoorn (1999-2004), the spatial prominence of the circulations, in-built
furniture, the niches, the thresholds, the variations on ceiling height, …
For conceiving such schools Hertzberger addresses the building at large, ensuring its
spatial cohesion, in which each space has its “identity” and contributes to the whole279
(Hertzberger, 2009, p.13). Thus, each space, considered as a “spatial unit”280, holds a
smaller scale and also encompasses the larger, communal building (p.11). Therefore,
all spaces from classrooms to patios, corridors or stairs, contribute to the school
building, and hence, to learning. This is the basis to understanding the amphitheatre
in the centre of the Apollo Schools as the communal learning and social space, but
also to comprehend that all niches can hold activities where knowledge is conveyed
279
“The spatial theme, encompassing the building as a whole, does not just encapsulate the sense of community,
it also expresses and emphasizes it. Theoretically speaking, it could actually promote the process whereby each
of the separate elements acquires its own clear identity.” (Hertzberger, 2009, p.13)
280
“A spatial unit could be described as a space that achieves a certain equilibrium between a sense of seclusion
and a sense of community. Where a learning situation is concerned, this mean fulÀlling the conditions that
enable you to concentrate on your work while at the same time being aware of others and what they are doing.”
155
Fig. 56. Apollo Schools Amsterdam, 1980-83

(Herzberger, 1991, p.215)
at different scales (Fig. 56). So, more than a circulation space, corridors are also
learning environments281. This assumption leads to Hertzberger’s “learning street”:
“What were once straightforward circulation passages are transformed

into a true learning area where you can walk as well as work and where
passers-by may get drawn to the workers without disturbing them. Here,
it is the spatial qualities more than anything else that determine whether
you fell at home or lost and whether you are encouraged to further
explore the world you Ànd yourself in.” (Hertzberger, 2008, p.114)
Hertzberger suggests “spatial means” to provide for such relations, such as: the
use of “split-level division” that enables visual contact and connects the spaces
between them; a “network of open indoor spaces” and also “making mobility in
the building visible” (Fig.57). These can be all comprised within a “open learning
environment”, similarly to a city (p.124). Therefore, in addition to the analogy of
the street, the author also advocates the approach of the school to the community
and to the city, pondering “the school as a micro-city” (pp.112-201).
The concept of the space “in-between” is also displayed in the Montessori School
as the thresholds between the spaces that bind and connect them. This is taken
up in the school’s entrance that gathers the community, the children and the
parents (Hertzberger, 1991, pp.32-33). The spaces between the various cells of the
building constitute meeting places, articulated in “streets” and “squares” within
281
“Completely eliminating corridors and adding corner areas, making the space suitable for communal use by
diverse groups of pupils, created greater social cohesion and more places for smaller groups, while whole-class
instruction could continue to take place in classrooms.” (Hertzberger, 2009, p.9)
156
a) b)
Fig. 57. a) “Plans of Willemspark School (top) and Montessori School (bottom)” (edited)
b) Apollo Schools Amsterdam, 1980-83, Section
(McCarter and Herzberger, 2015, pp.154-155)
an “educational promenade” (Hertzberger, 2008, p.115) (Fig. 58a). According to

Hertzberger, Àrm upholder of the spaces of socialisation in schools as enablers of
experiences, schools should accompany and respond to social structures and even
serve as an example for the city:
“In the Montessori School the communal hall has been conceived in
such a way that the hall relates to the classrooms as a street relates to
the houses. The spatial relation between class-rooms and hall and the
shape of the hall were conceived as the ‘communal living-room’ of the
school.” (Hertzberger, 1991, p.62)
Appropriation is intended from space that affords the possibilities for “the users
to Àll in the spaces according to their personal needs and desires” (p.24) and that
also engages people to space by “delegating responsibilities for the environment
to the users” (p.25) in such a way that “users become inhabitants” (p.28). This is
considered possible to several different programmes such as ofÀce buildings like the
Centraal Beheer OfÀces, in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, (1968-72, 1990-95) and it has
been taken into account for the Montessori School. Each classroom is conceived as
a space for a speciÀc group in “autonomous units” displaced throughout the hall
resembling a “communal street” and each group is in charge of it and appropriates
it as their “home” (Hertzberger, 1991, p.28) (Fig.58b).
Also related to appropriation, Hertzberger reÁects upon “functionality, Áexibility

and polyvalence”. The modern functionality is disputed because “all too speciÀc
solutions leads not only to disfunctionality but also to serious inefÀciency”,
conveying obsolescence (Hertzberger, 1991, p.146).
157
a) b)
Fig. 58. a) Montessori School, Delft, by Herman Hertzberger, 1960-2010. “Main street through
the building, formed by a chain of places” (Herzberger, 2008, p.115)
b) “From user to dweller” (Hertzberger, 1991, p.29)
Consequently, Hertzberger also discusses Áexibility as the subsequent “catch-

word”, but argues that it suggests the “absence of identity” in order to cope with
different uses. This had, in fact, been a supposition that previous architects already
had on Áexibility leading to ‘dull’ solutions. As Hertzberger puts it, this could be
interpreted as the opposite of a speciÀc functionality, for being open to all uses but
deployed of any particular distinctiveness282. Therefore, Áexibility cannot be the
most adequate solution for the issue at hand:
“Flexibility signiÀes - since there is no single solution that is preferable

to all others - the absolute denial of a Àxed, clearcut standpoint. […]
Flexibility is ostensibly inherent in reality, but in actual fact it only
has to do with uncertainty; with no daring to commit oneself, and
therefore with refusing to accept responsibility that is inevitably bound
up with each and every action that one takes. Although a Áexible set-up
admittedly adapts itself to each change as it presents itself, it can never
be the best and most suitable solution to any one problem; it can at
any given moment provide any solution but the most appropriate one.
Flexibility therefore represents the set of all unsuitable solutions to a
problem.” (Hertzberger, 1991, p.146)
Besides, school space to engage the school community should have “a multi-coloured
variety of inÀlls” and should also hold “shelves, compartments, nooks, ledges
282
“Flexibility became the catch-word, it was to be the panacea to cure all the ills of architecture. So long as the
design of buildings was neutral, it was thought, they could be put to different uses, and they could therefore, in
theory at least, absorb and accommodate the inÁuences of changing times and situations. That at least would be
one point gained, but neutrality in fact consists of the absence of identity, in other words, the lack of distinctive
features.” (Hertzberger, 1991, p.146)
158
Fig. 59. Montessori School, Delft, by Herman Hertzberger, 1960-2010, plans of construction stages
(Herzberger, 2008, p.115)(Herzberger, 2008, p.115; Hertzberger, 1991, p.29)
[…]” that Áexibility does not account for (Hertzberger, 2008, p.103). Hertzberger
determines that: “You can’t create a learning environment with Áexibility.” (p.108).
A learning space needs “to be able to accept the most varied contents within the
intimacy of the place” and also provide “substance and meaning” to the space and
lead to appropriation by the users (p.103).
Rejecting functionality and Áexibility, Hertzberger argues for polyvalence, as the

possibility to cope with different experiences within buildings and “to adapt
themselves to diversity and change” (Hertzberger, 1991, p.148). This is guided by
the users’ appropriation283 and not strictly or formerly deÀned, also enabling the
building’s character:
“The only constructive approach to a situation that is subject to change

is a form that starts out from this changefulness as a permanent - that
is, essentially a static - given factor: a form which is polyvalent. In
other words, a form that can be put to different uses without having to
undergo changes itself, so that a minimal Áexibility can still produce an
optimal solution.” (Hertzberger, 1991 p.147)
More than leaving the space for further completion by the users, Hertzberger praises
for a design that encompasses different possibilities, in an open and expanded
manner (p.170), which could be understood as a closer assumption to adaptability,
even if this is not stated as such. However, Hertzberger effectively states the need
283
“The point therefore is to arrive at an architecture that, when users decide to put it to different uses that
those originally envisaged by the architect, does not get upset and confused and consequently loses its identity.
To put it even more strongly: architecture should offer an incentive to its users to inÁuence it wherever possible,
not merely to reinforce its identity, but more especially to enhance and afÀrm the identity of its users.” (p.148)
159
Fig. 60. Amstelveenseweg Orphanage, Aldo van Eyck, Amsterdam, 1955-60

(Eyck, 1999, p.50)
for coping with change without physical transformation, which is the basis of the
deÀnition of adaptability:
“There is enough upheaval as it is with the unceasing modiÀcations to

educational renewal and the march of new projects, to say nothing of
school extensions and the reorganization these require. If you want
children to feel sufÀciently at home and regard the school as a familiar
world, this is reason enough to strive for a stable spatial structure able
to take up change without changing itself.” (Hertzberger, 2008, p.111)
The phased evolution of the Montessori school suggests a metabolic logic, in which
further spaces have been added to the original Àve classrooms of the primary school
built in 1966284 (Fig. 59).
Tackling the approach to Hertzberger’s school, the reference to the Orphanage by

Aldo Van Eyck (1955-60) is unavoidable, where a metabolic logic prevails in the
scheme’s composition (Fig. 60). Hertzberger also praises the “building order” in a
structuralistic approach to the design and Van Eyck’s Orphanage is understandably
tackled as “the Àrst executed structuring with a building order, in the sense of a
unity in which parts and whole determine each other reciprocally”, resembling to
hold “‘streets’ and ‘squares’” as a “small self-contained city” which Hertzberger
defends (Hertzberger, 1991, p.126).
In the book from 2008, Hertzberger speciÀes the Montessori school to be from 1960-66, but in the 2015
284
book about Hertzberger’s work (McCarter and Hertzberger, 2015), the Montessori is dated from 1960-2010,
considering this continuous expansion over time.
160
b)
a) c)
Fig. 61. a) School scheme with 16 classrooms, celule B, Manuel Tainha, Olivais Sul, 1965-
68 (Parque Escolar’s archives, conference Fazer a Escola, 2010); b) Cedro Elementary School,
Fernando Távora, Vila Nova de Gaia, 1957-61 (Banderinha, 2012, p.233); c) Cedro Elementary
School, photograph, 2016 (Carolina Coelho)
Recalling the Orphanage, Hertzberger describes his experience on that space:
“My very Àrst cursory confrontation with the Orphanage, still under
construction at the time, was enough to convince me that this wonderful
new building was going to be an entirely new kind, based on a different
mechanism and heralding another kind of architecture.” (Hertzberger,
1991, p.128)
In the Portuguese context, this could be analogous to the school of Tainha (1965-
68) for Olivais Sul, which seeks similar compositional principles (Fig. 61a). Tainha’s
subsequent Secondary School of Olivais Velho, from 1972, also recalls Hertzberger’s
learning street within a more compact scheme between four functional areas
developed along two axis (Heitor, 2014, pp.512-513).
Also in Portugal, Távora’s Cedro Elementary School (1957-1961) (Figs. 61b, c),
contemporary of Taínha’s school, advocates a new form of socialisation and learning,
valuing the courtyard as a meeting place where children play and where the school
was conceived for a speciÀc site rather than within a standard-type construction285.
It is a clear break from the schools of Raul Lino and Rogério de Azevedo, their
contemporaries, included in Plano dos Centenários (1940-70) and made uniformly
from standard projects deÀned by the DGEMN286, based on Oliveira Salazar’s
ideas of authority, discipline and order. Often in these schools there were separate
285
It is highlighted the analogy on the value of community spaces to Távora’s Vila da Feira Municipal Market
(1954-1959).
286
Direcçmo-Geral dos Edifícios e Monumentos Nacionais was the Portuguese authority on built heritage at
the time.
161
circulation spaces for pupils and educators, schools were structured around one to
four classrooms and the relationship between spaces was very segregated (Pimenta,
2006, pp.104-111, 146):
“[...] the places are not interchangeable and, on the contrary, they differ
according to rigid symbolic boundaries, safeguarded by severe control
practices”287 (Pimenta, 2006, p.111)
In fact, and despite the differences in language, the earlier schools288 can be
considered as spaces designed for the community, precisely because of the value
they make of the living experience in communal places, as enriching learning spaces,
whose pedagogical perspective extends onwards to date.
At the end of this chapter conclusions can be drawn on the approaches to adaptability
in schools during the 20th century. All in all, the approached key moments have
shown that adaptability has not been speciÀcally addressed, in the initial stages of
questioning the schools and the educational methods.
Similarly to what has been concluded on the previous chapter concerning the state
of the art on the concept of adaptability, also for depicting the state of the art
on adaptable schools, other adjacent concepts must be studied as well as previous
approaches to schools that had already demonstrated spatial concerns for change
and even for Áexibility, making way for the assumption of adaptability per se in
school design.
In fact, not all the key moments and projects that have been tackled show adaptable
schools, but they can be considered precursors of adaptability and foremost of the
understanding of potential growth and future change that is already comprised in their
design, even if other solutions or other speciÀc concepts are intended. Furthermore,
and also as it has been demonstrated, the exogenous constraints to the school context
are embedded in the design solutions and guide the options on the construction
methods, the formal scheme or the interior layout. As the post-war school buildings
expresses, these have been led by cost-effective and industrialised solutions, but related
to concerns on future growth. Then, from Hertfordshire to the consortia solutions,
school building already perceived the future changes on the educational methods that
were being fostered and also the possible growth from the school population.
Nevertheless, the critical thinking and the questioning of the overall space, or the
internal partitioning, also paralleled with the teaching-learning processes, launched the
search for a school environment that provides for the contemporary learning and for
287
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “[…] os lugares nmo smo inter-mutáveis e, pelo contrário,
se diferenciam segundo rígidas fronteiras simbólicas, salvaguardadas por severas práticas de controle” (Pimenta,
2006, p.111).
288
The schools referred beforehand of Távora, Tainha, Hertzberger and the remaining ones previously studied
on this chapter.
162
the users’ needs and the society’s requirements at that time. Besides corresponding to
contextual and educational needs, these also conÀrm the continuous pursuit for new
spatial environments at different scales, from the interior of the classroom - its form,
light and air conditions - to the communal spaces shared by all the school community,
the relation between the envelope and the external patios or courtyards, and even to
the thresholds between the interior and the exterior and the building overall.
Besides, not only is the shape of the classroom or the building innovative, but
also the possibilities these encompass regarding the learning experience provided
within them. So, the experiments with the structures, the search for wider spans, for
more open spaces and its critical revision on spaces that enable a more Àne-grained
partitioning, in a sense of higher privacy and learner-centred environment, all
represent the search for spaces to cope with the learning experiences understood at
each time. These can be precursors of adaptability or can even show that solutions
for school space were being tested that intended to involve the educational methods
but also to leave space open to future possible changes these might have.
Dealing with change can be understood in different ways, as seen. From the interior
partitioning with lightweight materials that can be moveable and frequently changed
for students’ activities, or large-scale expansions on the buildings, more easily
conceived in single-storey, cluster schemes or resorting to an industrialised structure.
Adaptability, as the ability to cope with change in a large magnitude solution, is
addressed later on, understanding the building as a whole and assuming this as more
critical than interior partitioning of an original layout that might not at all be provided
for change. Thus, inner Áexibility or piecemeal solutions may not accommodate the
wider and more permanent needs that can only be answered by overall adaptability.
Despite the possibility of change in the buildings being often associated with a
more uniform prefabricated structure, from the 1950s concerns with rapid and cost-
effective solutions, this is not at all compulsory. Thus, solutions have been drawn
ever since, critically reviewing the lack in spatial distinction of these schemes for a
sense of intimacy the school and its spaces should impart in a more individually-
centred environment, enabling appropriation and a sense of belonging, particularly
relevant for a school and for the children’s development.
So, after experiments with open spaces and even the highly questioning of the school
space per se, as the debate from the 1968 RIBA conference Building for education shown
and which was even more evident in de Carlo’s writings one year afterwards, the
1970s represented the search for an already established concept of adaptability that
went along with a variety of curricular options in the multi-option school and the
assumption of both the possible changes and the diversity of activities and subjects
to be provided in schools. This variety on curriculum and practices also involves a
lack of uniformity in space, the need for a space to cope with different subjects in
the classroom, but also with different activities to support their learning.
163
All the previous experiments duly embedded in the need of their times and
contexts, have supported the continuous search for spatial solutions and also the
acknowledgement that these do not have to be alike and need to be thought anew.
This comprises the cell of the classroom, its relation to the shared spaces and also
the overall building.
Adaptability’s relation to the pace of change naturally engages an open design to

future possibilities and does not imply a model or a Àxed structure. It leaves the
possibilities of change to happen, to cope with the uncertainty in a certain design,
not strict or Àxed, but steady and completed.
The state of the art of adaptability when applied to schools is naturally widespread
in contexts, countries and moments in time. It also engages the smaller to the larger
scale of design, besides the understanding of the society, the construction and
the requirements in each of these moments. These have all contributed to a more
holistic understanding of the search for learning spaces in the past century, the
diversity of possibilities and the ways to answer them. These have also led to their
critical revision, to the present situation and to the continuous search, because
the learning methods, the technologies and the curriculum continue to evolve and
space will have to enable and enhance them. The following chapter will relate the
contemporary spatial practices to the school spaces and will report adaptability to
the learning environments, as these are currently understood.
164
Adaptability for contemporary learning practices and environments
2.3. Adaptability for contemporary learning practices and environments
“If the idea of designing buildings as completed compositions, like sculptures, has
long ceased to be relevant, this applies pre-eminently to schools, which are more
susceptible to the restlessness of our demanding society than any other buildings.”
As seen throughout chapter 2289, it intended to identify the concept of adaptability

and to explain the deÀnition pursued for this current Thesis, recognising its speciÀc
application onto the school brief and how adaptability has been conceived and
materialised in past school buildings.
This following part aims to focus on the current learning practices, explaining their
speciÀcities and their correlations with the school space. In fact, it is relevant to review
the spatial requirements for accommodating the current learning activities because
the Thesis here presented intends to focus on the school building as it is perceived
today and which holds a contemporary curriculum. Only after identifying the concept
of adaptability when applied to the school brief and according to the contemporary
learning activities that are acknowledged today, can the methodology proposed on
this Thesis be constructed, which will be described in the following chapter290.
This part will address the relevance of adaptability for comprising with the learning
processes and the learning practices in the sense that, despite school’s physical Àxedness,
it has to be able to cope with the developing demands and curricula changeability,
as Hertzberger (2009) puts it on the upper quote. Then, and recognising the relation
between the school space and the learning practices, emphasis will be put on the
spatial implications that the evolution of the learning practices have brought for
adequately sheltering the teaching-learning processes. Finally, contemporary learning
practices will be addressed and explained. Acknowledging that the contemporary
paradigm is embedded with speciÀc spatial requirements then, the concept of
adaptability as the ability to continue to accommodate the changing activities, will
reÁect upon what those activities are, and what are the spaces’ needs to hold them.
289
Chapter 2. State of the art and critical revision of the concept of adaptability.
290
165
As the learning practices are currently decentralised from the classroom and
comprise direct learning amongst peers, besides the sole knowledge provision by
the educator, the learning process guided by informality also recognises informal
spaces and social activities as moments for knowledge creation and transmission.
Therefore, adaptability in educational spaces will have to be rethought from
previous experiences addressed in chapter 2.2291, because the learning activities are
broader and the spaces to hold them surpass the formal classroom to a wider array
of communal spaces, as interfaces for learning to occur. Thus, the methodology to
assess adaptability in current educational spaces proposed in this current Thesis292
will have to acknowledge that.
. Adaptability for comprising the learning processes and the learning

practices
From the initial motivation that explores the connection between Architecture and
Life, the school brief is considered to be a prominent case study. More than a stage,
the built space is a facilitator of the current pedagogical curriculum293. Monahan
(2000, 2002) addresses the concept of “built pedagogies”294 and Heitor (2005)
resorts to schools as an “educational tool”:
“School buildings are a particularly specialised type of public/

institutional buildings. They are designed to make use of space as an
educational tool regarding both the transmission of (socio-cultural-
scientiÀc-technical) knowledge and the promotion of the learning
capacity. They represent the physical place where to meet, search for
information, and study. A place where children and youth can get
together with other age groups, associate with each other, and take part
in things together - a place of vital importance for their social growth.”
(Heitor, 2005, p.44)
All in all, from a social, academic and professional current perspective, the study
of the secondary schools today is justiÀed, as a case study of a space enabler of
the learning process that simultaneously inÁuences and potentiates what happens
within, like a “life container” (Byrne, 2007, pp.23 -24) that matters to be investigated.
291
292
293
This has already been introduced in 1.3. The research question: Adaptability as a form of engagement
between Architecture and Life.
294
“Given the premise that built environments enable and constrain certain modes of social action and
interaction, educational structures embody curricula and values by design. I call these embodiments built
pedagogies. My ongoing research probes user (student/teacher) appropriation of built technological pedagogies
and the degree to which Áexible spaces can be structured for participation.” (Monahan, 2000, p.1)
166
Fig. 62. “The transactional worldview examines the interrelationship between the social and the
physical environments and the learner.”
(Lippman, 2010, p.20. Authors: Peter Lippman and Marius Calin) (edited)
Furthermore, Barker (1968) advocates the concept of “behavior settings”, from

which Lippman (2010) proposes “transactional settings” applied to school space,
which inÁuence and are inversely inÁuenced by events (Fig. 62):
“Behavior settings must be understood as transactional (or mutually

inÁuential), because it is the relationships between the human and
the nonhuman elements that inÁuence the learner and provide the
opportunities for learning. A transactional worldview recognizes that
learners inÁuence their social and physical learning environments,
which in turn inÁuence the behavior of the learners […]” (Lippman,
2010, p.19)
The choice of the school brief as a paradigmatic case study on the relation between
space and society is also supported by Bernstein’s studies (1971, 1973, 1975, 1990295)
on sociology of education, where he makes clear the analogy between social and
cultural reproduction. Bernstein goes further by stating that the children’s social
and pedagogical knowledge acquisition in the school inÁuences their behaviour
towards society at large:
“I want to talk about some of the consequences of education where the

school acts as a major source of social, occupational and cultural change.
It is well known that the school transforms the identities of many of
the children: transforms the nature of their allegiances to their family
and community, and gives them access to other styles of life and modes
of social relationships. […] The child’s response to the school is likely
295
See also a critical assessment of Bernestein’s studies by Domingos et al. (1986).
167
to transform the way in which he thinks and feels about his friends, his
community, and society as a whole.” (Bernstein, 1975, p.37) 296
Domingos et. al. (1986) also reÁect upon the context of education and consider
a potential coincidence with the social construction of the society, its constraints,
its organisation and its forms of discourse, which may imply that the educational
system mimics the social construction within its respective context297.
In 1999, Bernstein organises the ways of knowledge transmission and acquisition in

“horizontal” and “vertical”298 discourses. Moreover, for this knowledge transmission
to have greater potential this will imply a more participated and social place, for
the school both as an institution and a space, where knowledge exchange and
communication may occur. Quoting Bernstein:
“The greater the reduction of isolation and exclusion, the greater the
social potential for the circulation of strategies, of procedures, and
their ‘exchange’.” (Bernstein, 1999, p.160)
Loureiro (1998, 2000) in her Doctoral Thesis299, also considered Bernstein’s

approach to schools300, which also revolves around the parallel focused here between
296
This is stated by the study on Bernstein by Domingos et al. (1986): “Indeed, although the sources of radical
change reside in the economic and political structures, it is in the family and in school that mental structures are
shaped. These are the agencies that generate ways of thinking and feeling that may militate in favour or against
the changes in cultural reproduction.” (p.7)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Com efeito, se bem que as fontes de mudança radical
residam nas estruturas económica e política, é na família e na escola que smo moldadas as estruturas mentais. Smo
pois estas agrncias que geram formas de pensar e de sentir que podermo militar a favor ou contra as mudanças
na reproduçmo cultural.” (p.7)
297
Full quote in English: “The sociology of education, as an institutionalized discipline is a relatively recent
creation and is involved in a wider debate. [...] The international context of education, its content and
institutional forms, perform, in a condensed or explicit, and visibly or invisibly, the constraints and possibilities
of a given society and contain the distribution of power and the principles of social control. As a result,
educational structures are only comprehensible when envisaged within the total society.” (p.1)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A sociologia da educaçmo, que como disciplina
institucionalizada é de criaçmo relativamente recente, está envolvida num debate mais amplo. […] O contexto
internacional da educaçmo, seus conteúdos e formas institucionais realizam, de modo condensado ou explícito e
visível ou invisivelmente, os constrangimentos e possibilidades de uma dada sociedade e contrm a distribuiçmo
de poder e os princípios de controlo social. Como consequrncia, as estruturas educacionais smo apenas
compreensíveis quando perspectivadas em funçmo da sociedade total.” (p.1)
298
Bernstein deÀnes horizontal and vertical discourse: “A horizontal discourse entails a set of strategies which
are local, segmentally organised, context speciÀc and dependent, for maximising encounters with persons and
habitants.” (1999, p.159).
“[…] a vertical discourse takes the form of a coherent, explicit, and systematically principled structure,
hierarchically organised, as in the sciences, or it takes the form of a series of specialised languages with
specialised modes of interrogation and specialised criteria for the production and circulation of texts, as in the
social sciences and humanities.” (ibid.).
299
Loureiro, C. (2000). Classe, controle, encontro: o espaço escolar. Tese de Doutoramento – apresentada à Faculdade
de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de Smo Paulo.
After an earlier paper from 1998. See: Loureiro, C. (1998). Paradigmas do prédio escolar. Nutau: Arquitetura e
Urbanismo: Tecnologias Para o Século XXI, 2., 1998, Smo Paulo.
300
For further reading on Loureiro’s approach to Bernstein see Loureiro (1998) ‘3.1.2 Primeiro argumento: a
organizaçmo social da escola’ (pp.71-76).
168
“social organisation and spatial pattern”301 (Loureiro, 2000, p.5). This correlation is
assumed to be not only displayed by “visible”, “symbolic” or “functional” variables,
but also acknowledged by conÀguration, in regard to the relations within the spatial
structure. In this sense, the correlation between “social attributes” and “spatial
patterns” is interviewed by “the relational spatial structure of the building”, though
“conÀguration” 302(p.10).
Loureiro then tackles the “social logic of space” (Hillier, 1984) and resorts to
space syntax to approach this issue. Final results overlap the opening hypothesis,
concluding that space, analysed from its conÀguration, withstands both “social
relations of interaction, encounter, control and surveillance” and also its functional
organisation (Loureiro, 2000, p.310)303.
The educational system as a stage and also an enabler for the production of the
society is also conÀrmed by the OECD, that quotes: “Schools are places of urban
cohesion, since they are places where everybody can develop and grow accustomed
to a sense of belonging to local society” (Jourda apud OECD, 2009).
Furthermore, for its communitarian condition and for the activities that there take
place, the school brief can be considered a participated and very lived in place for
a wider community (Bingler, Quinn and Sullivan, 2003). It can also be a generator
of local and regional centrality that also enables diverse uses undertaken by various
users within the school community: students, teachers and staff, but also parents
and members of a neighbouring area that occupy the public school spaces with
external activities.
Moreover, the school brief is also an appropriate case study for an academic study in
the relation between space and use, because of the general patterns of programmed
activities on the weekly schedule, combined with the variability of the daily and
changeable events that can occur in that space, namely characterised by informality.
As for the architect’s accountability towards the society when working on the school
brief, both Lippman (2010) and Hertzberger (2008) underline its importance:
“Just as we see learning as second nature and an enlargement of one’s
301
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “O tema mais amplo deste trabalho é o estudo da
relaçmo entre organizaçmo social e padrmo espacial.” (Loureiro, 2000, p.5)
302
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “O argumento da relaçmo entre atributos sociais e
padrões espaciais é estendido, neste trabalho, buscando superar, de certa forma, as diÀculdades apresentadas
na teoria arquitetônica corrente. O argumento central é de que se alguma relaçmo há, ela nmo se revela ou se
esclarece apenas através da ordem visível, ou seja, dos aspectos visíveis, ou simbólicos da forma, aparrncia ou
caráter do espaço, ou pela funçmo, mas sim encontra-se subjacente na estrutura espacial relacional da ediÀcaçmo.
O argumento será explorado com o recurso ao conceito de conÀguraçmo.” (p.10)
303
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Os resultados da aplicaçmo dos procedimentos dmo
suporte à pressuposiçmo inicial. Estes apontam para as potencialidades da conÀguraçmo espacial em dar suporte
a relações sociais de interaçmo, encontro, controle, vigilância e outras necessárias para que a funçmo se realize.”
(Loureiro, 2000, p.310)
169
space, it should be second nature to architects to prime space to those

ends.” (Hertzberger, 2008, p.9)
So, this research is applied to school buildings because they represent a clear example
of a space whose features are crucial for the deÀnition of the living experience304.
They represent a facilitator of experiences and speciÀcally of the learning process,
as shown by several authors like Oblinger (2006), Kuh et al. (2006) and Woolner
(2015), who also assumes the physical, social and educational role of the school
building, as central to its design:
“[…] schools are both physical spaces and communities of educational

and social practices. The relationship of these two aspects of school are
vital for its success and are foundational for developing interdisciplinary
understandings of school design.” (Woolner, 2015, p.10).
Schneider (2002b) explores this relationship between the school space and learning,
concluding that: “School facilities affect learning. Spatial conÀgurations, noise,
heat, cold, light, and air quality obviously bear on students’ and teachers’ ability
to perform.” (Schneider, 2002b, p.16). Additionally, the author also concludes that
building age is not itself a deÀnite criterion that impacts student performance, and
that small school dimension holds a constructive feedback, whereas small class size
is still indeterminate because it involves more classes or potentially more schools
(pp.16-17). On another article published in the same year, Schneider (2002a)
addresses speciÀcally public schools from Washington and Chicago and reaches
similar outputs:
“This study conÀrms that poor facilities contribute to the high turnover
rates endemic to central urban school districts; in turn, high teacher
turnover leads to increased recruitment and training efforts that drain
schools of Ànancial and human capital, both of which are essential to
educational success.” (Schneider, 2002a, p.21)
In fact, both physical and psychological features are recognised as proven catalysts
for the learning process. Moore and Lackney (1994) study the school space with the
students’ performance both focusing not only on the built environment concerning
its materials, textures, technical requirements, soundprooÀng, lighting, thermal
conditions, conÀguration, proportion, area, or integration / segregation of spaces;
but also regarding space as a mediator of psychological, social and educational inter-
relations that are also inÁuential to student performance as “mediating variables”.
These authors established a theoretical model between physical “independent
304
The presentation of the case study, as an example of the signiÀcance of the living experience to the design,
has already been published in a peer review journal as: Coelho, C. (2015). The Living Experience as a design
content: from concept to appropriation. Ambiances Review, International Journal of Sensory Environment, Architecture
and Urban Space [En ligne]. Experiential simulation.
170
Independent Mediating Educational

Factors Factors Outcomes
Physical Environment
Class Size & Achievement Outcomes
Classroom Density Student Test
School Size Performance
Location & Noise
Behavioral:
Secluded Study Spaces
Student-Teacher Interaction
Visual/Auditory
Interruptions
Student Participation
Questioning behaviors
Disruptive behaviors
Attitudinal:
Teacher Morale
Teacher Attitudes
Student Attitudes
Physiological:
Blood pressure
Sensory irritation
Prosocial Outcomes:
Social Environment Self-concept
Instructional Strategies
Peer Tutoring
KEY
= Empirical evidence
= Hypothesized relationships
Fig. 63. “A mediational-interactional model of environmental factors affecting educational outcomes”

(Moore and Lackney, 1994, p.15) (edited)
factors”, behavioural “mediating factors” and the “social environment” with its
respective pedagogical practices, in their mutual interconnection and towards an
“educational outcome” (Fig. 63):
“[…] the physical setting, in addition to more familiar psychological

and social variables, has both direct and mediated affects on
prosocial and achievement outcomes, the conventional bottom-line
quantitative measures of educational performance.” (Moore and
Lackney, 1994, p.13)
Scott-Webber (2014) uses a Venn diagram to associate pedagogy, space and

technology (p.163) in a “holistic ecosystem” that establishes affordances between
the three. In its central position is “active learning”, embedded from the three
(Fig. 64). This diagram represents the “Active Learning Ecosystem framework”
conceived to “bring together disciplines from pedagogy, technology, and space in
one place to develop intended design solutions supporting the learner, the learning,
and the learning place for the learner of this 21st century” (p.166). Overall, this
framework is signiÀcant because it establishes associations individually between
education, space and technology and amongst all towards active learning, which
implies its reconsideration anew.
Peatross and Peponis (1995) explore the link between space and education from
a conÀgurational perspective, analysing space “not only as a dependent variable
reÁecting pedagogical principles, but also as an independent variable capable
171
Fig. 64. “Active Learning Ecosystem framework”

(Scott-Weber, 2014, p.163)
of generating its own pedagogical effects” (Peatross and Peponis, 1995, p.367).
Grounded on Bernstein’s (1975) knowledge transmission and Durkheim’s
(2014305) “mechanical” and “organic solidarity”, Peatross and Peponis analyse
space’s conÀguration towards encounters and density, and foremost its weight on
“pedagogical patterns” and “socialization” (p.379)306:
“Our argument, to be developed shortly, is that space not only reÁects

the educational system at hand, but also affects the spatial pattern
of socialization in such a way that these pedagogical codes may be
shifted.” (Peatross and Peponis, 1995, p.369)
Therefore, pedagogical developments in the schools’ curricula and in the learning

process, along with social changes from the proÀles of the school community
from the students, educators, school board, staff and parents, besides the on-
going technological achievements, all imply rethinking the learning process and
the learning spaces, reconsidering them at several levels like their conÀguration,
technology and materials.
. The evolution of the learning practices and the spatial implications
The teaching-learning practices that guide the 21st century will now be addressed,
assuming a new educational paradigm in its direct relation to the school space,
not aiming at an exhaustive study of the pedagogical evolution to this day, but the
assumption that current learning practices differ from previous ones and imply
speciÀc spatial requirements:
305
Consulted edition from 2014, original French edition from 1893.
306
For that purpose the authors resort to space syntax approach to two case studies.
172
“Education [...] is exposed to rapid and profound changes... [...] The

material infrastructure of education - the places and spaces where we
learn and teach - has an important role to play in both participating for
change and adapting to it.”307 (OECD, 1996, p.xi)
Gaffney et al. (2008) recognise this “educational reform” where interaction plays a
relevant role308 and Heitor and Pinto (2005) stress that this change deeply impacts
“school environment”:
“Developments in educational research place stress upon conventional

school buildings and their design, suggesting that school environment
in the 21st century will be radically different from that of the 20th
century [...]” (Heitor and Pinto, 2005)
Thus, it will be important to study how these pedagogical practices are processed
today, in what way and by what means; their implications in the design of
contemporary school space; and the interrelations between space and pedagogy.
In 1857 William Henry Knight paints The Village School (England, 1857) (Fig.
65a) depicting a school scene where the teacher holds a cane to punish his
student. Another example of a similar school scene from the same time period
is Albert Anker’s 1848 portrait of a classroom (Fig. 65b) in a German village,
where students are separated by gender and the male students are in the front
(Kühn, 2011, p.20).
This scene is appropriate to depict the proÀle of the student of the industrial age: the
dedicated, efÀcient and uncritical worker, educating “people who could efÀciently
operate within a system without questioning it” (Kühn, 2011, p.20). Today, the
passive theoretical exposition and the rigidity of the hierarchical teacher-student
relationship have been replaced by the students’ ability to built their knowledge,
decentralised from the classroom and the teacher (Fig. 65c).
Vygotsky’s (1978) concept of “interpsychological”309 deÀnes the child’s development

to be socially engaged310. This could be thought in terms of spatial dynamics,
307
Free translation to English from the French quote: “L’enseignement [….] est exposé aux aléas de changement
rapides et profonds. […]. L’infrastructure matérielle de l’enseignement - les lieux et les espaces dans lesquels on apprend
et on enseigne - a un rôle important à jouer à la fois pour participer au changement et pour s’y adapter.” (OCDE,
1996, p.xi). Consulted edition in French OCDE - Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Économiques.
308
“Over the years, quite a few pedagogical advances have been demonstrated to work effectively […] The
common factor in most of them is interaction.” (Gaffney et al., 2008, p.18)
309
“Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: Àrst, on the social level, and later, on the
individual level; Àrst, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This
applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher
functions originate as actual relationships between individuals” (Vygotsky, 1978, p.57)
310
See also Piagte’s approach (Piaget, 1948, 1971, 1975).
For further reading on Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s approaches to the child’s “construction of the arithmetic
knowledge for addition and subtraction operations” (free translation from the original Portuguese abstract
173
Fig. 65. a) The village school, by William Henry Knight, 1857

(Image’s source: www.leicestergalleries.com/19th-20th-century-paintings/d/william-henry-knight/10393)
b) The village school in 1848, by Albert Anker, 1896
(Located on the Kunstmuseum, Basel. Image’s source: www.the-athenaeum.org/art/full.php?ID=111125)
c) Titaan College Hoorn (NL), 1999-2004, by Herman Hertzberger
(Mccarter and Herzberger, 2015, p.219)
assuming that spaces for group gathering and social interaction are signiÀcant to be
accounted for in children’s learning spaces, which emphasises the widening of the
learning moments from seminars and content endowment activities, towards group
engagement and socio-cognitive interaction.
Wenger (2000) also argues for learning to be socially situated: “knowing is an act of
participation in complex ‘social learning systems’” (p.226) and the learning process
is bounded by the “competences” provided, but also by our social context and our
own “experience” 311 and changes along with them:
“Learning so deÀned is an interplay between social competence and

personal experience. It is a dynamic, two-way relationship between
people and the social learning systems in which they participate.
It combines personal transformation with the evolution of social
structures.” (Wenger, 2000, p.227)
Therefore, learning may occur on the interface between people and it is the
of Maria da Conceiçmo Ferreira’s Doctoral Thesis, 2003), see Ferreira (2003, 2008, 2010) and Ferreira and
Fernandes (2012).
311
“Knowing, therefore, is a matter of displaying competences deÀned in social communities. […] Socially deÀned
competence is always in interplay with our experience. It is in this interplay that learning takes place.” (ibid.)
174
gathering of people and the sharing of their knowledge that enable “communities
of practice”. These are considered: “[…] the basic building blocks of a social
learning system because they are the social ‘containers’ of the competences that
make up such a system.” (Wenger, 2000, p.229).
Also according to Wenger, they enable learning based on “three elements”: the
mutual relation between all members of the community which makes each member
intending to “contribute” to it, the interactions between the members produce a
“mutual engagement” and all have a “shared repertoire of communal resources”
that enables them to communicate (ibid.). This could be applied to school,
recognising that students may constitute “communities of practice” between their
peers and within those moment of interaction, learning occurs. If their meeting
implies learning, then it can happen not only in the classroom, but also in informal
spaces where students can actively socialise.
From the previous understanding of “communities of practice”, schools may

be understood as places that shelter those communities, deÀned by Lippman as
“learning communities” and classrooms as “learning centers”, as a “learner-centered
environment” (Lippman, 2011, p.22). Within these environments and before this
learning context, the educator passes from “content provider” to “facilitator” and
is no longer the sole vehicle for knowledge (ibid.) (Fig. 66). It could be added that if
the communities may change their members, from students, to faculty and staff, the
environment “must therefore also be designed to accommodate and support these
transformations” (ibid.), which leads to a pressing urge for adaptability applied to
“learner-centered environments”.
This concept is also addressed by Bransford, Brown and Cocking312 (1999, pp.133-
136) in How people learn: Brain, mind, experience and school, seeking to suit the spaces in
an individual manner per student and not generically for all:
“Overall, learner-centered environments include teachers who are

aware that learners construct their own meanings, beginning with
the beliefs, understandings, and cultural practices they bring to the
classroom. If teaching is conceived as constructing a bridge between
the subject matter and the student, learner-centered teachers keep a
constant eye on both ends of the bridge. The teachers attempt to get a
sense of what students know and can do as well as their interests and
passions – what each student knows, cares about, is able to do, and
wants to do.” (Bransford, Brown and Cocking, 1999, p.136)
Additionally, informality represents a signiÀcant feature of contemporary learning,
312
“We use the term “learner centered” to refer to environments that pay careful attention to the knowledge,
skills, attitudes, and beliefs that learners bring to educational setting.” (Bransford, Brown and Cocking, 1999,
pp.133-134)
175
Fig. 66. “Secondary environment: the layout of the traditional classroom where the teacher is the
performer/local point of the learning environment.” Vs “Potential activities occur routinely in a
traditional classroom where the teacher is the performer/local point of the learning environment.”
(Lippman, 2010, pp.13-14. Authors: Peter Lippman and Marius Calin)
accommodated in also informal spaces beyond “the formal instructor-facilitated

setting” of the classroom, such as “libraries and physical spaces that facilitate group
and individual academic activities and computer-assisted learning”. Informal spaces
and technological devices and practices overall bring changes regarding the space,
as “physical” and “virtual”; the learning moments, as programmed or “Áexible”
and “individually selected by the learner”; and the “content of learning”, as
embedded in the curriculum or “self-directed” (Hunley and Schaller, 2006, pp.167-
168). This implies that space can be both formal and informal, the activities can
be programmed or non-programmed, and learning can be accomplished by both
curricular and extra-curricular activities313.
From the assumption that learning can occur outside the classroom, Lippman (2010)
refers to “primary” and “secondary environments”, in which the Àrst holds a more
recurrent and engaged experience of learning, and the latter a more spontaneous,
occasional and “anonymous” one314 (Lippman, 2010, p.11).
Thus, knowledge can be provided also in “secondary environments”, implying that

a variety of spaces are added to the formal classroom, which also enables these
“communities of practice”. Thinking about these spaces in a gathered way and
also expanding them to each one’s “neighborhood” is paramount to understand
the school facilities, holding a broad range of learning activities315. Still, these must
313
The differentiation between learning activities but also its overall consideration as learning moments will be
central for the entropy analysis of the proposed methodology that categorises these activities. See chapter 4.2.2.
Description of all possible activity allocations to educational environments.
314
“Primary environments promote opportunities for people to meet regularly, develop personal relationships,
and participate in a variety of fundamental goal-directed activities. Secondary environments are places where the
relationships are essentially temporary and anonymous (Stokols, 1999)” (Lippman, 2010, p.11) (Italics from the
original quote).
315
“School environments must not only have the qualities of religious institutions and community centers but
176
Fig. 67. “Learning Path – Niche, Alcove, & Hub”s”

(Lippman, 2002, p.5) (edited)
be thought as a “layered environment” that gathers corridors and classrooms in a

whole space and that shelters that diversity of activities:
“Classroom spaces promote passive engagements […] If students

are to acquire practical skills, the organization of both corridors and
classroom spaces need to be reevaluated as layered environments
that promote individual, one-to-one, small-group, and large-group
transactions […]” (Lippman, 2010, p.13)
Considering learning beyond secluded and formal spaces, circulations also

embody a relevant role that exceeds movement and grasps informal learning
and “transactions” as a “learning path”. Lippman (2002) acknowledges them as
“activity settings that are integrated, Áexible, and mediated systems” (p.5). These
can also be punctuated by “niches, alcoves, hubs and nodes”316 (Fig. 67), which can
display furniture like chairs, tables or technological devices, available for group and
individual learning activities, extending learning activities outside the classroom,
so that “[…] the scientiÀc knowledge gained in the classroom may continue and
extend the appropriation of knowledge as individuals transact within the school
setting” (ibid.).
Boys (2011) in his book Towards creative learning spaces: Re-thinking the architecture
of post-compulsory education claims that rethinking the “conceptual framework” of
also must provide a variety of learning opportunities for the diverse ways in which people acquire knowledge
[...] Unfortunately, most learning environments have not been designed to address the variety of ways in which
people acquire knowledge and master skills […]” (Lippman, 2010, p.12).
316
Lippman explains the difference between these spaces, which is displayed in the Àgure. Niches hold high
relevance for our current Thesis and will be considered further on, because the case study chosen: Quinta das
Flores School, holds several niches along the main corridors in both the Àrst and second Áoor plans. See 4.
Application of the methodology in the case study.
177
learning spaces implies a full consideration not only of formal and informal spaces,
but a wider assumption of teaching and learning practices that these comprise,
concerning: “widening participation, communities of practice, inclusive pedagogies,
business and community engagement, entrepreneurship, research and consultancy,
new technologies, health and wellbeing, resource-effectiveness and sustainability.”
(Boys, 2011, p.5) Indeed, all these parameters could be critically reÁected upon in
their relation to a comprehensive concept of school space. The overall learning
space is translated onto environments that hold this broad learning experience,
where practice, group gathering and creative thinking are perceived as signiÀcant
for learning and for educational spaces.
Engaging the community or focusing on participation is also a stressed subject by

literature, which considers a participated design as more appealing one, and enabler
of a more comprehensive space use and of a higher sense of belonging. Besides,
the broader participation of the community also affords a more operative and
“resource-effective” use of the school facilities, widening its activities and foremost
its users. Naturally, the wellbeing of this community has to be considered, providing
physical and emotional comfort to its users within space. Finally, the use of ICT
(information and communication technology) is paramount to recognise the current
learning and socialisation modes that also report to spatial practices and use patterns.
All in all, these represent relevant components of contemporary learning practices

to be thought in a holistic manner, by means of a full and comprehensive gathering
of learning moments and not by restricting these activities to contrasting scenarios,
or simply by perceiving the learning practices as opposing formal and informal
activities. Boys expresses the Àrst as “and/and” situation and the latter in the sense
of “either/or” (Boys, 2011, p.6) (Fig. 68).
According to Boys, more than a representation of learning that provides meaning

by what is perceived, space also enables physical and emotional stimuli to its
users, besides the social meaning that it conveys and the attitudinal and cultural
knowledge it affords (Boys, 2011, p.10), recognising that: “Space is therefore
one of our means of thinking about the world and of embodying thought into
action.” (p.6).
The belief in this learning model is anchored in predecessors such as John Dewey
- in the development of the students’ capacity for reasoning and criticism; Maria
Montessori and the Montessori Method - which encouraged the primacy of student
activity and individuality for the parallel development of the body and the intellect;
and Helen Parkhurst and the Dalton Plan - which provided speciÀc training for
each student according to their interests and abilities.
178
a) b)
Fig. 68. a) “Formal and informal learning spaces shown as a pattern of ‘either/or’ binary oppositions
and associations”; b) “Learning space shown as a pattern of ‘and/and’ encounters and practices”
(Boys, 2011, pp.5, 7) (edited)
In fact, today’s student proÀle is more creative, reÁective and capable in the
network of relationships. It has the capacity to deal actively and responsibly
with the new situations and contexts of change, through its capacity for
decision, criticism and initiative. Besides, the teaching-learning practice is
more “individual-based”, focusing on individual proÀles and speciÀcities
(Hertzberger, 2008, p.8).
At the same time, in the 1980s, the changes brought about by the rapid technological
advances in the Àeld of new information technologies became a preponderant
theme for the design of the school space, which now integrates the non-face-to-face
component (Figs. 69a, b).
Besides, the book, today, is no longer the only learning tool, nor the memorisation
of facts the only teaching paradigm. From the new information technologies as a
vehicle of knowledge, the available information is immeasurable, which implies a
new conception of space to house digital information terminals as well as technical
requirements on the most demanding physical spaces:
“Through the application of information technology, today’s learning

spaces have the potential to serve the new learning paradigm and at
the same time meet the needs and expectations of the most recent
generation of students: the Net Generation317.” (Brown, 2005, p.174)
Furthermore, learning also occurs within the network itself, ‘spaceless’ or spread
along diverse learner-centred environments, not necessarily on the same room
317
Oblinger and Oblinger (2005) refer to “net generation, while OECD (2012) refers to “digital generation”.
179
a) b)
Fig. 69. a) “Contemporary thought about learning and teaching’, division, Orphelinat (orphanage
National des Chemins de Fer, Colonie d’Avernes, France, c. 1920”
(Burke and Grosvenor, 2008, p.11) (edited)
b) “Wireless Laptops Provide Information Access and Clearer Sight Lines”
(Oblinger, 2006, p.224, Photo: Andrew Nolte ©2005 Estrella Mountain Community College)(edited)
or on the same building. Indeed, technology enables higher “connectivity” or

“connectedness”, as the “ability to link with others” by means of “dedicated
networks, Àxed or mobile, or through the Internet”318. This provides a wider or
newer network for social interaction and the gathering and communication of new
or existing information (OECD, 2012a, pp.16-17).
Brown and Lippincott (2003) concur with this assumption, stating that traditional
classrooms are not the sole space for learning, which implies the consideration of
a more holistic concept of “learning spaces” and that the concept of classroom
per se is progressing for handling with a “new functionality”, mostly due to new
learning practices and new technology that comprise learning in groups beyond the
classroom:
“In the past, if you spoke of something like “learning spaces” in the
context of higher education, attention focused on classrooms: physical
spaces designed to support face-to-face teaching and learning. […]
While classrooms can still be regarded as our core learning spaces, it is
obvious that a host of new factors and opportunities has dramatically
changed this landscape. Indeed, so much is changing that we are forced
318
According to OECD (2012a) technology referred in the 1980s to information technology, such as computer
and applications like “word processing, database management and calculation”, then it spread to “devices
intended to digitally support media, such as laser discs and DVDs” and it then expanded with the Internet in
the middles of the 1990s to “all technologies and applications intended to support communication and provide
access to digital information and media”, which has also been widened to online access through mobile phones.
All in all, according to OECD, “information and communication technologies” include: “computers, networks,
mobile phones and all the hybrids or new technology developments such as smart phones, tablets, digital paths
or netbooks as well as the applications that can be run on them.” (OECD, 2012a, p.16).
180
to use a broader term like learning spaces to capture this wider range
of venues for teaching and learning. Focusing just on classrooms is no
longer an option.” (Brown and Lippincott, 2003, p.14)
This will bear inÁuence for the design of physical spaces and their technological
requirements, but also the teaching-learning practices and the relation between
various environments within the building and amongst several schools:
“Multiuser virtual environments and ubiquitous computing will allow

users to move beyond the desktop interface to much more immersive
environments that enhance learning. In turn, learning styles will evolve
based on mediated immersion and distributed learning communities.
[Chris] Dede details the implications of neomillennial learning for
investments in physical facilities, technology infrastructure, and
professional development.” (Oblinger and Oblinger, 2005, p.9)
All things considered, the knowledge provided to the students in the classroom may
be evaluated and communicated in other spaces. So learning spaces regard the way
in which they enable or hinder this knowledge transference, spatially and socially
located. Hertzberger puts it in a very clear quote: “new forms of learning will
require new spatial conditions alongside the traditional teacher-fronted lessons.”
With the changes in educational methods and in the space where they take place,
today’s learning areas are ampliÀed for the development of activities beyond
passive exposure, such as group work, individualised learning and the creation
of networks of relationship between students and subjects. According to Kühn
(2011) the space that held 60 students in the 19th century with the premise: “one
square meter per child, one-and-a-half square metres for the teacher and one-
and-a-half square meters for the stove” (Kühn, 2011, p.20), today allows the
allocation of 25 (ibid.).
Gradually, the classroom ceased to be the unique centre of education (Fig. 70a),
being rethought at the formal, material, environmental and pedagogical level in its
relation to the whole (Fig. 70b), as proven by different conÀgurations of the school
spaces in the Darmstadt (1951) and Marl (1957-58) schools by Scharoun. This is
speciÀed by Alegre (2009):
“A more detailed analysis of the evolution of its spatial characteristics,

enables the identiÀcation of the levels in which changes occurred:
at the formal level with the change on the dimension of the space
and on its geometric conÀguration, traditionally of rectangular plan;
181
a) b)
Fig. 70. a) Photo from the exhibition on the “100 years of Heritage: memory and identity –
Portugal 1910-2010”, in Palácio Nacional da Ajuda, Lisbon, 2010, coordinated by Jorge Custódio
(Luís Miguel Correia)
b) Informal spaces for learning: creative learning and group interaction
(OECD, 2011, p.12)
in terms of habitable conditions, with improved natural lighting,

transversal ventilation, and heating; at the level of the opening of space
from the classroom to the outside; and at the level of the functional
organisation of space, expressed in a greater spatial Áexibility, enabling
new groupings of students and new uses of space. The redesign of
school furniture adapting it to the scale of the child and to the new
pedagogical guidelines, was, also, decisive in the conception of this new
spatiality. “319 (Alegre, 2009, pp.82-83)
The diversity of the students is enhanced by the diversity of teaching-learning

methods and consequently by the diversity of spaces to accommodate them. Thus,
the spaces assume different conÀgurations according to the variability of uses such
as: spaces that allow the discovery and the independent creation of knowledge;
spaces for group work and knowledge sharing; spaces for lecture and knowledge
exposition; spaces of knowledge evaluation; spaces of social encounter and
spaces of individual reÁection; multipurpose spaces and specialised spaces; and
predominantly non-curricular spaces and informal spaces, where the socialisation
also enables learning:
319
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Uma análise mais detalhada da evoluçmo das suas
características espaciais, permite identiÀcar em que níveis incidiram estas alterações: a nível formal com a
alteraçmo da dimensmo do espaço e da sua conÀguraçmo geométrica, tradicionalmente de planta rectangular;
a nível das condições de habitabilidade, com a melhoria das condições de iluminaçmo natural, de ventilaçmo
transversal, e de aquecimento; a nível da abertura do espaço da sala de aula para o exterior; e a nível da
organizaçmo funcional do espaço, expressa numa maior da [sic] Áexibilidade espacial, possibilitando novos
agrupamentos de alunos e novos usos do espaço. O redesenho do mobiliário escolar adaptando-o à escala da
criança e às novas orientações pedagógicas, foi, também, determinante na concepçmo desta nova espacialidade.”
(Alegre, 2009, pp.82-83) (Underlined text from the original quote)
182
“The emergence of the constructivist learning paradigm has led

to a focus on learning rather than teaching. It allows us to revaluate
classrooms and to consider informal learning spaces as loci for
learning. If learning is not conÀned to scheduled classroom spaces and
times, the whole campus - anywhere and at any time - is potentially an
effective learning space.” (Brown and Long, 2006, p.116)
A report from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) 2003 on

Boise State University (Belcheir, 2003) already demonstrated that students’ learning
was perceived by the individual creation of knowledge, the independent search
for sources to assemble in the students’ work, a students’ proÀle set by critical
thinking and inquisitiveness and group discussion were some of the most relevant
activities that students considered to be a part of their learning process. From the
305 students that participated in the survey, it as found that: “Working on papers
or projects that required integration of ideas from a variety of sources, asking
questions in class, and discussing ideas from classes outside of class were reported
by both freshmen and seniors as some of the most frequent activities that impacted
learning” (Belcheir, 2003, p.1). According to Belcheir, this is considered to be
frequent in urban institutions and not speciÀc of this school’s feedback (ibid.).
All in all, contemporary learning practices enclose the use of new technologies for
knowledge acquisition, study and evaluation; informal spaces not deÀned by the
boundaries of their walls and the contents exposed within classes; socialisation as
a means for communication and peer interaction; and active and creative activities,
all with learning potential. This results overall in new student and educator proÀles
and the acknowledgement of new contexts where the teaching-learning process
can occur.
From these changes derive respective spatial models and design options for the
learning environments, and also a research for concepts and solutions per se that
respond and enhance those practices and that change. The space in which teaching
occurs recognises a new proÀle as “learner-centered environments” (Bransford,
Brown and Cocking, 1999). The passive theoretical lecture and the rigidity of
the hierarchical teacher-student relationship have been replaced by the students’
empowerment to build the knowledge, decentralised from the classroom that
gradually ceases to be the sole learning space. Learning environments accommodate
the creation, sharing, exhibition and evaluation of knowledge, as well as social
encounter and individual reÁection.
At the same time, and as seen, the changes brought by the rapid advancement of
new information technologies are predominant for the design of the school space,
which now integrates the “Net Generation” component (Oblinger and Oblinger,
2005) and its technical requirements.
183
Thus, changes in the school space and its characteristics such as morphology,
acoustics, temperature, lighting and air quality play a preponderant role as mediator
of psychological, social and educational interrelationships and the uses of the
community. These transformations, compared to new forms of teaching and
their impact on learning, also determine their relevance as an investment factor,
“providing an anchor for social revitalisation and economic development” (Heitor,
2011b, p.35).
. Contemporary learning practices and the concept of adaptability
The previous recognition that new pedagogical strategies imply rethinking the
use, the conÀguration and the location of the learning spaces is also supported by
Brown and Long’s (2006) quote:
“New strategies for enabling learning and accommodating the multiple

demands on student time have led to rethinking the use, design, and location
of learning spaces.” (Brown and Long, 2006, p.116)
Besides, this contemporary learning paradigm implies not only a reconsideration of

the classrooms, but also of the overall school space and the acknowledgement of
other active learning environments that “support mobility”, “enrich pathways, by
[…] providing opportunities for creative interaction” and “blend and blur activities”
(Worthington, 2007, p.18).
Overall, and as already seen, the contemporary learning experience contemplates

formal and informal activities occurring in formal and informal spaces in the school.
Activities such as group work, formal classes, group presentations, evaluation
moments and general conferences, besides socialisation and peer interaction (both
in scheduled events during classes, as well as in spontaneous meetings decentralised
from the classroom), all represent moments of a thorough learning experience. Thus,
each of these activities implies speciÀc spatial features (Fig. 71a), which will have to be
accounted for in the existing and future educational buildings. In fact, today’s schools
bear mixed curricular options that add further complexity to the design (Fig. 71b).
Accordingly, adaptable learning spaces accommodate a more extensive range of

activities and users, which are able to cope with curricular, technological and social
changes in a long-run, by lessening the frequency of future interventions in the
built object due to its pre-perceived provision in the design320.
320
An initial explanation of the adaptability methodology developed in this Thesis has been explained in the 3rd
International Symposium Formal Methods in Architecture, in 30 November - 2 December 2016, with further publishing
of the paper on which the communication was based. It will be published as: Coelho, C. (in publication). A
Gathered Methodology Towards Enhancing Adaptable Learning Spaces. In D. Viana, F. Morais, J. Vaz (Eds.).
184
a) b)
Fig. 71. a) “Linking pedagogy and space”
(Fisher, 2006, p.17 Source: Fisher, K, TEFMA Seminar, Brisbane (March, 2005)
and Christchurch (July, 2005), adapted from Scott-Webber (2004)) (edited)
b) Learning settings
(Fisher, 2005a, p.10)
The school brief has been the subject of several publications and architectural
studies by different authors like Sanoff (North Carolina) (2010, 2007, 2001,
2000, 1992), Hertzberger (Delft) (2010, 2009, 2008, 2000, 1991), McCarter and
Herzberger (2015), Lackney (Wisconsin-Madison) (2003, 2001; Moore and Lackney,
1994) and Fisher (Australia) (2007, 2006, 2005a, 2005b, 2001). It has also been
the main subject of several and relevant academic events (OECD, 2009; OECD/
CELE 2009; OECD, 2005a, 2005b; Séminaire à L’élargissement des Fonctions des
Batiments Scolaires, 1996).
All in all, school buildings are being rethought, not only at a national level by the
Secondary School Modernisation Programme in Portugal, but also internationally,
by similar programmes and renown international institutions, like the American
Schoolworks, composed by mediators that support the school communities for a
participated experience in the school environment, besides the English ‘Building
Schools for the Future’ (Department for Education and Skills, 2003; National Audit
OfÀce, 2009), the Scottish ‘Building our future’ (Scottish Government, 2003a,
200b) and the American National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (Bingler,
Quinn and Sullivan, 2003; Nair and Fielding, 2005)321.
Autonomously, the discipline of Architecture has been currently exploring the

dichotomy of space and use, in the search for answers and the conceptualisation
of methods that answer both today’s and tomorrow’s needs by means of adaptable
solutions to the current issues and the possibility of future change.
Formal Methods in Architecture and Urbanism. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

321
This is also referred in Veloso, Sebastimo, Marques and Duarte (2015, p.71).
185
In the book Linking architecture and education: Sustainable design for learning environments,
Taylor (2009) ponders on the relevance of this dyadic relation between “architecture
and education”, which could be deepened during the programming stage for
architects and stakeholders322:
“Inclusion of stakeholders in the programming process from the

beginning helps participants see the planning and design process as
an organic whole. Discoveries made in early programming later form
the basis for the design, usage, and assessment of the learning facility
upon completion. Linking architecture and education at each stage of
the planning and design process also provides a new value system for
determining the worth of different elements of the project, especially
in light of budget constraints. […] ” (Taylor, 2009, p.120)
Taylor resorts to Preiser to advance on the needs architecture should fulÀl related
to “body, mind and spirit” towards the “habitability”. Physically, space needs to
be healthy and safe, prevented from using dangerous elements, economic and
environmentally suitable and land use concerned; in regard to the mind, space needs
to focus on “adequate space, spatial relationships, adjacency, and communication
systems” and also on the role of technology323; to be psychologically effective
space has to be concerned with aesthetic, colour, lighting, sensitiveness, cultural
context, … amongst other requests (Taylor, 2009, p.121) (Fig. 72). This is central to
acknowledge educational architecture’s programming as important for future stages
and also to recognise learning and cognitive prerequisites and comfort requirements
in a congregated process along with physical requests (p.122). All these contribute
for “good design” with bettered habitability, which is relevant for schools where
children’s bodies and minds are being developed324.
By and large, these cannot be tackled on the programme by Àxed models, even
if standards can act as regulator of the requirements, but those needs have to be
critically and contextually analysed and within a gathered and participated process
with the users:
“Qualitative standards for architecture that truly support school

function, learning, and student happiness are not necessarily built into
codes and educational speciÀcations. Architectural adequacy standards
establish the acceptable levels for the physical condition, capacity,
322
“The programming process can educate all stakeholders about the true educational value of well-constructed
schools.” (Taylor, 2009, p.120)
323
“Technology, spaces that support changing educational delivery systems, multiple use, Áexibility, adjustable
lighting, storage, and deployability and ergonomics of furniture also support performance. An environment
rich in cues or prompts for learning [...] supports learning, the mind, and cognition.” (Taylor, 2009, p.121)
324
“Their spirits suffer when learning environments are dirty or in disarray, in need of repair, too large and
impersonal, devoid of local culture or sociable elements and locked away from community, or lacking spaces for
individual reÁection and privacy. Time spent in poorly designed and unhealthy portables also sends a negative
message. Good design responds to these threats to the habitability of learning environments.” (p.125)
186
Fig. 72. “The Habitability Framework: Transfer of Maslow’s Levels

of Human Functioning to Habitability Levels of Architecture”
(Taylor, 2009, p.133 © 2007 Anne Taylor Associates)
educational suitability, and technological infrastructure of school

buildings. Standards are vital for their “watchdog” function and for the
basic safety and access they provide for the users of public buildings.
Unfortunately, in the interpretation of standards, square footage and
efÀciency have been set up against imagination and creativity, as if the
two viewpoints were completely incompatible. More needs to be done
to connect school facilities design to educational best practices and
user satisfaction, and we need to expect more of all participants in the
planning process.” (Taylor, 2009, pp.121-122)
Within this comprehensive approach to educational spaces and the “link” between
architecture and education, Taylor also remarks the relation between the “community
and the learner” (Taylor, 2009, pp.247-275)325. Schools can be a physical and social
aggregator, attracting the community to its facilities and learning environment, in
such a way: “Schools are a part of, not apart from, community.” (p.247). In this
sense, these are also embedded in the cultural and social context of that community
and reÁect it within space and by the activities, events and experience that its space
holds.
Schools can engage a larger community or can even welcome external users after the
curricular schedule, as “mixed-use facilities” (Taylor, 2009, p.248); or hold relevance
towards its “neighborhood revitalization” by means of “retroÀtting schools and
adaptive reuse of existing community facilities” (p.249) and for improving its
land use and urban representativeness326. Taylor addresses the concept of “total
community” widespread beyond its physical premises and students:
325
This can be related to Bernstein’s studies previously analysed at the beginning of this chapter.
326
Both these situations occur in the present with Quinta das Flores School, the case study of our current Thesis.
187
“It is time to dissolve the literal and Àgurative walls that isolate schools
from their communities. The total community is an interdisciplinary
environment that can be seen as a treasure chest of learning
manifestations and educational resources.” (Taylor, 2009, p.247)
This is also taken up by Bingler, Quinn and Sullivan (2003) in Schools as Centers of
Community: A Citizen’s Guide for Planning and Design”, in which schools can play this
role when: “They more effectively integrate with the community, or they extend
the learning environment to use the community’s full range of resources.” 327
(Bingler, Quinn and Sullivan, 2003, p.3). According to these authors “the learning
environment should be Áexible and adaptable” to changing needs that answer to
shifting community requirements, evolving learning contents and practices and
emerging technologies (p.13). These constraints will imply the reconsideration of
educational spaces and cannot be compelled to a strict solution (ibid.).
Consequently, the concept itself of adaptability applied particularly for this brief,
becomes quite signiÀcant, having already been interpreted by a broad range of
authors and applied to different briefs, such as dwellings (Habraken, 1972; Rabeneck
et. al., 1974), hospitals (Cowan, 1963) and ofÀce buildings (Duffy and DEGW,
1998)328.
Particularly, on educational spaces, adaptability assumes extensive signiÀcance,

during the design process, but also along all the building’s lifecycle through individual
or collective appropriation. Indeed, the possibility of a school to be adapted to
future uses, and yet still unpredictable needs, while evolving along with them, will
provide a thorough spatial answer from the building, will have impact on student
achievement and will represent a more sustainable and lasting investment for longer.
In the book Planning and Designing Schools, Brubaker (1998) addresses architects’
concerns on the forthcoming needs of schools and users that are still unforeseen by
tackling adaptability and Áexibility from previously experiences in ofÀce buildings
(Fig. 73). Brubaker assumes that Áexible spaces are “open and not irrevocably
committed to only one plan of rooms” and that their “mechanical and electrical
systems are easily modiÀed to satisfy new needs” (Brubaker, 1998, p.33). Schools
could either be newly designed or provided by adaptive research-use, but all should
embrace future uses, which could be related to future changes into another building
327
“At their best, schools that serve as centers of community should:
Help meet a community’s leisure, recreational, and wellness needs
Be accessible to people of all ages
Encourage more active parental involvement in school activities
Support relationships with local businesses that are productive to students and supportive of the local
economy
Promote participation by members of the community in a variety of ways […]
Be places where creative space conÀgurations expand school use, where learning occurs after school […]”
(Bingler, Quinn and Sullivan, 2003, p.8)
328
188
a) b) c) d)
Fig. 73. a)“Flexible space between outer shell and inner core”; b)“Schools need some adaptable
space”; c)“Schools must grow and change” ; d)“OfÀce buildings provide re-deployable space”
(Brubaker, 1998, p.32,34)
brief. In this sense: “The school of the future will be planned with future reuse in
mind.” (p.34)
For designing a school, Brubaker tackles some ideas: the fact that its “form” is
determined by the programme set and by its location site (Brubaker, 1998, p.34) and
the need for adaptable space “to accommodate a variety of learning styles” within
different size rooms (p.35). Schools are also considered places that engage a larger
community, and innovation is required to accomplish more “effective” learning
(p.37). Despite previous educational experiments, classrooms are recognised as still
present in the school design329, even if different plans can house a set of classrooms:
from the “compact gridiron”, to the “organic”, to the “double-loaded corridor”,
the “single-loaded outdoor circulation”, the “paired classrooms”, the “clustered
Àve-sided classrooms”, the “hexagonal or octagonal classrooms”, the “small house
plan”, the “medium-size house”, or the “open plan” (pp.44-46).
In this book, obsolescence is addressed, suggesting the provision for: social and usable
changes, the inclusion of technology, community participation, acknowledging the
users, maintenance, supportive and storing spaces and Áexible equipment. But it is
also deeply related to “the design of Áexible learning and teaching spaces” (Bordwell,
1998, pp.151-154). Finally, in Brubaker’s “vision and choice for the future” 330 it is
concluded that schools need to be individually considered, recognising possible
changes on future needs, where both Áexibility and adaptability play a major role:
“Schools, like people, should be one-of-a-kind organisms. They need

space that is adaptable to changing needs. They need Áexible facilities
329
“The standard classroom survives. Efforts to change it, cluster it, add technology, subdivide and reconÀgure
it, and reshape it have met with some success, but the classroom for thirty students (or for twenty-eight or
twenty-four or twenty) still exists in almost all public and private schools.” (p.44)
330
Title of the last chapter of the book (Brubaker, 1998, pp.191-194)
189
that can, at a minimal cost, be converted from classrooms to seminars, to

individual study space, to study rooms for Àve students. Architecture for
education should facilitate the evolution of future schools.” (Brubaker,
1998, p.192)
In the publication The Impact of School Environments: A literature review (Higgins et

al., 2005) it is concluded that school’s physical provision impacts educators and
students, speciÀcally: “[…] inadequate temperature control, lighting, air quality and
acoustics have detrimental effects on concentration, mood, well-being, attendance
and, ultimately, attainment.” (p.36), as previous literature references had already
established. Nevertheless, this association concerns other contextual variables that
cannot be abstracted from the actual scenario where they are embedded. So, after
a literature review, the publication suggests design solutions to be “individualised,
organic and local”, which makes adaptability and Áexibility as valuable assets:
“Indeed, the most successful are likely to be those which are seen as
interim solutions and which have within them elements of Áexibility and
adaptability for new cohorts of learners and teachers, new curriculum
demands and new challenges.” (Higgins et al., 2005, p.37)
More recently, in a RIBA publication on Future Schools: Innovative Design for Existing
and New Buildings (Mirchandani and Wright, 2015), “managing change” also holds
a central position for school buildings that “are the very foundation of the future
social, cultural and economic wellbeing of our country” according to the then
RIBA’s president Stephen Hodder (Hodder, 2015, p.viii). SpeciÀcally, change can be
prompted by different situations such as: “government policy”, “evolving learning
practice”, “local circumstances”, “routine cycle of change”, “evolution of the
school as an institution” and “new headteacher”, which establishes this to be related
to physical, legal, social, educational and institutional constraints. So, managing the
“pace of change” is concerned to continuous renewals on space so that it performs
to its best for the noticed needs, according to the available resources, as an “adapting
to thrive” standpoint (Johnson, 2015, p.147).
In the publication Building Excellence: Exploring the implications of the Curriculum for
Excellence for School Buildings, Worthington (2007) also approaches change, assuming:
“Buildings as a catalyst for change” (p.15). Change can, thus, be an opportunity for
strategic decision-making on the building’s uses, spaces and management (p.17). By
addressing change within the DEGW’s work, “four levels of decision-making” and
respective timespans: “shell”, “services”, “scenery” and “settings”331 are embraced
throughout the building’s lifecycle (p.15). But overall, these decisions are primarily
related to learning and committed to people on regard to “human interaction” and
“quality of life”, rather than technology or speciÀc subjects (p.18).
331
Recalling Duffy and Brand’s layers of change.
190
The focus on adaptability has been a constant in studies published by the OECD332, but
if in the 1970s this concern approached the prefabrication, modularity and possibility
of rapid change of components, as a way to rapidly change the space, currently it
translates into customisation, “on creating a variety of spaces in a range of different
sizes” (Blyth, 2011, p.16). According to the OECD criteria, adaptability today remains
a qualiÀer of the school space and a requirement for schools of excellence, which
coexists with the social involvement of the community in the building.
OECD’s publications: Designing for Education. Compendium of Exemplary Educational

Facilities 2011 (OECD, 20011), PEB Compendium of Exemplary Educational Facilities
(OECD, 2006a), 21st Century Learning Environments (OECD, 2006b) and Designs for
Learning: 55 Exemplary Educational Facilities (OECD, 2001), all highlight representative
school buildings from distinct contexts and countries within the time frame of each
referred book.
In a more recent publication (OECD, 2011) the school building was appraised
according to the following criteria: “innovative design, Àtness for purpose
sustainability and safety” (p.45). In addition, it is also appreciated that schools
enable appropriation admitting different uses and users, resort to new technologies
and enhance current pedagogical practices:
“[…] these facilities illustrate an architecture that is “owned” by its

community, spaces that permit and encourage individual and group
learning, a variety of spaces and volumes that inspire educators,
students and parents alike and enable users to enjoy learning and living
together.” (OECD, 2011, p.45)
Consequently, OECD considers as exemplary “facilities that support today’s

education needs, facilities that serve as a learning tool for students and are responsive
to curriculum changes” (OECD, 2011, p.46). Adaptability is therefore a signiÀcant
requirement for a school to continue to pursue and potentiate the evolving learning
model and its technological approach, crucial for today’s framework.
It is also noteworthy at this point that this publication by the OECD lists as
“exemplary” 60 schools from 28 countries, in which Portugal is represented with
6 schools (OECD, 2011). The publication is structured by three teaching levels
and the reference to Portuguese schools can be found twice in each teaching level.
Arcos School Complex (in Óbidos, by Claúdio Sat) (Fig. 74a) and Gabriel Pereira
Secondary School (in Évora, by Jomo Lúcio Lopes) are referred within the schools
of multiple levels. Popular Kindergarten (in Cacém, by Nadir Bonacorso and Sónia
Silva) and Kindergarten of Bicesse (in Cascais, by José Martinez Silva and Miguel
Beleza) are listed in the pre-primary and primary schools. For the secondary level,
which is the one to be studied under this research, the mentioned schools are:
332
For earlier ones see Oddie (1966, 1975) and OECD (1976).
191
a)
b) c)
Fig. 74. a) Arcos School Complex, Óbidos (Sat, 2010, p.89) (edited)
b) Passos Manuel Secondary School, Lisbon (Heitor, 2011, pp.10-11) (edited)
c) Soares dos Reis Artistic School, Porto (OECD, 2011, p.217)
Passos Manuel Secondary School (in Lisbon, by Victor Mestre and SoÀa Aleixo)
(Fig. 74b) and Soares dos Reis Artistic School (in Porto, by Carlos Prata with Nuno
Barbosa) (Fig. 74c)333.
Other schools could also be mentioned, as well as other publications namely by

the OECD. In 2006 OECD publishes 21st Century Learning Environments from a
conference in the United Kingdom in 2004 with contributors from 22 countries334.
The “emerging themes” for the school building were considered as: the context of
change and its impact for designing schools; new technologies; inclusive access to
education335; sustainable design; community participation in the design; designing
schools for enhancing learning336; and design quality (OECD, 2006b).
333
Original Portuguese names of these mentioned schools: Complexo Escolar dos Arcos, Escola Secundária
Gabriel Pereira, Jardim de Infância Popular, Infantário de Bicesse, Escola Secundária Passos Manuel and Escola
Artística de Soares dos Reis.
334
This conference aimed to “investigate how different countries deÀne and use innovative design in past and
present learning environments, and to discuss how current trends and approaches in innovative design will
affect future learning environments.” (OECD, 2006b, p.7).
335
The publication states the relation between school communities and society, which could be associated with the
previous studies by Bernstein: “Schools communities can serve as models and catalysts for societal change and
integration. An educational facility that is designed to facilitate access to education for all – students with special
educational needs, students from minority and disadvantaged groups, and the community in general – all year round
sends a powerful message to tomorrow’s knowledge workers and community leaders.” (OECD, 2006b, p.23)
336
This publication clearly states “educational facilities as a learning tool” as a relevant and “emerging theme”:
“School buildings and their surroundings are a useful resource for teaching and for fostering independent,
enquiry-based learning. Building designers can use the architectural elements, the building systems and the
external spaces to provide many different learning opportunities for students in new and existing schools.”
(OECD, 2006b, p.41)
192
These are invaluable criteria that comprise the concept of adaptability in several
manners. First and foremost, OECD addresses change and develops a Àrst “emerging”
topic for 21st century schools entitled “the challenge of designing schools in a
changing world”. Change is, hence, understood as paramount to design educational
buildings regarding “the demands of the new knowledge society” (OECD, 2006b,
p.11). Questions are therefore placed from this assumption on: “How can school
design best meet the needs of 21st century learners and educators?”; “How can new
and existing built environments best accommodate increasingly diverse teaching and
learning environments?” and “How can design transform existing facilities to achieve
future educational goals?” (ibid.). These can be related directly to adaptability and the
assets that its conception brings to the design. It could be argued that an adaptable
building can cope with future and still unanticipated teaching and learning needs;
interventions on existing buildings for providing them with more adaptable design
solutions or providing them from the initial design can enable to accommodate the
array of learning activities considered today; and Ànally, adaptability provides for
future objectives regarding educational practices.
The publication in itself mentions Áexibility rather than adaptability and assumes
the needs for “creating Áexible spaces for Áexible learning” within this subject
matter. It is here stated that:
“Form does not always follow function. School buildings could fail us
if they cannot be adapted to suit new learning styles.” (Bunting apud
OECD, 2006b, p.12)
Although this need of coping with “an ever-increasing range of teaching and
learning scenarios and technologies” is here related to Áexibility, its relevance for
the assumption of change and the correlation between school design and multiple
and changing learning practices is very signiÀcant. Besides, Áexibility is understood
as possible both in existing facilities as well as in new designs.
Naturally that the remaining subjects are also associated with adaptability, in the sense
that adaptability enables building’s to cope with the continuous changes conveyed
by the information technology. Besides, adaptability also promotes a more inclusive
access to education, because it enables more and changing activities that can be
undertaken by a variety of different users with speciÀc learning proÀles. Furthermore,
adaptability can also be perceived as a more sustainable design option that can
be more lasting through out the building’s lifecycle, not requiring more frequent
physical rehabilitations. Adaptability also engages the users with their appropriation
of space and it is also user appropriation that recalls an adaptable environment to
the forthcoming activities and actions within the building. By and large, adaptability
could be understood as a way of providing for the quality of the design that actually
meets the current and future educational, social and physical needs.
Also from 2006 is another publication by the OECD on Exemplary Educational
193
Facilities where “Áexibility” is a criterion for acknowledging the selected schools,

along with “community needs”, “sustainability”, “safety and security” and
“alternative Ànancing” (OECD, 2006a). One Portuguese school is here identiÀed for
its Áexibility, which is Malagueira School337 in Évora by Farelo Pinto and concluded
in 2004 for pre-primary, primary and lower secondary levels for students ranging
from 3 to 15 years old. Flexibility is here used as a form of integration of uses,
users and levels of education, in the creation of a “vibrant learning environment”
(OECD, 2006a, p.69).
Before this publication, others from the OECD have also addressed adaptability
and have identiÀed Portuguese schools as exemplary current learning environments,
keen on the identiÀed criteria of excellence.
In 2001’s OECD publication there is also the assumption of change and the
need to adapt buildings to new present and future contexts, from a standpoint
of environmental, economic and socio-sustainable progression, envisioning the
school as an active pedagogical catalyst that mimics social dynamics. Some spatial,
technical and structural requirements are mentioned more prone to change, such
as: the use of “framed structures with non-load bearing partitions”; “generous
provision for mechanical, electrical and electronic services”; “projects with clean
lines, clad with durable materials”; “compact plan forms that minimise the surface
area of the external envelope will help to reduce heat loss an energy costs” and
other sustainable and environmentally-friendly design solutions; as well as “greater
choice and variety in course options generate a wider range of group sizes” in the
sense of “a wide mix of size and type of teaching spaces” (OECD, 2001, p.ix).
These are perceived as ways of preserving future investment, reducing maintenance
costs and responding to future needs. This is clearly sum up in the following quote:
“Educational facilities need to accommodate both the known and

identiÀable needs of today, and the uncertain demands of the future.
They should provide an environment that will support and enhance
the learning process, encourage innovation and be a tool for learning
and not a monument to aesthetics. They need to be conceived not as
an exclusive provision for the few, but as a resource to support lifelong
education and recreation for all. They should provide good value for
money. They should seek to minimise running and maintenance costs,
ensuring that today’s design decisions do not impose an unnecessary
burden on future generations. Finally, they need to be designed to
safeguard the wellbeing of the planet as well as the wellbeing of the
individual.” (OECD, 2001, p.vii)
In addition to the existence of Portuguese schools in the remaining chapters, like:

Rodo School Complex, Vasco da Gama Basic School and Júlio Brandmo School;
337
From the Portuguese original name: Escola E.B.I./J.I. da Malagueira.
194
Portuguese schools are also mentioned as reference schools with regard for
“strategies for managing the educational infrastructure”: the Professional School
of the Alentejo Region (EPRAL), the Miragaia Basic School and the Basic and
Secondary School of Laranjeiras338. These latter schools were recognised by their
ability and provision to cope with “long-term educational change”, “reduced
resources for maintenance”, “pressures for more intensive space utilisation”, among
others (OECD, 2001, p.ix).
In the publication regarding schools of today and tomorrow339 (OCDE, 1996),

the relevance given to the use of space and speciÀcally to its adaptation to change
reafÀrms itself as a constant that goes transversally through all these publications.
The English Victoria Infants School is praised for its Áexibility and the Australian
Woodend Primary School for its “future adaptability” to possible changing uses340.
Overall, the previous 1996 criteria continue to show coincidences with the
most recent ones on the relevance given to the use of new technologies and the
adaptation of the spaces to the new educational reality. Once again, Portuguese
schools are presented as world references for new school facilities, exempliÀed here
by the Marquesa de Alorna School (by José Sobral Branco, 1989) and the Mértola
School341 (by Anabela Carvalho, Jomo Girbal and José Filipe Ramalho, 1992).
In addition to the OECD, there are publications from other organisations such as
the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE, 2007; CABE,
2006), the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (Bingler, Quinn
and Sullivan, 2003; Nair and Fielding, 2005342), Commission of the European
Communities (2007) and Educause (Oblinger, 2006; Oblinger and Oblinger 2005),
that focus on the design of 21st century learning environments. Flexibility and
adaptability are often referred concepts for a school of excellence and considered
“important issues to consider early on” (CABE, 2007, p.60)343.
SpeciÀcally, in the Portuguese context, secondary schools presented models built

since the end of the 19th century (Parque Escolar344). Faced with the growing
338
Original Portuguese names of these mentioned schools: Complexo Escolar do Rodo, Escola Básica 1,2,3/JI
de Vasco da Gama, Escola EB 2,3 de Júlio Brandmo, Escola ProÀssional da Regimo Alentejo (EPRAL), Escola
de Ensino Básico 2,3 de Miragaia, Escola Básica and Secundária das Laranjeiras.
339
The title of this publication is ecoles d’aujourd’hui et de demain: un Áorilqge international d’établissements scolaires
exemplaires (OCDE, 1996).
340
It is also noteworthy the presence of a music conservatory among the referred schools - the Turku Music
Conservatory in Finland that was the result of a reconversion of a shipyard in 1994 (OCDE, 1996).
341
Original Portuguese names of these mentioned schools: Escola Marquesa de Alorna and Escola de Mértola.
342
Nair and Fielding (2005, p.11) consider “Áexible spaces” as one of the “25 school design patterns” that
“represent a fairly complete range of the various design principles that deÀne best practice”.
343
“However, rapid changes in technology and the potential it creates for personalised learning make the
requirements for the schools of the future less clear. There can be no certainty about group sizes for teaching
or about the need for private study areas or the extent of remote working from home or other locations. School
buildings therefore need to be adaptable.” (ibid.)
344
https://www.parque-escolar.pt
195
need to upgrade school spaces, the Secondary School Modernisation Programme,

undertaken in phases from 2007 onwards, aimed at rehabilitating the existing
buildings345. The fact that interventions in school spaces adapted from the pre-
existent have always lived together with the continuous functioning of the spaces
and the experience of its inhabitants, has made this a necessarily lived-in process,
assuming its cultural identity in the dynamics of the community engagement in the
design processes undertaken346.
There are also several recent Portuguese publications that address current curricula
(Veloso, 2013; Veloso and Abrantes, 2013; Veloso, Marques and Duarte, 2014;
Veloso, Sebastimo, Marques and Duarte, 2015). Veloso and Abrantes (2013) regard
student performance, on its actual outline and on the speciÀcities that relate it to the
teaching-learning process (Veloso and Abrantes, 2003, p.2), and Veloso (2013) also
contributes to this input by analysing the external assessment of the schools and
its approach towards student achievement and on the information these provide
towards the “learning, organisational and leadership models of the schools” 347
(Veloso, 2013, p.1).
On the other hand, the book Espaço e Aprendizagem (Veloso, Sebastimo, Marques and
Duarte, 2015) tackles spaces and learning, with a speciÀc focus on the Portuguese
school modernisation programme348. This publication can be analysed in close
regard with the Ànal report on the renewal of secondary school buildings’ impact
towards teaching-learning processes and practices (Veloso, Sebastimo, Duarte and
Marques, 2011349). As already speciÀed for the Portuguese reality and previously
examined for school buildings at large350, the intervention on school buildings is
brought by their disability to cope with current educational policies and practices
and, reciprocally, it also engages a re-examination of the practices that these
renovated spaces accommodate and reinstate new routines and spatial appropriation
over time. Its representativeness involves the physicality of the building, the social
structures and the behaviour patterns it shelters, and it is also urban351. Conclusively,
the authors determine that the buildings’ modernisation bears signiÀcance towards
the built spaces’ provision and their community engagement. Ultimately, these can
be enhancers of students and faculty’s overall achievement:
345
See chapter 1.5.1. The Portuguese case study.
346
Along with spatial changes also curricular changes have occurred from this rehabilitation that have lead to
the case study of Quinta das Flores School. See chapter 1.5.2. Artistic schools as a speciÀc case study.
347
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “[...] modelos de aprendizagem, organizacionais e de
liderança das escolas.”
348
For further information on the relation between the learning structures and the school buildings in the
Portuguese reality, from an historical perspective, see chapter 2: “Política educativa e arquitetura escolar”
(Veloso, Sebastimo, Marques and Duarte, 2015, pp.45-65).
349
With the collaboration of Tânia Rocha, Telma Leal, Tiago Costa. Having the following consultants: Gonçalo
Canto Moniz, Madalena Ramos, Pedro Reis.
350
See 1.5. The case study.
351
This is also perceived in chapter 4 “Espaços escolares, arquitetura e aprendizagem” (pp.113-157) (Veloso,
Sebastimo, Marques and Duarte, 2015) and chapter 5 “A apropriaçmo do novo edifício” (pp.159-187).
196
“The majority of social actors interviewed agree that it is through the

new conditions created that there can be an impact of renewal on
teaching-learning practices and school outcomes.”352 (Veloso, Sebastimo,
Marques and Duarte, 2015, p.177)
Extensive conclusions are drawn in the report, stating that the inÁuence of
spatial rehabilitation towards the teaching-learning practices “is not, at all, direct
and its assessment is extremely complex”, because these are supported by other
mechanisms that are difÀcult to separate for a straightforward correlation (Veloso,
Sebastimo, Duarte and Marques, 2011, p.331). However, from the extensive research
proceeded for the report, there is a noticeable appreciation towards school’s
physical ability in terms of the “quality”, as well as “functionality, organisation,
aesthetic and furniture provision”. These can be associated to “spatial dynamics”
and communities’ achievement (ibid.).
It has also been remarked to be very signiÀcant, the higher and diversiÀed spatial
use by both the internal users and the external community, which enables a more
open school and a deeper sense of “pride” and “accountability” of the community
(Veloso, Sebastimo, Duarte and Marques, 2011, pp.332-333; Veloso, Sebastimo,
Marques and Duarte, 2015, pp.193-194).
It is also necessary to emphasise the need for constant change that is demanded
from the school space, assuming that the pedagogical programs alter with relative
frequency; that the faculty and students also vary according to the social, economic
and demographic circumstances; and also that the new technologies imply spatial
changes. A relevant challenge for the present time will be to design schools as living
organisms, which will continue to respond over time to what is asked of them,
problematizing the concept of a Àxed structure in an adaptive space (Fig. 75).
A critical reÁection by peers has also occurred at a practical and at a theoretical

level, proven by conferences in Portugal, such as: Evaluating Quality in Educational
Facilities (Lisbon, 2005353) and Fazer a Escola (Lisboa, 2010354), besides the already
concluded works on the evaluation of the quality of the service (Heitor and Silva,
2009; Parque Escolar, 2009b) and post-occupancy evaluation (Watson, 2005). It will
then be up to the practice as well as the academia, to understand the new contours
of the current context of the Portuguese secondary schools and to contribute, in
an operative way, to the knowledge advancement of architecture.
352
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A generalidade dos atores sociais entrevistados
concorda que é pelas novas condições criadas que pode haver um impacto da renovaçmo nas práticas de ensino-
aprendizagem e nos resultados escolares.” (ibid.)
353
See Heitor, T. (2005). ‘Potential Problems and Challenges in DeÀning International Design Principles for
Schools’. In OECD (2005). Papers from OECD/PEB Expert’s group Meetings on Evaluating Quality in Educational
Facilities. Lisbon.
354
An International Seminar on the Architecture of Schools, with the presence of Manuel Tainha and Herman
Hertzberger, in the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering in Lisbon, in 20th May 2010.
197
Fig. 75. Soares dos Reis Artistic School

(Heitor, 2008a, p.35) (edited)
As already pointed out, the aim of this research is to develop an original methodology
to identify the learning experiences in a school building, to assess the building’s
potential to bear other learning experiences, and to point out the management
or contextual constraints that can both hinder or potentiate them. Ultimately,
recognising the spatial features that can be considered in the design, which enable a
broader range of activities to happen in the educational spaces, these enhance the
building’s potential as a facilitator of different actions and as an active catalyst of
knowledge, for a longer period of time and a wider community.
For that purpose chapter 2, overall, intended to provide information on the ‘State
of the art and critical revision of the concept of adaptability’ so that the following
chapter 3 can focus on the ‘Construction of the methodology’ proposed to identify
and assess that concept explained on this chapter. It is again recalled that the main
objective of this current research is to provide a methodological approach to
adaptability, particularly applied to the current learning environments, rather than
an extensive and chronological development on adaptable past schools.
Naturally, that for establishing the concept of adaptability considered to be the

most adequate for this research, a widespread overview on this subject matter is
needed, whose aim is to critically assess different takes on both the choice of the
concept of adaptability and respective contexts, in order to acknowledge the one
that can be most suitable and its deÀnition for further use in this Thesis.
After the approach to the concept of adaptability, part 2.2 intended to focus on
the state of the art of adaptable schools, in order to inform on how the concept
has been translated onto design solutions and built spaces. The evolution of the
learning practices has brought along spatial implications that represent moments of
signiÀcance for rethinking the school building as a whole, its internal organisation,
its envelope, structures and coating and also the learning potential it projects. Again,
it is outlined that the overview provided by this chapter intends to be explanatory
198
of signiÀcant moments for rethinking how adaptability has been materialised within
school buildings, rather than providing an in-depth outlook on the schools’ state
of the art, which might have been disruptive for the objective’s attainment on a
methodological and theoretical approach.
Finally, having considered the concept of adaptability on part 2.1.355 and how has it
been conceived for schools in part 2.2.356, the present part 2.3.357 aimed at tackling
the contemporary learning practices, recognising that both space and experience,
school and learning, hold an inÁuential bond to one another in a dyadic relation
that implies the reconsideration of space according to the current teaching-learning
processes. Besides, this chapter also recognises that spaces can be an enabler and
even an enhancer of these learning processes and that they hold a signiÀcant role
for knowledge acquisition, creation and transmission. For this purpose, it has been
relevant to identify what these learning practices are and what do they spatially
imply. Finally, this chapter aimed at relating adaptability with learning environments
as currently considered, approaching space to learning, to the users and to the
effective needs, both in the present and in the future.
Having acknowledged the concept of adaptability and how can it be considered for
schools and applied to the speciÀcities of the contemporary context, the following
chapter358 may, at this point, reÁect upon the possible methodologies to assess it,
under this current approach deÀned for our Thesis.
355
356
357
358
199
3. CONSTRUCTION OF THE METHODOLOGY
Space use assessment methodologies
3.1. Space use assessment methodologies
“If the validity of the form of a community is based on life patterns, the Àrst
principle should be an objective and permanent analysis of the human structure and
its changes.”359 (Smithson, 1956, p.291)
After an early consideration of the reciprocity between space and use360 that
considered buildings not only as stages but also as enhancers of human behaviour,
and their users both as spectators and creators of meaning by appropriating space,
space use is acknowledged as relevant for the design when encountering life.
If Architecture and Life are no longer related alternatively or subsequently, but
become an implication of one another361, experience is hence an inexorable feature
of architecture, as a pre and post contribution to the design process, in the form of
participatory design processes and space use assessment methodologies, which will
identify interactions and contributions, for a lived, whole and suitable built “life
container” (Byrne, 2007, pp.23 -24).
Therefore, space assessment methodologies will be studied in this chapter in order
to identify diverse practices from different study Àelds with regard to effective
occupancy of the built space. Then, the last part of chapter 3 intends to depict
the proposed methodology after a thorough literature review of possible space
use assessment approaches and a subsequent focus on methods for identifying
adaptability. Ultimately, this will support a more comprehensive outlook for
assessing adaptable spaces, which will inform the proposed methodology under
this research. Firstly, and considering the relevance of space use to this Thesis, an
initial approach to users’ possible contributions to the built space will be presented,
both in design participation and effective spatial fruition.
359
Free translation to English from the Spanish quote: “Si la validez de la forma de una comunidad se basa en
las pautas de vida, el primer principio deberá ser consecuentemente un análisis objetivo y permanente de la
estructura humana y de sus cambios.” (Smithson, 1956, p.291)
360
361
This justiÀes the main title of this current Thesis: Life within architecture from design process to space use.
203
Construction of the methodology
. Design participation as users’ contribution
Design participation is a concept often linked with pre-design process, where users
are asked to contribute to the brief by explaining their needs. Fig. 76 illustrates areas
of possible relevance for participation in architecture, according to Jenkins (2010),
in which post-occupancy evaluation and facilities management362 are considered to
provide relevant input to the discipline of architecture363.
In 1956 Alison Smithson, as a comment to the Team ;’s Doorn Manifest, two years
prior, said it was up to architects to provide answers in the realm of reality, and for
that, they would have to know it well364. She points outs, at this mentioned quote,
the need for a “permanent analysis of the human structure and its changes365” as
paramount, in order to better fulÀl human needs by design.
Besides previous participatory experiences, the 1960s leads us back to the emergence
of a bottom-up attitude of civic responsibility in shaping the physical environment.
Architects came closer to the people, space embraced individual speciÀcities, and
people enjoyed the space they envisioned along with the architects. The voice of the
people was becoming heard, experts worked along with “the foot people” (Jacobs,
1993, p.xii 366), in order to fully fulÀl their needs and comprise with individual
speciÀcities. As activist Jane Jacobs appealed: “Cities have the capability of
providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created
for everybody.” (p.312). This was a time where the practice sought alternatives to
modern movement (with very different proposals as Archigram, Rudolp Paul’s
mega-structures, Yona Friedman, Groupe d’Architecture Mobile, Superstudio, or
Christopher Alexander, among others), and where the space was claimed by people.
If the practice sought alternatives to the modern movement, theorists, particular

study Àelds and respective publications were arising on the issues around man-
environment relations, spatial perception, behavioural studies, environmental
design, facility evaluation methods, evidence-based design, among others, all with
their particular outlook on them.
Contemporary of these concerns, Edward T. Hall’s proxemic studies (1990367) revolve

around the relation between space and people and the relevance of the receptors
such as: eyes, ears, nose (distance receptors) and touch from the skin, membranes
362
These approaches will be dealt in detail further on this chapter.
363
Despite being considered, by this author, a speciÀc study Àeld (see Fig. 76) it can also be a process within
architectural research for assessing building performance that is not considered outside the discipline but as a
part of it and providing a signiÀcant contribution to inform it.
364
See the full quote in the beginning of this chapter.
365
Note that Alison Smithson already refers to the “changes” on the human structure, which might imply a
consideration on changing throughout the building’s fruition.
366
367
204
Housing and
inclusive
public building
design
Post-
occupancy
Planning and evaluation
regeneration and facilities
management
Architecture
Widening
governance/ Environmental
public psychology
participation
Inclusive
product
design
Fig. 76. “Areas of possible literatures of relevance”

Courtesy of Professor Paul Jenkins (Jenkins, 2010, p.10)
and muscles (immediate receptors) (p.41) guided by cultural identities, for the
perception of space:
“One of my objectives has been to communicate to architects that the

spatial experience is not just visual, but multisensory. [...] No matter what
happens in the world of human beings, it happens in a spatial setting,
and the design of that setting has a deep and persisting inÁuence on the
people in that setting.”368 (Hall, 1990, p.xi)
Likewise, Barker’s work on Ecological Psychology (1968) and his deÀnition of

“behaviour settings” situated human behaviour in context, and related perceiver and
environment. Furthermore, Doxiadis with the studies on Ekistics369 also revolved
around human settlements and the interconnection between man, society and networks
contained by nature and shells, considering them as a whole unit to be understood,
precisely in their relation to each other. Its aim was to be prescriptive when conceiving,
operating and primary enhancing human settlements (Doxiadis, 1964).
Associations like The Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) were

also founded in 1968370. Its Àrst meeting’s371 proceedings, edited by Sanoff and
368
369
Besides the publication of his book under the same name, it is also a journal, has a world society and holds
meetings and symposia.
370
After the formal end of the Design Methods Group (DMG) in 1968.
371
That took place in 1969 in union with the Design Methods Group and Man-Environment Systems (MES).
205
Cohn in 1970, already pointed out the need for thinking the human environment
as a synthesis of contributions, whose issues continue until today, by holding
regular meetings to discuss orbiting themes around Environmental Design. Also
contemporary, is the Environment and Behaviour, whose Àrst publication occurred in
June 1969, as an academic journal, with a relevant impact factor on Environmental
Studies, gathering natural and built environment and human action and behaviour,
and embracing related themes throughout the years until today.
Whereas this legacy endures across close, but autonomous, disciplinary areas, often
under the scope of social sciences, today design participation is a recognised subject
within the realm of architectural studies themselves. In fact, the concept itself of
design participation as a connection between users and providers is taken on by many
authors and has multiple dimensions, in literature of reference, like Architecture,
Participation and Society (Jenkins and Forsyth, 2010); Place Identity, Participation and
Planning (Hague and Jenkins, 2005); Architecture and Participation (Jones et al., 2005);
User Participation in Building Design and Management (Kernohan et al., 1996); and Co-
Design: A Process of Design Participation (King et al., 1989).
In Portugal in the 1960s, Nuno Portas often mentioned the architect as the social
technician and the architecture’s responsibility to acknowledge the actual reality and
to answer the needs and wants of the individuals372. During his work at the National
Laboratory of Civil Engineering, from 1962 to 1974, he researched the social incidences
(Portas, 1964) of the spatial organisation. At this time, he already considered
architecture as being a work of synthesis of the context, all the stakeholders and
the several subjects involved from brief to use, whose contributions would lead
to a more complete spatial answer in time. The inquiries made at the National
Laboratory of Civil Engineering were a way to know the people, to introduce the
users’ input in the design process and to reach a better and more informed response
to the brief.
All in all, the mentioned authors and lines of thought, despite their differences in
time, method and understanding, illustrate the prominence of this matter for both
the academia and the practice. Often associated with the well-being of people, this
has been, and continues to be addressed and valued today, as a relevant design
concern. Recent literature on the theme shows that this remains a chronic sore
point for architecture, that should be introduced to students from the beginning in
the Design Studio, in terms of Universities’ curriculum worldwide373.
372
Nuno Portas referred to these needs and wants as both obligations and aspirations, and hence architecture’s
accountability to answer them on different levels and dimensions of human life (Portas, 1969).
373
This issue has been subject of debate, particularly on its relevance towards the Design Studio, in the
communication “Space Use as an input to the Design Process”, later published as: COELHO, C. (2013c). Space
Use as an input to the Design Process. Joelho #4. Ensinar pelo Projeto / Teaching through Design. 47-50. Coimbra:
Edarq.
206
. Space use assessment as an understanding of effective spatial fruition
By focusing on the actual living experience in real space and time, user research
studies, as Fawcett (1995) entitled them374, aim to describe and assess the space’s
potential for the inhabitants’ appropriation and for fulÀlling the functional, aesthetical
and environmental needs and wants suggested in the initial brief375. Consequently,
this current research acknowledges the relevance of user research studies to assess
the depth of the bond between the space conceived by the architect and the spatial
experience it holds, and its relevance as a post-design contribution for the practice.
Therefore, space use assessment methodologies are the ultimate validation to

test the coincidence between what the architect envisioned in the design as cosa
mentale, and how the built space is actually fulÀlling this conception, ultimately
understanding how the concept is translated into the practice, and whether
expected and effective spatial experience overlap. As seen earlier, architecture, both
as a design process and a built creation, is always imbued with social values and the
user extends the work of the architect to deÀne the space. Ultimately, space use
assessment methodologies help architecture report to architecture376, embracing Schön’s
(1983377, 1987) “reÁection in action”, where a process is reassessed in each new
phase according to the information detained in each of those phases378, according
to Schön: “In an action-present – a period of time, variable with the context, during
which we can still make a difference to the situation at hand – our thinking serves
to reshape what we are doing while we are doing it. I shall say, in cases like this, that
we reÁect-in-action.”379 (1987, p.26) Furthermore, Schön speciÀcally addresses “the
design process as reÁection-in-action” as a chapter in his book Educating the ReÁective
Practitioner (1987, pp.44-79)380.
374
Despite their different terminologies according to authors of reference, space use assessment methodologies,
usability studies, evidence-based design (Lippman, 2010) and user research studies (Fawcett, 1995), all regard
space use and the study of individual(s)-environment interaction(s) in space.
375
This ultimately could be related to the vitruvian utilitas and the albertian commoditas, as the most adequate
answer to a speciÀc functionality aimed by the architect, as it will mentioned further on this same chapter.
376
ReÁection from the quote from Sejima: “The idea is to help people report to architecture, to help architecture
report to people, and to help people to report themselves.” (Sejima, 2010)
377
378
According to Schön: “When someone reÁects in action, he becomes a researcher in the practice context.
He is not dependent on the categories of established theory and technique, but constructs a new theory of the
unique case. His inquiry is not limited to a deliberation about means which depends on a prior agreement about
ends. He does not keep means and ends separate, but deÀnes them interactively as he frames a problematic
situation. He does not separate thinking from doing, ratiocinating his way to a decision which he must later
convert to action. Because his experimenting is a kind of action, implementation is built into his inquiry. Thus
reÁection-in-action can proceed, even in situations of uncertainty or uniqueness, because it is not bound by the
dichotomies of Technical Rationality.” (Schön 1998, pp.68-69).
379
380
JustiÀed as follows: “I have chosen to focus on the architectural design studio […] because I have become
convinced that architectural designing is a prototype of the kind of artistry that other professionals need most to
acquire; and the design studio, with its characteristic pattern of learning by doing and coaching, exempliÀes the
predicaments inherent in any reÁective practicum and the conditions and processes essential to its success” (p.18.)
207
Overall, experience goes beyond the built object translated onto plans, sections, or
any particular drawing, and naturally the concepts of scale, dimension, materiality
or function do not fully describe it. Particularly in the case of projects achieved by
means of dynamic changing features, not easily nor fully translated onto plans and
sections for its complete communication, these are naturally not fully assessed by
the same traditional methods used in the discipline, guided by the concepts of scale,
absolute dimension, measure, materiality, weight or function. So, the traditional
methods for communicating and assessing the living experience can thus be widened,
due to their materialization by new tools and by blurred design concepts, wavering
between the natural and the virtual, the digital and the massive, or the conceptual
and the real. Still, if solely plans and sections no longer deÀne the spatial identity
of a building, and if they are only fulÀlled by the inhabitants’ spatial fruition and,
reciprocally, by the way space engages the inhabitants, then subjects within space
use assessment methodologies will better report them. Therefore, the related design
concepts, processes and assessment methodologies can be rethought in this sense,
acknowledging a broader meaning for the spatial experience, its relevance for the
design, and the ways to envision, communicate and assess it381.
In fact, today, these methodologies are a valued area for architectural research, by
implying the direct understanding and assessment of space use in real situations, whose
results can be subsequently introduced into other design processes, as systematic
knowledge transfer of relevant and accessible data for architects. Therefore, the
design process should embrace these outputs as a way to acknowledge use and its
changing conditions, adjusting expected and effective spatial fruition.
Each subject’s different methodologies and outputs, within a common conceptual

framework on the relevance of user research, act as contributions to be considered
in the design process, informing professionals while conceiving space, for a more
comprehensive solution, along space’s lifecycle. Through these instruments, the
project will result on a more thorough one, supported by user research outputs
and the feedback of a broader stakeholders’ community. This will bring closer the
space thought by the architect during the design process and the space lived in by
the individual(s) afterwards.
Jenkins (2010) represents in Fig. 77 a conceptual network that aggregates three

variables - the participant: “client”, “user” and “public”; the stages: “design”,
“construction” and “post completion”; and the form of participation: “inform”,
“consult” and “decide”; towards design participation. In short, this illustrates the
possibility of the stakeholders to be included in all stages, from pre to post design,
and to be empowered in each one (Jenkins, 2010, pp.13-14).
381
The study on the relevance of the spatial experience for the design, as varied as it can be perceived, has
been published in a peer review journal as: Coelho, C. (2015). The Living Experience as a design content: from
concept to appropriation. Ambiances Review, International Journal of Sensory Environment, Architecture and Urban Space
[En ligne]. Experiential simulation.
208
Fig. 77. “3D analytical framework”382

Courtesy of Professor Paul Jenkins (Jenkins, 2010, p.14)
Similarly, Bruno Latour’s and Michael Callon’s Actor-Network Theory (Latour, 2005)
already assumes a connection between human and non-human “actors” both having
“agency” and leading to the Ànal result as a conjoint synthesis of the physical and
conceptual relations between the network’s elements.
Paralleling Jenkins’s network of connections to user research overall, both can

occur at several stages of the building’s lifecycle, both resort to the stakeholders for
informative feedback on the building’s use, and both displace knowledge, in order
to contribute to inform/consult and help making design/construction and post-
completion decisions.
The process of user research, overall, aims at gathering data from the Àndings
collected from previous space use assessment methodologies and from that
particular case study, as well as theoretical results provided by literature and cutting-
edge research, as a contribution to the professional’s team, in a comprehensive
approach to the design process, guided by aesthetic, but also functional and cultural
goals when organising and creating space.
Voordt and Wegen’s Architecture in Use: An Introduction to the Programming, Design and
Evaluation of Buildings (2005) points out the intentions for evaluating a building
beneÀting both that or other buildings, the process and the product (p.143), the
practice and the theory:
382
Three-dimensional representation of the relationship between the various stages of the Design Process,
stakeholders and tasks.
209
“Evaluation allows lessons to be learnt which could lead to an

improvement in the project under investigation and more generally
improve the quality of programming, designing, building and
management of the built environment. The reasons for the exercise
can be both ideological and economic, e.g. the promotion of health
and welfare or a reduction in the amount of property standing empty
in an expanding market. Besides such practical goals, there can also be
scientiÀc goals, such as contributing to the formation of new theories
or developing new tools, and there may be subsidiary goals derived
from these main goals.” (Voordt and Wegen, 2005, p.142)
Fig. 78 clariÀes the fact that research and practice can be drawn closer together by
“building bridges”, through “approaches” and “information”, from research - on
people, design and buildings - towards the practitioner, and vice-versa, biunivocally
exchanging operative information. This has been applied by Jenkins (2010) to design
participation, but it could also be paralleled to space use assessment methodologies,
because both design and research can be informative towards decision-making and
provide knowledge transposable from one to the other383.
Hence, this does not imply a questioning of the timeless design contents or even the
professionals’ decisions, but provides them with further information that eventually
contributes to making more robust and comprehensive the Ànal decisions.
Actually, if the search for a better building performance was one of the aims of
the modern functionalism, the relevance of the inhabitants’ well-being in space
constituted one the revisions assumed by some of the modern architects, in search
of a broader meaning to the concept, as Alvar Aalto (1940) sustained:
“To make architecture more human means better architecture, and

it means a functionalism much larger than the merely technical one.
This goal can be accomplished only by architectural methods – by the
creation and combination of different technical things in such a way
that they will provide for the human being the most harmonious life.”
(Aalto, 1940, pp.102–103)
The fact that Aalto studied the individual and used that information to conceive the
design solutions and the choice of materials, lighting, sound and heating conditions,
for the Paimio’s Sanatorium (Paimio, 1932), would better respond to the patients’
mental and physical needs. By drawing together functional and emotional concerns,
he acknowledged and valued the human condition and the effective spatial
experience to essentially humanize architecture.
383
Jenkins even refers speciÀcally to post-occupancy as one of the approaches which is research-led on design,
people and buildings, but that also informs the practice (2010, p.12) and that, with its methodological studies,
“may have relevance for an improved understanding and/or practice of wider social participation in the
architecture process” (ibid.).
210
Fig. 78. “Models of knowledge of relevance”

(Jenkins, 2010, p.11)
The case study’s output will then be expected to inform the practice on the actual
spatial fruition the school promotes, proven by research in a real scenario, enclosing
experienced users and creative professionals in a more whole, informed and
participated design process, blending life and space, from brief to use, similarly to
what Aalto already conceived in the Paimio’s Sanatorium.
Since the 1960s this issue has become a central design concern, as mentioned in chapter
1.2.384, resulting in the emergence of several user-oriented design methodologies.
Despite the wide realm of techniques included in these studies, their common
outcome on how the space is responding to people and how people are engaged
to space, can provide information to rethink that building in particular and its
future rehabilitation interventions. But it can also, in more general terms, provide
information for buildings with similar design briefs. This can be transferable as
valid, veriÀed and reliable information385 (Voordt and Wegen, 2005, pp.158-159)
from real life scenarios to the design as a feedforward technique. This is also a way
to make users accountable and to introduce their contributions post-design process,
to future interventions on that or other buildings, acknowledging use and change,
and matching conceived and lived space, along the building’s lifecycle.
In this way, appropriation and concept are linked in a cyclical process that gathers
384
385
According to Voordt and Wegen (2005): “The accepted requirements for scientiÀc research are objectivity,
veriÀability, validity and reliability” (pp.158-159).
211
inhabitants and professionals, research and the practice. As Evans (1997) puts it:
“The point is that human action towards a goal cannot in any serious
way be used as design criterion. But it is nevertheless useful, because
it is always the vehicle of the intentions and purposes that underlie
everyday existence. Action and intention are inextricably linked.”
(Evans, 1997, pp.16-17).
The design process that includes the creative assumptions of the architect,
information collected from theoretical research and the study of space use in real
life scenarios, is a more informed and supported one and should be able to better
answer users’ requirements386. Recalling Voordt and Wegen (2005): “Knowledge and
understanding are essential preconditions for well-considered decisions” (p.146).
. Different approaches on space use assessment methodologies and

concepts on literature
Space use assessment methodologies act as an operative tool for the design process,
which recognises quantitative and qualitative variables and invariables of space use
into a real life scenario, but also embraces the speciÀcities of each context, suiting
the project to its future uses and users, and acting as relevant output to transfer
later on as input for any intervention throughout the building’s lifecycle or future
buildings made from scratch.
Accordingly, scholars at the Bartlett School of Architecture, along with Spacelab
Architects, within the Effective Workplaces project, aim at deÀning a “Knowledge
Transfer Partnership” that provides input on evidence-based design to the practice,
both its process and product (Sailer et al., 2007a).
Its is noteworthy, at this point, Sailer’s work on the connection between spatial
conÀguration and behaviour from her Doctoral Thesis (2010) The Space-Organisation
Relationship. On the Shape of the Relationship between Spatial ConÀguration and Collective
Organisational Behaviours, but also other papers and publications like Sailer and Penn
(2007) The Performance of Space – Exploring Social and Spatial Phenomena of Interaction
Patterns in an Organisation.
With a particular focus on ofÀce buildings, Sailer intends a more thorough

understanding of the connection between the design solutions and behaviour in
the workplaces, which has been presented in multiple papers and conferences, like
Sailer et. al. (2012) and Sailer et. al. (2007b). SpeciÀcally this has been tackled by
386
This subject has already been addressed in the Nexus 2012 Relationships Between Architecture and Mathematics,
in 11-14 June 2012, Milan, for testing and academic validation. It has also been published in the Conference’s
proceedings as: COELHO, C. (2012). From design process to space use: Adaptability in school buildings today.
In M. Rossi (Ed.), Proceedings of the Nexus 2012 Relationships Between Architecture and Mathematics. (pp.23-28).
Politecnico di Milano. Milano: McGraw-Hill.
212
Fig. 79. “Re-deÀning the relationships between architectural research, the design practice and the user”
Courtesy of Kerstin Sailer. (Sailer et al., 2007a, p.7)
means of her work also on space syntax (with frequent participations in the latest
symposia) (Sailer, 2007; Sailer et. al., 2007b; Sailer and Penn, 2009; Sailer et. al.,
2009; Sailer et. al., 2010; Sailer, 2014). But her work also revolves around evidence-
based design in papers such as: Changing the Architectural Profession - Evidence-Based
Design, the New Role of the User and a Process-Based Approach (Sailer et. al., 2007a) and
Evidence-Based Design: Theoretical and Practical ReÁections of an Emerging Approach in OfÀce
Architecture (Sailer et. al., 2008). This fact illustrates a common interest on both
space syntax and evidence-based design, and on the connection between space and
behaviour, and their potential proximity and relevance for this subject matter, in
regard to research, the practice and the user (Fig. 79). Quoting Sailer et al.:
“By integrating architectural research methods like Space Syntax, Social
Network Analysis, ethnographic space observations, questionnaires
etc. directly into the design practice and conducting case studies on life
projects, a new evidence-based professional culture of architecture and
design is formed and new relationships between the design practice
and architectural research are created.” (Sailer et al., 2007a, p.7).
Evidence-based design’s purpose, according to Sailer, “is to take conscious and
knowledgeable decisions in a balanced and considerate manner to the beneÀt of
the ongoing work processes of the professional practice and thus also beneÀting
the user” (2007a, p.7). This can be paralleled with Lippman’s (2010) perspective on
Evidence-Based Design of Elementary and Secondary Schools, which he considers to foster
a dialogic platform between professionals and inhabitants, extending the work of
213
the architect besides the mental design process to the realm of space use, answering
more thoroughly to what is required of the space in each time, and lengthening the
building’s use value in a sustainable manner.
Thus, designing space acknowledging use and spatial experience will then imply
considering the inhabitant(s) and the activities to be held in that space and the
physical conditions that constitute that particular “milieu” that provide that
experience. According to Norberg-Schulz (1996387):
“The purpose of architecture is to give order to certain aspects of our
environment. When we say ‘give order to our environment’, this implies
that architecture controls or regulates the relations between man and
his environment. It therefore participates in creating a ‘milieu’, that is, a
meaningful frame for the activities of man.” (Norberg-Schulz, 1996, p.109)
Indeed, and as already seen by the previous referred approaches, there are diverse
methods to analyse, describe and assess (if needed), this relation between people
and places, space and action, at different stages and with different procedures388.
The choice in the type of knowledge and information collected will be constrained
by the way experience is portrayed and materialized, whether collective and/or
individual, intellectual and/or sensitive. If the inhabitant is engaged by a dynamic,
visual, haptic, olfactory and/or hearing experience, so the physical features of the
space will play a crucial role to process the devices that generate that experience. On
the other hand, if it provides a more intellectual experience, then the analysis will
focus on how space is perceived mentally and emotionally.
Collective data on a gathering of people will then present information on the

most and least common uses and activities in space, whereas individual reports
will inform on each person’s relation to space and what are the features that better
engage each one.
Likewise, information focused on the individual, will provide a detailed depiction

on each one’s actions, eventually space-oriented behaviour, and overall experience in
space, assessing spatial fruition. This can be done by a neutral observer, whether or
not supported by technological means, for quicker and accurate conclusions. Or else
by “self-report methods” (Lippman and Allacci, 2010, p.45) - such as “interviews”,
“narrative techniques”, “time sampling”, “diaries” or any other way of individual
expression - informing on a particular individual’s engagement to space, translated
into qualitative descriptions, regarding which senses does the space reach and by what
means, and foremost acknowledging the uniqueness of each one’s living experience.
Analytical methods provide collective data on how a group perceives a particular
387
388
For a systematic approach on several educational facilities performance evaluation methods, see Heitor and
Silva (2009, pp.18-24).
214
Fig. 80. Observing environmental behaviour

(Zeisel, 1984, p.125)
space, based on regularities and patterns of use. To such purposes, it can be resorted
to charts and schedules of each activity and the analysis of people’s Áows and
densities in space, and generally a broad range of quantitative outputs according
to the methods applied. These will check for regularities and patterns on objective
evidence related to uses, densities, performance, comfort, physical features, and
several other variables, to be measurable by means of quantitative methods. These
outcomes present generalised knowledge, often used to assess a functional purpose
- the vitruvian utilitas – in order to test spatial efÀciency and to compare the effective
results with the perceived parameters envisioned in the design389.
Current literature could be cited that centre on the incorporation of users’ input
and the human experience in the brief, to better match demand and supply, like
Inquiry by Design: Tools for Environment Behavior Research (Zeisel, 1984390) that is mostly
on Environment-Behaviour Research. It proposes as research methods: “observing
physical traces” (pp.89-110), “observing environmental behaviour” (pp.111-
136) (Fig. 80), “focused interviews” (pp.137-156), “standardized questionnaires”
(pp.157-177), “asking questions” (pp.178-196), and “archives” (pp.197-225). This
exposition of methods will impact on the proposed methodology in this current
Thesis, because some of these methods will actually be used for identifying and
389
Preiser and Vischer (2005) recall a “comparison between measured and perceived levels of performance”
(p.11) that are amenable of analysis by a quantitative approach.
390
First published in 1981.
215
assessing adaptability in the chosen case study391. Moreover, it is also stated that
“although each method is presented separately, it yields its maximum potential when
used conjointly with other methods” (p.87), whose outlook will be fundamental for
the choice of the methods to undertake and the quantity and sequence in which to
undertake them, detailed and justiÀed in chapter 3.3.392.
Post-occupancy evaluation (POE)393 focuses on the building’s use in the actual

physical space and informs on how the space is fulÀlling the needs for which it was
built. According to Preiser (Preiser and Nasar, 2008, p.86) the Àrst publication on
POE was McLaughlin’s studies on hospitals in Salt Lake City and southern California
(1975) entitled Post-Occupancy Evaluations of Hospitals394. Already at this report POE
is considered to provide information in order to, possibly, design “better buildings”:
“The architectural profession must begin to learn from its mistakes – and
its accomplishments as well. The means of doing so is post-occupancy
evaluation of buildings as an extension of the design process. […]
The major questions they address are how well does the building work,
and how well the building achieved the objectives initially established
for its design. The answers to these questions, widely disseminated,
could produce better buildings by putting a new data base under
design.” (McLaughlin, 1975, p.30)
But despite only being called POE by the mid-1970s, POE’s Àrst initiatives arose
in the 1960s on university dormitories at the Universities of California by van der
Rihn, and Utah by His, which was much in tune with the questions on the connexion
between the built space and behaviour that arouse in this decade and were dealt by
professionals of transdisciplinar study Àelds within organisations395.
In 1966 The Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects mentions a lack of feasible
methods to “feed back into the design or production process information on the
performance of past buildings” (Royal Institute of British Architects, 1966, p.103),
but also the increasing attention to this subject. After a previous colloquium in 1965
at the York Institute, Markus’s efforts to arrange a research programme “to study
and develop measuring techniques for the human requirements aspects of building
performance” (ibid.), are considered to be of particular signiÀcance for the profession,
being appraised by the RIBA, which contributes and encourages its Ànancing396.
391
392
The methodology proposed in chapter 3.3. is also a combination of methods that provide different data,
whose aim is to include them in a Ànal conclusion.
393
Previously mentioned, regarding adjacent study Àelds.
394
Although another study on hospitals has been undertaken in 1974 and published afterwards in 1975 by the
Veterans Administration in San Diego (Preiser and Nasar, 2008, p.86).
395
As seen in the beginning of this chapter.
396
“The RIBA hopes that as many practices as possible will wish to invest in their own future and that of the
profession by giving Ànancial support.” (ibid.)
216
This programme was intended to be accomplished in the University of Strathclyde

for 5 years and to “provide building designers with a standard set of appraisal and
measurement techniques suitable for adoption into design practice” (ibid.). In 1972
the Building Performance book is written by Markus and the research team397 (Markus
and Building Performance Research Unit, 1972), as a report on their work since 1967,
acknowledging that “building performance is constantly related to people” (p.v)398.
Already on this book, the appraisal is pondered both on the design preceding the built
form, but also on the building itself, as a lasting and methodical process throughout:
“The theme is appraisal of performance. Appraisal is a design activity.

It is the continuous introspection by the designer whereby he monitors
his own performance. Design is traditionally understood as taking place
prior to the construction of a building, but it can also be seen as a
continuous process lasting as long as the building itself, in which the
designer is present directly or vicariously through a successor, nominee,
design tool or even computer programme. In the former case appraisal
has to be of design ideas; in the latter, of complete, working buildings.
Hence design is a central theme; and the Unit’s techniques apply to
both interpretations of design.” 399(Markus and Building Performance
Research Unit, 1972, p.v)
This book was considered to be: “Perhaps the Àrst attempt at systematic building
evaluation” (Presier, Rabinowitz and White, 1988, p.11), by Preiser, Rabinowitz and
White, in 1988, when reviewing the state of the art on POE.
In June 1969 Preiser presented the conclusions of his Master’s Thesis in the Àrst
Environmental Design Research Association Conference (EDRA400) at Chapel Hill, with his
paper: Behavioral Design Criteria in Student Housing (Preiser, 1970) (Fig. 81), which was
followed by his Doctoral Thesis on building evaluation in 1974.
In the 1980s POE studies augmented, particularly on public buildings, and it also
corresponded to a signiÀcant theoretical advancement on the Àeld: “POE developed
into a discipline of its own. Standardized terms are now being used in POE […],
networks of practitioners and researchers have been formed, and signiÀcant large-
scale multibuilding POEs are being carried out.” (Preiser, Rabinowitz and White,
1988, p.13).
397
As presented previously in chapter 2.1., the Building Performance Research Unit initiated its work in 1967
in the University of Strathclyde and had T. A. Markus as director, and P. Whyman, J. Morgan, D. Whitton, T.
Maver, D. Canter and J. Flemming as members (Markus and Building Performance Research Unit, 1972).
398
Full quote: “Building performance is an idea which assumes that we know what buildings are for. Since
the simple answer is that they are for people, building permance is constantly related to people.” (Markus and
Building Performance Research Unit, 1972, p.v)
399
400
This conference was organised with the Design Methods Group (DMG) and Man-Environment Systems
(MES) (Environmental Design Research Association, Sanoff and Cohn, 1970, p.iii).
217
Fig. 81. “Frequency Distribution for Selected Statements”

(Preiser, 1970, p.257)
Fig. 82. “Post-occupancy evaluation uses and beneÀts”

(Preiser, Rabinowitz and White, 1988, p.5)
Fig. 83. Illustration of the beneÀts of POE

(Preiser, Rabinowitz and White, 1988, p.7)
218
In 1986 Eberhard was assigned to organise POE committees which Preiser led
(Preiser and Nasar, 2008, pp.85-86). Two years later, Preiser, Rabinowitz and
White produced a reference for POE, a book401 with the homonym name (Preiser,
Rabinowitz and White, 1988), that deÀnes POE as “the process of evaluating
buildings in a systematic and rigorous manner after they have been built and occupied
for some time” (p.3) and “is intended to provide architects, researchers, consultants,
building owners, and facilities managers with useful guidance on the process and
content of POEs. It is also designed to serve as a general, introductory text in
teaching this subject” (p.x)402. Its beneÀts are also speciÀed in the beginning of the
book, separating them into “short”, “medium” and “long-term” (Figs. 82 and 83).
The process of POE is wide-ranging according to the “level of effort”, which

could be: “indicative”, “investigative” and “diagnostic”; varying in the techniques
involved, consistent with the availability of “time, resources, personnel, the depth
and breadth of evaluation, and, therefore, the implicit cost involved in carrying out
POEs” (p.54). Nonetheless, all the levels imply three stages, which is: “planning”,
“conducting” and “applying” POE.
The indicative POE “provides an indication of major failures and successes of a

building’s performance” (p.54), resorting to: “archival and document evaluation”,
“performance issues”, “walk-through evaluation” and “interviews” (pp.55-56).
The investigative POE “can cover more topics in greater detail and with more
reliability” (p.56), which involves more time for an in-depth analysis. The diagnostic
POE takes longer, is achieved by means of: “questionnaires, surveys, observations,
physical measurements” (p.57) and “its results and recommendations are long-
term oriented” (ibid.). Interestingly, for the purposes of this current Thesis403, it is
highlighted that three case studies of POE are described in this book, being one of
them a diagnostic POE of an elementary school in Indiana (pp.138-151).
In 2001 the book Learning from our buildings: A State-of-the-Practice Summary of Post-
Occupancy Evaluation” (The Federal Facilities Council404, 2001) was published as a
report on works undertaken in three approaches: the presentation of papers by
specialists, a survey of agencies with programs on POE, and a forum in March
2001, after an early study from 1986 and a subsequent one from 2000 required
by the Federal Facilities Council (p.vi). The summary of Àndings is quite clear on
the speciÀcity of POE, starting precisely by mentioning that: “Post-occupancy
evaluation is based on the idea that better living space can be designed by asking users
about their needs” (p.2), to then apply the “lessons learned” (p.6) for management,
planning and design.
401
Eberhard signs this book’s preface.
402
According to Preiser and Nasar (2008) it is “the Àrst POE textbook” (p.86).
403
Whose focus lies on educational spaces. See chapter 1.5. The case study.
404
“The Federal Facilities Council (FFC) is a cooperative association of 21 federal agencies with interests and
responsibilities for large inventories of buildings” (The Federal Facilities Council, 2001, p.vi)
219
These studies have become more frequent and recognised through Post-Occupancy
Evaluation: “a specialist architectural practice operating internationally” (https://
postoccupancyevaluation.com), located in New Zealand and directed by Chris
Watson; besides the work of other expert authors throughout. Even if, in its initial
stages, POE has been applied to particular building briefs such as dormitories and
hospitals405, currently is has been widespread.
Schools have also become subject to POE. Watson and Ornstein, with previous
works on this matter like Post Occupancy Evaluation in Scotland (Watson, 2004) and
Post-Occupancy Evaluation Performed in Elementary and High Schools of Greater São Paulo,
Brazil: The Occupants and the Quality of the School Environment (Ornstein, 1997), have
been invited to Portugal for an experts meeting406 (OECD, 2005) and presented
their regard on POE on schools.
Besides an account on the methods of introducing POE to Scottish schools, also

within a “school rebuilding programme”, and on one evaluation of a primary
school, Watson’s analysis of the Portuguese case study of Galopim de Carvalho
School in Lisbon, in which he was the main evaluator, was presented in Pendão School
in Lisbon: a POE in progress (Watson, 2005):
“The evaluation was to identify strengths and weaknesses of the new

school facilities from the stakeholders’ perspectives. Its Àtness-for-
purpose approach allows stakeholders to negotiate performance criteria
that change during the service life of buildings and vary with region,
budget, government policies, social trends, building type and use. By
assessing buildings in terms of actual use, rather than predicted use or
brieÀng issues, the Àtness-for-purpose approach affords independence.
It also allows stakeholders to negotiate use and design simultaneously,
as well as to sort out speciÀc issues and relationships between design
parameters.” (Watson, 2005, p.99)
This POE study was chosen for this school for the problems it demonstrated and
provided speciÀc and more general recommendations on “access to sports facilities,
air quality, thermal comfort and safety” (p.100).
Similarly, Ornstein presented an outlook of POE in Brazil where it has been

undertaken in schools of different levels since the 1990s (Ornstein, 2005)407.
Presently, it is being done within a whole process where POE provides information
that could be introduced in the following phases408 (Fig. 84).
405
As seen in the previous paragraphs on the state of the art of POE.
406
This meeting’s outcomes will be addressed in the last part of this chapter, focused on space use assessment
methodologies on schools.
407
POE in Brazil has also been undertaken by authors such as Rheingantz, Azevedo, Brasileiro, Alcantara and
Queiroz (2009).
408
Ornstein lists the following tools used under POE: “Observation and mapping of activities and behaviors”,
220
Fig. 84. “POE applied to school facilities: A systematic and integrated vision in a built environment”
(Ornstein, 2005, p.137) (edited)
This already illustrates the use of POE not just at a later stage, but consecutively
throughout the process. Hence, POE’s representativeness and procedure became
more frequent and decisive for the following decision-making. Vischer (2001)
refers to “linking POE with Pre-Design Programming”409 (p.26) and then advances
to “POE in Strategic Space Planning” (p.27), sustaining that: “This latter use of
POE has gained credibility in recent years as corporations are trying increasingly to
provide functionally supportive workspace to their employees and simultaneously
to reduce occupancy costs” (ibid.).
All in all, under these procedures there continues to be a wide range of potential
designations, like the previously referred assessing building performance (Preiser
and Vischer, 2005), or building evaluation techniques410 (Baird et al., 1996), but
also building performance evaluation (BPE)411 (Preiser and Vischer, 2005, pp.1-
26). This latter concerns the whole building’s lifecycle, comprising six stages:
(“strategic planning”, “programming”, “design”, “construction”, “occupancy” and
“adaptive reuse/recycling”) (Fig. 85), in which evaluation is assumed to take place,
“Interviews”, “Questionnaires”, “Focus groups”, “Visual selection and perception” (Ornstein, 2005, p.139).
409
“One of the most appealing reasons to perform POE is to be able to inform building decision-making in the
early stages of a new project. POE studies target user evaluation of an existing space where users are destined
to occupy a new space that is being planned. Their feedback is needed to ensure that the new design meets
users’ needs and solves problems in existing buildings.” (Vischer, 2001, p.26)
410
According to Baird et al. (1996, p.xxi): “Building evaluation is well established as a concept.”
411
Expression used in the Àrst two chapters of the book edited also by Preiser and Vischer (2005) Assessing
Building Performance.
221
Fig. 85. “Building performance evaluation (BPE) process model”

Source: Wolfgang F.E. Preiser. (Preiser and Vischer, 2005, p.17)
Fig. 86. “Interrelationships between buildings, occupants and occupant needs”

Source: Wolfgang F.E. Preiser. (Preiser and Vischer, 2005, p.22) (edited)
Fig. 87. “Feedback and feed forward of ex ante and ex post evaluation”
(Voordt and Maarleveld, 2006, p.10)
222
whose feedback can be introduced as knowledge, for an informed and “innovative

approach” (p.1) to the design412.
In fact, Preiser and Vischer (2005) argue that POE is a “sub-process of BPE” (p.8)
that is more wide-ranging in its referred six stages. This enables the information
achieved by POE to the included transversally along the building’s lifespan:
“The BPE framework was developed in order to broaden the basis for
POE feedback to include a wider range of stakeholders and decision-
makers who inÁuence buildings. […] While POE focused primarily on
users’ experience of the performance of buildings, the most recent
step in the evolution of POE towards building performance evaluation
is one that emphasizes a holistic, process-oriented approach toward
evaluation.” (Preiser and Vischer, 2005, p.8)
The upper mentioned Assessing Building Performance (Preiser and Vischer, 2005)
has a speciÀc chapter on POE (Bordass and Leaman, 2005), but rather uses the
concept of BPE that “systematically relates buildings and settings to users and their
environmental needs” (Preiser and Vischer, 2005, p.7) (Fig. 86).
By perceiving evaluation through the whole process, as it has been in the overall
building performance evaluation, it can be distinguished between ex ante413 (before
the event) and ex post (after the event, referred to as ex post evaluation) (Voordt and
Maarleveld, 2006; Voordt and Wegen, 2005). Where the Àrst will test potential
solutions and contributions to achieve the purposes sought, and the latter the actual
Ànal product and the achievement of the aims for which the building has been built
(ibid.) (Fig. 87). This distinction can also be made according to the process stage in
which it is applied, or on the overall process.
Besides, another publication signiÀcantly relevant on this regard is Building Evaluation
Techniques414 (Baird et al., 1996), suggesting methods of globally assessing the
facilities and how there are physically coping with the needs. In this book there is a
chapter on user participation where POE is addressed under “evaluation practices”
(pp.25-137) while tackling “user participation” (pp.77-128).
A more recent reference for POE is Mallory-Hill, Preiser and Watson415 (2012)
Enhancing Building Performance, with contributions from referred authors in this
subject area and their studies on particular case studies throughout, which also
412
This is conÀrmed by the authors: “A rational building design process using feedback from ongoing evaluation
can be conceptualized as a loop, whereby information fed back through continuous evaluation leads to better
informed design assumptions, and ultimately, to better solutions.” (Preiser and Vischer, 2005, p.3).
413
According to Voordt and Wegen’s (2005) this could be referred as “pre-design research” and also “impact
assessment” in American literature (p.142.)
414
According to the authors: “Building evaluation is the systematic assessment of building performance relative
to deÀned objectives and requirements. The assessment process is a means of getting buildings right for the
people who own, manage, and occupy them.” (Baird et. al.,1996, p.xxi).
415
As described earlier, Watson is a prominent expert in POE and Preiser has been one of its earlier developers.
223
illustrates the widespread deÀnitions for these procedures, besides the variety of
possible techniques that had already been stated in Learning from our buildings (The
Federal Facilities Council, 2001) as a conclusion416. It is also seen as a “sequel”
(Mallory-Hill, Preiser and Watson, 2012, p.xxi) of Assessing Building Performance
(Preiser and Vischer, 2005), which is here considered to be “the Àrst book to
illustrate the BPE conceptual framework through case studies from around the
globe” (Mallory-Hill, Preiser and Watson, 2012, p.11). Mallory-Hill, Preiser and
Watson designate the initial works that lead to POE: an early time period from
1975 to 1985 where POE methodologies started to arise along with its practice
in case studies, subsequently from 1985 to 1995 POE was considered to be “a
distinct discipline” (p.7), afterwards from 1995 to 2005 POE was integrated within
a cumulative process of knowledge where POE went from “diagnostic tool to
knowledge tool” (p.9), representing one of several evaluation stages417, which led
to “a new meta-level model” (p.11) which is BPE418. Today’s stand is ongoing since
2005, as a widespread procedure and, in what regards the forthcoming situation
of BPE, it is stated that “BPE generated future solutions will ensure that people
and their needs will be critical criteria for improvements in the quality of our built
environment” (p.14).
In any case, the results of these evaluations can enable adjustments and changes,
in advance, for a better match between exigencies and spatial answers419, which will
generally: “increase the likelihood of successful decisions and a positive return on
investment” (Voordt and Wegen, 2005, p.146).
All in all, the beneÀts assigned to these procedures are related to a closer analysis
of a potential intersection between spatial demand and supply; higher productivity
and user satisfaction; cost lessening; greater sureness in making decisions on both
design and management; and overall better returns from the building (Baird et al.,
1996, p.xxi).
The following references concern other publications and methods with particular
signiÀcance on building assessment. Facilities performance evaluation (FPE)
(Zimring, Rashid and Kampschroer, 2005) examines the building’s performance
416
“POE has been seen as one of a number of practices aimed at understanding design criteria, predicting the
effectiveness of emerging designs, reviewing completed designs, supporting building activation and facilities
management, and linking user response to the performance of buildings. […]
As a consequence, there is no industry-accepted deÀnition for POE; nor is there a standardized method for
conducting a POE. Even the term POE has come under scrutiny. Academics and others working in the Àeld
have proposed new terms, including environmental design evaluations, environmental audits, building- in-use
assessments, building evaluation, facility assessment, post-construction evaluation, and building performance
evaluations in an effort to better reÁect the objectives and goals of POEs as they are practiced.” (The Federal
Facilities Council, 2001, p.2)
417
The six phases are: “strategic planning”, “programming”, “design”, “construction”, “occupancy”, “adaptive
reuse/recycling” (pp.21-25); and have already been represented in Fig. 85.
418
Systematically introduced in 2005 by Assessing Building Performance from Preiser and Vischer.
419
Voordt and Wegen’s (2005) suggest a four set criteria for the evaluation of buildings dividing it on:
“functional”, “aesthetic”, “technical”, and “economic and legal”. (pp.151-152).
224
Fig. 88. “Types of FPEs and their relationships to the building production, delivery, and
occupancy stages”
(Zimring, Rashid and Kampschroer, 2005, p.2)
according to the requirements found throughout its lifecycle and the response of
its features. Even if the terms to deÀne this methodology can be diverse, and post-
occupancy evaluation could also be regarded as such and even the most prominent
one, others can also be referred such as: “environmental design evaluations,
environmental audits, building-in-use assessments, building evaluation, facility
assessment, and building performance evaluations.” (p.1). Nevertheless, and despite
this diversity in deÀnition, procedure or stage to be applied in, they all share common
characteristics regarding: the search for the building’s features that are working best
and worst, their aim to “describe the setting” and they all are generally performed
in a real life scenario (ibid.). They can adopt the form of a variety of methods,
such as: interviews, cognitive maps, behavioural maps, diaries, direct observation,
participant observation, time-lapse photography, video recording, questionnaires,
psychological tests, adjective checklists, archival data and demographic data (pp.2-3).
They can also be undertaken at several stages of the building’s lifecycle, depending
on the evaluation pursued, as Fig. 88 illustrates.
Usability studies pore over the building’s effectiveness and ease of use and
its compliance with the needs. They were initially related to Information and
Communication Technology (Heitor and Silva, 2009, p.19) and the work of Keith
Alexander (2008, 2010)420. All in all, the outcomes of these studies can be subject to
420
Usability is here deÀned as follows: “Usability in the built environment is context dependent, a product of
user experience related to the social relations amongst users and to the interaction between users and facilities.”
(Alexander, 2010, p.5).
225
cultural and social interpretation, when matching users, the built environment, its
use and the work organisation (Alexander, 2010, p.5).
These methods often appear in close coordination with research centres at

universities, as tools used on more advanced or post-graduate studies. This is
the current case of the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics, at the
Carnegie Mellon University, which revolves around the connection between high
performance building and user satisfaction (The Center for Building Performance
and Diagnostics in http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf01168/nsf01168u.pdf)421.
Also the Center for People and Buildings422, in close relation with the TU Delft
as one of the founding partners, and namely with Voordt’s work423 (Voordt and
Maarleveld, 2006), orbit around the studies on “people, work and environment” and
their potential resemblance (http://www.cfpb.nl/en/research/research-scope/)424.
This brings closer academia and the practitioners and engages the students in these
approaches, emphasising the disciplinary relevance of the methodologies and the
signiÀcance of their outcomes for the design, for the theory and for the architectural
knowledge as a whole.
Others could also be mentioned on programming and designing as a all-inclusive

process of contributions and stakeholders, such as: Managing the Brief for Better Design
(Blyth and Worthington, 2001); and Excellence by design: transforming workplace and work
practice (Horgen et al, 1999) that is based on “process-architecture” (p.xiii) as an
integrated way of considering the connections between space and stakeholders425
under the speciÀcity of each context. However, “process-architecture” is considered
to differ from POE because:
“Process architecture’s emphasis on the active, collaborative involvement

of stakeholders in workplace design leaves it open to discoveries of
new purposes and priorities and to the invention of new methods
for achieving them. This is unlike learning the methods of technical-
rational expertise – such as POE or conventional approaches to spatial
421
This close bond between research and lecturing holds great representativeness in this centre, according to its
self account: “In order to share its Àndings with the world, the CBPD soon offered the very Àrst non-history-
related PhD in architecture—and has continued to offer it and other advanced degrees for thirty years.” (The
Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics in http://soa.cmu.edu/cbpd/)
422
Considered to be a Foundation, established in 2001 (http://www.cfpb.nl/en/organisation/board/).
423
Senior researcher.
424
The relevance of space use assessment methodologies towards the Design Studio has been subject of
presentation in the Teaching through Design: International Colloquium on Design Studio Education, between 27 - 29
September 2012, in the Department of Architecture Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of
Coimbra. It has also been published as: Coelho, C. (2013). Space Use as an input to the Design Process. Joelho
#4. Ensinar pelo Projeto / Teaching through Design. 47-50. Coimbra: Edarq.
425
“As an approach to workplace-making, process architecture engages a wide array of stakeholders in rethinking
the dynamic relationship between work processes and the spatial, technological, Ànancial, and organizational
environments within which these processes occur.” (p.xiii)
226
programming – where one learns a Àxed set of methods and tools. The
process architect must continuously learn and adapt, applying certain
tools when they make sense and inventing others as needed” (p.274)
At this point, it becomes paramount to underline, even from the titles of the referred
books, the afÀrmed connection between the knowledge sought for an informative
design and the assumption of an actual “better design” (Blyth and Worthington,
2001) that can even reach “excellence” (Horgen et. al, 1999). Additionally, Blyth and
Worthington (2001) add that the built space provides tested and valid knowledge, able
to be conveyed to other buildings’ briefs426 and informative to future deriving designs427:
“Louis Kahn, the inspirational American architect, suggested that

only when the building is completed, do you know what to build. The
completed building for a perceptive client and designer becomes the
‘sounding board’ to learn what the next building should be.” (Blyth and
Worthington, 2001, p.xi)
The general systematisation from the upper contents presented, introducing

study Àelds, methodologies and authors of reference is the shared possibility of
assessing space use, either individual or collective, in order to understand a potential
corresponding between the initial brief and the needs to which a space has been
conceived, the actual design and the built space and its effective use or developments
throughout its occupancy. This is also a manner of relating design and use, architect(s)
and inhabitants(s), life and architecture, which has been a motivation from the
start of this Doctoral Thesis. But speciÀcally, it is of the utmost relevance when
addressing adaptability, recognising it to be the ability of the built space to cope with
changing needs and a multitude of uses and users, which it can still cater for.
Therefore, the mentioned methodologies, are several amongst many other,

considered to be signiÀcant for the state of the art on assessing the built space
after its completion and to acknowledge its continuing potential to cope with the
changing and upcoming answers that are asked of it throughout its lifecycle. Its
recognition is, thus, a part of the state of the art for a methodological approach
to identify and assess adaptability, since it presents authors of reference and
literature, in its respective locations and timeframes, that regard design and use.
Acknowledging them as widespread as they are today, and they way in which they
have evolved and been even speciÀed by authors according to building briefs, it is
possible to critically analyse these procedures and to assess their potential adequacy
towards contemporaneity, adaptability and the school brief in particular, for both
the research and the academia and also for the practical intervention on that or
other buildings.
426
“It is also about recognising that the brieÀng process is continuous and looks back on itself as feedback is
generated, and looks forward as feedback is used to inform future decisions.” (p.12)
427
Hence, the focus of the book on “managing the brief ” to be able to reach a “better design”.
227
. Space syntax428
“Space syntax is a method we have developed at the Bartlett Unit for Architectural
Studies to describe and analyse patterns of architectural space-both at the building
and urban level. The idea is that, with an objective and precise method of description,
we can investigate how well environments work, rigorously relating social variables
to architectural forms.” (Hillier et al., 1983, p.49)
Another study Àeld can also be mentioned that has conveyed established results,
in a very distinctive approach to spatial analysis and the relation between space
and behaviour, by resorting to morphology for analysing an urban space or a
building. Space syntax is an understated study area with great representativeness
to architecture and a becoming signiÀcance towards other disciplines. It aims to
relate spatial conÀguration and morphology with behaviour, providing quantitative
outputs, but also other representational results such as graphs, of subsequent
cultural and social interpretation on related instances, such as spatial cognition,
natural movement, wayÀnding, patterns of co-presence …
Space syntax is considered to be very signiÀcant for the methodological approach

proposed by this Doctoral Thesis, in which a morpho-syntactic analysis will be
undertaken and overlapped with effective spatial fruition in order to conclude on
a potential correlation between space and use and also between morphology and
physical features of space and the potential adaptability they convey. Naturally
that the study of the building’s morphology through space syntax is paramount to
understand its speciÀcity and the way in which it supports activity allocation and
also to considered a potential resemblance to behaviour, encounters, movement
and co-presence according to the features under study429.
The main literature references on space syntax are The social logic of space (Hillier
and Hanson, 1984) and Space is the machine (Hillier, 2007430). From the following
papers referred as representative of space syntax’s state of the art and early
development, it is also noteworthy the relevance Hillier, as other members of the
Unit for Architectural Studies at the Bartlett in the 1970s, as founding authors of the
principles that constitute it and the procedures to represent it. Formerly working at
the RIBA Intelligence Unit, where he was considered “the RIBA’s second youngest
assistant secretary at 32, [as] the nearest thing we have to a long-haired intellectual”
428
Space syntax holds a more in-depth development in this chapter because it will be used for the methodology
proposed in chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments. So,
it becomes paramount to understand its origins, problematics, evolving development until today, its methods
and outcomes.
429
In this chapter it is intended to provide a state of the art on space syntax and foremost its outsets, methods
and intentions in regard to space and society. In the following chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and
assessing adaptability in learning environments, it will be explained in detail how and by what means is space
syntax considered in the methodology proposed to identify and assess adaptability in school buildings today.
430
228
Fig. 89. Bill Hillier, at 32 years old, as assistant secretary of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
(Royal Institute of British Architects, 1969, p.426)
(RIBA, 1969) (Fig. 89). Ultimately, by leading the RIBA’s Intelligence Unit, Hillier
would share with Leaman the committed role of reÁecting upon fundamental
views, relating simultaneously research and theory, profession and practice, which
was unusual until that moment within a professional organism as the RIBA.
In one of his initial papers Psychology and the subject matter of architectural research, from
1970, Hillier sustained the relevance to “Get involved in design so that hypotheses
can be tested by that marvellous available instrument, the real building.” (Hillier,
1970, p.29), which revealed the intrinsic fragilities of empiric research and induction.
These early intentions will subsequently be addressed because they are considered
to inform on the relevance of addressing space syntax for our current Thesis and to
understand its grounding foundations and methodological developments that have
brought us until today’s widespread applications and informative approach to space
and social relations431.
In 1972 Hillier, Musgrove and O’Sullivan present the paper Knowledge and Design
at the Third Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA)432, regarding
(environmental) research and its connection to the (design) practice. It is here
431
The foundations of space syntax have been presented in the 11th International Space Syntax Symposium, in 3-7
July 2017, Lisbon. It has also been published in the Conference’s proceedings as: Gil, B.; Coelho, C. (2017).
Laying the Fundamentals. Early methods and intentions from the outsets of space syntax. This also proves its
peer validation, originality and relevance for the academia of space syntax.
432
Section 5: Design Research and Education, of the proceedings (Environmental Design Research Association,
Mitchell and AIA-Architect-Researchers’ Conference, 1972).
229
pointed out very strongly the need to diminish the so-called “applicability gap” of
research towards the design, but also the tasks to be achieved by research towards
addressing its “credibility gap” (p.2). Under this contextual framework of the
beginning of the 1970s, and according to these authors, architects developed design
concerned with the practice, rather than knowledge for that practice, which was
considered to be accorded to other realms of study433 (ibid.).
Hence, this paper holds relevance on the state of the art of the linkage between
research and knowledge, the practice and the design, in which the Àrst set is
proposed to inform and displace information and acknowledge “conjecture” (p.9),
rather than systematise and generalise conclusions for particular “solution types”
aiming at “Àt” or “optimisation” purposes, as stated:
“Design proceeds by conjecture-analysis rather than by analysis-

synthesis. It is argued that if research is to make an impact on design
it must inÁuence designers at the pre-structuring and conjectural
stages. The idea that research should produce knowledge in the form
of packaged information, coupled to rationalised design procedures
is therefore inadequate. The aim of research should be seen more in
terms of providing designers with a stronger theoretical, operational
and heuristic basis from which to conjecture, rather than in terms of
knowledge to determine outcomes.” (Hillier, Musgrove and O’Sullivan,
1972, p.1)
This paper elaborates on the societal connection of the physical environment to

behaviour, which will be further suited by these authors, and considers the building
as “a container of activities, and within this it both inhibits and facility[ates]
activities, perhaps occasionally prompting them or determining them. It also
locates behaviour, and in this sense can be seen as a modiÀcation of the total
behaviour of society” 434 (p.12). Therefore, stating the research’s contribution to
the design to be to “reconstitute codes from a theoretical base concerned with the
relations between physical environments and those who experience them” (p.13).
The research will then provide theories on the “basic elements in design”, namely:
“ranges of activities, movements, perception motivated actions, social intercourse
patterns, spaces and the environmental criteria” (p.13); which would be a based-
informed knowledge for the designer to proceed according to his “basic cognitive
capability”435 (ibid.). Generally, by refusing a deÀnite knowledge or a set of rules of
433
“Because the education of architects was broad and shallow, and because they were concerned with action
rather than knowledge, they could not be expected to generate new knowledge for themselves. This was the
job of ‘related’ disciplines, whose concern was the advancement of knowledge. Architects, on the other hand,
knew about design, and should make systematic design their research focus.” (p.2)
434
It also deÀnes the building as a “climate modiÀer, a behaviour modiÀer, a cultural modiÀer and a resource
modiÀer” (p.12.)
435
Full quote: “[…] we can begin to build up theory-base descriptions of the basic elements in design. These
basic elements include ranges of activities, movements, perception motivated actions, social intercourse
230
Fig. 90. “The four-function model as a structure (two versions)”

(Hillier and Leaman, 1974, p.8)
thumb, this approach draws near the design and the theory, the conjecture and the
research, and strongly advances that: “Such theories are not pseudo-deterministic
ways of telling the designer what will be the outcome of his design, but strong and
cumulatively developing bases for conjecturing possible futures.” (p.14).
Following this connection between the design and the environment, a subsequent
paper by Hillier and Leaman (1974) (Fig. 90) states that “if design method is
to be improved then it is more important to study the environment itself than
how designers design” (p.4) and also to explore “how designers’ internal models
transform environmental reality”. This recalls the previous 1972 (Hillier, Musgrove,
O’Sullivan) idea of the building as a “climate”, “behaviour”, “cultural” and a
patterns, spaces and the environmental criteria that will satisfy a classiÀed range of possible uses, coded and
described in terms of the technologies which make them possible. Such a breakdown we might call a base
component classiÀcation for environmental action, which would shift both in response to theoretical changes
and also in response to changes in the environmental objectives of society. From the point of view of the
designer such classiÀcations and code formalisations would not be deterministic or constitute a set to be
speciÀed in relation to problem information, but would constitute an extension of the designer’s basic cognitive
capability, and provide him with - and this is really the point about science - a position of strength from which
to make his conjectures. In other words he would be using theories operationalised and speciÀed as far as
possible in terms of externalized codes, linking instrumental sets to human usage, as a basis for proposing his
own further modiÀcations to the environmental Àeld.” (p.13)
231
“resource modiÀer” (p.12), even though this is deeper developed in this paper,
in which the authors advance a more structured framework for these conditions,
namely that the “man-man” relation regards the building as a “behaviour modiÀer”,
as the “man-nature” relation regards the building as a “climate modiÀer” (p.8).
Already at this paper Hillier and Leaman (1974) address “morphology” and
“structure” (p.6) and refer to a:
“[…] theoretical approach to space where the Àxity of artiÀcial

space […] becomes a primary factor. Such a theory begins with the
observation that the simplest structures in environmental action are
already complex structures.
Such elementary structures, given that they are identiÀable, will
contain within themselves rules for combination into the higher-order
aggregations which give the spatial structure characteristics of urban
and other higher-order spaces, as mappings of social processes” (Hillier
and Leaman, 1974, p.10)
This latest remark on “mapping of social processes” could induce the future “social
logic of space” (Hillier and Hanson, 1984), and also the identiÀcation of rules of
combination of structures and the reference to morphology, could be understood
as an anticipation of the Space Syntax paper (Hillier, Leaman, Stansall, Bedford,
1976) two years later.
But just one year afterwards, Hillier and Leaman publish The architecture of
architecture. Foundations of a mathematical theory of artiÀcial space (1975) that elaborates
on “morphologies and codes” (pp.6-8), “spatial surfaces and aggregation modes”
(pp.10-12) and presents an “elementary syntax of spatial structures” (pp.12-16).
So, as mentioned, in the following year, the paper Space Syntax by Hillier, Leaman,
Stansall and Bedford (1976) that starts by questioning: “how and why different
societies produce different spatial orders through building forms and settlement
patterns” (p.147)436, is paramount for the establishment of space syntax, as “a
general syntactic theory of space organization” (ibid.).
Structurally, this paper Àrst locates this theory as a “morphic language” that is
“used to constitute rather than represent the social through their syntax (that is the
systematic production of pattern)” (ibid.) and grounds it, between the mathematical
and the natural language, from which it resembles, but also differs:
“From mathematical languages, morphic languages take the small lexicon
436
These authors, at this time, were a part of the Unit for Architectural Studies in the School of Environmental
Studies, University College London. Having been published in Environment and Planning B, this paper is a
reviewed version of an early report to the Science Research Council, on a research programme with a SRC
Research Grant (p.185).
232
(that is the homogeneity of its primary morphic units), the primacy of

syntactic structure over semantic representation, the property of being built
up from a minimal initial system, and the property of not meaning anything
except its own structure (that is to say, it does not exist to represent other
things, but to constitute patterns which are their own meaning). From
natural languages, morphic languages take the property of being realised in
the experiential world, of being creatively used for social purposes (or permitting a
‘rule-governed creativity’), and of being constitutive, rather than representative,
of the social.”437 (Hillier, Leaman, Stansall and Bedford, 1976, p.152)
In fact, the Àrst part of the paper addresses the search for the recognition and
representation of “inherent formal structures” (p.148) to understand spatial and
social patterns (ibid.). For that purpose, the uncertainty on the use of mathematics
overall, or of any particular work Àeld, is reÁected on afÀrmations such as: “We
cannot know in advance whether the new combinatorial ideas we need will come from
mathematics, or whether they will come from outside and challenge mathematics
[…]” (p.148). Under a yet emergent search on the methods, the “syntactic” choice
is here justiÀed, rather than a mathematical straightforward approach, as follows:
“Perhaps a Àrmer argument for a ‘syntactic’ rather than properly

mathematical strategy is that, even within the scope of a general belief
in an inherent formal order giving rise to knowability in space patterns,
we cannot know in advance which of the array of current branches
of mathematics will be appropriate, or even if any branch will offer
models for the level and type of approximation we require. The proper
scientiÀc strategy therefore seems to be to build a theory of patterns,
with a close respect for the evidence but without too much regard for
early justiÀcation in mathematical terms.” (Hillier, Leaman, Stansall and
Bedford, 1976, p.149)
Then, the paper explains the aim of the “theory of morphic languages” in
“understanding how the morphology may be generated from a parsimonious set
of elementary objects, relations and operations” (pp.149-150). Syntax here plays a
prominent role, quoting the original words:
“In effect the reduction of morphology to the elementary structure

of a combinatorial system is argued to be its reduction to its principles
of knowability. The set of combinatorial principles we call syntax.
Syntax is the most important property of a morphic language. What is
knowable about the morphological output of a morphic language is its
syntax. Conversely, syntax permits the morphology to exhibit regularity
in its similarities and differences.
Syntax in a morphic language is deÀned as a set of related rule structures
437
233
Fig. 91. “Elementary lexicon. The diagrams are illustrative rather than rigorous and are included as
an aid to understanding the argument”
(Hillier, Leaman, Stansall and Bedford, 1976, p.155)
formed out of elementary combinations of the elementary objects,

relations, and operations. These can be introduced, independently or
conjointly, in a minimum setup for the morphic language to produce
recognisable patterns.”438(Hillier, Leaman, Stansall and Bedford,1976, p.150)
In this paper inÁuential concepts of space syntax already appear, such as: “local”
vs “global” (p.153), “retrieving a description of the collective pattern” (ibid.) and
“description retrieval” (p.184), “a solid” vs “a vacant entity” (ibid.), “betweeness”
(p.157) vs “insideness” (p.173),… Afterwards, it describes the postulates, the
advantages and its lexicon (Fig. 91). Finally, it provides some reÁection upon human
settlements with examples.
Lastly, the paper stresses that at that time it presents an untested theory439 (p.179),
438
439
“Furthermore, the theory as we developed it appeared to make sense and relate a signiÀcant proportion
of the conclusions of other researchers, including architectural researchers, anthropologists, and even an
economic anthropologist. Although it is in no sense a tested theory yet, having been developed and applied
only retrospectively to the evidence collected by others, we are satisÀed that the match between the formal
structure of the theory and the distribution of evidence as currently known is sufÀciently suggestive and exact
to permit our giving an account of it at this premature stage. Unfortunately, in the time so far available, it has
not been possible to give a thorough review and reference to the work of others on which we draw. This serious
234
Fig. 92. Space Syntax, paper cover of the paper on the Architect’s Journal 30
(Hillier, Hanson, Peponis, Hudson and Burdett, 1983, p.47)
which is not “causal” or a “reÁection” (ibid.) of society and space440, but that
the theory here presented is the most exact one that engages syntax with social
relationships441, whose further developments would also lie in the clariÀcation of
this relation. This is the case of the paper Creating life: or, does architecture determine
anything? by Hillier, Burdett, Peponis and Penn (1987), which exams in detail
whether “architectural design create[s] a pattern of spatial life” (p.234), ending with
the suggestion that “cities are not so much mechanisms for generating contact as
mechanisms for generating a potential Àeld of probabilistic co-presence and encounter”442
(p.248) with a “deÀnite and describable structure” (ibid.).
deÀciency will of course be corrected in a later paper.” (p.179)

440
“This theory does not have a ‘causal’ form. It does not argue that particular forms ·of society ‘cause’
particular kinds of space patterns. Space is not a result of society as much as one of the means by which the
social is constituted and made real. The theory is more in the form of pattern similarities or relationships
between spatial and social syntax-social syntax being the patterns of encounters and relationships that hold
among the members of a society. Nor is it correct to seek in such patterns and comparisons only a spatial
reÁection of social form.” (ibid.)
441
“In extending the concept of ‘syntax’ to social relationships and encounters, it must, of course, be stressed
that no such syntactic theory yet exists on a level of exactness comparable to the syntax theory of space. […] At
a broad level, we shall try to show that both the general shape of the syntax model as a whole, and the patterns
implied by particular syntaxes, provide useful ways of talking about social relationships.” (p.180)
442
235
Fig. 93. Limehouse Basin – photo

Fig. 94. Limehouse Basin – spatial analysis

236
A subsequent paper under the same title Space Syntax, by Hillier, Hanson, Peponis,
Hudson and Burdett443, published in 1983 in The Architects’ Journal 30 (Fig. 92),
developed this theory further and closer to what has been presented in the 1984
Hillier and Hanson’s The social logic of space.
This paper explains very clearly the principles of space syntax:
“Space syntax is a method we have developed at the Bartlett Unit for

Architectural Studies to describe and analyse patterns of architectural
space-both at the building and urban level. The idea is that, with an
objective and precise method of description, we can investigate how well
environments work, rigorously relating social variables to architectural
forms.” (Hillier, Hanson, Peponis, Hudson and Burdett, 1983, p.49)
This research has been taken up at the Bartlett and applied to “more than 100 towns,
urban areas and design proposals, and the systematic observation of 15 examples”
(ibid.). One of the focused examples is London’s Limehouse Basin, for which four
design proposals have been analysed, besides the existing urban tissue (Figs. 93 and
94). And despite the choice in the proposal, the research shows that the analyses of
the existing structure tackle its respective problems and assets and also acknowledges
the spatial requirements for bettering its movement and social interaction.
In addition to the fact that this paper presents a well-deÀned description of space
syntax, it holds an appendix with the concepts that it takes up and it perceives
its purposes and advancements very clearly. It also concludes on the relevance of
spatial order towards cognition and behaviour (p.49):
“Nevertheless our results show unequivocally that the spatial organisation

of towns and urban areas affects patterns of movement and use
according to well deÀned principles, which relate to intelligibility of
space […]; the continuity of occupation […]; and the predictability of
space […]” (Hillier, Hanson, Peponis, Hudson and Burdett, 1983, p.49)
Lastly, it strongly acknowledges space syntax as an advancement for urban design,

by providing an understanding of the existing situation that can ultimately advise
future designs:
“Space syntax is therefore both a method and a message, and it would

seem to open up new perspectives to urban design. It gives a rational
way of approaching urban design ‘top down’, so that anyone can
participate in the decision taking process from the ‘bottom up’. Space
syntax allows the structure of the area to suggest new possibilities.
Above all, it is a way of looking at the oldest problem of all in urban
443
Members of the Unit for Architectural Studies in the School of Environmental Studies at the Bartlett, with
a grant by the SERC (p.48).
237
Fig. 95. Richard Rogers’s proposal and analysis

(Hillier, Peponis and Simpson, 1982, p.38)
design: how to add the new to the old.” (Hillier, Hanson, Peponis,
Hudson and Burdett, 1983, p.63)
This can be perceived in the analysis of the former example of Limehouse Basin.
But, besides urban analysis, space syntax has also proven relevant on the analysis
of design proposals for building interventions444. One year prior to the mentioned
paper, another one is published on The Architects’ Journal, regarding the National
Gallery Hampton site proposals445, already analysed by axial and convex maps
(Hillier, Peponis and Simpson, 1982) (Fig. 95).
Remarkably, the headline of this paper states: “This approach to assessment, argue
the authors, shifts the onus of selection from the subjective aesthetic onto more
objective goals” (p.38). In this case Hillier, Peponis and Simpson do not evaluate
any proposal but are constricted to their analyses in order to provide an insightful
444
This is quite signiÀcant for the methodology proposed in this Thesis to identify and assess adaptability,
because it is applied to a building, which also justiÀes its use in the proposed methodology and also the
relevance of the development of space syntax in this chapter.
445
Although this 1982 competition had 79 proposals, the one chosen has not been built. Instead, in 1991 the,
currently known as the Sainsbury Wing, has been built by Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates.
238
Fig. 96. Mission Impossible?

(The Architects’ Journal, 1983, pp.14-15)
outlook on how the spatial structure proposed would function446.
This holds signiÀcance, because on the one hand, it demonstrates that space syntax
is also possible to be transposed to buildings and not just urban areas, on the other
hand, space syntax becomes a process able to provide information for a more
supported decision-making, either for design competitions or for the designers
themselves, and also during the design process and not just after completion.
However, the reception of the space syntax method by The Architects’ Journal’s readers
expressed “major reservations” like Richard MacCormac (The Architects’ Journal,
1983, p.14) who, even considering the “intelligibility of a locality” as relevant, argued
that “space syntax describes formal characteristics of urban space and I do not feel
that a measurable relationship between these and urban experience is established”.
The only exception on this debate was Markus, who actually believed in its
potentialities, rather than a “mission impossible” (Fig. 96). Hence, this could be
446
“Our method of analysis of layouts with respect to strategic choices involves the representation of plans in
ways that bring out their relevant spatial properties and allow their precise evaluation if this is whished. To keep
the argument simple, no evaluation will be introduced here. Rather, the aim is to demonstrate the principles of
analysis.” (pp.38-39)
239
one of the early signs that revealed subsequent divergent approaches to the man-
environment paradigm, foreseen by Hillier and Leaman ten years earlier (1973).
Then, the First Space Syntax Symposium occurs for an already established research
community. Its opening lecture by Hillier and Hanson (1997) reÁect upon the
progressive development of space syntax, both as a method but foremost as a theory:
“the analytical theory of architecture” (p.1). This recalled the early papers when
Hillier was at the RIBA’s Intelligence Unit while searching for the fundamentals of
an architectural theory, which now holds speciÀcities and mechanisms that structure
and describe spatial conÀguration in regard to social relations.
According to Hillier and Hanson (1997) its development was instigated by the
questioning of the spatial structures in the 1970s, which also engaged other
researchers at that time, with different approaches to this subject:
“Space syntax originated in the early seventies in an effort to understand

why, from a spatial point of view, buildings and built environments were
as they were, and occupied only a small corner of the theoretically vast
Àeld of architectural and urban possibility. From the earliest days we
focussed on the study of real cases, and our efforts could be contrasted
with the parallel efforts of others such as March and Steadman at
Cambridge (and then at the Open University) to identify the formal and
geometric limits of architectural possibility. They studied possibility,
we studied actuality, and we compared notes in the friendly rivalry
of a mobile joint seminar, which soon expanded to include George
Stiny, Bill Mitchell and others. The earliest space syntax work took real
environments, such as organic settlements, and vernacular buildings, and
tried to identify the formal, spatial and functional forces that generated
their characteristic spatial forms.” (Hillier and Hanson, 1997, p.1)
As seen, their initial work lied along the study of urban settlements, which is
conÀrmed by the referred 1983 paper from Hillier, Hanson, Peponis, Hudson
and Burdett, recalling the study of more than 100 urban areas, at the Bartlett.
This continued on in an effort for representing and analysing the found spatial
patterns, that had already been established in 1984 with The social logic of space
(Hillier and Hanson). This book’s impact was then considered, by its authors, to
be “methodological”, which allowed other study Àelds and authors to acknowledge
it in their own researches and enabled a wider research community to hold the
symposium in which this lecture was given (Hillier and Hanson, 1997, p.1).
Anyway, Hillier and Hanson chose to underline at that particular moment, the
analytical theory behind space syntax, rather than the method. According to them:
“Without theory, method is nothing.” (ibid.). And even though space syntax had
already gained representativeness, both in the practice and also in the research,
240
in urban and building designs, at that point, it could gain a more crucial place in
both447, regarding it as a theory more than a set of techniques (ibid.), because:
“Design is a matter of going from what we know to what we do not

know. Techniques on their own cannot accomplish this. Only theory
can. […] Architecture is about the exploration of possibility and so are
space syntax techniques.” (Hillier and Hanson, 1997, p.4)
Considering architecture as “the art of ‘assemblage’” (p.2) of raw contents,

and buildings as “essentially relational schemes” (ibid.), and being the “concrete
elements” - “discursive”, and the “relational schemes” - “nondiscursive”, then:
“Architecture and urbanism are the most omnipresent case of this

duality, because buildings and cities are where we apply nondiscursive
relational schemes to the real world in which we live, and so convert
our milieu from materiality to culture.” (Hillier and Hanson, 1997, p.3).
Hence, space syntax aims to provide an understating of these relational schemes:

“Space syntax is a means to study architectural and urban phenomena directly and
hope through this to identify the nondiscursive relational schemes that structure
their characteristic forms.” (Hillier and Hanson, 1997, p.3)
And if previous theories can be considered more normative, space syntax intends
to be analytical, which “aided architectural understanding, but remained relatively
uncommitted to any normative theory of design” (ibid.), being “aided architectural
understanding” the crucial sore point, in this connection between the design
and the analytical (and not normative) theory. Although it resorts to quantitative
properties, it is supported by the nondiscursive relations, so it also informs on other
representational properties:
“Space syntax is about the conÀgurational relation of part to whole,

and aims to express these peculiar properties of conÀgurations in a
consistent, rigorous and quantitative way. But it is not simply about
quantiÀcation. It also itself exploits nondiscursivity by using graphical
representations of conÀgurational properties, including quantitative
properties, so that the intuitive eye and the analytic mind can work
together in detecting the hidden patterns in architectural things.”
(Hillier and Hanson, 1997, p.3)
447
From the lecture: “My purpose in this paper is to explain why it is not simply the methodology that is
applied but the theory, and why space syntax should not be seen as some interesting techniques on the
periphery of architecture and urban design, but as central to the development of the practice and theory in
those subjects.” (ibid.)
241
Fig. 97. Space syntax studies at the Bartlett, UCL

Courtesy of Professor Bill Hillier. (http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/graduate/programmes/
postgraduate/mscdiploma-advanced-architectural-studies)
So, overall, Hillier and Hanson (1997) state that space syntax works along “design
intuition” for the understanding of the possibilities:
“Space syntax works with, not against, design intuition, and generates
new generic possibilities for design intuition to explore rather than
simply constraining design. It can do this precisely because it is a
theory, and could not do this if it were not. […] Space syntax makes
the deployment of nondiscursive intuition more rational and therefore
more discursive. It aids design as what it is: the reasoned deployment
of intuition. Architecture remains, as ever, the reasoning art.” (Hillier
and Hanson, 1997, pp.4-5)
This is picked up by Hanson (2001), in her paper Morphology and Design. Reconciling
intellect, intuition, and ethics in the reÁective practice of architecture, for the Third Space Syntax
Symposium, where she recalls the engagement of morphology to design, but also,
intuition and ethics to space syntax448.
Furthermore, Hanson also highlights the relevance in studying morphology at an

early stage of the brieÀng, which provides a signiÀcant contribution to architecture,
both to the practice but also, within the university:
448
“The creative interplay of intellect and intuition is considered in relation to how morphology can help to
clarify strategic design choices early on in the design process.” (Hanson, 2011, p.1)
242
Fig. 98. Space Syntax Laboratory

(Carolina Coelho, 2015)
“[…] the potential for space syntax to guide the relation between
morphology and design at the brieÀng stage, when the limits of
architectural possibility need to be set against the constraints of the
unique design context, may represent its most vital contribution yet to
architectural knowledge and also to present its strongest claim to be a
legitimate academic discipline within the modern university.” (Hanson,
2001, p.17)
Pedagogically, the Àrst space syntax course was originally conceived by Hillier in
1974 at the Bartlett, as the MSc Advanced Architectural Studies, and it continues
to be taught today on the MRes/MSc and MPhil/PhD programmes (https://www.
bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/space-syntax) (Fig. 97).
Also, within the Bartlett School of Architecture, the Space Syntax Laboratory (Fig.
98), created by Hillier in 1972, is the original and most representative research and
educational unit, still currently active (The Bartlett Space Syntax Laboratory):
“The Space Syntax Laboratory is the originator of the architectural

research discipline of space syntax. Space syntax research has led to a
fundamental understanding of the relationship between spatial design
and the use of space as well as longer term social outcomes.” (The
Bartlett Space Syntax Laboratory)
243
Fig. 99. Space Syntax Symposium, London, 13th-17th July 2015

(http://www.sss10.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk)
Fig. 100. Space Syntax Symposium, Lisbon, 3rd-7th July 2017

(Heitor, 2017b, p.1)
244
Although, mostly applied to Graduate Studies Programs, pedagogically, space

syntax subjects spread also worldwide. The current European Postgraduate Masters
in Urbanism, a conjoint program conducted by: TU Delft, UPC Barcelona, KUL
Leuven and Università IUAV di Venezia, had in the Autumn 2012 semester a ten-
session course on space syntax, which is a clear example of the practical importance
this approach has gained for notable universities and study Àelds.
Presently, this approach, linking spatial morphology to a “social logic of space”

(Hillier and Hanson, 1984), provides information on a widespread number of study
Àelds, from the urban scale to the dwelling. This is proven by the extensive themes
addressed in the latest Space Syntax Symposium in Lisbon (3rd-7th July 2017) such
as: buildings and respective “conÀguration-informed” knowledge for the design
and the theory; “urban spatial-structural studies” for the design, movement, justice
and mobility; “environmental and spatial cognition” and processes of wayÀnding
and perception of a particular spatial morphology towards movement, behaviour
and interaction; “space-related environmental, social and economic sustainability
issues” in a far-reaching understating of the environment beyond the built form for
the analysis of study matters on behaviour, safety or gender; and “methodological
and technical innovations” on this matter (http://www.11ssslisbon.pt). This largely
demonstrates the wide framework of the current trends on space syntax research
(ibid.) and the currently extensive community of researchers involved with this
approach (Figs. 99 and 100), forty years after the breakthrough brought by the
paper Space Syntax (Hillier, Leaman, Stansall and Bedford, 1976), setting its outsets.
So, overall the case studies and situations in which to apply space syntax have been
gradually widened, its disciplinary scope has gained a broader extension, and a
potential transdiciplinarity can be perceived, which is stated promptly in Hillier’s
(2007) Space is the machine:
“The surprising success of conÀgurational ideas in capturing the inner

logic of at least some aspects of the form and functioning of built
environments, suggests that it might in due course be useful to extend
these ideas to other areas where similar problems of describing and
quantifying conÀguration seem to be central, including some aspects
of cognitive psychology, but also perhaps sociology itself. At present
we are encouraged by the current interest in these ideas across a range
of disciplines and, just as the last decade has been devoted to the
development and testing of techniques of conÀgurational analysis
within architecture and urban design, so we hope that the coming
decade will see collaborations amongst disciplines where conÀguration
is identiÀed as a signiÀcant problem, and where some development of
the conÀgurational methodology could conceivably play a useful role.”
(Hillier, 2007, p.2)
245
Hillier’s reference to “collaborations amongst disciplines” (ibid.), may imply a way

of surpassing the “paradoxes” on the “man-environment paradigm”, foreseen in
the early paper with Leaman (Hillier and Leaman, 1973449). These paradoxes have
certainly contributed to the delimitation of the theoretical fundamentals of space
syntax and its subsequent developments. Actually, in its outsets, by concentrating
its methods in securing a rigorous and stable assessment of the structural logics
that inÁuence social relationships in space, the theory became intentionally biased
by not taking into account subjects’ sensorial experience and intentions and, thus,
without aiming to resolve the holistic complexity of social encounters.
At the same time, this theoretical assertiveness brought some arguments from
several critics, pointing out fragilities that were, from the beginning, outside
the fundamentals proposed by the theory. The recent clariÀcation of the Àeld’s
limitations, by Netto (2015) when questioning “What space syntax is not”, while
systematically identifying the intrinsic goals of space syntax’s theory, also underlines
its abstraction when it reduces “social practice” and “the actors” to syntactic
measurements.
From opposing epistemologies many of the controversies have grown towards

space syntax, as we have seen in the publication Mission Impossible (The Architects’
Journal, 1983). Hence, more than a permanent and unresolved fracture, questions
can be placed on how far the confrontation between space syntax and divergent
theories, might constitute a way of surpassing the above paradoxes, while respecting
their mutual fundamentals.
From the three different possibilities pointed by Netto (2015, p.8) to this
“epistemological dilemma” on the future of theory – “maintenance and
reproduction”; “rupture”; or “adaptation and evolution” – we argue for the
critical dialogue between theories, and a constructive triangulation of their
original principles.
Hence, more than adapting and envisaging an expanded theory through its
adaptation, its interaction with other theoretical contributes would comply with
a critical and more complete sociospatial assessment, such as attempted in recent
researches (Coelho and Krüger, 2015). This particular research associated space
syntax with other approaches for assessing adaptability in educational spaces, in
order to reach a more thorough conclusion on the relation between space and the
learning experience, whose “[…] Ànal outcome potentially provides a comprehensive
outlook on spatial analysis and a methodological development on architectural
research, to be applied to other design briefs.” (p.2).
Ultimately, by acknowledging that the development of space syntax has been
449
See paper The man-environment paradigm and its paradoxes (Hillier and Leaman, 1973).
246
instigated by the questioning of the spatial structures in the 1970s, which also
engaged other researchers at that time with different approaches to this subject
(Hillier and Hanson, 1997), a contemporary, renewed and entangled research
culture might capture that ambiance for a more comprehensive study of the man-
environment paradigm.
By understanding the theoretical fundamentals that ground space syntax

research from its early outsets, along with its informed reassessment towards
contemporaneity and the speciÀcity of this current Thesis, it is possible to
conclude on its relevance. Hence, space syntax may potentially be used as a
procedure under the proposed methodology to identify and assess adaptability,
since the information provided by the spatial morphology can be paralleled with
behaviour, experience and movement in the complex building, which can be
an indicator of its activities and users450. Foremost when it is understood and
applied along, as it will be here proposed451, with other study Àelds under Hillier’s
reference on a “collaborations amongst disciplines” (Hillier, 2007, p.2) it proves
its “adaptation” and operative input for a more comprehensive approach to space
and social relations.
Hillier’s struggle for a “collaborations amongst disciplines” could still be recalled

today and has been closed pointed out by Heitor (2017) in the Opening Session of the
latest 11th Space Syntax Symposium in Lisbon in 3rd July 2017, remembering Hillier’s
1997 opening speech for the First Symposium 20 years prior, and the “challenges”
space syntax currently faces:
“[…] there is the inevitability that space syntax will allow itself to be
inseminated by closely-related disciplines for which space is also a
central concern, resulting in a process of cross-pollination that may
lead to further developments and research achievements.” (Heitor,
2017a, p.3)
This could support the continuous need for a closer contact with other study
Àelds, the potential synergies that can result from this “cross-pollination” and the
possibility of gathering research cultures for knowledge advancement, both with
the academia and the practice. This methodology here proposed on this Doctoral
Thesis holds that possibility and recognises its contemporaneity and relevance as
a more comprehensive process for the acknowledgement of space that potentially
might lead to also more all-inclusive results.
450
For further development on this approach, please see chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and
assessing adaptability in learning environments., since this is one of the procedures that the methodology
presented in this Thesis proposes to apply.
451
247
. Space use assessment methodologies focused on schools
Having aroused the issue of life within architecture, from a more general manner in
chapter 1.2.452, to the ways by which it can be assessed in this present chapter, it can
be perceived that the living experience can be understood by numerous assertions,
realms of study and authors. Therefore, the way of assessing that experience, will
then vary according to its interpretation, but also, the purposes of that assessment,
the nature of the design, and the features of the space, the way it engages people,
and how its features are able to do it so.
Accordingly, this current research also aims at providing a broader insight on the
possibilities of considering experience at the multiple stages, on both the design
and the occupancy of space, assuming that enclosing distinct perspectives could
also represent a thorough outlook on the subject and provide results derived from
different Àelds in a more insightful report on that spatial experience.
As seen throughout this chapter, these studies provide a body of knowledge that
can be redirected towards the systematic development of the design of today’s
school buildings, capable of informing on the actual space use and the outcome
of a speciÀc design solution and its impact on student achievement, the school
community’s well-being in space, and the potentiation of the learning process
overall. In order to identify these experiences, the spaces in which they happen and
the individuals to whom they are addressed, this current research resorts to space
use assessment methodologies as the body of knowledge in which to support the
proposed methodology to identify and assess adaptability in school buildings, as a
broader way in which space use could be perceived.
At this point and having identiÀed space use assessment methodologies in a more
general and holistic manner, they will now be reapproached to the school brief,
addressing the authors of reference, their studies and the speciÀcities of assessment
contemporary active learning environments in their relation to the pedagogical
context and paradigm.
SpeciÀcally, authors like Lippman in Evidence-Based Design of Elementary and Secondary

Schools: A Responsive Approach to Creating Learning Environments (2010), Ornstein in
Post-Occupancy Evaluation In Brazil (2005) and Post-Occupancy Evaluation Performed in
Elementary and High Schools of Greater São Paulo, Brazil: The Occupants and the Quality of
the School Environment (1997) and Fawcett in Architecture: functional approach or the case
for user research (1995), have applied methods of space use assessment methodologies
to school buildings.
452
See chapter 1.2. Motivation and background: Architecture and Life – conceiving forms of engagement.
248
Lippman (2010) deÀnes this process as “evidence-based design”453, a “responsive

approach” (p.7454) that includes “actionable knowledge” (Elliott, 2001455) for the
inÁuence of the built environment on behaviour (Lippman, 2010, p.1), with the
speciÀcity that this particular approach implies the gathering of several methods
(p.10). Lippman (2010) expresses the relevance of evidence-based design
for the creation of a design solution that copes with the speciÀc need of its
occupants (p.7), and transposes this approach to school facilities by emphasising
the relevance of knowledge acquisition on the inÁuence of space on behaviour,
applied to learning spaces:
“And just as designers must understand that the physical environment

evolves in relation to the people situated in it, educators and researchers
must acknowledge that the physical learning environment assists them in
providing opportunities for learning to take place.” (Lippman, 2010, p.ix)
This goes along the bond between school space and the learning practice and student
achievement already conÀrmed in chapter 2.3.456, because it is here considered to be
a “responsive approach” (pp.29-30) to the speciÀc design of schools, “grounded in
research on the social environment, learning, and the physical environment” (p.30),
displacing information collected on the learning process, the space use and the
social context towards the design practice457.
Furthermore, a very relevant reference for this problematics on schools is Sanoff458.

Professor in the areas of design participation, design research, methodology and
programming, specially applied to school design. Sanoff was the developer of the
School Design Research programme at the School of Architecture, North Carolina
State University. In his books: Integrating Programming, Evaluation and Participation
in Design (1992), Community Based Design Learning: Democracy and Collective Decision
Making (2007), Community Participation in School Planning: Case Studies of Engagement
in School Facilities (2010), and particularly in School Building Assessment Methods (2001),
he actively introduces user contributions in the decision-making, managing and
evaluation processes throughout, and particularly in school facilities.
453
Initially applied to healthcare facilities (p.1).
454
“An approach for the design of the physical environment grounded in research may be understood as
responsive to the needs of learners and their social environment.” (Lippman, 2010, p.7)
455
“[...] the future of social and educational research can be redirected to generating actionable knowledge for
both policy-makers and practitioners.” (Elliott, 2001, p.557)
456
457
“The responsive approach, which is the ideal, views each learning environment as unique and as raising a
variety of issues that include, but are not limited to, the following: understanding the diverse ways in which
people learn, how the learner and the social environment inÁuence and shape learning, how pedagogy is used,
how the physical environment may be designed to promote people’s engagement in goal-oriented activities, the
use of technology, and sustainability.” (p.30)
458
Foundation member of Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) in 1969 and board member
of the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF).
249
Also others publications can be mentioned on criteria for assessing the quality
of school space, like: Assessing Secondary School Design Quality (CABE, 2006) and
The State of Post-Occupancy Evaluation in the Practice of Educational Design (Lackney,
2001).
Also, the International Pilot Study on the Evaluation of Quality in Educational Spaces459
(Heitor and Silva, 2009) is also a tool of analysis and reÁection upon the school
space, and it “aims to support the education authorities, decision makers, school
communities and other stakeholders in the teaching-learning process, to optimise
the use of educational spaces and investments made in them.” 460 (p.6). The selected
Portuguese schools for this study are evaluated according to the CELE/OECD
Model of Reference for the evaluation of the quality of educational spaces on: “the
ability of the school space to improve the conditions of equal access to education”
and “the ability of the school space to improve educational effectiveness and
promote the acquisition of key skills”461 (p.15).
Precisely in Portugal in 2005, and organised by the OECD Programme on

Educational Building and the Ministry of Education in Portugal, 23 recognised
experts such as Watson (Silva and Watson, 2005; Watson and Thomson, 2005),
Fisher (2005), Ornstein (2005), Ponti (2005) and Portuguese representatives from
the Ministry of Education and specialists on educational spaces (Heitor, 2005; Silva
and Silva, 2005), have gathered together in Lisbon to analyse the issue on Evaluating
Quality in Educational Facilities (OECD, 2005a). This meeting intended “to deÀne a set
of international principles and criteria for assessing quality in educational facilities”,
“to discuss methodologies used to measure these criteria in different countries”,
and “to consider options for an international methodology for assessing quality in
educational facilities” (OECD, 2005b, p.1), whose conclusion were presented in the
Draft Report (ibid.) that summarised the contributions, presented the methodologies
considered and made recommendations. Seven quality principles were demarcated
to be “concise, well-deÀned, measurable and not overly prescriptive” (p.4), even
though caution was recommended in applying them, according to the contextual
framework of each case study that sought understanding (p.2), explicitly: “Àt
for purpose”; “inspirational”; “stakeholder involvement and satisfaction”,
“environmentally sustainable”; “healthy, safe, secure and comfortable”; “cost-
effective”; and “holistically planned and managed” (pp.4-5).
459
From the Portuguese: “Estudo piloto internacional sobre avaliaçmo qualitativa dos espaços educativos”
(Heitor and Silva, 2009).
460
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “O estudo piloto pretende apoiar as autoridades
educativas, os decisores, as comunidades escolares e outros intervenientes no processo de ensino-aprendizagem,
a optimizar a utilizaçmo dos espaços educativos e dos investimentos que neles smo efectuados.” (p.6)
461
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Capacidade do espaço escolar para aumentar as
condições de acesso equitativo à educaçmo [...] Capacidade do espaço escolar para melhorar a eÀcácia educativa
e promover a aquisiçmo de competrncias chave” (p.15).
250
Flexibility has also been addressed. Ponti (2005) clearly stated that: “Flexibility462
in educational spaces is one of the most important challenges for today and
tomorrow in all over the world” (p.85). But also Heitor (2005), at that meeting,
focused on “spatial quality criteria in educational facilities and to explore how
can they be combined into a single common framework for formulating and
evaluating school physical conditions worldwide in order to bring school facilities
up to higher standards including more Áexibility for future change.” (p.45),
concluding that: “[…] schools’ long lives require buildings that meet the demands
of the future.” (p.51), and that: “Being innovative in school design is risky but it
is important in order to anticipate changes and rapidly respond to users needs.”
(Heitor, 2005, p.51)
In what regards the evaluation methods, several have been pointed out in the
Draft Report of this meeting (OECD, 2005b), but the overall recommendation
stood on a combination of methods subjective to the aims of the research and
its resources:
“Post-occupancy evaluation, inventories, performance measures,

benchmarking, guidelines and regulations, best practice case studies…
Presenters in this theme described a number of different studies that
use one or several qualitative and quantitative methods: observation,
interview, walkthrough, questionnaires (data analysis), focus groups and
visual selection. The effectiveness of these methods is inÁuenced by
such factors as the scope of the study (i.e. local, regional or international
context; one or multiple schools), type of research questions and desired
outcomes of the study, policy and research interest, and availability of
human and material resources. Experts agreed that any future study
should combine research methods.” (OECD, 2005b, p.11)
This conclusion holds particular relevance for this current Thesis. Because, even
though it focuses explicitly on adaptability as a speciÀc feature of space, and not
on the school’s overall quality, as did this meeting, the methodology proposed to
identify and assess adaptable learning spaces463 will also resort to a set of different
methodologies, aiming to reach a more informed outcome and recognising that each
approach concerns a speciÀc procedure and data. The report has even produced
a table that rates the research methods according to their nature and the input
provided, as Fig. 101 shows.
462
Ponti detached “the brief Áexibility” from “the long Áexibility”, in which the Àrst implied the “The possibility
of daily and/or hourly changing of the space components” and the latter considered “modiÀcation adaptability
with longer timings” (Ponti, 2005, p.85). This latter coincides with this Thesis’s approach on adaptability, as deÀned
in chapter 2.1. Adaptability: deÀnition and adjacent concepts.
463
Detailed in chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments.
251
Fig. 101. “Rating of research methods for evaluating quality in educational facilities”
(OECD, 2005b, p.12)
Having said that, and as seen throughout all this chapter, the wide range of methods
mentioned to identify the building’s performance, at its many stages and levels,
whether on construction, physical attributes, work productivity or user satisfaction,
amongst other variables amenable of study through this assessment methodologies;
or even the observance of its occupancy and space use, through their diversity
on the procedures and the features to be analysed; also indicate the complexity
of the buildings and the wide scope of variables that regard the interactions on
settings, people and activities. So, according to the objectives of the evaluation,
the stage in which to be undertaken, the context of the building and its users and
uses, can a methodology be found that best describes and assesses the building, its
performance, its occupancy and its space use overall, or enhances it464. This is much
in tune with the observations by Gray and Baird (1996):
“We caution against the view that there is, or should be, a single formula
for evaluation. This would be like saying that there is a single best way
to cook a meal. […] Since we cannot know the speciÀc circumstances
and context in which you and your organization operate, we cannot
nominate a best or most appropriate way to evaluate your buildings
or facilities. Instead, we can be your partners in Ànding or developing
and evaluation process that best serves your speciÀc needs.” (Gray and
Baird, 1996, p.3)
Therefore, the choice amongst these studies will reÁect the nature of the design
and the features of that experience, and it also depends on how the experience is
464
This is also supported by Voordt and Wegen’s (2005) regarding the choice on the techniques used for
evaluating buildings according to the factors to be assessed: “All these points need to be considered when
preparing an evaluation. There must be as clear a picture as possible of what is to be evaluated, why, how, when,
for whom and by whom.” (p.141).
252
perceived by the user(s). It also depends on the kind of inputs this assessment will
provide and the purpose of the research - whether to present generalised information
on a particular brief, or a more insightful description on an individual report to space.
Assuming that each case study embodies speciÀc features according to its design
and the nature of the experience envisioned, also the choice in method(s) to identify
and assess the living experience in space should reÁect this speciÀcity.
Therefore, according to the purposes of this current research465, the gathering of

different inputs as a whole, will potentially lead to a more insightful perspective
on the experiences provided by the school under analysis, and will allow the
identiÀcation of the degree of adaptability that each spatial feature has to enable
different activities and respective experiences, as well as its ability to engage the
overall school community.
As already presented466, the main case study of this research, on which the mentioned
methodology will be applied in, is Quinta das Flores School, built in 1968, and
rehabilitated in 2008-2009 into a Basic, Secondary and Artistic School in Coimbra.
Besides its wide educational provision that bonds transversally the subjects of
regular and artistic teaching, and due to a naturally creative proÀle of the artistic
students and the spatial features of the school, music is not only conÀned to the
classroom, but is also played in the several informal and non pedagogical spaces
the school has, conveying these sensitive and emotional experiences to the whole
school community.
The speciÀc case study of this school that blends artistic and regular curricula, enables
particular circumstances where space actively engages the teaching and learning
processes, peer interaction and ultimately life within architecture. In order to study
this hybrid spatial set and broader range of inhabitants and actions, it is intended
to assess the degree of adaptation of the space for a multi-layered living experience
within a longer lifecycle467 - because it will potentially continue to cope with the
changing requirements for a longer time period, delaying obsolescence. Hence, this
study will focus on the spatial features that potentiate and extend the living experience
in schools, regarding their inÁuence on the cognitive and social levels and respective
interactions, and deÀning them as a main design concern, from the brief.
465
466
See chapter 1.5.3. The case study under this research.
467
The methodological approach to be applied in the case study for this research has been presented in the
11th conference of the European Architectural Envisioning Association, in 25-28 September 2013, Milan, for testing
and academic validation. It has also been published in the Conference’s proceedings as: COELHO, C. (2013).
Designing and assessing the living experience from brief to use. In E. Morello; B. Piga (Eds.). Envisioning
Architecture: Design, Evaluation, Communication- Proceedings of the 11th conference of the European Architectural
Envisioning Association. Milano, 25-28 September 2013. (pp.183-191). Politecnico di Milano. Milano: Edizioni
Nuova Cultura.
253
Particularly, in the case of the school building, the incorporation of space use
assessment methodologies outputs in subsequent schools’ design processes, aims at
potentiating the learning process in each time, for a more full use, broader range of
activities and inhabitants and a more endurable building for the future, that acts as
a community’s cultural and “social hub” (Department for Education468, 2010, p.13).
Having acknowledged the potential of probabilistic and analytical methodologies to

match spatial attributes with activities’ needs that can generically be transposed to
deriving case studies, because they focus on the most probable states and not on all the
possible dimensions that architecture bears, it is also important to perceive that these
approaches need not to obliterate cultural speciÀcities and qualitative observations
on the regarded results obtained. Indeed, if the research under development aims at
transposing an abstract optimisation model to a methodology applied to a case study
with a wide range of creative activities and users, it needs to be deÀned by other
parameters for depicting space from an abstract model to a real life scenario.
By contrast, studies based on personal data and focused on individual fruition

comprise a more singular perspective, and are not amenable of analysis only by
space’s efÀciency or functional potential. Generally, this is a thorough way of
understanding spatial experience based on its occupants, assuming that each one
has a particular way of experiencing architecture.
As previously brieÁy introduced in a more general manner, the studies based on

the individual feedback are entitled “self-report measures” such as “interviews”469,
“written reports”470, “surveys”471, “focus groups”472, “narrative techniques”, “time
sampling”473 and “diaries”, as developed by Lippman and Allacci (2010, p.45), who
speciÀcally apply them to school buildings. These methods centre around each
one’s personal description of his relation to space, resulting on the subjects’ own
understanding and communication of the way space engaged him/her, by means
of qualitative descriptions of his/her sensory and emotional individual experience.
468
This quote is taken from a publication by the English Department for Education London.
469
“Interviews entail preparing questions and asking individuals to verbally describe their experiences with a
phenomenon […]. Interviewing is a self-reporting method for acquiring data, since individuals are providing an
account of their cognitions, perceptions, beliefs, and thoughts. (Lippman and Allacci, 2010, p.45)
470
“Participants may be asked to keep a diary, write a report, take a time sampling of classroom activities, or
perform other actions that create data based upon their projective processes. Not only may participants be
asked to write descriptions, but they may also be asked to create pictures to convey their feelings and thoughts
about a phenomenon.” (p.45)
471
“A survey or questionnaire involves questions (typically closed-ended) formulated ahead of time.” (p.47)
472
“A focus group is a controlled group interview of a target audience demographic, often led by a facilitator.
[…] A focus group generally consists of 5 to 12 stakeholders and/or users of the facility. Although focus group
interviews are informal, a list of questions should be prepared to direct the discussion. Questions are open-
ended to encourage a Áow of conversation.” (p.45)
473
“Time sampling often refers to a variety of methods for observing and recording behavior during intervals
or at speciÀc moments in time.” (p.48)
254
Otherwise, these studies can also be carried out by a third party who observes and
then provides reports based on behavioural descriptions474, possibly recurring to
digital techniques like photography, video or the recording of physical traces475,
for a faster and more precise analysis (p.47). Others can also be mentioned such
as: “archival data476, grounded theory477, time sampling, and surveys of different
types” (p.45).
By and large, the relevance in using each method will provide speciÀc results
according to the goals and the spatial and social context of each research process,
and the acknowledgement of a combination of methods will provide broader
outputs. Even in what regards the quantitative and qualitative assessment methods,
Preiser and Vischer (2005) argue that: “the fact that the performance criteria at each
stage are constituted of both quantitative and qualitative performance evaluation,
it is necessary to utilize qualitative and quantitative research” (p.10). This is openly
afÀrmed by Gray and Baird (1996) that support the association of both, also because
of the blurred boundaries that quantitative and qualitative methods could adopt:
“Qualitative information tends to be subjective, and quantitative

information is commonly taken to be objective. But the distinction
is never entirely clear-cut. For example, qualitative factors can be
introduced into apparently rigorous measurements by both the choice
of what is measured (and not measured) and how measurements are
interpreted. Ideally, qualitative and subjective information should be
complementary and in agreement with quantitative and objective
information.” (Gray and Baird, 1996, p.14)
Consequently, for this case study, and in order to develop a more comprehensive
approach, it is intended to the use of a triangulation of methods, guided by different
approaches, to provide a more informed and thorough output, on both: individual
and group fruition, emotional and physical experience in space, collective and
individual, as well as quantitative and qualitative research478. According to Lippman:
474
“Behavioral mapping is a type of systematic observation that tracks behavior over space and time […] The
tracking may focus on a particular place or may be based on an individual’s movements. We term these two
techniques place-centered and person- or individual-centered mapping.” (p.47)
475
“Physical traces that interest social science researchers include scratches, stains, and litter (by-products of
use), furniture used to separate or connect spaces (adaptations), personalizations and labels (expressions of
self), and signs (public messages).” (p.47)
476
“Archival data consists of information collected by an agency or organization. These data may come from
the school and may include, but are not limited to, where students live and their socioeconomic status, health
records, attendance, teacher retention, and graduation rates. Archival data can be used to examine a program
over time and can provide preliminary feedback on the success of a program in the LC.” (p.50)
477
“[...] grounded theory is developed deductively from speciÀc data acquired by a participant observer. In
this process the participant observer, who is immersed in the culture of the learning environment, develops
a deeper knowledge of the phenomena in question through an iterative process of expanding and evolving
questions about the data until the deepest possible level of information is revealed.” (pp.49-50)
478
The proposed methodology will be explained in detail in the next chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying
255
“This method, consisting of gathering different types of data from

different sources and then looking at the Àndings across the data
sources, is comparable to the triangulation approach, in which both
quantitative and qualitative Àndings are analyzed to identify appropriate
design guidelines for effective, usable results.” (Lippman, 2010, p.10)
So, for choosing the approaches that better suit this case study, it is relevant to
consider that this particular school has speciÀc activities and both formal and
informal usages479, equally relevant for students’ achievement. It holds academic
and non-academic spaces, related either with the artistic or regular teaching, held
in general and more speciÀc classrooms, for internal and external users, which
potentiate different ways of appropriating space by the school’s broad community.
Moreover, it is also relevant to understand the need for updating the techniques
for analysing space use in school buildings, according to the current pedagogical
paradigm480 and foremost the current school spaces, realising that today’s informal
adaptable school spaces will ask for speciÀc space use assessment methodologies
when studying space use.
Having presented space use assessment methodologies, and recognising their

relevance and speciÀcities, their translation onto this case study is guided by a critical
consideration in order to reach a more robust, systematised and comprehensive
methodology, but also a balanced approach between the cost and beneÀt of
resorting to each particular method.
It also aims to be multidimensional since it is transposed from abstraction to reality,

with the conjunctural constraints related to the human occupancy. Nevertheless, it
lies irrefutably within the realm of architecture, because although it can resort to
other study Àelds like social sciences or mathematics, it ultimately aims to answer an
architectural brief and to provide deeper knowledge for future designs.
The references on the state of the art cited earlier, amongst different study Àelds,
play a signiÀcant role when constructing this methodology, because they allow a
more insightful understanding of the possible solutions for this problematic.
Recalling Tschumi’s quote: “Architecture is deÀned by the actions it witnesses as much

as by the enclosure of its walls” (Tschumi, 1994, p.100), this school is an example
of a space enriched by the broad range of actions it witnesses and promotes. This is
better described by speciÀc methods directed towards each dimension of the living
and assessing adaptability in learning environments.

479
The different formal and informal usages will be detailed and speciÀed for the case study in particular in the
chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments.
480
256
experience, from Holl’s unanalysable or Kahn’s unmeasurable architecture that

engages each individual in a non-generalisable sensory phenomenon (Pallasmaa,
2005), to Hackings’s deÀnition of a collective and regular happening481.
Aiming at analysing the activities and behaviour a particular school enables, the
thoughts by Hillier hold great relevance at this point. According to Hillier (2007),
architecture relates precisely the built space with the cultural framework. This is
acknowledged in the design process and can be understood and analysed afterwards
as a product, on how it relates to behaviour, interaction and the social context:
“Architecture begins when the conÀgurational aspects of form and

space, through which buildings become cultural and social objects, are
treated not as unconscious rules to be followed, but are raised to the
level of conscious, comparative thought, and in this way made part
of the object of creative attention. Architecture comes into existence,
we may say, as a result of a kind of intellectual prise de conscience: we
build, but not as cultural automata, reproducing the spatial and physical
forms of our culture, but as conscious human beings critically aware of
the cultural relativity of built forms and spatial forms. We build, that is,
aware of intellectual choice, and we therefore build with reason, giving
reasons for these choices.”482 (Hillier, 2007, p.32)
Thus, along with the architect’s techné and episteme, the recognition of use, needs,
change and people, reminding Alberti’s concinnitas (1485) as a balance between
distinctive but relevant inputs, will lead to a more informed and responsive design,
participated by all the stakeholders and lasting throughout a longer period of time.
To conclude, space use assessment methodologies, as varied as they can be, will
provide information on these variables, an informed and evidence-oriented spatial
input, and potentially, engage a closer link between the users and the activities, the
requirements and the space, the research and the practice, overall.
Following the next chapter on previous approaches to adaptability assessment

methodologies, the subsequent chapter will propose a methodology to identify
and assess adaptability in contemporary school buildings, which will be afterwards
applied to a speciÀc Portuguese case study483. This is based on the body of knowledge
presented until this chapter, namely the identiÀcation of the contemporary concept
481
According to Hacking: “My use of the word “phenomenon” is like that of the physicists. It must be kept as
separate as possible from the philosophers’ phenomenalism, phenomenology and private, Áeeting, sense-data.
A phenomenon, for me, is something public, regular, possibly law-like, but perhaps exceptional.” (Hacking,
1983, p.222).” For further development on these references see chapter 1.2. Motivation and background:
Architecture and Life - conceiving forms of engagement.
482
483
See chapter 4. Application of the methodology in the case study:
257
of adaptability studied in chapter 2484, when applied to space and speciÀcally to a

school, and the possibilities of its assessment by means of some of the procedures
from the detailed analysis of its extensiveness, studied in this current chapter.
For the proposed methodology, the choice in practices will be rigorously justiÀed
and its sequence explained, acknowledging their adequacy for the purpose of this
research, the local and time context and its objectives, regarding cost and beneÀt
in undertaking each procedure and even the possibility of doing this under the
context of a Doctoral research as an individual research, constrained by time, cost
and resources availability.
484
See chapter 2. State of the art and critical revision of the concept of adaptability.
258
Adaptability assessment methodologies: reviewing previous approaches
3.2. Adaptability assessment methodologies: reviewing previous

approaches
“In this thesis, then, we set out to make a contribution to architectural research,
and we feel that we have presented an approach to adaptability that advances the
study of this important architectural issue. At the same time we have kept in mind
that architectural research must ultimately contribute to architectural design. The
general theoretical model may have relevance to designers in its conceptual form,
but there is a need for further work before our mathematical elaborations could
with conÀdence be proposed as working tools. This work must verify that real
problems are being accurately modelled, and must Ànd mathematical techniques to
make models solvable. We believe that these advances could be undertaken on the
foundations we have laid.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.220)
Having presented the wide array of methodologies to assess space use in the
previous chapter and having observed the also wide scope of approaches from
different Àelds, this chapter aims to analyse the more speciÀc methodologies
to assess adaptability, so that the subsequent chapter can present our proposed
methodology with the adequate backing and theoretical support.
The 1970s were paramount for the state of the art on the methodologies for assessing
adaptability. It will therefore be a prime goal of this chapter to recognise their
relevance on addressing this research question, on the methodologies to concretise
it and also on the results achieved. Still, the assumption that these models have been
produced at that time period will, naturally, have to be taken into account, and so,
the following part will intend to contextualise them.
. Models’ framework for architectural research
“During the last decade, urban modelling has generated a momentum in Britain
which has been unparalleled anywhere else in the world.” (Batty, 1976, p.v)
Post-war times brought along an economic boom and higher investment and
consumption urged the speed of urban development. According to Peter Hall
259
(1988): “The old planning system, geared to a static world, was overwhelmed.” (Hall,
1988, p.327). Essentially, both higher demand and supply along with the advances
on literature have led to the rapid development of planning in which “cities and
regions were viewed as complex system […] while planning was seen as a continuous
process of control an monitoring of those systems” (Hall, 1988, p.327).
Initial studies on urban modelling have been done in North America, particularly
between 1959 and 1968, mostly by deriving models for “land-use-transportation
studies” and particularly for “trend projection” (Batty, 1976, pp.7-11). Beyond
North America, researchers in Britain have seen the ground for furthering the
research resorting to a mathematical approach (“the best-developed language of
science” (Batty, 1976, p.xx)), not solely in a descriptive approach but “as aids to
conditional prediction” (p.5), and, moreover, within an educational context, models
can even “help by demonstrating the limitations of theory and the potential of
simulation” (Batty, 1976, p.xx). As Batty sustains:
“[…] conditions in Britain have especially favoured urban modelling

in recent years. Both the theory and practice of modelling have been
stimulated by the development of an explicit ‘Systems Approach’ to
urban research and land-use planning, and the presence of a highly
developed institutional planning system has been of enormous
signiÀcance in providing a natural focus for research efforts in this
Àeld.” (Batty, 1976, p.v)
Kuhn (1962485) in The structure of scientiÀc revolutions deÀnes “scientiÀc revolutions”

as “those non-cumulative developmental episodes in which an older paradigm
is replaced in whole or in part by an incompatible new one” (Kuhn, 1962, p.92)
prompting “a new basis for the practice of science” (Kuhn, 1962, p.6). Accordingly,
in 1976 Batty realises the conditions that can consider the previous two decades
tending towards a “scientiÀc revolution”, for which technology has contributed
(Batty, 1976, p.xix). Modelling, widely addressed in the 1970s after a “Àrst generation”
of studies (pp.7-11), is considered by Batty as “an integral part of this revolution
in thought in which the boundaries between traditional disciplines are blurring in
response to the need for interdisciplinary cooperation.” (p.xx).
Batty’s studies revolve around urban modelling, which he delineates as “designing,

building and operating mathematical models of urban phenomena, typically cities and
regions” (Batty, 1976, p.xx), particularly from his work at Urban Systems Research
Unit at Reading University, with Peter Hall, since 1969. In his book Urban Modelling:
Algorithms, Calibrations, Predictions, Batty (1976) intends to focus on “the process
of modelling rather than the models per se” (Batty, 1976, p.v). And even though
the understanding of the importance of urban modelling could only be assessed
485
260
in the long term, Batty hopes his book could represent a contribution towards it.
Batty also ponders the implications both for urban modelling as for all the areas
“where traditional boundaries are changing in response to new lines of inquiry”,
namely: the wide “body of ‘new’ knowledge” and foremost the fact that “new
modes of thought are not built up from knowledge already acquired in that Àeld”
(Batty, 1976, p.xx). Furthermore, while “this new analytic tradition represents a
breakthrough”, Batty also accepts that “in some senses, it is less sensitive and less
elegant, more ambitious and more straightforward”. He also admits the criticism,
particularly regarding the potential departure from reality and its “reliance on
computation gives it a bias towards the ‘number crunching’” 486, even if he
acknowledges it as “part of the challenge that makes this Àeld so exciting” (Batty,
1976, p.xxi).
Echenique’s work (1972) is very signiÀcant for tackling models in architecture. His
insightful deÀnition of a model also assumes the simulation of “certain” aspects of
reality signiÀcant to stand for that reality487, as a simpliÀcation of the complexity of
the system for its clearer comprehension:
“A model is a representation of a reality in which the representation

is made by the expression of certain relevant characteristics of the
observed reality and where reality consists of the object or system that
exist, have existed, or may exist.” (Echenique, 1972, p.164).
The choice of the most insightful characteristics, whether “physical or conceptual”

(Echenique, 1972, p.165), will also depend on the purpose of that representation
(“the questions the model is designed to answer” (Echenique, 1972, p.165)), and
the reasoning of the chooser488. And under this simpliÀcation it is possible to point
out both the “similarities” and the “differences” between the model and reality
(Echenique, 1972, p.165). Echenique provides a classiÀcation of models in their
link to the reality they represent (Fig. 102).
Models could be regarded as an artiÀcial construction that intends to depict a reality,

recalling Simon’s (1996489) The sciences of the artiÀcial. Simon presents the reality as a
set of products of the sciences of the artiÀcial, produced by man as evidence of
“our collective artiÀce” (Simon, 1996, p.3):
486
In the 1960s “Going metric” had been a very thought theme, due to the metriÀcation of measuring that
would stand in for the imperial system. This implied a need for research on how it would affect the architectural
profession.
487
“The main purpose of a model is to provide a simpliÀed and indelible picture of reality in order to understand
it better.” (Echenique, 1972, p.168)
488
“This selective attitude, which depends on the intention of the observer, makes ‘Ànite’ the inÀnite number
of characteristics.” (Echenique, 1972, p.165)
489
261
explora-
tive
descrip- planning
tive
predictive
models
reality
past present future
Fig. 102.“Ideal process of model-making in relation to the reality”

(Echenique, 1972, p.172)
“The world we live in today is much more a man-made, or artiÀcial, world

than it is a natural world. Almost every element in our environment
shows evidence of human artiÀce.” (Simon, 1996, p.2)
The sciences of the artiÀcial such as engineering, economics, cognitive psychology,

planning, medicine, commerce, painting, and even architecture, are subjects of
synthesis (as opposed to the analytical disciplines of the natural sciences) and
of projection into the future (as opposed to the description of the phenomena
from the natural sciences), leading to the advancement of knowledge (and not the
representation of a pattern that streamlines the phenomena) (Simon, 1996).
In fact, while the natural sciences deal with the analysis and explanation of natural
phenomena in the present, social sciences deal with the explanation of human
behaviour, and human sciences pore over the meanings of the human experiences
in their social and historical context (Kagan, 2009); the sciences of the artiÀcial
have as their subject “man-made” artiÀcial objects - the “artiÀce” (Simon, 1996).
Quoting Simon on his deÀnition of the artiÀcial:
“We have now identiÀed four indicia that distinguish the artiÀcial
from the natural; hence we can set the boundaries for sciences of the
artiÀcial:
1. ArtiÀcial things are synthesized (though not always or usually with
full forethought) by human beings.
2. ArtiÀcial things may imitate appearances in natural things while
262
lacking, in one or many respects, the reality of the latter.

3. ArtiÀcial things can be characterized in terms of functions, goals,
adaptation.
4. ArtiÀcial things are often discussed, particularly when they are being
designed, in terms of imperatives as well as descriptives.” (Simon,
1996, p.5)
In the speciÀc case of architecture, as a science of the artiÀcial, it develops objects

through a design and presents itself as an open science projected onto the future,
whose aim is also to develop a design optimised for a purpose.
The scope of the sciences of the artiÀcial lies in the interstitial space between the
internal and external environments. Hence, one of the primary features of the artiÀce
is the adaptation of their internal structure (“internal environment”) to the context
(“external environment”), aiming at a goal (“purpose”) deÀned by man (“the planner”):
“The thesis is that certain phenomena are “artiÀcial” in a very speciÀc

sense: they are as they are only because of a system’s being moulded,
by goals or purposes, to the environment in which it lives. If natural
phenomena have an air of “necessity” about them in their subservience
to natural law, artiÀcial phenomena have an air of “contingency” in
their malleability by environment.” (Simon, 1996, p.xi, Preface to the
second edition)
For architecture, the interaction between internal and external environments is also
very relevant, because a building is always adaptive to the context, its use and its
users, and throughout its lifecycle its adaptation changes along the changes both in
the context and in the building. Consequently, the choices for solving each problem
are manifold because there are also multiple contextual constraints and complexities,
that condition our state of knowledge, as William Fawcett puts it:
“For a given state of knowledge about activities we may wish to Ànd

the design that has the highest adaptability. It is the act of choosing
possible designs that Simon (s.9) identiÀes as the essence of architecture
as a science of the artiÀcial.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.68)
Simon admits that due to the complexity of the external environment, the adaptive
capacity of the artiÀce may be limited. He adds that the design problems occur not
due the diverse range of possibilities, but to the adaptive requirements. Thus, he
indicates the possibility of working with abstract simpliÀed models that simulate
some (hence, the need for simpliÀcation) of the features of the external environment,
which allows a partial analysis of the components.
An artiÀce should follow models aiming at the optimum, but, as these theoretical
models are necessarily simpliÀed and abstract, the result may differ with the
263
application in the real, speciÀc (and non-optimum) environment. To fulÀl its

purpose, the artiÀce should take into account the historical and social local
conditions. Thus, for the same purpose there may be different internal structures,
due to the speciÀcities of each external environment. In the case of architecture, as
Fawcett (1978) puts forward, there may have to exist alternative designs that fulÀl
the brief, but that bear different features and attributes.
Each system belongs to a context and relates to the neighbouring systems of that
same environment. The adaptation cannot be based on an overall maximum, but it
has to take into account the place, its history and its method. It may even be better
to adopt a speciÀc system for that particular environment that is different from
what is proven to be the best, in a general and abstract level. Thus, the method and
the local history affect behaviour and the overall principles.
For architecture, which is an adaptive and situated discipline that meets the needs
of users at a given place and social and historical context, the articulation between
internal and external is very complex and involves a deep understanding of the
context.
So, what was said about the sciences of the artiÀcial generally applies here. Given
the example of a design for a dwelling: for the same purpose (dwell), there may
be different internal structures (different projects), according to historical and real
external social environment. This is why, in the particular case study of this Thesis, it
is acknowledge that a general and non-speciÀc method for assessing adaptability may
not involve and take into account all the signiÀcant features of a building that bear
relevance for the analysis of adaptability in this particular building, context and brief.
When evaluating the elegance of the results, the criteria differ according to each
science. The natural sciences are based on evidence Àndings produced by machines
and capable of mathematical description; the social sciences provide theoretical
conclusions about human behaviour, and the human sciences produce semantically
correct arguments, translated into prose (Kagan, 2009).
As we have had occasion to state490, one of the main objectives of the artiÀce
produced by the sciences of the artiÀcial is its adaptability, by establishing an
interface between the external and internal environments. Hence, the accuracy
and adequacy of the results obtained depend on the ability to meet this goal of
articulation, before the demands of the purpose, independently of the complexity
and speciÀcity of the external environment.
Nevertheless, adaptation has its limitations and may lead to the acceptance of a
satisfactory situation, because despite targeting the optimum result, it may only be
satisfactory, due to the weaknesses of the internal structure of the artiÀce, or the
490
See “Other concepts related to adaptability” on chapter 2.1. Adaptability: deÀnition and adjacent concepts.
264
speciÀcities of the actual external environment (not optimised and unrealistic). Here,
Simon deÀnes the concept of “satisÀcing” (Simon, 1996, p.119) to describe methods
of achieving results that solve problems in a satisfactory manner, rather than optimal.
The result itself can also be assessed by criteria of elegance, but the procedures to
achieve it - at the level of decision making (“procedural rationality” (Simon, 1996,
p.25)) and such decisions (“substantive rationality” (Simon, 1996, p.25)) - are also
marked by elegance. The results will be adapted and simpliÀed, and they too can
be elegant.
The models are, in themselves, techniques to achieve and to infer data, but we
also consider them to be elegant procedures reÁecting the elegance of the design
process. The simpliÀed models focus on the abstraction of only some features of
the simulated object that meets the goals (“homeostasis” (Simon, 1996, p.169)) and
through strategic simulation of progressive detail, they will add more complexity to
the attributes of the simulated object491.
For the evaluation of the results, the decomposition into components allows an
isolated analysis of each part to pursuit the purpose that allows, by means of a
simpliÀed model, to assess the beauty, elegance and efÀciency of every detail of
the artiÀce.
Architecture embodies what has been said: there is great difÀculty in Ànding the
optimal result because, on the one hand, it responds to a very complex external
environment and, on the other hand, because the requirements are also multi-
purpose ones. The problem is so complex that during the process there is a need
to simplify it, breaking it down into the needs to be resolved in every stage. Finally,
there is also the difÀculty in Ànding the criteria of beauty and elegance to analyse
both the process and the Ànal artiÀce, both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Even though Simon focuses on a culture of the sciences of the artiÀcial, he also
refers to a fragmentation of cultures, suggesting that cultures can be thought
through common features that will bridge the understanding of each other:
“Many of us have been unhappy about the fragmentation of our society

into two cultures. Some of us even think there are not just two cultures
but a large number of cultures. If we regret that fragmentation, then
we must look for a common core of knowledge that can be shared by
the members of all cultures a core that includes more signiÀcant topics
than the weather, sports, automobiles, the care and feeding of children,
or perhaps even politics. A common understanding of our relation to
the inner and outer environments that deÀne the space in which we live
491
Simon gives the example of the computer as artiÀce whose analysis can only be done by simplifying and
isolating each attribute.
265
and choose can provide at least part of that signiÀcant core.” (Simon,
1996, p.136)
In fact, the analytical approach on models can introduce this question on a

polarization of cultures, which was eminently established by C. P. Snow. In 1959 Snow
tosses the question of the divergence of cultures between “literary intellectuals”
and “physical scientists”, stating that these were different epistemological worlds,
with different mental, personal and social dynamics. This fragmentation hindered
the advancement of knowledge492 and prevented the establishment of any kind of
bridge between the two cultures limited by a “cultural box” (Snow, 1961493, p.9) that
deÀned and conÀned them.
The approach of Kagan (2009), Àfty years later, to Snow’s thesis reafÀrms this
fragmentation, but it adds a third culture that its predecessor did not anticipate: the
“social scientists”, whose study of human behaviour has gained great relevance to
the posterior generations to Snow’s Rede Lecture. Kagan structures a table with nine
dimensions that illustrate very clearly and speciÀcally the differences between the
(now three) cultures (Kagan, 2009, pp.2-5). Interestingly, Kagan ends his book also
appealing to the advancement of knowledge by the intersection of the cultures
closed in themselves494.
In our analysis of an issue within the disciplinary realm of architecture, we

converge to the Ànal appeal both by Snow (1961) and Kagan (2009). According
to them, the knowledge would advance more dynamically by creating supra-
disciplinary bridges, in each science would make its contribution for a common
purpose in the interstitial space. The cultures would thus, be less conÀned by the
“cultural box” (Snow, 1961, p.9) and more available for the solution of problems
that could beneÀt from methods and contents of each project, producing a richer
and broader result:
“Closing the gap between our cultures is a necessity in the most
abstract intellectual sense, as well as in the most practical. When those
two senses have grown apart, then no society is going to be able to
think with wisdom. For the sake of the intellectual life, for the sake of
this country’s special danger, for the sake of the western society living
precariously rich among the poor, for the sake of the poor who needn’t
be poor if there is intelligence in the world, it is obligatory for us and
the Americans and the whole West to look at our education with fresh
eyes.” (Snow, 1961, pp.53-54)
492
“Closing the gap between our cultures is a necessity in the most abstract intellectual sense, as well as in the
most practical. When those two senses have grown apart, then no society is going to be able to think with
wisdom.” (Snow, 1961, p.53)
493
494
“It is time for the members of the three cultures to adopt a posture of greater humility for, like tigers, sharks, and
hawks, each group is potent in its own territory but impotent in the territory of the other.” (Kagan, 2009, p.275)
266
The results from the referred analytical approaches will deal with general patterns,
wide group sizing of populations and simpliÀed models of the reality. The sensitivity
of the process has then to be carefully construed, not to obliterate signiÀcant
contextual variables when simplifying the complexity of the internal and external
environments into a model.
And, in fact, while the models from the 1970s were open constructions that might
discard information from speciÀc programmes, the programme of the contemporary
school, studied as the case study of this current Thesis here presented495, as diverse
as it could be, will constrain the variables and the potential simpliÀcations of the
process in order to report to that particular reality. Indeed, schools today do not
all look alike, the inhabitants of these spaces also vary, the activities are speciÀc
of each case study, and this will naturally have to be considered when assessing
adaptability in each school.
Besides, the fact that contemporary spaces of pedagogical potential relate not
only to formal classroom but to a all variety of spaces, often not deÀned by
physical boundaries, and that the all school building can be considered an active
learning environment, as a whole and not a sum of parts, will have to be rethought
when deÀning our own methodology that is intended to assess adaptability in
contemporary school buildings.
Nonetheless, the methodologies taken on in this particular decade of the 1970s,

despite recognising adaptability as an issue that was not new, often criticised the
previous studies on how that issue had been addresses and the “intuitive” or
“empirical” manner by which they had been tackled496. But they were also criticised
for “walk[ing] a Àne line between theoretical acceptability and practical feasibility”
497
(Batty, 1976, p.xxi).
The “general theory of adaptability” that Fawcett intended to accomplish with

his Doctoral Thesis, presented in Cambridge in 1978 (Fawcett, 1978), will then
become a very important document to be analysed at this chapter. Besides, all the
research studies on this precise issue, contemporary of Fawcett’s Thesis, have also
been studied from their original primary sources, because they all embody a very
signiÀcant part of the state of the art on assessing adaptability.
Finally, a critical overall review of these paramount references for the state of the
art for assessing adaptability will be discussed towards the contemporary context of
495
See chapter 1.5. The case study.
496
Fawcett’s Doctoral Thesis, for example, has a chapter on adaptability as “an empirical objective” (Fawcett,
1978, pp.31-50).
497
“Many critics of urban modelling hold the view that model-builders are learning more and more about
their models but less and less about the real world which they are attempting to model. Such a view will always
provide food for thought but it illustrates that model-builders walk a Àne line between theoretical acceptability
and practical feasibility.” (Batty, 1976, p.xxi).
267
active learning environments. For the purpose of proposing our own methodology,
this will be supported by the previous references to adaptability, adaptable schools
and speciÀc use assessment methodologies overall.
Therefore, not only does this chapter aim to study these works, but naturally it
also aims to critical assess them, in order to operatively provide support for the
production of our own up-to-date methodology in the following chapter.
. William Fawcett’s (1978) Doctoral Thesis at Cambridge
William Fawcett’s Doctoral Thesis entitled A Mathematical Approach to Adaptability in

Buildings, presented in 1978 at Cambridge and supervised by Lionel March, as well
as all his extensive work derived from it498 (Fawcett, 1979a, 1979b, 1995, 2010a,
2010b, 2011a, 2011b, 2012, 2015), represent a valuable approach on the state of
the art of adaptability and foremost its methodological approach to combinatorial
calculation, whose contribution is of the utmost relevance, particularly for this
current Thesis.
Overcoming the lack in theoretical fundaments, it is also the aim of our current
Thesis here presented, by recognising the state of the art on adaptability in which
Fawcett’s Thesis bears signiÀcant representativeness; to critically recall the studies
on the topic from the 1970s; but naturally to go further and to analyse their scope,
methodologies and relevance for today’s contemporary school buildings, particularly
to the learning environments more speciÀcally addressed under this chosen case
study499 and their respective “real problems” that Fawcett acknowledges at his
Thesis’s conclusion (Fawcett, 1978, p.220). Ultimately, to make “advances” from
the state of the art research on adaptability in school buildings, but acknowledging
Fawcett for laying “the foundations” (ibid.) for this issue.
In fact, already at the beginning of his Thesis, Fawcett emphasises the lack of
“sufÀcient theoretical backing” (Fawcett, 1978, p.i) that studies around the
connection between “activities” and “spaces” reveal, as well as their general problem
of being either too “deterministic” or too “empirical”. He therefore reveals his goal
to produce a “general theory of adaptability” that lacks in the existing studies that
he considers to simply “consist of miscellaneous observations” (ibid.).
Fawcett focuses on adaptability as a “sounder focus of analysis”500 (ibid.) between
498
As well as the communications that were kindly and most insightfully established between us throughout the
production of this Thesis.
499
500
“The relationship between activities and spaces may be analysed at many scales. [...] Adaptability is a sounder
focus of analysis since it inherently takes account of the uncertainty and changeability of the relationship
between activities and spaces.” (ibid.)
268
“spaces” to “activities” whose study may represent an advancement for the

knowledge in architectural research:
“We argue that adaptability is a fruitful subject for research, and offer
this thesis as a contribution to architectural research into the relationship
between activities and spaces.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.2)
Thus, he elaborates on this throughout his Thesis, by questioning: “What is the

set or ensemble of possible activities?” and also by studying “all possible ways of
allocating a set of activities to a set of rooms, taking into account of the compatibility
or incompatibility of all rooms with all activities” (ibid.), which he clariÀes, from the
summary, to be the Thesis’s goals, while producing a “theoretical basis for the study
of adaptability in buildings”, resorting to a mathematical approach (ibid.)501.
According to Fawcett’s deÀnition of adaptability:
“Adaptability is a probability - the probability that a building will not

become obsolete.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.i)
So, he then encompasses his methodology to revolve around adaptability as

a “combinatorial ensemble”, as he calls it, that responds to a “mathematical
elaboration” (ibid.) on the probability of allocating activities to spaces.
Fawcett presents two scales in which to relate buildings and activities: the “urban
scale”, as the quantitative and enlarged scale that informs on general data disregarding
information that differentiates activities and spaces (Fawcett, 1978, pp.2-3); and the
“atomic scale” (Fawcett, 1978, p.3) connected to speciÀcities of a particular set of
activities and places. The issue of researching into different scales implies different
methodologies and will also determine the outcomes achieved by those methods.
Fawcett relates the urban scale with “models”, arguing their relevance for the
information on the masses:
“It appears urban models are extremely efÀcient: by ignoring masses

of information which distinguish individual activities and spaces, and
concentrating on simple quantiÀable relationships, urban modelling
establish general, aggregate properties of urban systems.” (Fawcett,
1978, p.3)
Accordingly, these outcomes will be measurable in terms of quantities and general

patterns of use and activities in spaces, but as Fawcett also acknowledges, it will also
overlook individual behaviour, activities and fruition in space.
501
“The thesis, therefore, offers a theoretical basis for the study of adaptability in buildings and begins to
undertake its mathematical elaboration.” (ibid.)
269
The remnant approach will deal with the “atomic” (or “micro”) scale, that in our
particular case, will be considered not as opposing but as complementary to the Àrst,
presenting the details and speciÀcities of particular activities, inhabitants and spatial
fruition, also relevant and clarifying for adaptability as a variable that enhances a
variety of uses and users in each space.
But as Fawcett also underlines, this approach risks to achieve a result that is not
as a “whole” but as a “sum of its parts”502, of these speciÀcities that have been
remarked. Nevertheless, it also provides us with information on the potential of a
speciÀc activity to allocated to a space, but not of a whole “system of activities” or
spaces in the form of “real organisations or buildings”:
“In effect, micro-scale research aims to enable us to say with conÀdence

whether a given activity can be performed in a given space or how
well it can be performed, but not how well an organisation can be
accommodated in a building or how effectively” (Fawcett, 1978, p.4).
Having said that, for our current Thesis it could be argued that the particular case
study of a school building embodies both scales, due to the variability of activities
- each with its speciÀcity and spatial needs; but also the weekly schedule of each
class and student, which represents patterns of individual and collective use within
the system. All in all, if these are considered to complement one another, this
choice in approach will result on the weighing of several variables: from cost to
beneÀt; the purposes of its pursuit; the potential outcomes provided; the scale of
activities, spaces and users involved; and particularly its application onto the case
study chosen. Hence, the scale of the so-called “system” and the data expected
from the current research will be a balance between a detailed depiction of each
activity, to the assumption of a more general use503, in a way that our methodology
can be quantitative and qualitatively representative.
Fawcett also recalls this needed balance in scale, particularly when applied to a
secondary school, considering both the need for analysing it as a general set of
activities and spaces, respectively an “organisation” and a “building”, but also to
differentiate their speciÀcities:
“The system we have set out to study in our research consists of an

organisation and a building; typically, those constituting a secondary
school, where the activities are numerous and interrelated, yet
502
“The atomic approach, however, tends to assume the whole is merely the sum of its parts and does not
directly analyse the system or activities or system of spaces that constitute real organisations or buildings.”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.4)
503
“It is clear that the techniques appropriate for analysing the relationship between activities and spaces must
vary greatly with the size of the system being analysed. The typical system in which we are interested is of an
intermediate size: neither so large that aggregated statistical is possible, nor so small that endless detail can be
considered.” (ibid.)
270
individually distinguishable, and the spaces have particular attributes

which affect their suitability for different activities and patterns of
activities.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.5).
In fact, and assuming the complexity in choosing from these two referred work scales,
Fawcett assumes another scale: the “architectural scale” whose approach to spaces
and activities aims mostly at proving valuable knowledge to the architectural design:
“The purpose of research at this architectural scale must be to acquire

knowledge that will somehow be useful in achieving good architectural
designs. [...] Our concern will be not only with techniques of analysis,
but also with usefulness of the research for the ultimate purpose of
contributing to architectural design.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.5).
According to Fawcett, information on activities rather than on “existing buildings”,

is paramount when designing a new building, in order to know about the perceived
activities and their properties, but also to be aware of each school’s speciÀcities and
proneness to change, potentially unpredictable in the design but possible through its
occupancy in time, enabling an open and not predetermined management and fruition:
“What do surveys of existing buildings offer the designer? It is

extremely questionable to use raw survey data as design data for a new
building, but assumptions about expected activities are fundamental
to any design. [...] We can make the following observations: 1) Some
knowledge about expected activities is necessary for any design, and can
only come from experience in existing institutions. 2) This knowledge
can only be general - the precise pattern of use in any building is
unpredictable and changeable. 3) The design should not aim solely for
high efÀciency with respect to the expected activities but should equally
attempt to offer potential for managerial choice and activity change.”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.10)
Fawcett stresses that his “study of the relationship between activities and spaces” is
placed at the “architectural scale” and intends to “help the architect design convenient
buildings” (Fawcett, 1978, p.12). For such purposes, Fawcett points out three
possible lines: “optimising, descriptive and probabilistic” (ibid.) to relate activities
and spaces and to provide operative knowledge for the architectural design. While
“optimising techniques” “place unique reliance on numerical data that is generally
rather vague504”, descriptive utilisation surveys provide “generalised information”
504
The “optimal solution” (Fawcett, 1978, p.5) has the issue of the cost-effectiveness. It is costly to endow spaces
with the attributes to activities of different nature, but as they naturally change in time, their conceptual basis
and spatial needs may also change, ultimately not justifying the initial investment that fulÀls all the activities’
spatial properties. Fawcett goes further and points out that: “Not only is it extremely hard to establish precise
data about the pattern of activities in any organisation, but activities, when considered in detail, are constantly
changing. The optimality of results which rely on imprecise and unstable data is acutely ephemeral.” (p.7)
271
that “do not in themselves lead directly to design data” (ibid.). However, in what
regards the latter approach, Fawcett states that:
“Probabilistic techniques go a long way to overcoming these objections

by considering all possible states of the system and producing data that
can be used in evaluation” (Fawcett, 1978, p.12).
So, “probabilistic models” offer the data on the most probable505 (and hence more
realistic (Fawcett, 1978, p.11)) and expected activities and uses, opposite to the
deterministic models portraying an optimum situation, working as a tool to inform
the architect during the design process, by displacing general knowledge on what
is most likely to be expected in terms of uses and users, and on the most frequent
spatial attributes common to a variety of activities506.
So, adaptability arises in the design, when providing the spatial options of a variety
of activities to occur in each space. Naturally, that the architect will have to be aware
of the spatial layout and properties that will have to be considered in a space in
order to decide whether it should or not be able to shelter that activity507. Ultimately,
the choice in providing the space with the respective attributes may increase its
cost, and will have to be balanced with the potential increase in its adaptability for
allocating a variety of activities. Hence, the design options have to bear reasonability
between “under” and “over” spatial provision (Fawcett, 2010), aiming at a high
performance building and high levels of spatial usage, generated by a variety of
activities that regularly occur.
In the case of a school, the number of possible allocation of activities to spaces is a

signiÀcant constraint in the design and an invaluable asset throughout its occupancy:
“[…] for the timetabler the ideal building is one which offers least
constraint – to help him to achieve one workable timetable within a
reasonable search time there must be many feasible solutions.” (Fawcett,
1978, p.10)
So, the possible interchangeability of the classes and activities between the spaces
that can allocate them, construe the weekly schedule and generate a net that will
be more pliable according to the adaptability level of each space. The increase
505
“In some ways, then, at the architectural scale the probabilistic model bridges the gap between the layout
problem and empirical studies. It is realistic in a way that the layout problem is not, yet it offers more than
just descriptive information. [...] they do begin to tackle the architect’s problems of uncertainty about the
relationships between activities and spaces.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.11)
506
But for Fawcett the concept of “the range of possible states” will be wider, more complete and “more
valuable” (Fawcett, 1978, p.12) than the concept of “average” often used by these models.
507
“The layout problem produces a single solution, and in elaborating this the architect would wish to know
what important properties of this solution he should preserve (March & Steadman, 1971, p.333), but he is given
nothing of the kind. What the architect needs is knowledge that enables him to match the general properties
of an organization to the general properties of a design”. (Fawcett, 1978, p.9)
272
in the number of feasible solutions for the allocation of activities to spaces will
provide a wider range of options for spatial and pedagogical management, it will
also potentially decrease circulation time from a classroom to the other and may
escalate the utilisation levels of each space.
At the time of the brief, the architect comes to work with the data that he is provided
with, the needs that the building is expected to overcome, and the activities it is
expected to allocate, and it is with that particular data that he designs “convenient
buildings” (Fawcett, 1978, p.12). However, and due to the natural process of
change, these referred activities, and hence their spatial needs, will also evolve into
other ones, possibly different from the ones originally speciÀed in the initial brief.
This process occurs throughout the building’s lifecycle and during its occupancy
stage, after its design:
“Even if accurate data were available for the activities at the time of
design, this data becomes obsolete during the life of building. Most
buildings will, if well maintained, last for ever and when a building is
erected a commitment is made which stretches far into the future, where
human activities cannot be reliably foreseen.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.12)
So, the “prudent architect” (Fawcett, 1978, p.12) as Fawcett calls him508, will regard
additional information related to the potential activities and uses the buildings
might have in the future, in order to extend their ability to cope with both the needs
and foremost the change they can undergo. To this process Fawcett implies the
concept of dealing with the unforeseen at the moment of the design, to deal will
the “uncertainty” of what will happen in the future, to provide the space with some
resilience to change, and the spatial attributes to answer what will be asked of them
in each time:
“Buildings come to be used for purposes, which could not have been
taken account of by their designers, and at any time only a small
proportion of our building stock remains in its exact original use. These
processes of change apply to all buildings, but a prudent architect may
wish to anticipate some of the consequences and design adaptable
buildings.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.12)
Considering adaptability already at the design will acknowledge the possible

variation in the activities and will anticipate the building’s ability to cope with them
in an early stage, both recognising that future change but not knowing in what it
will eventually reside:
“Now, adaptability is a rather poor operational criterion in design,
508
The “prudent architect” has already been mentioned by Alberti (1485) in Book IX and studied by Krüger
(2014) in Comentários à Arte EdiÀcatyria de Leon Battista Alberti.
273
Fig. 103. “ClassiÀcation of research into adaptability”

(Fawcett, 1978, p.16)
for it is extremely difÀcult to know how adaptable a building is, or to

compare the adaptabilities of different designs. If we do not know
what will make a design perform well, it is merely playing with words
to say that an adaptable design is one that will perform well despite
this state of ignorance. Adaptability is a strategy for uncertainty, but
we must be clear about where the uncertainty arises, and cause it to
inÁuence a design in some deÀnite way.” (Fawcett, 1978, pp.12-13)
. State of the art on adaptability - authors and approaches
When addressing the state of the art on this matter, Fawcett very clearly states that
there is only the need to recall the work produced in the last twenty years, which
is the most relevant for supporting “a sound and tractable theory of adaptability”
able to induce “a workable tool for use by the architect”509. Fawcett also upholds his
approach “to the theoretical Àeld of architectural research” because he considers
his aim in deÀning a model also to be a “theoretical task”. So, for his review of
adaptability (chapter 2 of Fawcett’s Thesis) he presents a “review of theoretical
writings” (Fawcett, 1978, p.16) (Fig. 103).
Lynch’s paper from 1958 is the Àrst to be mentioned by Fawcett in his review
of adaptability, as a “conceptual” approach that is able to “cover great deal of
509
“For this review, we have not tried to Ànd amusing or telling anticipations of research into adaptability in
the voluminous architectural writings of the past; not that we doubt they exist, but because they would not
contribute to the precise analysis which we seek to bring to adaptability.
If adaptability is to be made a workable tool for use by the architect, there is less need for a mass of didactic
anecdotes – useful though these are – than for a sound and tractable theory of adaptability. Our review,
therefore, stretches back no more than twenty years.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.15)
274
ground” (Fawcett, 1978, p.17). In fact, from the analysis of the original paper, we
have observed that Lynch generally addresses the issues connected with adaptability
and related concepts in their respective similarities and speciÀcities, the ways in
which adaptability could be dealt with, namely when applied to the urban scale, and
the question of balancing between the initial investment and the design options
under a contextual and speciÀc decision.
After acknowledging that obsolescence can hinder our activities and limit our
behaviour in space510, Lynch sustains that change happens at different levels -
from the house to the urban scale, and the eager to address it through Áexibility is
increasingly higher:
“Moreover, we see that the tempo of change is increasing, and fear

that what we are planning today will be tomorrow’s incubus. Structures
housing the activities in most rapid Áux (laboratories or hospitals for
example) are in a constant turmoil of destruction and change. In our
cities we have launched on a desperate program of razing and rebuilding
that gives promise of being endless. And so each day we murmur the
magic word: “Áexibility”” (Lynch, 1958, p.16)
As also afÀrmed by Fawcett in his Thesis, Lynch also upholds that tackling
adaptability is dealing with the unforeseen change and translating it to physical
solutions that can eventually answer intangible future needs511:
“Preparation for a known change to come may have its complications,

but can be approached and solved in a straightforward manner. The
more adequate our predictions of the future become, the more will our
anxiety for Áexibility be transmuted into such tangible problems.
But as long as our environmental patterns outlive our original guesses,
we face the rather harrowing problem of providing for unspeciÀed future
change, or providing generalized Áexibility.” (Lynch, 1958, p.16)512
Lynch then presents biological analogies between the body’s “plasticity” as its ability
to accommodate changes according to the contextual constraints, and the spatial
“adaptability”513 that aims to accommodate the changes of the body and the activities:
510
“All of us are to one degree or another cramped by the survival of obsolete environmental forms: narrow
streets, awkward rooms, vertical factories, crowded tenements. Elaborate constructions have been abandoned
because of their inability to accommodate new activity. The structure erected to facilitate life has often become
its strait jacket.” (Lynch, 1958, p.16)
511
Quoting Fawcett: “Lynch Àrst distinguishes between preparation for known change, and providing for
unspeciÀed future change. The former is a well-deÀned problem that can be approached and solved in a
straightforward manner; the latter calls for generalised Áexibility. (Fawcett, 1978, p.17)
512
“When it comes to an all-out showdown, present efÀciency will always take the pot, but usually the problem is
one of striking a reasonable balance, with many unknowns and much looseness of Àt.” (p.23)
513
“Biological analogies are often referred to, with an inversion that Lynch acknowledges, for in the biological
context adaptability generally refers to the ability of organisms to adapt to changes in their environment,
275
“Among biological populations, the ability to adjust to new situations

plays a vital role, both for the individual and for the species. The
adaptable populations survive, and the inÁexible succumb. This
adaptability is often bought at a heavy price of constant destruction
and renewal, both of individuals and of parts within the individual.
Now we reverse the inquiry to discuss, not the adaptability of the
organism to his environment, but that of the environment to the
changing purposes of the organism.” (Lynch, 1958, p.16)
Then, Lynch differentiates the concepts of “plasticity”, present “Áexibility” and

“adaptability” and in a very graphic way:
“[…] if your objective were wide choice, you would present your
subject with a roomful of pottery, of all shapes and styles. If plasticity
is the aim, give him the wet clay to make his own. For adaptability, give
him a simple, average-sized pot, suitable for many uses. Or leave the
day in the ground, for the disposition of future generations. If your
problem is housing, build a great variety of dwelling types for the Àrst
objective; put everyone in low isolated dwellings for the second; but for
adaptability put them in tents.” (Lynch, 1958, p.16)
Hence, “present Áexibility” can be considered in two approaches: to provide the

maximum range of possibilities for activities to happen in a space, or to allow the
space to foster individual and active participation when appropriating space (p.16).
Likewise, “adaptability” here is considered as: “the generalized adjustability of

an environment or artifact, with minimum effort, to future changes of use. This
might best be called adaptability.” (p.16)514 . And Lynch continues by saying that: “An
adaptable environment is simply a highly permissive one, and this may be far from
optimum for the stimulation of individual growth.” (p.23). This goes along with
Fawcett’s argument further on his Thesis, stating that “the objective of adaptability
being to encompass as many states as possible” (Fawcett, 1978, p.35).
Lynch also advances with physical solutions to provide space with more adaptable
features, namely: the use of “unspecialized forms” - implying that spatial shapes
with little differentiation and low structure would be more prone to change and
development; “zoning and concentration of structure”; “additive structures” -
either by modules or by lattices, that allow future more complex arrangements with
relative easiness; “variety”; providing “over-capacity” - expectant spaces for future
whereas the question here is the ability of an environment to accommodate changes in the organisms using it.”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.17)
514
“A Áexible environment, Lynch continues, could mean three different things: 1) present-day choice in the
environment, 2) freedom for the user to develop the environment to his own requirements, 3) ability to cope
with unspeciÀed future change. The third alone is deÀned as environmental adaptability, and Lynch speciÀcally
states that present-day choice is quite independent of future change.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.17)
276
activities or extra dimensioned spaces, that “leaves room for growth and change”
(Lynch, 1958, p.19):
“It should also be made clear that adaptability is not the same as growth
or development, but simply is a permissive quality which allows growth
or development. [...] We are only interested that, when it is desirable
that life patterns should change, they can do so with minimum effort,
and, were it possible, with no environmental change whatsoever.”515
(Lynch, 1958, p.23)
His notion of “Áexibility” and “multipurpose” or “unspeciÀed” space does not

imply overly vague516, but whose structural design allows spatial change without
major layout arrangements. But to clear out his deÀnition of specialisation, Lynch
also defends that a space has to be provided with attributes that allow a wider
allocation of activities, but cannot be overly specialised in the sense of being
speciÀcally created for the particular needs of a client that would produce a costly
and narrowly directed spatial outcome (Lynch, 1958, p.17). This will imply a
balanced choice, contextual as it is517, between the “too narrow” options and the
“sufÀciently broad” solution. On the one hand: “Complexity of organization does
not entail inÁexibility: perhaps even the reverse, if the complexity has a purpose. A
complexity like an arterial highway network may release potentialities of function
that markedly enhance the adaptability of the whole.” (ibid.). On the other hand:
“Chaos, or lack of structure, is not Áexible per se.” (ibid.).
All in all, by pointing out some possible physical attributes of an adaptable space
that potentiates and provides for change, Lynch calls out the need for a balanced
outcome between the concepts deÀned and the referred design options, in the
speciÀc context of that space:
“There seems to be a continuous conÁict between future adaptability

and present efÀciency. Low intensity, over-capacity, highly temporary
structure, intense concentration of structure, modular standardization,
separation of centers, avoidance of specialization: all are likely to
exact a price in terms of immediate function of Àrst cost.” (Lynch,
1958, p.23)
Consequently, a balance is also needed when reÁecting on the concepts of

“likelihood of change” to happen (and the nature of that change) and the concept
of “easiness of change” (according to the effort implied in altering the initial spatial
515
516
“By failing to deÀne structure or allocation, he is simply shifting the responsibility for decision to other
individuals, or to the play of circumstance.” (Lynch, 1958, p.17)
517
“This study has discussed it primarily as an end in itself, and entirely in relation to the physical means of
attaining it. Certainly, in any real situation, adaptability must be considered only in context with many other
objectives.” (Lynch, 1958, p.24)
277
layout). Likewise, there needs to be balance between “cost-effectiveness” and “over-

provision”. Quoting Lynch:
“Unfortunately, these advantages of adaptability must usually be paid

for by present loss. Over-capacity usually means the waste of scarce
resources, or at least a denial of present use. More concrete or steel is
consumed, or costly land may be required. Equally as important as the
increased Àrst cost, are the enlarged operating costs incurred by extra
capacity. There may be more rooms to dust, more miles to travel to
work (as in Canberra), more square feet of siding to paint.” (Lynch,
1958, p.20)
Thus a balance must continually be struck between increased present costs, and
decreased future adaptability. This is a conÁict that a designer frequently mediates,
as he decides on his “factor of safety,” or ponders how to give a shopping centre
room to grow in, without surrounding it with large tracts of unused land.” (Lynch,
1958, p.20)518
Lynch concludes on the complexity of addressing adaptability, in what regards its

goals, the means to achieve them and its connection to other “human needs”. Before
these speciÀcities, the approach to adaptability must be placed “in context”, but, all
in all, “it appears that adaptability to future change unspeciÀed is a signiÀcant goal
in city planning […]” (Lynch, 1958, p.24)
Subsequent to Lynch’s paper, Fawcett recalls Aylward’s (1970) paper Towards a

theory for describing and designing adaptability in the built environment. In recognising the
“increasing rate and magnitude of change”519 (Aylward, 1970, p.130), Aylward
points out two possible effects on “the needs of an adaptable environment”:
“One is that individual activities need to be able to minimise the

stress and costs of alteration and adjustment to new operations and
requirements; and second, because of various technological innovations,
activities will have increasingly greater freedom to locate independently
of functional/geographic ties.”520 (Aylward, 1970, p.130)
Therefore, Aylward explains the aim of his paper:
“There is an obvious gap in our theoretical and operational knowledge;
518
“Any wise designer leaves some extra capacity in his design, for the sake of future stress and change. He leaves
as much as he can, but must strike a balance with present cost. Where unused capacity is expensive, either in Àrst
or running cost, a society can hardly be expected to allow very generously for the future.” (Lynch, 1958, p.20)
519
Aylward deÀnes Àve “aspects of change”: “rate”, “magnitude”, “frequency”, “duration” and “continuity”
(p.138) and considers both space and activity to be “instigators of change” (Aylward, 1970, pp.138-139).
520
“Using alternative, and maybe changeable, location criteria, there is an increased likelihood that more
‘footloose’ activities will bring greater demands on space (assuming that activity change rate is greater than
space obsolescence), simply because one space may have to serve many alternative inhabitants in its lifetime.”
(Aylward, 1970, p.130)
278
Fig. 104. “Relationships between the functional parts describing the environment”
(Aylward, 1970, p.131)
we are not able to translate how we use the man-made space of our
environment into terms that can be understood and manipulated to
minimise the stress of change. The purpose of this paper is to start
to Àll this gap by deÀning and analysing the component parts of the
problem, and assembling them into workable procedures to design an
adaptable environment.” (Aylward, 1970, p.130)
Aylward presents advancements from Lynch’s 1958 paper, which he gets to quote as
“an important source for several of these ideas (Aylward, 1970, p.139), connecting
activities to spaces in a straightforward manner, as “the two essential components
of environment” (Aylward, 1970, p.130), and pointing out the “interdependent”
and “independent functions” within these two (Fig. 104), which he deÀnes as:
“(a) Interdependent functions - categories of activity and space shapes

that are directly and clearly cross-related and are, for the most part,
quantiÀable. For example, ‘group teaching’ (activity) demands a certain
type of enclosure, Áoor loading, etc. (space).
(b) Independent functions - categories that do not directly cross-relate
activity and space but are more self-contained descriptions. For
example, the material description of space, or the standards of
personnel performance of activity. It is not to be inferred that these
functions are completely independent, but only they are predominantly
idiosyncratic.” (Aylward, 1970, pp.130-131)
Aylward them presents a matrix with the correspondence of “Àt”521 between

“activity types” and “space properties”, which he calls “Notional order of need and
interdependence between activity and space properties” (Fig. 105), which is widely
521
Aylward deÀnes two concepts: “Àt” and “interÀt”, in which the Àrst means “matching, of compatible activity
and space” and the latter regards “what range of varied activities Àt one space quality” (Aylward, 1970, p.131).
279
Fig. 105. “Notional order of need and interdependence between activity and space properties”
(Aylward, 1970, p.132)
signiÀcant for Fawcett’s feasibility matrices for “event-space pairings” presented in

his Doctoral Thesis (Fawcett, 1978, pp.168-181)522.
All in all, Aylward realises the relevance of deÀning activities and spaces for a better
Àt between them both:
“The initial split of the analysis into ‘activity’ and ‘space’ is an important
Àrst step to prevent blurred boundaries of deÀnition in what is changing
the shape of the environment. As a result it can be more clearly seen
what needs to be changed to obtain better ‘Àts’. (Aylward, 1970, p.146)
By matching activities’ needs to spaces’ attributes, it is possible to conclude on

the potential allocation of each activity to a space and hence, the space’s capacity
of adaptability to multiple activities. Fawcett advances that Aylward’s concepts of
“Àt” and “interÀt” provided by the matrix are “a preliminary step in our “loose-
Àt measure of adaptability””, the object of his study in chapters 9 and 10 of his
Doctoral Thesis, although in Aylward’s paper there is no explanation on how to
accomplish it (Fawcett, 1978, p.20).
Fawcett then refers to Cowan’s523 (1963) paper Studies in the growth, change and ageing of
522
Aylward notes that the wider the detail on the matrix, the more abundant the differences, this will be clear
when producing and deÀning the degree of detail to introduce in our own feasibility matrix in chapter 3.3. for
the purposes of this present Doctoral Thesis. See chapter 3.3 A methodology for identifying and assessing
523
Peter Cowan was a member of the Research and Development Group of the ministry of Health and in 1960
280
a) b)
Fig. 106. a) Distribution of activities per room size;
b) Frequency of room in hospitals and schools per room size
(Cowan, 1963, pp.57,58)
buildings. According to Fawcett, the relevance of Cowan’s 1963 article is that:
“He provokes a design response from architects, or the attempt at such a

thing, and permits the need for adaptability in buildings to be considered
axiomatic, as we consider it in this thesis.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.20).
In fact, Cowan addresses the issues of “growth”, “change” and “ageing” of building
in connection with “size”, “shape” and “function”, and in a very supported and
graphic manner, “in the hope of describing patterns which might aid future planning”
(Cowan, 1963, p.55), recognising that there were not yet answers for the practice.
Having acknowledged change from within the organisations, Cowan sustains its
relation to the “design of the structures which house them”. But, yet, he places the
question:
“But how far will it be worthwhile to make the insides of buildings

adjustable to these changes? For human activities are adjustable to
many different physical situations; and a single unit of space will often
accommodate a wide variety of human activities.” (Cowan, 1963, p.57)
Cowan’s diagrams are very illustrative of the need for the buildings to cope with
change. For the question posed by Cowan, Fig. 106 shows that from a certain point
he was associated with the Hospital Research Project (Cowan, 1963, p.54). So, the examples given in this paper,
although with other and briefer references, mostly refer to the hospital brief for clariÀcation.
281
Fig. 107. Structural degeneration

(Cowan, 1963, p.68)
on the number of activities possible within a room tends to stabilise and that, both
in schools and in hospitals, the room size is below 200 square feet524. This will imply
that within that room size, most activities can take place525. Reminding of Weeks’s
(1960) “dufÁe coat”526, as opposed to a “tailor-made” garment (Weeks, 1960, p.20),
Cowan states that most needs can be held in a space of “normal ofÀce size” and that
because alterations are costly, then they must be thoughtfully considered according
to the “frequency of change” in that building:
“Ifwe provide a series of regular rectangular spaces of about normal

ofÀce size, many different purposes can be adequately accommodated,
without structural alteration.
Alterations to the insides of buildings are very expensive, and it is
necessary to discover the frequency of change within a building before
524
“From these data we may draw a curve which starts at a minimum value of about four square feet, when
about ten basic activities are possible, and then rises very rapidly to about 200 square feet, at which point the
curve levels off abruptly. After this even large increments of Áoor space make possible relatively few additional
activities.” (Cowan, 1963, p.58)
525
Cowan states that: “In addition, it is quite reasonable to suppose that rooms of 150 sq. ft. will serve a very
large proportion of human needs.” (Cowan, 1963, p.59)
526
According to Weeks: “In order to get maximum Áexibility within a department it is necessary to provide
rooms which Àt around the activities which are to be carried on in them like a dufÁe coat. The dufÁe coat,
provide by the Navy for its ofÀcers, was not a tailor-made garment. A few sizes were made and these were
related to the known range of sizes of sailors so that it was usually possible to Ànd one that would Àt very
reasonably, and keep the sailor quite snug.” (Weeks, 1960, p.20)
The approach to Weeks’s “dufÁe coat” has already been dealt in detail. See chapter 2.1. Adaptability: deÀnition
and adjacent concepts.
282
Fig. 108. Functional obsolescence

(Cowan, 1963, p.69)
we are sure it is worth making special provision. It is surprising how

little internal rearrangement has occurred in buildings, even those built
some time ago.” (Cowan, 1963, p.59)
Two other images in this paper also bear signiÀcant representativeness for the state
of the art on change, as conceptual diagrams which relate to structural degeneration
(Fig. 107) and functional obsolescence (Fig. 108) related with life span, considered
by Fawcett as “the essence of Cowan’s analysis” (Fawcett, 1978, p.21). The Àrst is
represented by a smooth gradual curve from the initial performance to a complete
lack of performance:
“The curve starts at a high point of maximum structural performance

and falls away smoothly to nothing. At some time during the life of
the building this curve will approach the minimum satisfactory level
of structural performance. If the structure is rebuilt, it will begin again
at a higher level of performance due to improvements in construction
methods. But if the building is repaired and maintained above minimum
structural performance level, structural performance will never be
raised to its original level.” (Cowan, 1963, p.68).
While, the second Àgure illustrating functional obsolescence in time: “the curve
showing functional obsolescence also falls from left to right, but in a series of steps,
each indicating the introduction of a new procedure or technique which suddenly
lowers the functional effectiveness of the plan” (Cowan, 1963, p.69).
283
a)
b)
Fig. 109. a) “Disutility scale”; b) “A schematic view of constraints through time”
(Nutt et al., 1976, pp.64,40)
Cowan then realises that structural degeneration and functional obsolescence do not
necessarily go along and that seldom at that time and contrarily to the past, “almost
every building becomes obsolete long before it is ready to fall down” (Cowan,
1963, p.72). Having presented a wide span of topics on this behalf, many as Cowan
implies, ranging other disciplinary Àelds, Cowan’s paper elaborates on buildings “as
part of the general system of human affairs which is constantly changing, and have
tried to indicate the way in which buildings affect and are affected by the larger
systems of human development” (Cowan, 1963, p.82). Hence, Cowan concludes
by highlighting “homeostasis”, “which describes the shifting balance between an
organism and its environment, is a condition which we should seek to achieve in
our buildings”, but leaving the topic open to “make our own way on this research
with no ready-made tools to help us” (Cowan, 1963, p.82).
After tackling Cowan’s work, Fawcett focuses on obsolescence as describes it as such:
“A building is obsolete when it can no longer be used for its intended

purpose, and obsolescence is the process by which buildings reach this
condition. Consider Lynch’s unspeciÀed future change: an adaptable
environment can cope with change and does not become obsolete,
whereas an unadaptable environment is more likely to become
obsolete.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.22)
Fawcett comments on Nutt et al.’s work and conÀrms it to be relevant to his individual
work on “the features of buildings that resist obsolescence” (Fawcett, 1978, p.22).
284
Nutt et al. (1976) address obsolescence in dwellings, under the context of a “full-
scale study of obsolescence in the housing sector”527, regarding obsolescence in the
housing sector as: “the relative degree of uselessness or disutility as assessed by the
occupants themselves, or by the landlord, the property market or the planner, as the
case may be.” (Nutt el al., 1976, p.53) (Fig. 109a).
By addressing “the circumstances that give rise to high levels of disutility, disbeneÀt
and dissatisfaction” (ibid.), they point out obsolescence to be “physical”, “Ànancial”,
“functional”, “locational”, “environmental”, “style” (from “stylistic qualities”) and
of “control” (from “regulating mechanisms”) (Nutt el al., 1976, p.6). Nonetheless,
the authors conclude that a more complete framework on obsolescence should
enclose all previous aspects and not consider them per se but rather as a “process”
(Nutt el al., 1976, p.33):
“Obsolescence in buildings is a phenomenon in which no single facet

is always dominant. Any theory about the process of obsolescence in
buildings must be capable of accounting for a variety of human actions
that may accentuate or alleviate obsolescence and of the mechanics of
regulation and control. The theory should integrate these disparate but
related factors within a cohesive framework.” (Nutt el al., 1976, p.29)
The concept of “constraint” as perceived by mathematics as: “anything that restricts

the number of variables or the values that variables may take” (Nutt el al., 1976, p.36),
is therefore quite relevant for this whole theoretical perspective, which in this case
could be perceived as being of different types i.e.: “spatial”, “facility and condition”,
“Ànancial”, “locational”, “market” and “legislative” constraints, on “different levels
of aggregation” (Nutt el al., 1976, p.38). These constraints condition the allocation
of a “physical system” (understood as spaces) to a “behavioural system” (taken as
activities) (Fig. 109b).
The study then focuses on modelling the “areas of constraint” and “areas of
response” (Nutt el al., 1976, p.49) in order to perceive the trends and address
them, preventing obsolescence528. A binary diagram can then be modelled with
the possible actions and the constraining factors for each action that may hinder
the possibility of that action to occur in that space or to consider it satisfactory to
shelter that activity (Fig. 110a). This is put by Fawcett as:
[...] the essence of the models to compare an array of possible
527
An initial study on “patterns of growth and change, of both staff and accommodation, in a number of
institutions,” by the Joint Unit for Planning Research funded by the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works
in 1964; followed by a “pilot-study of obsolescence in buildings” from 1970, led to the funding in 1972 of
the research to “develop techniques for assessing, simulating and alleviating obsolescence of housing” that are
presented in the book by Nutt et al. (1976) Obsolescence in housing: Theory and applications (Nutt et al., 1976, p.x).
528
“So, by focusing on two critical aspects of obsolescence – areas of constraint, areas of response – and
modelling them, we are able to examine and describe the possible courses of obsolescence for single items of
building stock and for urban areas as a whole, and warn of trends that need watching.” (Nutt el al, 1976, p.49)
285
a)
b)
Fig. 110. a) Matrix of correlation of actions to constraints; b) Zero-one matrix and bipartite
graph as in which feasible event-space pairs are linked by an edge
(Fawcett, 1978, p.23)
actions with an array of constraining factors, for a given household

and dwelling. [...] The constraining factors of the dwelling are those
physical characteristics, which might, if inadequate, cause the dwelling
to be unsuitable for the activities. (Fawcett, 1978, p.23)
This is later tackled by Fawcett in the combinatory models for measuring

adaptability, as we see further on his Thesis, as the connection between spaces
and events, whose pairing is constrained by factors that enable and/or hinder their
allocation529 (Fig. 110b).
All things considered and after having focused on the previous works mentioned,
Fawcett supports that adaptability is a question of providing the possibility of choice
in the future and to be able to answer the uncertainty of future change. The relevance
of identifying the boundaries between performance and obsolescence is relative, as
the most signiÀcant issue in providing for adaptability is the potential choice for
coping with the changing needs (what he later calls of “loose-Àt” potential):
“Following Lynch, we suggest that an adaptable environment is one

that offers choice, in the present and in the future, and to make any
estimate of the extent of choice offered by an environment it is
necessary to be able to identify thresholds of satisfactory performance,
or obsolescence. But we do not see this as the central task in the study
529
Nutt et al. also use zero-one matrices (see Nutt el at, 1976, p.74).
286
of adaptability - which should build on such knowledge, and erect a

superstructure that deals directly with the breadth and type of choice
that is offered. The essence is the choice available, not the thresholds
themselves.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.24)
He also mentions Baird (1972), who connects the degree of Áexibility of a system
to the options made by the planner in the design, ultimately deÀning the degree of
Áexibility by the respective the degree of “choice”:
“The degree of choice is, in effect, the Áexibility of the system. As

soon as the planner decides that one facility should deÀnitely go on a
particular site, some choice is lost. Long-term plans are always affected
by unexpected new circumstances that arise, so it is implied that
planners should be aware of the effect on Áexibility of their decisions,
and should try to retain Áexibility.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.26)
For Fawcett the relevance of this paper lies on the use of the concept of “Áexibility”
that Fawcett translates to his Thesis as “loose-Àt adaptability” of entropy “as the
index of adaptability” (Fawcett, 1978, p.27) 530.
Fawcett recalls Markov simulations taken by a SRC-funded research project at Bristol

for modelling patterns of students’ activities, but concludes by favouring the model
for maximising entropy, as Tomlinson et al. described it in 1973, as “more economical,
stable, and comprehensible for the problem in hand” (Fawcett, 1978, p.25)531.
This particular model from Tomlinson et al. (1973) for simulating patterns of
student population to activities and space in time, identiÀes the time for each activity
and the restrictions regarding available time and location to take up every activity:
“A model is described whose purpose is to predict the distribution

of students in different activities and locations during the course
of a typical day, depending on the effective restrictions imposed by
the spatial distribution of buildings and sites, and by administrative
and social constraints on the timing of activities. The model is of
an entropy-maximising type; the data against which it is tested are
drawn from time budget surveys made in two universities, using diary
methods.” (Tomlinson et al., 1973, p.231)
Fig. 111 allows a clear understanding of the three variables: activities, location and
time and their possible arrangement, along with the distribution of the student
population. This models does not intend to perceive individual decisions but rather
530
Baird’s (1972) paper Applications of information theory to man-environment systems will be analysed in-depth in
chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments.
531
We here recall another crucial paper on this model by Batty and March (1976) and the overall book in which
it has been published as a compilation of papers on the subject of the analysis of spatial systems.
287
Fig. 111. “Restrictions and constraints shown diagrammatically”

(Tomlison et al., 1973, p.234)
“the most probable distribution of the population in time and space”532:
“[…] the most probable distribution of the population in time and space
can be derived, subject to the population and time budget constraints533
and the restrictions on the availability of time and space for activities,
by using the entropy-maximising technique. The resulting distribution
gives the number of people engaged in each activity in each time period
in each location over the day.” (Tomlinson et al., 1973, p.234)
Conclusively, as future developments on this model the paper points out the study on
possible variations on “alternative population groupings”, “activity classiÀcations”
and “time budget variations”, which could potentially inform on the “level of
detail at which further surveys need to be conducted”. This is particular relevant
and could still be considered today. In fact, it could be argued that contemporary
university buildings, or in a more general outlook, educations facilities, are provided
with spaces that in the 1970s were not necessarily considered, particularly in regard
532
Surveys for data collection and testing of this approach have been undertaken at Reading University,
Leicester University and Leicester Polytechnic.
533
Time budget constraints for this model imply that: “for a given group of people, over some repeated period
(such as a week), the proportion of time spent in various activities will remain the same, although the sequence
of activities and the locations would, of course, differ. This overall division of time between activities, the time
budget, is expected to vary for different groups of people.” And for the purpose of the model: “the proportion
of time spent in different activities by the population as a whole is similar to the time budgets” (Tomlinson et
al., 1973, p.233). (Italics from the original quote.)
288
to time budgets and information technology534 in what concerns the activities

for knowledge acquisition, communication and evaluation, and the needs for the
placement of those more recent learning activities in space and time. This will
be further considered, when our proposed methodology will be explained in the
following chapter535, along with the deÀnition of the detail on activities and spaces
to be introduced in the application of the methodology in the case study of our
present Thesis, but, naturally, that the recognition of the relevance of this paper,
along with all the references on the state of the art presented beforehand support
the robustness of this original methodology.
To contextualise this paper and to highlight the relevance of this issue during the
1970s, it becomes relevant to mention that the referred authors: Tomlinson, Bullock,
Dickens, Steadman and Taylor (1973) present a model produced under a wider array
of themes within university planning, taken on a research project entitled University
Study, in the Centre for Land Use and Built Form Studies536. This centre’s Àrst
report is on this particular study (Bullock, Dickens, and Steadman, 1969537), where
it is explained the wide scope of this project:
“What we feel is needed is a theoretical model of the physical planning

of universities – ‘model’ in the sense in which it is used in economics or
operations research: such models are now being developed, particularly
in America, for use in the Àeld of urban planning. The essential feature
of such a model would be the establishment of a comprehensive
series of mathematical or semi-mathematical relationships between
the different parameters which affect the physical aspects of university
planning.” (Bullock, Dickens, and Steadman, 1969, p.1)
Under the mentioned inclusive study on university planning by the Centre for Land
Use and Built Form Studies, on both activities and organisation of the university’s
spatial layout, Bullock, Dickens and Steadman (1970) have also related activities to
spaces for student population.
Fig. 112 presents student distribution and movement, identifying its location
per facility and per time period. The convergence (or divergence) of students in
particular facilities could support the presentation of the sought alternative layouts
for universities, also regarding the time spend on those activities and the more
frequent movements between locations.
534
Note that the paper actually points out on the last conclusions, the potential incidence of “technological
innovations” (p.265) to be considered in future surveys, and even in comparison with previous ones.
535
536
According to Leslie Martins’ preface on this report (who was the centre’s Àrst director), this study started by
a Grant from Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in 1965-66 and continued on by funding from the Department
of Education and Science. Then, when the Centre for Land Use and Built Form Studies was created, later in
1967, it carried out this Project (Bullock, Dickens, Steadman, 1969, preface).
537
289
Fig. 112. “Diagrammatic presentation of the results of a large-scale simulation of student activities
for a 10 per cent sample of a university of 3,000 students in all”
(Bullock, Dickens, Steadman, 1970, p.304)
Models are therefore used extensively under the University Study in the Centre
for Land Use and Built Form Studies in an “exploratory”, rather that purely
“descriptive”, approach on alternative patterns that can also be evaluated, and
whose results may cyclically introduce improvements in the initial models (Bullock,
Dickens, and Steadman, 1970, p.299)538.
“Robustness” is presented by Fawcett at this point, as another concept of relevance.

For introducing it Fawcett refers to Gupta and Rosenhead’s (1968) Robustness in
sequential investment decisions, where the concept is applied to “long-range investment
plans” (Gupta and Rosenhead, 1968, p.B-18), and particularly to the case study of
a plant location, which they deÀne as such:
“In the context of our discussion, “robustness” (or Áexibility) of a

decision or decisions must be measured in terms of the numbers of
the “good” end-states for expected external conditions which remain as
open options. If a formal deÀnition is required, then the robustness of a
decision can be deÀned simply as the ratio of that number to the number
of good end-states considered.” (Gupta and Rosenhead, 1968, p.B-21)
These authors have adopted the concept of “robustness” linked to “stability” and
the unforeseen change, leaving decisions open to future choices when “more up-
The subject of models, deeply sought in the 1970s, has been previously analysed when addressing Echenique’s
538
(1972) classiÀcation of models, even though this original paper dates back from 1968, when written in the
working paper #6 from the Centre for Land Use and Built form Studies.
290
to-date information is available” (p.B-28) and estimates on those variations bear

natural subjectivity539. This “robust-stability540 approach” (p.B-29) is presented as
an alternative perspective different from an early optimum solution (or “the best
end-state” (p.B-21)) taken right from the beginning when not all the information on
future circumstances and potential variations is available:
“The alternative approach described in this paper is, where there are
a number of end-states whose outcomes (on the basis of current
information) are not much inferior to that of the “best” end-state,
to make initial decisions which permit the achievement of as many
as possible of these end-states. We have called such initial decisions
“robust.”” (Gupta and Rosenhead, 1968, p.B-28)
Hence, “robustness” caries advantages on “the reduction of the need for subjective
estimation—only a range of likely variation in outcome, rather than a set of
subjective probability distributions; and in the formal abandonment of the search
for an unknowable future optimality in favour of the more modest and practical
goal of future Áexibility” (ibid.). This could be related to Fawcett’s “lifecycle options
approach” (Fawcett, 2010) undertaken later in his subsequent work.
It could here introduced the reading from a more recent work by Kincaid (2003)
Adapting buildings for changing uses: Guidelines for change of use refurbishment, which
revolves around this concept of “robust buildings for changing uses” (Kincaid,
2003, p.93). He also mentions that the viable development options541 of both
new buildings and research-adaptive ones should be based on the “systematic
comparison of options in relation to”: the “risk”, the “robustness”, the “value”,
the “utility”, the “beneÀt” and the “cost” of options (Kincaid, 2003, p.104). At the
end: “Robust decisions to protect future options” (p.80). “Supply” and “demand
characteristics”, “performance requirements” and “decision procedures” (p.21)
need to be thought and evaluated to produce a viable approach to “changing use
demands and existing supplies” (p.6).
A decade later from Gupta and Rosenhead’s paper, Pye (1978) also addresses
the concept of robustness linked with Áexibility. In the paper A Formal, Decision-
Theoretic Approach to Flexibility and Robustness Pye explains robustness as an approach
to problem-solving that implies decision-making and future uncertainty:
539
“A major problem in assessing the Áexibility to changed circumstances of a planned sequence of investment
decisions is the identiÀcation of just what circumstances are likely to change and by how much. Estimates of
this variability are often and necessarily made, but rarely without a large element of subjectivity and therefore
controversiality. In this section a measure of Áexibility, called “robustness,” is developed which does not depend
directly on such estimates.” (Gupta and Rosenhead, 1968, p.B-20)
540
“Where there are several robust decisions, an appropriate discriminatory factor is “stability”—that is, the
ability of the system (as amended by the Initial decision or decisions) to perform well should the subsequent
stages of the investment plan be delayed or cancelled.” (Gupta and Rosenhead, 1968, p.B-28)
541
He mentions the criteria for viability as “cost”, “value”, “risk” and “robustness” (p.15).
291
“Robustness is a criterion formulated to be appropriate to problems

involving a Ànite sequence of decisions taken by a single decision-maker
(d.m.). At each stage, the d.m. must choose between a Ànite number of
alternative moves (using standard game theoretic terminology) which
will, in general, restrict choice of later moves. Between each pair of
decisions, the d.m. can be informed of the state of an informational
variable, called a state or move by nature, which will also restrict future
moves and affect the value the sequence of moves selected.” (Pye,
1978, p.215)542
Flexibility will allow that an initial choice does not entirely hinder future possibilities
and Pye relates Áexibility to entropy, understanding Áexibility “as the entropy of
that uncertainty” (ibid.) as an alternative method for “the solutions sequential
problem”543 (p.216), because:
“It will be argued that the traditional approach can deal only with a
limited amount of uncertainty and that, rather than attempt to increase
the range of unknown factors explicitly considered, it is better to
introduce an additional criterion, Áexibility, in order to ensure that
initial moves do not preclude too many later ones. Flexibility will be
deÀned to be the amount of uncertainty which the d.m. [decision-
maker] retains concerning the future choices he will make. Under
simple circumstances it may be interpreted as the number of future
alternatives from which choice may be made. Robustness is a method
of trading off Áexibility against expected value.” (Pye, 1978, p.215)
Deriving Áexibility by the use of entropy is then placed by Pye, being U the entropy
of that distribution544:
“One measure of the uncertainty in a probability distribution is the entropy

of that distribution. The entropy of the distribution is the function
where the logarithm, like all others in this paper, is to base 2. Let
542
“Unforeseeable uncertainty can only be dealt with if the decision-maker’s response to nature’s moves is
not Àxed in advance but is itself uncertain. Flexibility is then deÀned as the entropy or that uncertainty. It is
a measure of both the number of alternative sequences of moves which are open to the decision-maker and
his attitude to them. Robustness is a way of trading off Áexibility against expected value as estimated under
foreseeable uncertainty. The cost of Áexibility may be estimated and controlled.” (Pye, 1978. p.215)
543
“Unforeseeable uncertainty cannot, by its very nature, be incorporated in nature’s moves. As a result, it cannot
be accommodated by the traditional approach. A different basis for planning is needed - one which does not
involve the speciÀcation and retention of a detailed plan based on initial estimates of value and probabilities.
The new method should retain Áexibility for dealing with unforeseeable uncertainty.” (Pye, 1978. p.217)
544
The explanation of this formulation, within the scope of our Thesis and acknowledging the relevance
towards architecture more than the mathematics to derive it, will be analysed in the subsequent chapter 3.3. A
methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments.
292
Áexibility be deÀned to be the entropy of the distribution of probabilities

concerning the d.m.’s [decision-maker] future decision.” (Pye, 1978, p.218)
Therefore, the proposition for the deÀnition of Áexibility as “uncertainty concerning

the d.m.’s own future moves” is established to be “the most fundamental of the
formal constructions used on this paper” and this uncertainty is here proposed to
be assessed by entropy (Pye, 1978. p.225). Pye even mentions Baird (1972), whose
signiÀcant work on entropy will be analysed in the following chapter of our Thesis,
in closer detail with entropy maximising. Pye assumes the originality of his research
on the use of entropy to measure Áexibility and to support decisions based on that
evaluation (ibid.)545. Fawcett, recognising Pye’s work underlines its scope on decision-
making, which differs from the architectural speciÀcities (Fawcett, 1978, p.29).
After focusing on the mentioned authors and approaches, Fawcett concludes that
Lynch (1958) and Aylward (1970) tackle the issue but do not present strategies “of
immediate interest” (Fawcett, 1978, p.29), because Fawcett aims at an analytical
approach. Cowan (1963) and Nutt et al. (1975) provide a more theoretical approach
to the subject that already provide “more substancial analytical tools” (ibid.). While
Baird (1972) and Gupta and Rosenhead (1968) point out potential methods to
address it. Lastly and after explaining the previous authors relevance for backing
Fawcett’s “general theory of adaptability” (Fawcett, 1978, p.i), Fawcett clearly states
what his own approach intends to:
“We are interested in adaptability that allows buildings to cope with

activity change.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.29)
Chapter 3 of Fawcett’s Doctoral Thesis relies on “Adaptability as an empirical

objective” (Fawcett, 1978, pp.31-50), sustaining that adaptability has already been
put into practice even though its deÀnition is still rather blurred and its strategies
still “intuitive”, which is also proven by the previous works on the state of the art
formerly presented. As he puts it:
“It is fair to say that the theory of adaptability has not broken the barrier
of practicality. Concepts are often carefully, indeed subtly, discussed, but
no solid principles have emerged that can stand alongside other criteria
in the design process. This does not mean that adaptability has not been
inÁuential in design: it has been, and was before any of the theoretical
studies we reviewed in Ch.2. Intuitive strategies to maximise adaptability
abound, and an ambition of this work is to make possible to distinguish
between myths and strategies of adaptability.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.31)
Moreover, for embedding adaptability in the design, decisions must be made not solely
545
“Although earlier studies have used entropy of future behaviour as a measure of Áexibility, none have
attempted to either evaluate Áexibility or to base a decision-making criterion on it.” (ibid.)
293
Fig. 113. Filters that constrain the feasibility matrix

on its “maximum” degree, but also on the adequate choice546, which corroborates
the latter reference to the need for a thorough and contextual balance between
the design options, the gain conveyed and the cost implied, in order to provide
“robustness” in the future, rather than either costly “over-provision” or potential
obsolescence. In each particular case, speciÀc design solutions should be conceived
according to the brief, the referred balance of variables and the expectancy of change:
“Adaptable designs are strategies with which to face uncertainty -

uncertainty about the relationship between activities and spaces, either
now or especially in the future. The actual types of activity change that
designers guard against tell us implicitly what they believe to be variable
aspects of the relationship, and will guide our search for a relevant and
useful theory of adaptability.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.31)
At this point, in 1978, Fawcett advances that adaptability is connected with the
buildings’ “attributes” (Fawcett, 1978, p.32)547, from the more permanent and large
scale, to the more variable and small scale ones (ibid.) and in which “the succeeding
characteristics tend to be constrained by those before” (ibid.). Thus, Fawcett puts
forward the concepts of:
structure --------- spaces --------- services --------- Àttings

(Fawcett, 1978, p.32)
546
“Needless to say, the designer’s task is not solely to generate maximum adaptability in his designs, but rather
the degree of adaptability which is appropriate to the problem in hand.” (ibid.)
547
“Any characteristic of buildings that affects the ability to accommodate activities will affect adaptability. We
have proposed (Fawcett, 1976a), that in a general way the characteristics of spaces that determine the ability to
accommodate activities can be ordered, beginning with coarse and permanent ones and moving on to detailed
and changeable ones, in the following sequence” (Fawcett, 1978, p.32).
294
Fig. 114. Brand’s “shearing layers of change”

(Brand, 1994, p.13)
This had already been advanced in his paper from 1976 Measuring Adaptability
(Fawcett, 1976b), where Fawcett refers to “Àlters” (Fig. 113548) that constrained
the allocation of activities to spaces and establish the “feasibility potential” of a
particular space (Fawcett, 1976b, p.28). This would be accomplished according to
the compatibility between “attributes of activities’ demands and spaces’ supplies”:
“Each attribute can be considered as a ‘Àlter’ with which an activity-

to-space match (ei,hj) must be tested. […] the overall feasibility matrix
is the result of passing every possible activity-space pair through every
Àlter.” (Fawcett, 1976b, pp.27-28)
The approach on “attributes” much recalls Duffy’s (1990) later work on Measuring
Building Performance, where he recognises “shell”, “services”, “scenery” and “set”;
and later developed by Brand (1994) with his “shearing layers of change”: “site”,
“structure”, “skin”, “services”, “space plan” and “stuff ”549 (Fig. 114).
But according to Fawcett it is the “spatial level” that is most determinant to the remaining
decisions and to overall adaptability550. He recalls the concept of the “multi-use box”
as “the purest strategy of adaptable architecture” with its “long-span, deep-plan, fully-
services, single-storey box”, due to the variability of uses it can accommodate, which
can “be interpreted in terms of our four-level hierarchy” (Fawcett, 1978, p.33).
548
This has already been referred in chapter 2.1. Adaptability: deÀnition and adjacent concepts, considered
relevant for the concept of adaptability and is referred again here in the context of Fawcett’s speciÀc work.
549
This has been previous dealt in deeper detail, while also comparing the concepts’ meanings according to the
respective authors in chapter 2.1. Adaptability: deÀnition and adjacent concepts.
550
“The level that is most important, that exerts most leverage over the convenience of buildings, is the one
concerning spaces. [… It is at the spatial level that we shall mostly concentrate, as we believe it to be the
primary characteristic of building which determines what activities can be accommodated, and which therefore
determines adaptability. ” (Fawcett, 1978, p.32).
295
Fig. 115. “OfÀce layouts of differing degrees of sub division and differentiation are thought likely
to relate to the organisational dimensions of interaction and bureaucracy”
(Duffy and Worthington, 1976, p.602)
But Fawcett also points out single measures that enhance adaptability per se, as
options in the design, such as “long-span frames”, “simple rectangular plans”
instead of “highly articulated” ones, “movable walls” or even “no walls at all”,
“all-over servicing from a continuous ceiling void” and “making all furniture and
Àttings mobile” (Fawcett, 1978, pp.33-34).
However, Fawcett underlines once more the need for a balance between high
provision and redundancy and its respective “cost penalty”, that in the “multi-use
box” is recurrent (Fawcett, 1978, p.34) 551. Furthermore, the model of the “multi-
purpose box” is not a potential standardised design solution, because adaptability
lies under speciÀc options and its adequacy depends on speciÀc circumstances and
so, it is shaped, structured and Àtted accordingly:
“The fact that adaptability is not a simple property that is maximized

in the multi-purpose box is easily demonstrated. The building type,
though, redundant, is not universally applicable, and we compare
two ofÀce designs by the same architects that are very different but
adaptable in different ways.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.37)
Assuming that “no one pattern of subdivision and arrangement of spaces can cater for
all needs” (Fawcett, 1978, p.34) and that adaptability does not carry a standard solution
and takes different forms, Fawcett recalls Duffy and Worthington’s Organisational
design and space (1976) where four possible plans are presented implying different
organisational interfaces (Fig. 115), which had already been addressed on Duffy’s
(1974) former paper OfÀce design and organizations: 2. The testing of a hypothetical model for
551
“However, whilst it may with reservations be accepted that a building cannot be too highly serviced or too
well equipped, it is not so obvious that ever larger structural bays and ever deeper plans are always desirable.”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.34)
296
Environment & Planning B. To comment on that image Duffy and Worthington state
that “Building form may be used to conÀrm an organisational strategy […]” (Duffy
and Worthington, 1976, p.602) And so, the purpose of adaptability in the particular
case of ofÀce buildings would be “to encompass as many states as possible” (Fawcett,
1978, p.35) according to the grouping of workers and their activities.
All in all, adaptability implies little material change to provide maximum states,
quoting Fawcett: “Adaptability derives from being able to rearrange activities in
many ways with minimal environmental change” (Fawcett, 1978, p.40).
This may bear different meanings according to several and diverse contextual
constraints and may even differ according to the brief at hand. Even though Weeks
(1964) proposed an “indeterminate architecture” he had looked at hospitals in
particular within his previous research at the NufÀeld Foundation. While Rabeneck,
Sheppard and Town (1973) studied this issue applied to dwellings and present
different ways of interpreting Áexibility in projects in several countries in Europe
(Rabeneck, Sheppard and Town, 1973, p.698).
But Fawcett speciÀcally focuses on the school building, that has a particular need
for interchangeability of spaces (Fawcett, 1978, p.46). He starts by mentioning a
pamphlet by the Ministry of Education (1957) on post-war school buildings, which
raises a proposition that could be applied today:
“[…] these spaces [the schools we should build] must be adaptable not
only to a present variety of uses, but also to the changes which the future
is bound to bring, sometimes suddenly, sometimes imperceptibly”.
(Ministry of Education, 1957, p.15)
Besides proposing more adaptable spaces, the pamphlet also concludes on a number
of other requirements for post-war school buildings, namely: the need for “more
room in total”, “more individual spaces”, “individual spaces will not be of uniform
size”, “different physical conditions in different spaces” and spaces “designed for
children” with the appropriate scale (ibid.).
By consulting the original publication, we could also add that in the same publication
the Ministry of Education assumes “a growing diversity of the forms taken on by
the old subjects and a greater variety of ways in which they are combined on the
timetable” (Ministry of Education, 1957 p.12). Fawcett is also in agreement with this
assumption, assuming the changeability in subjects and teaching processes throughout
the school buildings’ lifecycle: “During the life of a school there will be educational
change in the subjects taught and the manner of their teaching”. (Fawcett, 1978, p.43)
Change is therefore certain to happen in a school building, not only because of a

potential enlargement or reduction, but also due to the variation in group sizing
and speciÀcities, in teaching practices and the subjects provided and, overall, in
297
timetabling changes (when allocating activities to spaces), habits and routines,

and life within the building at large. But Fawcett assumes that: “The changes that
do concern us are those affecting the patterns of grouping and the system of
timetabling.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.43)
So adaptability becomes an invaluable design goal, enhanced by “interchangeable”

and “multiusable” spaces that can allocate “activity states that consist of different
patterns of grouping within a fairly static building” (Fawcett, 1978, p.47), which
more easily provide “workable timetables” (Fawcett, 1978, p.46).
But assuming the differences in activity states for speciÀc school briefs, Fawcett
recognises the diversity in adaptability solutions for a primary and a secondary school:
“The adaptability requirements for primary schools and higher

education seem relatively well deÀned, but secondary schools are more
complex, and demand the balancing of different factors.” (Fawcett,
1978, p.48)
This is fairly relevant for our current research, since our main case study is a
secondary and music school, which adds further variables and complexity to our
study with regard to the states and spaces, their speciÀcities, spatial features, group
variety and sizing, and overall their respective distribution of activities to spaces.
At the end of this chapter Fawcett acknowledges that change can be coped with
“activity change, or by changing the matching of activities to spaces: either by
organisational or allocational change” rather than physical alterations undertaken
in static buildings552. Hence, Fawcett introduces the following chapter on “a new
theory of adaptability in buildings”.
So far, Fawcett analyses adaptability from an abstract and open perspective and
“with some degree of generality”, admitting that “adaptability has been used in
diffuse ways” (Fawcett, 1978, p.51). In fact, Fawcett relates adaptability to a general
outlook on matching spaces and activities, and its references to the state of the art
reÁect that perspective. He points out speciÀc authors and their respective outlooks
on adaptability in a critical, but very systematised reference to lines of thought,
breakthroughs on this issue, or that have contributed to his own model explained
further on his Thesis. This is assumed by Fawcett, when he initiates chapter 4 entitled
“A new theory of adaptability in buildings” (Fawcett, 1978, pp.51-74), by saying:
“We have shown that adaptability has been used in diffuse ways, but we
have tried to analyse it with some degree of generality, and abstracted the
essence from the circumstances of each instance.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.51)
We remind here that adaptability is understood for the purposes of our current Thesis as “the ability of the
552
built form to maintain compatibility between activities and spaces, as those vary” (Krüger, 1981a, p.1169). See
chapter 2.1. Adaptability: deÀnition and adjacent concepts.
298
From this quote two issues have to be highlighted: the fact that Fawcett deals with
adaptability in a general perspective and that he has “abstracted the essence from
the circumstances of each instance”. This conÀrms his Àrst postulate on aiming
for a “general theory of adaptability” (Fawcett, 1978, p.i) and that its “mathematical
approach to adaptability in buildings” is detracted from the context and the
speciÀcities. Note that, not even in the title, does Fawcett recall his case study, but
rather leaves it open, so that the school is here chosen as an adequate case study whose
timetable recurrently needs adaptability from the space, but his methodology could
also be tested on other building typologies because of its generality and abstraction.
Right at this point Fawcett states his outlook on adaptability and points out the way
in which to assess it, by relating activities and spaces and their respective attributes
to accommodate those activities:
“We Ànd we are dealing with some of the fundamental properties

of buildings which determine the relationship between activities and
spaces. What, then, is the speciÀc property adaptability?
It is not based on new attributes, over and above those that determine
the ability of spaces to accommodate activities, but is a reÁection on
those attributes themselves.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.51)
Having said that, adaptability for Fawcett is clearly associated with probability,
which could ultimately be overlapped, in the sense that:
“A statement about adaptability is a statement about a probability:

namely, probability that the proposition “this building will not become
obsolete in the future” is true.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.52).
This is of course very relevant for deÀning the adaptability approach, recognising
Àrst that it is a “mathematical” one, but also understanding it to be probabilistic. So,
Fawcett states that in this chapter on “a new theory of adaptability in buildings” lies
“the probabilistic basis for adaptability” from which to explain his interpretation
and methodology and “how it can be given a formal language and quantiÀed” on
this perspective (Fawcett, 1978, p.51).
Fawcett refers to Keynes, who in 1921 introduced the Treatise on Probability, assuming
that a probability can be considered certain or probable, and hence subjective,
according to the knowledge we have of the speciÀc circumstances. But, according to
Keynes, in logical terms, a probability describes the “degrees of rational belief ” that
objectively results from the propositions placed from our “corpus of knowledge”
(Keynes, 1921, p.2)553:
553
“Let our premisses consist of any set of propositions h, and our conclusion consist of any set of propositions
a, then, if a knowledge of h justiÀes a rational belief in a of degree ƴ, we say that there is a probability-relation of
degree ƴ between a and h.” Like so: a/h = ƴ (Keynes, 1921, p.3)
299
“Given the body of direct knowledge which constitutes our ultimate

premisses, this theory tells us what further rational beliefs, certain or
probable, can be derived by valid argument from our direct knowledge.
This involves purely logical relations between the propositions which
embody our direct knowledge and the propositions about which we
seek indirect knowledge. What particular propositions we select as
the premisses of our argument naturally depends on subjective factors
peculiar to ourselves; but the relations, in which other propositions
stand to these, and which entitle us to probable beliefs, are objective
and logical.”554 (Keynes, 1921, p.3)
Under a “frequencist theory” (Fawcett, 1978, p.52), understanding the likelihood

of a future situation is connected to past events and implies that the past will
be repeated in the future and does not incorporate the possibility of change555.
However, the concept itself of adaptability implies the assumption of change and
the uncertainty of what change might mean, when and how often it might occur,
and what will it imply:
“But a fundamental assumption which motivates the search for

adaptability is that things will change in the future, and in particular
activities will be different in the future from what they are now. [...]
When our state of knowledge of future activities is incomplete we must
attempt to establish the corresponding probability of the statement’s
truth, and this will be a measure of adaptability.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.53)
To “measure” the degree of adaptability of a particular building involves dealing

with the body of knowledge we currently hold on the potential incidence of
change. Therefore, adaptability becomes particular relevant when dealing with a
high “incidence of change” regarding future activities and a building is considered
as adaptable for “not being liable to obsolescence caused by activity change” as it is
still Àt to continue to perform (Fawcett, 1978, p.54):
“We deÀne adaptability as the probability that a building will not

become obsolete in the future, subject in our state of knowledge of
future activities.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.54)
So, adaptability is linked with change and hence to the current knowledge or
uncertainty about future change, where the widest the array of possible states, the
554
555
“It is difÀcult to borrow from the frequencist theory of probability, which says that the probability of an
event occurring in a trial is given by the frequency with which the event occurs in a long series of trials, as when
studying what may happen to a particular building we are concerned with a single event in the future. [...] Such
information could be used to estimate the likely present response by the occupants of an unsurveyed house
with the same attribute, but it says little about the future, unless we assume the future will repeat the past.”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.52)
300
more uncertain we are of future situations. Ultimately, when a building continues

to answer what is asked of it, is continuous to perform at several levels, and so it
continues to be adaptable to the situation. On the contrary, if it no longer performs
or complies with the changeable circumstances and needs it becomes obsolete:
“Adaptability, then, is a subjective measure dependent on our knowledge

or ignorance of future activities. The extent of our ignorance is
reÁected in the range of possibilities that we believe might come about
(Fawcett, 1978, p.53)
Within its mathematical approach to adaptability, Fawcett develops the concept of

adaptability with regard to a “quantiÀed measurement” (Fawcett, 1978, p.54). In his
adaptability model, he intends to reach a “precise numerical value” for which he
“can state the formulation algebraically” (Fawcett, 1978, p.55).
As said before, the estimate of the degree of change will be based on the knowledge
currently held, because to forecast potential activity changes would incur into
speculative scenarios. So, Fawcett poses that precise question:
“But how, when our knowledge of future activities is uncertain, can our
subjectively held estimate of a building’s adaptability be established?
We cannot test whether a building will become obsolete by reference
to what actually happens to it in the future since we do not know:
a workable measure must rely wholly on information available in the
present.” (Fawcett, 1978, pp.54-55)
Shannon and Weaver’s (1949) outlook on information theory, present in The

mathematical theory of communication 556, is then recalled, admitting that the number of
possible activity states allocated to a space is a determinate number from the overall
number of all possible activities, where the allocation can be equally probable,
to which Fawcett would add the option of having “weight associated”, when the
probabilities are not all alike557. According to Shannon and Weaver:
“If the number of messages in the set is Ànite then this number or any
monotonic function of this number can be regarded as a measure of
the information produced when one message is chosen from the set, all
choices being equally likely. As was pointed out by Hartley the most natural
choice is the logarithmic function.” (Shannon and Weaver, 1949, p.32)
Wittgenstein’s (1922) Tractatus logico-philosophicus is also quoted by Fawcett (1978, p.55):
556
Shannon and Weaver’s (1949) work will be detailed in the next chapter, due its representativeness towards our
proposed methodology. See chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning
environments.
557
“Where all activity states are not equally likely, the weights associated with states must be used instead of
their number.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.55) .
301
Fig. 116. Fawcett’s adaptability formulation

(Fawcett, 1978, p.56)
“If all objects are given, then thereby are all possible atomic facts also
given.” (Wittgenstein, 1922, p.26)558
Fawcett appraises this reasoning because it allows to further his notion of adaptability
in a probabilistic outlook for assessing adaptability, revealing that:
“This is: precisely the way in which we wish to analyse the adaptability
of buildings; despite its simplicity it has not, so far as I am aware, been
developed before in this context. It offers a way of looking at activities
and spaces that is inherently probabilistic, and is explicitly based on a
state of knowledge represented by the set of possible activity states.”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.55)
A model of adaptability is pursued that is based on the state of knowledge that is

held at the current moment and that depends on the possible set of activities, which
provides a value by means of an algebraic formulation559. This formulation results in a
value that considers adaptability of a building H according to the state of knowledge
X, as the ratio between the set of all possible activity states and the one that can be
allocated in that building (also according to the state of knowledge X). In Fawcett’s
558
Italics from the original quote. Original German edition from 1921.
559
“It enables us to give a precise numerical value to the subjective probability that a building will not became
obsolete, that is, the building’s adaptability, so long as we can answer two questions that immediately arise: 1)
what is the set, or ensemble, of possible activity states that corresponds to our state of knowledge, and 2) how
is it possible to determine which activity states can be accommodated by the building.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.55)
302
words he deÀnes his model and Fig. 116 also presents the formulation:
“Thus, in our model, adaptability is a ratio of two numbers, representing

a probability. This ratio, based as it is on subjective estimates about
possible activities, stands, we propose, as a meaningful measure of a
building’s adaptability.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.56)
Finally, we would add that the weight is also contextual and would depend on
the circumstances of usage and management that will ultimately constrain the
incidence of change and the allocation of spaces to activities. And if Fawcett
quoted Wittgenstein earlier, we would add another quote from his same work that
endorses this assumption:
“Just as we cannot think of spatial objects at all apart from space, or

temporal objects apart from time, so we cannot think of any object apart
from the possibility of its connexion with other things.” (Wittgenstein,
1922, p.26)
Fawcett considers “adaptability” for architecture as being “analogous” to the

concept of “reliability” applied to engineering (Fawcett, 1978, p.56). Here he quotes
Tribus (1969) on Rational Descriptions, Decisions and Designs560 and parallels Tribus’s
notion of “reliability engineering” to his own concept of adaptability, assuming that
they are both identiÀable as a probability, a “contingent measure” (Fawcett, 1978,
p.61) subject to our “state of knowledge, not a state of things” (Tribus, 1969, p.421).
Fig. 117a summarises this comparison, in which reliability and adaptability are placed
under the probability column. For reliability strength is an attribute of the beam, and
for adaptability the number, types and size of spaces are attributes that enable the
allocation of activities to spaces in the building, and which constrain adaptability.
This referred knowledge implies both the “environment” and the properties of the
“device” itself (Fawcett, 1978, p.57). For adaptability, the mentioned knowledge will
lie on data of both the “possible activity states” of the “environment” and “which
activity states can the building accommodate”, considering the building as the
“device”. Fawcett assumes that “a substantial part of this thesis consists of setting
up precise combinatorial arrays of possible activity states” (Fawcett, 1978, p.58).
Although considering the relation between the “environment” and the “device”
to be undetachable and difÀcult to separate the two561, Fawcett defends the
560
Tribus (1969) Chapter 10: Reliability Engineering. (pp.421-471).
561
“The distinction between the device and its environment is rather an arbitrary one - is the beam’s bearing
part of the environment or the beam itself ? - just as it is difÀcult to draw boundaries around any system. The
load that the engineer’s beam is designed to withstand would not actually exist unless there were a beam to
withstand it, and nor can activity states exist without physical accommodation. The range of demands that
people actually make on a building is affected in reality by the building upon which they are made.” (Fawcett,
1978, p.58)
303
a)
b)
Fig. 117. a) Analogy between adaptability and reliability, illustrated from a beam and a building;
b) Comparison between beams and spaces in the same feasibility matrix
(Fawcett, 1978, pp.59-60)
reasonability of the study of all possible activity states of a general and unspeciÀc
environment detached from any particular building, context or typology562 (Fawcett,
1978, p.58). This complies with his aims for a “general theory of adaptability”
whose mathematical approach is open and abstract, as already stated.
He continues by stressing this potential comparison between engineering reliability

and architecture adaptability, by using the examples of particular devices for each
realm, respectively beams and spaces, in the same feasibility matrix. In the matrix:
one (1) means the “device” (beams and spaces – studio, workshop, lecture room
and classroom) will cope with the “environmental demands” (loads and activities –
design work, model making, listening to lecture and presenting work), and zero (0)
that it is not Àt to perform those demands (Fig. 117b).
Fawcett acknowledges that, if for reliability, strength is the one attribute that
potentiates the activity states of a particular beam (which means the loads each beam
can support), for adaptability an environment has multiple attributes that condition
the environmental demands (which in this case means the activity states that can
be accommodated there)563 and the environmental demands also imply speciÀc
562
“We hope that it is nevertheless reasonable to enumerate all possible activity states that might exist if
there were no particular building in existence to impose limitations one way or another, and to treat this as an
environment that is independent of the particular design being analysed.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.58)
563
“In the case of beams both the devices and demands can be ranked, as in the matrix, with respect to their
severity, and successful operation depends solely on the device being stronger than the load. But in the case ·of
spaces we cannot rank devices and demands with respect to an attribute ; such that successful operation falls
into a simple pattern. In the example, the studio can accommodate more of the demands than any other space,
304
adaptability attributes. Hence, it might be implied, even though Fawcett does not
afÀrm it, that there is a distinction between the two concepts, and a higher complexity
in the analysis of the probability of success of a device in an environment, and
putting it into a clear perspective, the degree of adaptability of a building.
It is advanced that when assessing adaptability, it could be understood that to be

adaptable may mean to possess certain attributes with regard to the environment,
the environmental demands and the devices of any speciÀc building typology. This
will lead to different adaptability settings and shapes, and hence different types of
adaptability. Nonetheless, Fawcett Ànds this “dangerous” and upholds his open
perspective, not bounded by any particular building typology, but primarily with
regard to the array of activity states under consideration564.
In order to address the issue of adaptability in architecture, the two questions have
to be attended, regarding both the activity states possible on that “environment”
and the attribute of the “device” for activity allocation. As Fawcett puts it:
“l) What is the ensemble of activity states compatible with our state
of knowledge - this is the environment of the problem; and 2) which
of these activity states can be accommodated by the building under
examination - this relates to intrinsic properties of the building.”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.61)
In what concerns this latter question, Fawcett stresses that its answer must be yes/
no565, and done “mechanically”, “with reference to a set of precise rules”, which
will imply the need for an “algorithm” (Fawcett, 1978, p.62). Hence, Fawcett
determines that the matching of activities to spaces should be “a binary yes/no
answer”, not admitting to “use a fraction representing the likelihood that an activity
can be accommodated, or the degree of satisfaction that could result”.
Nevertheless, the introduction of behavioural research would broaden the range of

answers and would constrain the limits for spatial obsolescence or, as Fawcett deÀnes
but it does not possess more of some attribute ; than, say, the workshop. The studio has many attributes and
so does the workshop, but the studio is more adaptable in this example because of the range of environmental
demands. (Fawcett, 1978, p.60)
564
“It is futile to suggest that there are many different versions of this attribute ;, corresponding to different
types of adaptability, for we Ànd there are as many versions as there are environments. When a particular range
of activity states often recurs, perhaps for a given organisational type, it may be convenient, although dangerous,
to say that buildings which are especially likely to perform well for those demands possess adaptability of
the particular type. Thus one might be led to talk about domestic adaptability, or hospital adaptability. This
shorthand is unconvincing, because the environment in any given design problem usually contains some unique
features to reduce comparability: it is best to state the environment in question; that is, to explicitly state what
range of activity states is being used as the basis for a statement about adaptability. A limited typology of
adaptability might also be introduced with respect to different ways of describing the ensemble of possible
activities, and this is what we attempt later.” (Fawcett, 1978, pp.60-61)
565
“We have, as we said, to be able to give a yes/no answer to the question “can these activities take place
in these places?”, for all elements of the ensemble of activity states and the building under consideration.”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.62)
305
them: “the thresholds of feasibility” (Fawcett, 1978, p.63), since the compatibility of
activities to spaces can vary according to each inhabitant and its particular response
towards the environment. As already put by the previously mention work by Nutt
et al. (1976): “Any theory about the process of obsolescence in buildings must be
capable of accounting for the variety of human actions that may accentuate or
alleviate obsolescence and of mechanisms of regulation and control”. (Nutt et al.,
1976, p.29). After pointing out the factors that enable obsolescence, Nutt et al. claim
that some constraining factors of obsolescence may be perceived as individual,
varying accordingly, which may cause an exponential number of variables to model
and hinder the process, stating that:
“The perception of constraint, levels of discrimination and tolerance

will probably vary with the age and type of perceiver. This subjective
aspect gives rise to a number of well-known difÀculties.” (Nutt et al.,
1976, p.63)
Hence, if for someone an activity is possible to happen in a particular space, for

someone else this same activity can occur elsewhere, whether for behavioural or
sensorial reasons, rather than for simple functional arguments (Fawcett, 1978, p.61).
However, Fawcett concludes that he will focus on disclosing the extensive ensemble
of possible activities, all similarly likely566, and not the degree of compatibility
between spaces and uses individually variable:
“Whereas [...] we argued that the ensemble of possible activities is a

legitimate problem for the architectural researcher into adaptability, we
feel that the problem of assessing the compatibility of given activities
and spaces is peripheral to the question of adaptability [...]”. (Fawcett,
1978, p.63)
Under this perspective, to deÀne the possible activities according to our current
state of knowledge in an extensive and precise way, Fawcett deÀnes a model based
on a “precise combinatorial structure” that aims to associate a comprehensive array
of activity states to spatial attributes with “discrete values”567.
566
Assuming that: “all activity states in the relevant ensemble are equally probable, or weighted for their
probability of occurrence.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.62)
567
“Our present state of knowledge deÀnes the range of possible activities against which we test a design’s
adaptability. To formalise this principle in a workable model it is a primary requirement that our knowledge
of future events can be expressed as a Ànite number of distinct activity states. This set, or ensemble, of
distinct activity states must be exhaustive, subject to our state of knowledge. In order to create this manageable
ensemble a great deal of radical simpliÀcation is necessary, for our knowledge of possible future activities,
which might intuitively take the form of a continuous spectrum from one possible extreme to another, must
be formulated as a precise combinatorial structure. This transformation, and simpliÀcation, corresponds to the
development of an ill-deÀned model into a well-deÀned model (Ch.2, s.1).
The process of simpliÀcation can be achieved by putting activity states into equivalence classes, deÀned with
respect to a small number of relevant attributes which themselves have discrete values. It is then possible to
catalogue all possible combinations of attribute values, and establish the exhaustive ensemble of all possible
activity states deÀned with respect to the chosen attributes. All real activities have numerous characteristics, and
every activity is individually distinct from all others; in putting activities into equivalence classes information
306
Yet, besides assuming the need to a simpliÀed answer of yes or no to the feasible
activities in each space, and not introducing individual and behavioural variability,
Fawcett also underlines that this model has a “high degree of generality” and does
not approach any particular built form of speciÀc type of adaptability568 (that he
had already assumed to exist if the issue of adaptability would be dealt in a more
contextual approach) (Fawcett, 1978, p.65).
On the contrary, in our Thesis, we aim to inform on a speciÀc case study and
typology, its environmental features and particular attributes of that “device”, which
potentiate a certain degree of adaptability. Hence, in our approach behavioural
data and individual information will also be added in order to increase the state of
knowledge about the building and its possible, current and future activity states.
This will deepen Fawcett’s approach to a more speciÀc building, and will broaden
the output of the information given by a general model based on a combinatorial
structure, with further data from other methodologies569.
In 1950 Wiener570 referred to Gibbs “revolution” 571, for his “introduction of

probability into physics” that “occurred well before there was an adequate theory
of the sort of probability he needed”572(Wiener, 1989, p.10). And Fawcett assumes
his shared conception with Gibbs for his “process of coming to terms, both
conceptually and mathematically, with uncertainty and a contingent universe”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.65). Within this parallel, both Fawcett and Gibbs specify their
relation to entropy and information theory embedded in the concept of probability.
Wiener refers to the novelty of Gibbs’s work:
“Gibbs’ innovation was to consider not one world, but all the worlds
which are possible answers to a limited set of questions concerning our
environment. His central notion concerned the extent to which answers
that we may give to questions about one set of worlds are probable
about many characteristics is thrown away and individuality is lost.” (Fawcett, 1978, pp.63-64)
568
“The activity ensembles that we elaborate later in the thesis are ones which, we hope, possess a high degree
of generality, and therefore refer to rather general properties of built form. [...]..] Our general approach does
not, of course, preclude the existence of highly speciÀed ensembles that apply to particular cases, deÀned by
arbitrary equivalence classes or a priori explicit enumeration. [...] The substance of our approach to adaptability,
though it relies on the ensemble of possible activity states, does not consist in any particular form of the
ensemble.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.65)
569
Our proposed methodology will be described in the next chapter. See chapter 3.3 A methodology for
identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments.
570
571
“But for all these gaps it is, I am convinced, Gibbs rather than Einstein or Heisenberg or Planck to whom
we must attribute the Àrst great revolution of twentieth century physics.” (Wiener, 1989, p.10)
572
“No physical measurements are ever precise; and what we have to say about a machine or other dynamic
system really concerns not what we must expect when the initial positions and momenta are given with perfect
accuracy (which never occurs), but what we are to expect when they are given with attainable accuracy. This
merely means that we know, not the complete initial conditions, but something about their distribution. The
functional part of physics, in other words, cannot escape considering uncertainty and the contingency of events.
It was the merit of Gibbs to show for the Àrst time a clean-cut scientiÀc method for taking this contingency
into consideration.” (Wiener, 1989, p.8)
307
among a larger set of worlds. Beyond this, Gibbs had a theory that this
probability tended naturally to increase as the universe grows older.
The measure of this probability is called entropy, and the characteristic
tendency of entropy is to increase.
As entropy increases, the universe, and all closed systems in the universe,
tend naturally to deteriorate and lose their distinctiveness, to move
from the least to the most probable state, from a state of organization
and differentiation in which distinctions and forms exist, to a state of
chaos and sameness.” (Wiener, 1989, p.12)
Yet, if Fawcett assumes their proximity in regard to the deÀnition of a set of activity
states according to the actual state of knowledge at that time, he also differentiates
his approach to Gibbs because he does not “attempt to apply the more specialised
mathematics of statistical mechanics or information theory” (Fawcett, 1978, p.66).
It could also be added at this point that our current methodology proposed under
the Doctoral Thesis here presented also agrees with Fawcett in this sense. And if
the concept of entropy and its connection to probability could be borrowed from
information theory, our present Thesis is on architecture and so is its scope and
relevance for the advancement of knowledge. Therefore, our methodology that will
be presented in full detail in the next chapter, will resort to multiple approaches for a
more informed outcome on adaptability, but will use an architectural methodology
and aims to inform both the theory and the practice of architectural research, which
naturally do not encompass “specialised mathematics”.
Fawcett also assumes the possibility of comparing designs according to their

adaptability under the same state of knowledge, but when proceeding with
comparisons it is important to compare alternative designs whose attributes bear
relevance for the ranking of adaptability. Hence, paralleling designs is based on the
attributes of their spaces and their signiÀcance towards adaptability, and this is what
will be most relevant when assessing adaptability under Fawcett’s approach:
“Whilst it is wasteful to consider redundant attributes of building

when analysing their adaptability, it is altogether impossible to arrive at
a measure of adaptability unless we are able to describe buildings with
respect to the attributes that do determine which activity states can be
accommodated. The selection of attributes used to describe activities
and spaces is therefore of very great importance, and must be made
jointly, for the sake of economy and efÀciency.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.69)
As stated earlier, Fawcett aims at a model that measures adaptability applied to a

general design and that could be used for any building form or typology (Fawcett,
1978, p.69). Hence, as other models, simpliÀcations had to be assumed in order
to focus on the more general principles of adaptability in architecture. The Àrst
one revolves around the assumption of each space and activity state separately,
308
disregarding “interconnections between activities” and spatial “connectivity”:
“A major simpliÀcation in our descriptions of activity states and

building designs, affecting the ensembles of possible activity states
and possible plans, is that we have not considered interconnections
between activities, nor connectivity between spaces. Thus we describe
an activity state as set of distinct activities, each one by implication
requiring a separate space, without specifying which activities interact
either positively or negatively.” (Fawcett, 1978, pp.69-70)
Fawcett justiÀes this simpliÀcation by assuming that it is the space itself that, above
all, determines the possibility of accommodating activities, whereas the layout of
the building, although relevant, is considered secondary573.
To understand this option it is important to acknowledge that Fawcett intended a well-

deÀned model, potentially applicable to diverse buildings despite their layout. But for
the purposes of our current Thesis, the potential links between spaces are considered
essential for the choice of a space for accommodating any particular activity. The fact
that a space is closer, or closely connected to another, bears relevance when choosing
one from a variety of spaces. Hence, spatial connectivity may potentiate adaptability
by weighing on the probability of choosing that space, either for behavioural,
functional or even management decisions. That is why, topology and space syntax
are considered here to be relevant, complying with a more generalized and simpliÀed
model that does not take this into consideration. By gathering other approaches, such
as this, the simpliÀcations taken on by each one are tackled by the others, into a more
complete outlook on adaptability and a more supported outcome. This assumption
will lay the foundations for constructing our methodology574.
Fawcett’s second simpliÀcation is the analysis of the building as it is, and to overlook
its potential changes. By considering it to be “static” throughout its lifecycle, Fawcett
narrows its adaptability potential to what it currently is575 and not what it has the
potential to be in the future if activity alteration may occur:
“A second important restriction is that we have decided to apply to the

description of buildings an assumption that spaces are static. We do
not, therefore, take account of physical alterations to buildings. Some
workers have treated physical alteration as the heart of adaptability, but
physical alteration is only required to accommodate activity changes,
573
“This is a radical simpliÀcation, but we think that it is reasonable to consider that the component spaces of
a building are the primary determinant of the activities that can use it, and that the form of the building, whilst
very important, is generally a subsidiary factor.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.70)
574
575
“Thus our deÀnition of adaptability does not have to be tied to chronology. It is more fundamentally a
reÁection of a state of uncertainty at a particular point in time, and the main component of this uncertainty
normally arises from the unpredictability of future change.” (Fawcett, p.72)
309
and it is therefore more satisfactory to measure adaptability against

activity change. ” (Fawcett, 1978, p.70)
This is an issue that Fawcett deals with later on, after his Doctoral Thesis, when
he addresses “under” and “over-provision”, in his paper: Investing in Áexibility: the
lifecycle options synthesis (Fawcett, 2010b, 2011b). Here he implies that a building may
have the possibility of change in the future after being built, in order to cope with
the changes that may also occur, within a “lifecycle options approach” (Fawcett,
2010b). So it is a design choice to provide the building with the possibility of change
according to our state of knowledge then, and not to the current uncertainty of our
state of knowledge about the future. Instead, this approach chooses not to provide
all the attributes at an early stage if they are not initially needed, which avoids over-
provision and economic squandering:
“In this approach, a lifecycle option is a feature of a design or plan

that makes it possible for new decisions to be made in the future. […]
Lifecycle options transfer decision-making from people in the present
to people in the future who will know more about the changing state
of the world.” (Fawcett, 2010b, p.2)
Still, in his Doctoral Thesis, Fawcett already mentions the consequence of

comprehending time in his methodology, assuming that both time and scale
are two variables that might condition adaptability and that delineate different
methodologies to address it. Fawcett mentions “long” and “short-term adaptability”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.71), but he chooses a model that simpliÀes these concerns by
valuing change rather than growth:
“We often Ànd the two topics of growth and change coupled together,
but in our own work we have limited our concern to change, and
ignored growth. This is partly a consequence of our decision to ignore
physical change in buildings - for any signiÀcant growth results in the
expansion of physical facilities. And on the other hand the omission
acts as a further simpliÀcation, enabling us to arrive at well-deÀned and
solvable models of adaptability, limited though their resulting range of
application is.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.73)
At the end of this chapter, and after explaining the concepts at hand and the
approaches that laid the foundations to Fawcett’s approach, it is stated that an
adaptability model has been accomplished, considered original and “well-deÀned”:
“We believe we now have a well-deÀned model of adaptability, or at

least the speciÀcation for constructing well-deÀned models. […] Our
model of adaptability allows every application to be freshly deÀned, in
accordance with the prevailing ensemble of activities. (Fawcett, 1978, p.73)
310
a) b)
Fig. 118. a) “Five possible schedules of a population of 4”; b) Diagram of the set of schedules, in
which adjacent schedules are joined, for a population of six and “rotational symmetry” from the lattice
(Fawcett, 1978, pp.76,81)
From this point on, and having explained his approach on adaptability as “a
probability, measured by comparing a building with an ensemble of activity states”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.75), its theoretical backing and its methodology, it is possible to
put it in action through a “mathematical elaboration of this postulate” (ibid.) along
the following chapters of Fawcett’s Doctoral Thesis.
Fawcett starts by determining a set of activity states, deÀned by “the number of

people involved”: “a Àxed Ànite population […] divided into groups” which are
“the only structure in the population” (ibid.). Furthermore, and in order to reach
the “simpliÀed representation” of “all possible organisations” (ibid.), Fawcett also
states other postulates: the fact that “all individuals are indistinguishable” (Fawcett,
1978, p.76) within a group to which the number of individuals that it complies is
its “only property”. In addition, “there is no prior information about a group”,
which implies that “any individual is equally likely to be in a group with any other
individual”, dismissing behaviour from the analysis (ibid.).
Having deÀned the population, each set can be depicted into “component groups”,
which are the “Ànite number of different schedules” potentially assumed by each
population. As an example, Fawcett demonstrates the possibilities of grouping a
population on four in “lexicographic order” (ibid.) (Fig. 118a).
Afterwards, Fawcett illustrates this arrangement in “adjacent schedules” (Fawcett,

1978, p.78) “which clariÀes the properties we are interested in”, namely its
“structure”. Here adjacent schedules are deÀned as such:
“A schedule is transformed into an adjacent schedule by one individual

changing groups, and this includes the possibility that the individual forms
a new singleton group; or that individual formerly in a singleton group
311
joins another group. In the former case the number of groups in the
schedule is increased, and in the latter decreased.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.78)
Then, groups can be represented in a diagram with regard to their “adjacency”, in

which the highest number of population in a group is placed at the upper top and
the lowest, the singleton groups, are located at the lower end of the diagram (Fawcett,
1978, pp.78-79). Fig. 118b demonstrates the diagram for a population of six, in which a
“rotational symmetry” in the lattice can be noted (Fawcett, 1978, p.81). The horizontal
“axis of rotation” is represented, and we can realise that the “two conjugate parts”,
above and below the axis, have “identical structure” (Fawcett, 1978, p.80).
Immediately we can reÁect on Fawcett’s assumptions conveyed by the postulates

for simpliÀed organisations. Here, activity states are identiÀed by this approach
according to the number of population within. This implies that each grouping of
activities is indistinguishable, as Fawcett initially states. However, for our current
Thesis, the activities cannot be random and have to be accounted as distinguishable
at their nature, the pedagogical potential they comply and the kind of (in)formality
they involve. This will provide more thorough and detailed answers on the nature
of the pedagogical activities and how can they be accommodated in spaces in
the school building. We are expected to inform whether formal activities can be
accommodated in informal spaces and vice-versa, in order to understand what is
the degree of adaptability of spaces to shelter diverse activities of different nature
but enabling knowledge acquisition, and respectively what are their spatial demands
for being accommodated in space and which spaces can better provide it.
Besides, Fawcett has also another postulate: the indistinguishable population in

the groups. But for the purposes of our Thesis, the people that undertake those
activities matter to be understood as individuals with prior information on each
one, as opposed to Fawcett’s assumptions. These people are placed in different
groups according to the nature of their position and work in the organisation of
the school. So, it becomes relevant to understand Àrst, the different populations
of the school which undertake speciÀc activities, like: students, teachers, staff and
external community. But secondly, it is important for us to understand the individual
behaviour and spatial fruition at a school, where informality and spontaneous
artistic displays bear particular relevance for the analysis of space use, besides the
more common pre-determined schedules for formal classes and activities overall.
Though, after demonstrating that “a given population can adopt a number of

different schedules” (Fawcett, 1978, p.83), Fawcett turns towards the analysis of
the possible variability for the same schedule, because “a population of distinct
individuals can adopt the same schedule in many different ways” (ibid.). So, Fawcett
addresses the concept of “microstates of the population”, which are “the ways
that the individuals can form the schedules”, but note this time the individuals are
considered to be “distinct” according to the upper quote. So, as opposed to the
312
Fig. 119. Ensemble of possible states for a population of 4

(Fawcett, 1978, p.85)
analysis above, this concept that encompasses “distinct individuals” plays a vital
role for our methodology. Fawcett also expresses their relevance:
“It is therefore the microstates of the population that are of fundamental

importance, and constitute the elements of the ensemble of possible
activity states that are deÀned by the assumption. The schedules are
simply convenient ways of grouping activity states with the same
structure of group sizes.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.85)
Fig. 119 demonstrates the ensemble of 15 possible states for a population of 4

and Fig. 120 shows the association of microstates according to the same schedule
applied for 6 individuals.
As realised from the upper Àgures, this application becomes more and more
complex as the population grows and “excessively cumbersome in large problems”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.997) for which Fawcett considers probabilistic analysis,
introducing mathematical formulae, in order to proceed with his approach. All in
all, and considering a probabilistic methodology, Fawcett associates probability to
the number of microstates:
“We suggest that, for a known population and in the absence of any
other knowledge, the probability of a schedule occurring is proportional
to its number of associated microstates. To predict the most probable
schedule we have to Ànd the schedule with the highest number of
313
Fig. 120. “Schedules and associated microstates of a population of 6 individuals”

(Fawcett, 1978, p.87)
associated microstates, and this will be the schedule (or schedules) at

the “summit” of the lattice. The schedules in the region around this
summit will constitute the most probable region, which is of interest
for more generalised predictions.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.90)
From the analysis of Fig. 121 it is quite evident that the extremes of the distribution
bearing either the largest or the singleton groups are the less likely, while the central
core, with “a mixture of medium-sized groups” are the most probable and hence the
ones with more microstates associated (Fawcett, 1978, p.87). This is indeed a relevant
outlook on adaptability, and the process to achieve it is also considered of relevance
for our present Thesis, even if some constraints will have to be considered with regard
to activities and individuals, and also to encounter a less complex and mathematically
speciÀc methodology to proceed with it under an individually focused analysis and
within a comprehensive architectural research, to be pondered in the next chapter.
So far Fawcett presents a scenario where the activity states are equally probable and
not associated with weights for depicting a particular bias on the probability of any
state. This embodies the “Poisson-shaped distribution” (Fawcett, 1978, p.113). Yet,
has Fawcett had already explored in his paper two years prior: School Management
and School Design (Fawcett, 1976a), the environment observed in a school does not
necessarily match the “non-spatial ensemble” (Fawcett, 1978, p.127) studied in the
previous chapters of his Thesis, which would be “of Poisson form”576 (Fawcett,
576
“The general distribution of group sizes in the most probable unweighted schedules are of Poisson form,
314
Fig. 121. “Number of occurrences of groups according to size (=number of pupils present) in the
observed weeks. Subsidiary segment represents sixth form groups”
1978, p.117) whilst these are not, as Fig. 121 illustrates.
Fawcett understands that a real environment has constraints of individual or group

demands and partialities or management decisions, and picking up on the paper
from 1976, for a particular school this is quite relevant:
“It is self-evident that in a school the individuals making up the

population are constrained by rules, conventions, preferences and also
constraints of accommodation, so as to fall into the grouping patterns
in which they are observed. The constraints do not precisely determine
what groups occur and how large they are; in general they act as an
environment within which a residue of random behaviour can still be
expected insofar as individuals retain some degree of independence.”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.114)
This will inÁuence the state of knowledge for modelling adaptability for that system.
So, Fawcett presents the possibility of introducing “Àxed a priori knowledge into
the probabilistic models” (Fawcett, 1978, p.115) with “strong and carefully-placed
weights” (Fawcett, 1978, p.118), so to that it “may be possible to model realistic
systems” (Fawcett, 1978, p.115). Nonetheless, “it has been hard to Ànd the set of
weights that will achieve this, as no procedure has been found except trial and error”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.120). However, even if this “system of weightings” contributes
that is single-peaked and, except for very small populations or average group sizes, fairly symmetrical.” (Fawcett,
1978, p.117)
315
to overcome the “purely probabilistic” into a “stable environment”, which could

similarly “be applied to represent prior information about the same institution at,
perhaps, a different time, or another similar institution” (ibid.); Fawcett alerts that it
“may be highly ephemeral and not transferable to other situations” (ibid.).
Overall, it could be argued that the system modelled by Fawcett until this point
was non-spatial and did not depict a real situation where the probable state is not
necessarily the result of a probabilistic distribution, but of other information that
constrained the results. So, in this chapter Fawcett addresses this argument and
assumes the difference between the probabilistic distribution, which would be in
the Poisson form, and the observed distributions on real school systems. He then
discusses the possibility of introducing weights that depicted more closely this
system, but also assumed that they would be difÀcult to model and could be rather
speciÀc and not necessarily conveyable to a general building type or endure in time.
Having said that, we could transfer this attempt to model a real situation to our
current methodology, and consider the possibility of modelling the system also
resorting to information achieved by other study Àelds, which could, in fact,
bring further data for coming closer to a real environment. Consequently, having
portrayed the probabilistic model, it could be critically assessed in regard to the
speciÀcity of the case study. This will be further analysed in the next chapter, but
the fact that Fawcett’s model already assumes this need, reinforces the attempt to
focus on the speciÀcity of the case study chosen for our Thesis.
For the purposes of his own methodology, Fawcett advances that the ensemble
of activity states should remain the same, in order to compare the designs and
understanding which accommodates the widest range and, therefore, which is the
most adaptable. So, he concludes at the end of that chapter that the ensemble of
activities should not be subjective, but the identiÀcation of that ensemble so it
encompasses the constraints is still “open”:
“Our deÀnition of adaptability (Ch.4) requires an ensemble of activity

states against which alternative building designs can be compared.
The ensemble, therefore, should be independent of the physical
characteristics of any particular design, and should not be biased by
spatial information. […] The questions of how to establish the purely
managerial constraints on activities when all empirical data is observed
in a spatial context, and of how to model such activity constraints
whilst retaining a well-behaved and tractable ensemble, remain open.”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.128)
Although Fawcett assumes the need for a non-subjective ensemble of activities, we

differ from this postulate. In our Thesis we argue that in the present pedagogical
context, all schools differ in their pedagogical curricula and so, the activities held
in each school building will naturally differ. Unsurprisingly, the schools where
316
more activities are held will be perceived as the most adaptable ones and under this
assumption, the chosen case study of a school where regular and artistic teaching
both occur will gather a wider ensemble of activities. If that same ensemble would
be applied to other school that just have the regular teaching, naturally that our
chosen school would be more adaptable577.
Nevertheless, spaces on this particular school were also designed for complying with
the spatial requirements of each of these speciÀc activities. So, even empirically, we
could assume that these activities would not take place in other school that had not
been envisaged to have these spaces, because it would be over-providing in respect
to the original brief.
Consequently, we argue that the ensemble of activities could also be identiÀed

according to the case study in which the adaptability model will be applied, even
if the sensitivity for the choice of the activities could be more deeply studied in
regard to each building type or, in the case of the schools, to each curriculum. This
would potentially lead to a comprehensive analysis of the buildings and a Àne-
grained outlook on the ensemble of activities with regard to other schools, but also
enclosing a balance between the cost and beneÀt of providing spaces according to
our state of knowledge.
Overall, the postulate for Fawcett’s “general theory of adaptability” lies under two
issues - the ensemble of possible activity states and the buildings to accommodate them:
“Our deÀnition of adaptability is applied by 1) establishing the

exhaustive set of possible activity states that are compatible with our
state of knowledge, and there should be a Ànite number of states, and
2) for a given building ascertaining with activity states can and which
cannot be accommodated. The number that can be accommodated
represents the subjective probability relative to the state of knowledge
that the building will not become obsolete.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.129)
So, after pondering the question of the activities states, Fawcett will address
the building to accommodate those activities, for which he also presents some
assumptions, as previously done for activity states:
“1) A building has a Àxed total size. The total size is divided into distinct
rooms, each room of a deÀnite size.
2) No account is taken of links or connections between rooms – the
layout and form of the building is ignored.
3) All attributes of buildings and of rooms are ignored: the only
property of a room is its size.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.129)
577
This school’s wide pedagogical curriculum has also been one of the reasons for choosing it for assessing
its adaptability. See chapter 1.5 The case study, and more particularly, the text on 1.5.2. Artistic schools as a
speciÀc case study.
317
If in the previous analysis of activity states we could argue with some particular
aspects already mentioned and justiÀed, at this stage we will argue with all these three
assumptions, which differ from our own when addressing adaptability in buildings.
Due to the current learning paradigm, learning can occur in the whole school, which
alters our way of considering spatial boundaries, regarding the school overall as an
active learning environment. This prevents us from considering the rooms apart but
as a pedagogical ensemble that enables the learning process, either through formal
and informal activities and held in formal and informal spaces. This hypothesis will
then differ from Fawcett’s assumption of separate rooms, each with an adaptability
outlook. Moreover, the relation between rooms also bears representativeness, because
in moving from our room to another there could be an activity held that enables
the learning process, like a conversation with the peers where pedagogical contents
are provided, for example. This is in close line with Hertzberger’s “learning street”,
whose Montessori School in Delft leads back from 1960-2010. This fact will add
another issue into this question: besides formal and informal spaces, also pathways
of movements as well as static spaces can accommodate pedagogical activities and
will therefore have to be accounted for when considering the ensemble of spaces
in the school that hold the ensemble of activities with pedagogical potential. This
approach, as contemporary to the learning process and deeply focused on schools
will naturally differ from Fawcett’s general approaches on an adaptability model.
Furthermore, for the purposes of the learning process it is relevant to acknowledge

spatial differentiation, because learning occurs in many different ways, and the
spaces to accommodate all those ways will also bear different spatial features which
cannot be ignored. Moreover, this differentiation does not care only for the room
size but for other spatial features that have to be taken into account and which will
be identiÀed in the next chapter, whose variability will also constrain the activities
held in each space.
Accordingly, and considering the relevance of spatial topology that Fawcett

dismisses, as well as spatial differentiation, our methodology that focuses on
contemporary schools will resort to other study Àelds in order to complement the
information given by an analytical model that this model disregards.
So, overall, before the assumption presented by Fawcett with respect to spaces to
accommodate the ensemble of possible activity states, we would argue that for our
approach on adaptability in contemporary school buildings we admit the following
assumptions:
1. A building has a Ànite number of rooms but some spaces with pedagogical
potential cannot be deÀned as a closed boundary but rather as an active
learning environment that exceeds the Àxed determination of a formal
classroom.
318
2. The layout of the school building conditions the natural movement of

its inhabitants and so the adjacency of the rooms bears relevance when
choosing the space for allocating an activity and this bias that choice. Besides,
the space in which that movement occurs also has pedagogical potential and
should therefore be considered for the analysis as a representative space.
3. The spatial attributes of each room in the school constrain the allocation of
activities and, so, play a relevant role for providing spatial adaptability for that
school. These have to be known so that the analysis can provide operative
information for future designs and spatial interventions in educational
environments and generally for the architectural research.
After depiction of the spatial schedules, Fawcett determines the assumptions for
the activity allocation, in which: “a group of individuals can be accommodated
in any room with an equal number of or more space-units” and “each group of
individuals must be in a different room: a group may not be split between rooms
nor may one room be shared by more than one group.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.130).
Subsequently, Fawcett deÀnes that generally his approach on adaptability signiÀes

the “number of activity microstates out of the ensemble of possible activity
microstates that can be accommodated; and, in the state of knowledge and subject
to the assumptions made in the calculations” (Fawcett, 1978, p.131).
From this relationship, increasing adaptability can imply increasing the spatial
microstates, which imply increasing the space budget. So, Fawcett illustrates that
relationship in the following graph in a conceptual diagram (Fig. 122).
This graph introduces information in respect to the cost and beneÀt of increasing
adaptability in a building, assuming that adaptability increases quite fast until it
reaches an optimum, and from that point on the costs of accommodating a higher
number of activity microstates tends to be increasing higher (ibid.).
Anyway, Fawcett at the end of this chapter realises that the assumptions and
simpliÀcations made earlier differ from a realistic system where compatibility
between spaces and activity states have to be thought. This would potentially change
the increasing adaptability mentioned before, because adaptability would increase
with that compatibility, and not just due to the increase on the spatial budget:
“[…] a realistic model of activities and buildings would have to take

account of both activity to space compatibility and relationship
between activities and between spaces. This would also, we anticipate,
undermine the possibility of interpreting adaptability as an increasing
property of buildings.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.164)
Other simpliÀcations dealing with overlooking spatial attributes imply that for
Fawcett’s Thesis “only a single activity and space type is encountered”, and while
319
Fig. 122. “Plotting activity states against space budget”

(Fawcett, 1978, p.138)
ofÀce buildings “offer the best potential of applications”, for the school building
that will not be straightforward. In fact, even according to Fawcett, this is “untenable
in school design, where the different attributes of activities are enshrined in the
Áoor area table” (Fawcett 1978, p.150). This mentioned table from the Department
of Education and Science shows “four different space standards which could be
applied” in schools, in which there are different areas of square feet according to the
activity involved, either: “reading, writing, discussion, explosion”; “light practical”;
“heavy practical”; “movement, large projects” (Fawcett 1978, p.149). This is very
relevant because it assumes that in a school this dismissal of spatial attributes cannot
occur and also that activities are not all alike as well, largely acknowledging that
activities and spaces differ amongst themselves and should be regarded as such for
the purposes of adaptability. Fawcett addresses this matter in his following chapter,
even assuming that it is done “without considerable extension” and that his Thesis
has that restriction on activities and space types.
We could argue that the fact that Fawcett had already assumed this contingency and
addressed it in the subsequent part of his Thesis, acknowledges that his simpliÀcations
can restrict the model to an abstract or non-spatial system. When Fawcett lays that
issue towards school buildings he immediately understands that speciÀcities need to
be accounted for, even if he does not develop them in full extent as he recognises.
For our current Thesis this could be regarded as a future development of Fawcett’s
model, recognising the relevance of the foundations he has laid, but complementing
them with approaches that will potentially bring further information particularly
relevant for the school building, and even more so according to the contemporary
learning paradigm with regard to activities and learning spaces, that naturally have
evolved in the nearly forty years that have passed after Fawcett’s Thesis.
All things considered, Fawcett assumes the constraints of his model, but considers
320
them to provide a more straightforward and clear question that is possible to address
without over-complexity, and that still preserves the core of this issue:
“We have chosen to work within the limitations we have outlined

(Ch.5, s.1 and Ch.8, s.1), feeling that they deÀne a more manageable
problem, and perhaps a more fundamental one upon which extensions
can potentially be made.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.164)
So far, Fawcett deals with accommodating an organisation with regard to its

grouping of individuals, matching it to spaces in no speciÀc building or design. On
the contrary, the chapter on “all possible allocations” (Fawcett, 1978, pp.165-184)
revolves around “a single given set of activities and a given design and ignoring
the variety of other possible organisations” (Fawcett, 1978, p.166), which is of the
highest relevance for our current Thesis. For this purpose Fawcett uses the concept
of “possible allocations” meaning the “activities as a set of events constituting a
function”, differently from his previous “use of the term organisation to describe
the elements of the exhaustive ensemble of states of grouping” (Fawcett, 1978,
p.166). Accordingly, the assumptions on spaces remain then unaltered, whereas this
alteration on the concept of allocation implies a rearrangement of the assumptions:
“1) A function consists of a Àxed number of distinct events.

2) There are no associations or relations between events – the
list of events is the only structure of a function.
3) An event can be described in as much detail and with respect
to as many attributes as is desired.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.167)
Fawcett then proceeds with the “allocational measure of adaptability” in which

“the ensemble of all possible allocations is speciÀc for a given function and a given
building”, as opposed to his previous “organisational measure” possible to be
applied to “all possible organisations […] against which many different building
designs can be measured”. While the Àrst is considered to be “narrower than
the organisational measure” Fawcett assumes that “it does allow a more detailed
analysis”, so that he establishes then to be “complementary” because they address
this issue “at different levels of speciÀcity” (Fawcett, 1978, p.173).
In order to accomplish this Fawcett resorts to a feasibility matrix (Fig. 123):
“A feasible allocation is a set of event-space pairs, typically (ei, hj) where

event ei is allocated to space hj. Every event has to be in one event-
space pair and no space may be in more than one. All event-space pairs
must be feasible, fij=1.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.168)
For this pairing to be feasible all events must be allocated to feasible spaces that are
provided with attributes to accommodate those activities (Fawcett, 1978, p.169).
The spatial requirements needed for an activity to be allocated involve “capacity
321
Fig. 123. Feasibility matrix

(Fawcett, 1978, p.168)
constraints”, furthermore also the “allocational constraints” would affect the overall
allocations, even if Fawcett assumes not to consider them in his theory (Fawcett,
1978, 172)578.
Naturally that the allocation of particular activities to spaces implies a specialisation

of those spaces with detailed spatial features. The specialisation of the spaces does
not involve only an increased provision of one attribute (Fawcett, 1978, p.174), but
rather a “very high level of servicing and equipment to increase the range of events
it can cater for” (Fawcett, 1978, p.175), that has to be acknowledged in regard to the
spatial budget available for that design.
To represent this possible pairings of activities to spaces, Fawcett presents two

representations: the “spanning zero-one matrices” (Fawcett, 1978, p.178) and
the “bipartite graph, as in which feasible event-space pairs are linked by an edge”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.179) (Fig. 124a).
After modelling the feasibility matrix, all feasible allocations have to be analysed
and added up into a “matrix ©sij, of all allocations” with “integer entities”. This
matrix can then be converted into a “stochastic matrix579, ©tij, by deriving all
entries by the total number of allocations, S” (Fawcett, 1978, p.181) (Fig. 124b).
This will be of essential relevance for our current methodology, explained in the
578
“The choice of allocations will in practice be substantially affected by connections between activities and
links between spaces, but in the present study we do not take account of this, but they do add to our ignorance
of allocational constraints.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.172)
579
Also know as Markov matrix.
322
a)
b)
Fig. 124. a) Two representations of feasible event-space pairs
b) Matrix of all allocations and stochastic matrix
(Fawcett, 1978, pp.179,181)
next chapter of our Thesis.
Afterwards, Fawcett refers to entropy, paralleling Baird’s approach (1972) to his

research question because it: “corresponds to our problem of allocating events to
spaces at the architectural scale” (Fawcett, 1978, p.182).
Picking up on his “loose-Àt” approach580, Fawcett corresponds it to adaptability,

so that this variety of possible allocations can be measured by Shannon’s entropy
(1949)581:
“If an element had many alternatives and all were equally probable,
then the activity would be at its loosest; if an activity could only use
one space it would have a probability of 1, and then there would be no
looseness. […] The measure of this looseness across the probability
distribution is Shannon’s entropy
for activity i across spaces j. =1. The looseness of the system

is the sum of the loosenesses of its elements.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.182)
580
“An adaptable design is one which allows the activities to take up a variety of states and which is minimally
speciÀc to a particular activity state. In this context the term activity state refers to a state of allocation, and the
variety, or number, of ways of allocating the activities to spaces of a building can be considered as a measure
of its loose-Àt adaptability.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.166)
581
The fact that we will also regard this hypothesis will provide a more in-depth analysis of Shannon’s work and
on the overall concept of entropy in the next chapter.
323
Through this approach adaptability is measured by means of “a single index” that

already takes into account prior information (Fawcett, 1978, pp.182). Resorting
to “computational efÀciency” instead of “the exact count of feasible allocations”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.183), this enables its use in more complex systems.
After explaining the feasibly matrices and the take on entropy measurement, at
his Ànal chapter Fawcett presents the possibility of using the rock polynomial for
allocation of events to spaces. Considering its relevance but also its mathematical
speciÀcity, particularly in regard to the use of detailed formulae on “combinatorial
mathematics” (Fawcett, 1978, p.215), this approach is considered to surpass our
architectural methodology and scope and will not be considered for our current
Thesis. Instead, we realise that the concept of entropy is an asset for enclosing
an ensemble of information into a Àgure that could be later compared to others,
after an intervention on the same building or in other buildings. Besides, the use
of feasibility matrices, also assists this understanding, linking, in a very graphical
manner, identiÀed activities to a list of spaces on that building. This will be crucial
for modelling our own methodology to identify and assess adaptability.
In what concerns his rapport with mathematics, Fawcett advances that, although
he aimed at quantifying adaptability in his theory, it “has intrinsic value”, outside
mathematics and besides his probabilistic approach:
“Reliable data about the compatibility of activities and space is a

prerequisite for, but is not the essence of, our approach to adaptability.
This lies in the probabilistic statement of adaptability, and its
representation by exhaustive combinatorial ensembles. This offers a
structure for the quantiÀcation of adaptability, but also, I think, has
intrinsic value. It gives a uniÀed framework which accommodates
diverse applications – a relationship implicit in the fact that designers
propose quite different strategies for different problems, whilst all of
them are called adaptable.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.218)
Fawcett also recognises that the professional may not entirely embrace his approach
due to its mathematical core, instead, he admits that most practitioners aim at
“simple rules, even rules of thumb”. Anyhow, he advances the relevance of his
theory by the relevance of its subject and the deÀned way of addressing it, even
despite its formulations:
“[…] our general approach to the problem of adaptability has value in

itself without mathematical elaboration, and by increasing conceptual
clarity could help the architects give adaptability its appropriate weight
in the design process.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.219)
Lastly in his Thesis, Fawcett envisions further work on this approach, acknowledging
324
that it could be taken further, namely because of its scale and simpliÀcations, and
also due to the potentiality of tackling other issues based in this thought, like: “the
possibilities of growth, the possibilities of physical change to buildings, and the
effect of associations between activities and connections between spaces.” (Fawcett,
1978, p.220).
All in all, and picking up Fawcett’s Àrst quote on this critical analysis of his theory582,
he hoped to have set the fundamentals for future developments. Hence, after careful
analysis and critical understating of his theory, we hope to proceed with the aimed
developments, based on our own intentions and research questions, and particularly
applied to the chosen case study and the contemporary context, which impacts
both the activities and the spaces to match. Some assumptions that guided Fawcett’s
approach are considered to have changed in regard to activities and spaces, and
the need to associate activities and spaces will occur, as well as the validation of
the methodology in a real system. Nevertheless, the deÀnition of adaptability, its
parallel to a probability, the modelling of matrices and foremost his rapprochement
to entropy, certainly take a primary role in our own research.
. SimpliÀcation and over-complexity: between models and reality
As stated from the beginning of this chapter, Fawcett’s work, along with the
other researches that have also been considered, demonstrate that the question of
identifying and measuring adaptability has been addressed in the 1970s, under the
context of an analytical framework.
From the beginning of his Thesis, Fawcett expressed his wish for creating a “general
theory of adaptability” that used mathematical methods, in which generalised activity
states were addressed, and where the least knowledge on individual speciÀcities was
accounted for. He hoped to stand between the “deterministic” and the “empirical”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.i) as a “contribution to architectural research” (Fawcett, 1978,
p.2). The papers that he considers as relevant works on the state of the art for
addressing the framework he speaks of, also represent previous approaches on the
issue, in which mostly were also from the 1970s.
In addition, Fawcett anticipates a potential critical take on his work and determines
his Thesis to be between the “urban” and the “atomic” scale, within the “architectural
scale”, that ultimately could be regarded as a “working tool” contributing for the
architectural design (Fawcett, 1978, p.220).
The probabilistic approach derives the most probable states and, so, enlightens on
the lack of uncertainty on space uses. The model has to be carefully derived, because
“We believe to that theses advances could be undertaken on the foundations we have laid.” (Fawcett,
582
1978, p.220)
325
it should not be too overly speciÀc that it considers all individual possibilities, but
it should not also be overly general that it overlooks relevant information, when
grouping activities and users.
Consequently, the binary matrices that univocally match the activities to the possible
spaces of allocation could still be understood as highly relevant methods for
identifying adaptability in each school, but modelling those matrices will imply the
identiÀcation of the current pedagogical activities and active learning environments
relevant for today’s education, which comprises informal activities and informal
spaces, raising an original issue. To this it is added the difÀculty of pairing activities
and spaces in the matrix that also carries subjectivity when associating informal
learning activities with spaces and, reciprocally, identifying which learning activities
can be sheltered in informal spaces.
For this purposes, it is recognised the relevance of models for achieving conclusive
outcomes and establishing a simpliÀcation of the reality, so that effective results can
be attained. But if the context, and even the brief, did not determine the model in
the 1970s (see the fact that not even in the title does Fawcett mention schools), our
proposed methodology is bounded by the context and ultimately helps to test it, to
validate it and to make it more robust.
The current Thesis here presented is also envisioned to assess the adaptability in
a whole building ensemble and not in each space of the building. Secondly, it is
believed that the application onto a particular case study will provide more detailed
information on the attributes that enhanced a higher degree of adaptability for the
school brief in particular. It is also believed that the speciÀcities of each case study
may inÁuence its respective adaptability, and that a methodology that is less general
and simpliÀed, but rather closer to the buildings, to the context, to life within it, may
depict its adaptability outcome in a Àne-grained analysis.
For that reason, it is assumed that models represent a very important part of the
outcomes of the Thesis by providing us with a consistent way in which to examine
and compare designs. But it is also acknowledged that, for being simpliÀed models
of the reality, some aspects will be edited, that might inÁuence the degree of
adaptability of each case study. It will then be relevant to choose a model (or several
complementary models), which features the attributes considered most relevant
for assessing adaptability for that particular brief and context, without the over-
complexity of the system, but also regarding the signiÀcant contents for the analysis.
Hence, it is also the aim of this Thesis to resort to other relevant tools and approaches
on morphological and functional analysis, and closer to C. P. Snow’s “two cultures”
(1961583), and possibly also embodying behavioural studies, individual and sensorial/
phenomenological research, for a broader output, a more realistic portrait of how
583
326
adaptability can be assessed and how it potentiates activity states in the building.
This chapter intended to identify previous approaches on adaptability assessment

methodologies, particularly focused on schools because this study aims to act as
a theoretical support to the proposed methodology for this current Thesis and
therefore, to be informed by previous methodologies, namely the most similar ones
in terms of case studies and approaches considered. Thus, this chapter aimed at
debrieÀng Fawcett’s 1978 Doctoral Thesis and understanding it in detail because it
is considered to be paramount for the very speciÀc state of the art on this subject
matter. Only after a more in-depth knowledge on this Thesis, can our current
Thesis assess conceivable advances from Fawcett’s 1978 “mathematical approach”,
its possible contemporaneity and relevance in terms of methods undertaken and
results achieved towards our proposed methodology.
Nevertheless, not only has this chapter focused on Fawcett’s Thesis, but it has also
focused on relevant works from other authors that played a relevant role for the state
of the art and that have also been a direct support for Fawcett’s proposition. Still,
the review undertaken here aimed to be critical and resort to the primary sources,
which in this case are the direct works from the referred authors, and analyse them
not just by Fawcett’s lenses but straight from their direct study. This is considered
to be signiÀcant because is develops a critical eye towards these approaches and
potential synergies for our proposed methodology, that may coincide or not with
the inputs Fawcett has taken from his own reading.
It is recognised that this chapter holds a very analytical framework, because relevant
studies on school adaptability have been approached under that scope, deep-rooted
in the 1970s and in Anglo-Saxon architectural research. It should also be highlighted
that even the most relevant deÀnitions of adaptability for this current Thesis
date back from this decade as well, namely the OECD’s from 1976 and Krüger’s
deÀnition from 1981 (Krüger, 1981a) supported by his thorough previous studies
from his stay in Cambridge in the 1970s. Naturally that the study of this sources
implies a critical perspective not only on their contents, methods and outputs, but
foremost on the possibilities of translating them onto the current pedagogical
reality. For that purpose, this will imply understanding whether these models can
portray the contemporaneity of the educational paradigm in terms of activities and
also of the current educational environments, and their contextual, cultural, social
and management constrains that these models do not fully comprise.
Fawcett’s wide work on adaptability has continued on to more recent ones to date,
which have been subject to closer detail in chapter 2.1584. His doctoral Thesis has been
here analysed more closely as the basis of a full and cohesive academic research that
has layed the foundations for more recent thoughts. Along with its state of the art
584
327
for assessing adaptability, this Thesis will be central for our proposed methodology.
Consequently, it is assumed that these studies are paramount for assessing adaptability,
in terms of their straightforward outlook on this subject and the comprehensiveness
of their procedures that tackle all possibilities. Capacity constraints can possible be
introduced in future models so weights can be associated with each space or each
activity for a less-uniform distribution of activities to spaces, which is considered
to more closely depict the current reality.
Moreover, these results and the methods to achieve them can also be complemented
by others that add information on the previously referred informality, appropriation
and contextual framework585 that guide this case study, considered these to be
central for the learning environments and practices.
Hence, other methods and Àelds of research analysis addressed in the previous
chapter586 and used for space use assessment overall without the speciÀcity of
assessing adaptability in schools, can provide relevant information for this speciÀc
approach. That will bear signiÀcance for the proposition of our current methodology,
comprising an analytical approach to adaptability that has proven its relevance, even
more when applied to schools, but it also relies on others methods that complement
both these results and the variables that they engage. Overall, assuming that other
variables could impact adaptability today when applied to school environments, the
proposed methodology tackles different study Àelds and methods to assess how
and by what means do they weigh on the Ànal results achieved.
Therefore, the following proposed methodology for identifying and assessing

adaptability in learning environments will resort to an analytical approach closer
to Fawcett’s Thesis and the references on the state of the art that comprise this
research context, but it will also resort to space use assessment methodologies
that have already been applied to schools to describe the spatial sample and to
understand the reality in which adaptability is needed and to which it will respond.
Only by understanding the speciÀcities of the context, can the research overlap
expected and effective use in order to identify adaptability as the ability to continue
to accommodate changing activities, both in space in the present and in the future.
The methodology to identify and assess adaptability under the case study proposed
and aiming at enclosing this wide array of lines of thought will be explained in closer
detail in the following chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing
585
586
See chapter 3.1. Space use assessment methodologies.
328
A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments
3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in

learning environments
“Describing change from within can be a considerable challenge.

Still, change is a fascinating topic and has brought forth a plethora of concepts and
theories across different academic disciplines.” (Sailer, 2014, p.xx)
This quote in The Journal of Space Syntax, Vol 5, No 2, entitled Changing building typologies,
corroborates change as a contemporary and relevant issue in the design of buildings.
Particularly, when applied to case studies, current research on this problematic may
provide “actionable knowledge” (Elliot, 2001, p.555) towards future designs.
Consequently, and as already explained in detail587, this research presents a
comprehensive methodology to identify and assess adaptability within educational
spaces, with a critical review based on previous advancements, particularly from
the approaches carried out since the 1970s588 and the crossing of distinct spatial
assessment processes, aiming to describe how adaptability is portrayed and what are
its key variables to assess it.
In order to assess the adaptability level of each space of the school building and
ultimately of the overall system, the methodology is here presented at its theoretical
foundations, followed by its experimental application on a Portuguese school chosen
as case study589. This has been originally created from scratch under the context of
this current Doctoral Thesis here presented and is considered as potential input for
architectural research, informing both the academia and the practice.
As previously suggested590, if the learning experience takes place in distinct spaces,
this methodology is also applied to distinctive learner-centred environments, in
order to conclude on potential adaptability discrepancies between them. It also
considers a crossing of methods, in order to deliver quantitative and qualitative
results on both formal and informal spaces and regular and spontaneous activities,
587
588
See chapter 3.2. Adaptability assessment methodologies: reviewing previous approaches.
589
See chapter 4. Application of the methodology in the case study.
590
329
and their potential mutual correspondence.

Windelband in his Rectorial Address (1894) introduces the concepts of nomothetic and
idiographic, in which the Àrst relates to general laws and regularities, and the latter to
the events and singularities. In his own words:
“In their quest for knowledge of reality, the empirical sciences either
seek the general in the form of the law of nature or the particular in the
form of the historically deÀned structure. On the one hand, they are
concerned with the form which invariably remains constant. On the
other hand, they are concerned with the unique, immanently deÀned
content of the real event. The former disciplines are nomological
sciences. The latter disciplines are sciences of process or sciences of the
event. The nomological sciences are concerned with what is invariably
the case. The sciences of process are concerned with what was once
the case. If I may be permitted to introduce some new technical terms,
scientiÀc thought is nomothetic in the former case and idiographic in the
latter case.”591 (Windelband, 1894, p.175)
As Windelband continues, he stresses that this dichotomy can be introduced in a
methodology, as “modes of investigation” (ibid.), and potentially brings conclusions
from both epistemological provinces:
“It is possible - and it is in fact the case - that the same subjects can be
the object of both a nomothetic and an idiographic investigation. This
is related to the fact that, in a certain respect, the distinction between
the invariable and the unique is relative. Consider an entity which
undergoes no immediately perceptible change within a very large span
of time. For this reason, its unchangeable forms can be investigated
nomothetically. From a more comprehensive perspective, however, the
same entity may prove valid for a more limited time-span only, i.e. it
may qualify as a unique phenomenon.” (Windelband, 1894, pp.175-
176)
Consequently, both concepts can potentially be brought to this methodology. If the
nomothetic assessment relates to the ideal uses and fullest spatial allocation that can
be foreseen, the idiographic relates to the effective events that occur in the school
environment, not necessarily foreseeable from the brief, or even the most frequent,
but the singular activities and the uniqueness of the individual experience in space
and all that it implies in relation to space and activities. The latter can bring further
knowledge per se and can also be absorbed within the collective framework.
Hence, a more comprehensive assessment of adaptability in this case study can be
reached. Assuming the “nomological regularities” (p.178) of a weekly schedule of
formal activity allocations to space, naming all possible uses that can be previously
591
330
deÀned or described; and also considering the individual(s) frameworks, events and
dynamics, like the informal activities undertaken by students from different teaching
regimes or non-programmed events of different sort; ultimately to support the
conclusions this research aims to achieve.
Furthermore, after the account on chapter 1.2592 on the existing differences of
interpretation on the concept of living experience, the methodology to assess it will
also differ according to the authors of reference. Therefore, this chapter advances
from the previous 3.1.593 and 3.2.594 that examined the methodologies to assess
space use and adaptability from a general outlook to a particularly spot on schools,
and admitting the broad range of procedures, it points out and justiÀes the ones
considered to be more representative to report on adaptability in this case. So,
having described and recognised different conceptions to identify experience before
a phenomenological approach particularly introduced on chapter 1.2, and also the
collective and analytical methods to assess occupation and movement by spatial
morphology, like space syntax, that has also been dealt in detail in chapter 3.1; this
methodology aims at including outcomes from different assessment procedures, in
order to report on the activities amenable to occur in (an adaptable) space, from
a more formal and/or informal usage, collective and/or individual perspective,
and also from a more social and/or analytical approach. This search for a more
complete conclusion on the activities that a space can allocate, and their nature
and respective spatial requirements, justiÀes the use of different methods from
distinct study Àelds, such as space syntax for the description of the spatial sample,
along with individual methodologies to identify experience in space, which will be
described subsequently.
Therefore, this methodology converges outputs from proven, yet distinctive,
methods of spatial assessment into an original and contemporary approach, which
provide in-depth data by a broader range of approaches. For this purpose, this
chapter presents an overall description of the methodology, by brieÁy introducing
each of the approaches and respective inputs towards a more supported deÀnition
of an adaptable learning space595.
As a combined process, the methodology is composed of three stages, considered
as milestones, in which the subsequent complements the previous, in order to reach
a fourth stage corresponding to the achievement of potential conclusions.
Each of these stages is descriptive of a case study in a real life scenario that is
592
593
594
595
This methodology, as an overall procedure to address this research question, has been presented in the 3rd
International Symposium Formal Methods in Architecture, in 30 November – 2 December 2015, Porto, for testing and
academic validation. It will also be published as: Coelho, C. (in publication). A Gathered Methodology Towards
Enhancing Adaptable Learning Spaces. In D. Viana, F. Morais, J. Vaz (Eds.). Formal Methods in Architecture and
Urbanism. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
331
analysed by different approaches, providing speciÀc information of a localised

space-time reality. Particularly, for this methodology, the Àrst implies the description
of the spatial sample as was deÀned from the design envisioned by the architect
from that brief, and actually built as a space-time system with social potential.
Then, the following analysis focuses on a description of all potential allocations of
activities to the spatial conÀguration in question, considering the respective spatial
demands each activity implies with regard to the spatial potential of the building.
Thirdly, a description of effective events and experience in space displays information
on the individuals of the society596 and the possible ways in which space is occupied
by “situated practices” (Hillier and Netto, 2001, p.4) in time.
Each of the referred stages will conclude on patterns of the analysed variables
from speciÀc analysis, translating space-time reality to abstract patterns and overall
conclusions. These conclusions, when analysed in a gathered way, will describe
potential correlations amongst the results and, overall, amongst the approaches
used to pursue these results.
Finally, the outputs from individual patterns and correlations amongst the three
stages and approaches will aim to conclude on the adaptability potential of the
space analysed, bounded by its space and time frame and context.
This recalls Hillier and Hanson’s mechanism of “description retrieval”, described in
The Social Logic of Space (1984) and interpreted by literature. This evokes the concept
of “arrangement” as a reality enclosed in space and time, which can be related by
“transpatial” patterns into the system and subsequently reproduced:
“An arrangement can be deÀned as some set of initial randomly
distributed discrete entities, which enter into different kinds of relations
in space-time and, by retrieving descriptions of the ordering principles
of these relations, are able to reproduce them. An arrangement is
essentially the extension of spatial integration into the realm of
transpatial integration: that is, it creates the appearance- and in a more
limited sense, the reality of spatially integrated complexes which,
properly speaking, retain their discrete identity as individual objects.
A class, or transpatial integration of objects is an unarranged set.
Arrangement of these sets gives each object a new relational identity;
and out of the accumulation of these relational identities in space-
time global patterns can arise which, by description retrieval, can also
become built into the system.” (Hillier and Hanson, 1984, pp.50-51)
Hillier and Hanson apply this mechanism for space syntax as a potential mechanism
of linkage between reality and abstraction: “The syntax theory shows how such
596
Hillier and Netto refer to the individuals of the society as such: “The individuals who make up a society
are clearly well-deÀned space-time “things” in the sense of being bounded and occupying a well-deÀned and
continuous region of space time.” (Hillier and Netto, 2001, p.5)
332
descriptions can be abstract, and can be retrieved from complex realities.” (p.204).
But for this to happen, the latter is a consequence of the Àrst, cyclically:
“For syntax to appear requires not that the rule precedes the event,
but that an initial description is retrieved from spatio-temporal reality
and then applied consistently in the succeeding events in the process.
Syntax is a consistency in description retrieval and re-embodiment
from one moment to the next.” (Hillier and Hanson, 1984, p.205)
Peponis (2001) includes “description retrieval” within an enlarged process that
goes from the creation of a pattern to its generalization for future deÀnition of
“generative rules”597. Psarra (2003) highlights the concept of “invariance” (p.2) as
inherent to the generation of patterns and abstraction. This author presents a clear
deÀnition of this process:
“Description retrieval is a process by which abstract laws are derived
from real space-time events and are subsequently embedded into
further actions. In the beady ring settlement it is possible to retrieve
a description from a local rule that is recurrently applied governing
the position of blocks, their relations to other blocks and to the open
space. It was proposed that abstract laws and space-time events are
in a ‘sandwich’ like relation establishing the primacy of reality over
abstraction and of the phenotype over the genotype (reality 1 –
description – reality 2).” (Psarra, 2003, p.2)
This concept also appears in Hillier and Netto’s paper Society Seen Through the
Prism of Space. Outline of a theory of society and space (2001), which aims to highlight
the contingency between space and society by speciÀcally focusing on both the
“constructive” and the “receptive” role of spatial conÀguration towards co-presence,
movement and social action (p.3)598, in contrast with what Hillier considers the
approaches which “typically look at society and try to detect its output in space” (ibid.).
This outlook is also shared by the current methodology presented here, when
describing space and aiming to describe the spatiality of the school community,
which corresponds to this society’s case study, and establish a link between its
activities and individuals with the conÀguration of the space in question.
A Ànal outlook on this paper points out that, according to Hillier and Netto (2001)
(when referring to the city rather than to a particular building), the rapid change in
597
“To use the earlier terminology that serves rather well for the purpose, we have to understand: 1) the creation
of pattern based on relatively simple generative rules; 2) the emergence of pattern properties which arise as
these rules interact with the laws of formal possibility and constraint, essentially with mathematical necessity;
3) a process of description retrieval whereby the emergent regularities are recognized; and 4) an application of
new generative rules informed by description retrieval. In short, we are looking for a theory of how complex
structures can emerge through distributed processes associated with growth.” (Peponis, 2001, p.xx)
598
“However, it was only by extracting space from its embedding and treating it as a thing in itself that we are able
to bring to light its conÀgurational properties, and it turns out to be these that link space back to society, both
as a receptor of social forces but also an an active constructive agent in society.” (Hillier and Netto, 2001, p.6)
333
the activities is effectively a constant. Still, the authors then conclude, that despite
this rapid change in the activities, if their needs continue to be fulÀlled by space, it
does not necessarily have to change at that same pace:
“This is why in general - and with important exceptions - during the life
of a city space changes only slowly while activity changes rapidly. We
do not Ànd that new phenotypical patterns of activity per se generate
new patterns of space, but that new patterns of activity have a certain
distribution of demands on co-presence, and that to the degree that
the new distribution approximates the old, the new pattern will be
absorbed into the existing urban framework with comparatively little
change.” (Hillier and Netto, 2001, p.2)
This, ultimately, implies OECD’s (1976599) deÀnition of an adaptable space, able to
cope with activity change without frequent physical change600.
All in all, “description retrieval” embodies the ability to translate situated events to
generalisable patterns in order to reach for conclusions, much recalling the early
deÀnitions presented:
“This process would depend on the mechanism of description retrieval
discussed earlier, that is the ability of human being to retrieve an
abstract description of spatiotemporal events and use it as a template
for further action. Retrieved descriptions from practices which had the
effect of reproducing the emergent system would in effect become
normative to the degree to which the system was reproduced.” (Hillier
and Netto, 2001, p.13)
For this methodology it was assumed not to use Hillier’s full expression “description
retrieval” in stage four, but rather to deconstruct this expression into two
components. In which the Àrst constitutes a “description” per se of each layer of
the case study to be analysed amongst the three previous approaches, both by its
data as well as by its nature.
As a culmination point of this hybrid and extensive process, conclusions can be
drawn on the space’s adaptability potential, according to both individual results
and correlations. It is then that a generalised conclusion will be “retrieved” for
generalised data on the attributes that promote adaptability in school buildings
today, or speciÀc forthcoming design interventions.
The following chart (Fig. 125) represents as a schematic synthesis of the methodology,
which will be sequentially depicted according to each of the milestones displayed
in this chart:
599
There is no deÀned author in this publication, only the OECD’s authorship overall.
600
“[…] adaptability, the quality of a building which facilitates adaptation; adaptation may require relocation,
replacement, removal or addition in respect of either the constructional elements, services or the Ànishes of
the building - essentially large magnitude/low frequency change” (OECD, 1976, p.10)
334
SCHEMATIC SYNTHESIS OF THE METHODOLOGY
I. DESCRIPTION OF THE SCHOOL SPACE

Description of the school space and how it supports activity allocation
II. DESCRIPTION OF ALL POSSIBLE ACTIVITY ALLOCATIONS

Description of all possible activity allocations to educational environments
III. DESCRIPTION OF EFFECTIVE EVENTS AND EXPERIENCE

Description of effective events and experience in the school
IV. DESCRIPTION OF THE POTENTIAL CORRELATIONS

RETRIEVAL OF THE SCHOOL'S ADAPTABILITY
Fig. 125. Schematic synthesis of the methodology

(Carolina Coelho)
I. Description of the school space and how it supports activity allocation
The Àrst milestone of this methodology is the description of the spatial sample,
which is in this case the school space, on which adaptability will be assessed.
For an insightful understanding of the school environment, it becomes relevant to

analyse it from a functional perspective, namely by its spaces, activities and spatial
attributes, that allow activity allocation to each of the spaces identiÀed. This will
be based on the characterisation of each of the above items, with its full and
extended description.
Within this analysis, the school’s morphology will also be portrayed, in order
to better understand the connection between spaces and, consequently, between
activities and users. So, assuming the speciÀcity of today’s active learning
environments, whose conÀguration can widely vary according to the diverse range
of activities – formal and informal, group or individual – that contribute to the
learning process, it becomes relevant to analyse the school building not only in its
convex spaces and respective physical features, or even in the spatial morphology
of the whole building, but also to consider the moving paths as possibilities for
learning while informally interacting with other members of the school community.
335
Thus, this study will focus on both convex spaces and axial lines, assuming that both
moving and static activities bear potential on knowledge spread, whether on formal
scheduled classes or on spontaneous activities held in “spatial units” (Hertzberger,
2009, p.11), “articulated classrooms” (Hertzberger, 2008, p.24) and “learning
streets” (p.113) because “corridors do not belong in schools” (Hertzberger, 2009,
p.9). Consequently, the methodology will consider two initial methods of analysis:
space syntax on stage one and entropy approach on stage two, in order to provide
input on the potential correlation amongst the two approaches, for the same
variables from the sample.
Therefore, a space syntax analysis focused mainly on the attributes of integration,

depth and connectivity, based on both the axial lines and convex spaces, informs
on how a space is being used and whether spaces with analogous entropy
levels, allocate different uses. An analysis on the isovists will also bring further
information on space’s conÀguration, as well as an intelligibility assessment of
the system.
In fact, intelligibility, as a second order measure that can be achieved by correlating

global integration and local connectivity, can better clarify which Áoor’s layout is best
comprehended and less “labyrinthian” (Hillier, 2007601, p.94). The correlation in a
scattergram with these two variables presents a regression line and a determination
coefÀcient that inform on the degree of intelligibility of the system. If the
scattergram indicates low intelligibility: “This means that connectivity is no longer a
good guide to integration and therefore as we move around the system we will get
very poor information about the layout as a whole from what we see locally.” (ibid.),
closer to a more “labyrinthian” (ibid.) layout then a clear and understandable system
to move around.
Therefore, as it relates a global with a local measure, it provides information on

the whole structure and how it can be perceived, by the understanding of its parts
(Heitor, 1995, pp.54-55). This is set clearly by Hillier:
“The property of ‘intelligibility’ in a deformed grid means the degree to

which what we can see from the spaces that make up the system - that
is, how many other spaces are connected to - is a good guide to what
we cannot see, that is, the integration of each space into the system as
a whole. An intelligible system is one in which well-connected spaces
also tend to be well-integrated spaces. An unintelligible system is one
where well-connected spaces are not well integrated, so that what we
601
336
can see of their connections misleads us about the status of that space
in the system as a whole.” (Hillier, 2007, p.94).
These Àndings display information on whether spatial morphology bears relevance

for the school’s occupancy, namely to activity schedules and spatial density of
natural movement602.
II. Description of all possible activity allocations to educational environments
The following stage of the methodology aims to deÀne all possible activities that
can be allocated to each of the spaces already identiÀed in the Àrst stage. This
corresponds to the ideal scenario, which lists and assesses all possible linkages of
activities to spaces according to their spatial attributes, and the nature and spatial
requirements of the referred activities that enable or hinder a potential allocation.
Overall, it will inform on the regularities of the programmed schedule for activity
allocation, in the form of a nomothetic assessment.
This Àrst step consists on a critical analysis of the outcomes provided by milestone
one, which enables to draw the potential correspondences of attributes to spaces, of
activities to spaces, and ultimately to conclude on the link between spatial attributes
to activity allocation that enables them to happen in each of the spaces identiÀed,
in the form of a feasibility matrix603. Then, conclusions may also be drawn on the
primary activities of each space, how the pedagogical curriculum is played in the
school’s spaces and provide a depiction of its uses and users overall.
After producing the feasibility matrix on the correspondence of spaces to activities,

the entropy604 of each space will be determined by mathematical approaches, which
will ultimately provide a quantitative measure of adaptability.
In order to achieve this description, this stage will undertake an entropy approach,
602
The correlation between entropy and space syntax, as a part of the presented methodology to identify
and assess adaptability has been presented in the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium, in 13-17 July 2015,
London, for validation of the procedure and of the potential correlation. This communication was published in
the Conference’s proceedings as: Coelho, C.; Krüger, M. J. (2015). Towards a methodology to assess adaptability
in educational spaces: An entropy approach to space syntax. In Karimi,K; Vaughan, L.; Sailer, K.; Palaiologou,
G.; Bolton, T. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium. p.17: 1-20. London, UK: Space
Syntax Laboratory, The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.
603
This matrix and its procedure will be explained in detail in the subsequent chapter 3.3.2. Description of all
possible activity allocations to educational environments. See also Fig. 134.
604
The concept of entropy will also be explained in detail in the referred chapter 3.3.2. Description of all
possible activity allocations to educational environments.
337
by resorting to probabilistic and combinatorial models, following Fawcett’s studies

(1976b), that focus on maximising entropy, considering the most adaptable one, to
be the most probable macrostate amongst all the microstates (Krüger, 1984).
III. Description of effective events and experience in the school
Overall, the previous data, when associated with qualitative methods such as:
walkthroughs, focus groups and observation matrices, depict individual experience
and spontaneous appropriation, by adding information on the adaptability potential
of spaces for non-scheduled learning activities, and translating Windelband’s
idiographic perspective of speciÀcities and individual events. This will be the main
focus of milestone three of the methodology.
IV. Description of the potential correlations and retrieval of the school’s

adaptability
The Ànal milestone comprehends a systematisation of the results, concluding on

whether potential spatial feasibility and effective spatial occupancy overlap, and
providing an outlook on the relevance of spatial morphology, towards entropy and
Ànally adaptability. It also informs on adaptability variations between formal and
informal, productive and supportive spaces (Krüger, 1992).
By and large, this hybrid methodology605 aims to assess the adaptability of the
learning environments by means of the three distinct approaches, within the
milestones mentioned above: description of the school space, description of
all possible activity allocations to educational environments and description of
effective events and experience in the school. The means to achieve each of
these descriptions resort to different academic provinces, respectively: a space
syntax analysis focused on the building’s morphology, entropy calculations by
means of a mathematical formulation and, lastly, the use of qualitative methods
605
Shibley and Schneekloth (1996) also discuss “hybrid evaluation processes” stating their several beneÀts
namely: their “capacity to redeÀne issues internal to organizations while they concurrently identify the limits
of external methods” and foremost the fact that “hybrid methods tend to focus on relationships and context
rather than on single issues” (p.20). This is in close coordination with the methodology proposed in this chapter
that aims at constituting knowledge on the school and its community and Portuguese context, but also on a
general procedure to assess the adaptability of a school.
338
such as observation matrices, walkthroughs and focus groups606 for a better

understanding of spatial experience and appropriation. The methodology will,
then, display conclusions based on the outcomes of each procedure, either
quantitative and qualitative, nomothetic and idiographic, and Ànally on their
potential overlapping. Resorting once more to the words of Windelband: “both
forms of knowledge are equally justiÀable” (p.180), both “independent and
juxtaposed” (p.183)607.
Furthermore, by introducing a triangulation approach of different methods, their

respective results will also lead to a more complete, supported and informed
assessment of the learning environments and their respective spatial adaptability,
by introducing data brought from distinctive, yet academically acknowledged, Àelds
under the context of this research.
After proceeding with this methodology, by fulÀlling each of the four milestones,
educational spaces can be analysed, assessed and even ranked according to the
possibility of allocating learning activities of distinct nature and undertaken by
different users, ultimately concluding on each space’s adaptability potential.
This chapter will provide an overall theoretical description of the full methodology,
yet to be applied, and how it potentially reaches a robust conclusion by gathering
distinct academic established areas, in order to answer a deÀned research question
for both the theory and the practice. After the overall depiction, the following
chapter608 will proceed with its application into the case study, for a more concrete
explanation of a methodology that is admittedly complex by its several stages and
its hybrid approach.
The following chart (Fig. 126) illustrates, in a schematic manner, a more detailed
description of the methodology, according to all the variables mentioned above and
the representativeness in including and assessing them individually and sequentially
for an end conclusion.
606
These procedures will be explained in detail in the subsequent chapter 3.3.3. Description of effective events
and experience in the school.
607
For a broader contextualisation of this quote, this is the full quote: “The question is: from the perspective
of our total cognitive purposes, which is more valuable, knowledge of laws or knowledge of events? Is it
more important to understand the general, atemporal nature of things or to understand individual, temporal
phenomena? From the outset, it is clear that this question can only be resolved on the basis of reÁections
concerning the ultimate aims of scientiÀc research.
At this point, I shall only touch superÀcially on the extraneous resolution of this question from the standpoint
of utility. From this standpoint, both forms of knowledge are equally justiÀable.” (Windelband, 1894, p.180)
608
339
SYNTHESIS OF THE METHODOLOGY
I.I DEFINITION OF THE SPATIAL SAMPLE

functional analysis . Spaces
. Activities
. Attributes
I.II SPACE SYNTAX

morphological analysis . Convex spaces
. Axial lines
. Isovists
II.I ENTROPY ANALYSIS

nomothetic analysis . Feasibility matrix
. Convex spaces' entropy
. Axial lines' entropy
III.I OBSERVATION MATRICES

III.II WALKTHROUGHS
III.III FOCUS GROUPS
idiographic analysis
Fig. 126. Synthesis of the methodology

(Carolina Coelho)
340
3.3.1. Description of the school space and how it supports activity

allocation
“[…] in talking about buildings, we need not only to talk about objects, but also
about systems of spatial relations.” (Hillier and Hanson, 1984, p.2)
This quote refers to the bond between society and space explored by Hillier and
Hanson in The Social Logic of Space (1984). In fact, according to its spatial properties,
the school enables a particular system of social relations (Coelho, 2013b), by
stimulating encounters, patterns of movement and co-presence, considering it
to be an “educational tool” (Heitor, 2005)609. Hence, the need for describing the
school space in the sample, namely through spaces, activities and attributes, rests in
the analysis of how and by what means does the space support, promote or even
hamper activity allocation.
In a more detailed depiction of this process, the initial step consists on listing the
existing spaces and identifying them in the Ànal plans, which are considered to be
the ones that more accurately report the built space. A functional analysis will be
undertaken by assigning coloured hatches to each space represented in the plans,
complemented by their respective captions, for these speciÀc responses:
a) Whether each space is an active learning environment or a supportive environment.
b) Its potential either as a social and informal space and/or as a formal and curricular
space.
c) Whether each space is a pathway for circulation or a space for standing, or both.
This holds particular relevance for the methodology when correlating spaces and
lines.
d) If each space is either exterior or interior.
e) Which teaching regimes each space holds.
f) Whether the space has a particular functionality or a specialised use.
g) The primary activity the space is expected to accommodate.
The following chart (Fig. 127) systematises these considerations in a tree-shaped

scheme, to be used when listing the spaces and identifying them in the drawings610:
609
As seen in chapter 2.3. Adaptability for contemporary learning practices and environments.
610
The spaces considered in this chart (Fig. 127) are all considered productive, either: social, formal and both.
341
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Fig. 127. Description of the spaces of the school

(Carolina Coelho)
For a deeper analysis of the school’s activities, as in the preceding one, a list will
also be produced, considering them in general terms: programmed/formal, non-
programmed/informal and for circulation purposes, in which the Àrst can be
considered according to the teaching regime and the second according to the nature
of the activity, such as: social, artistic, pedagogical overall,… The chart of Fig. 128
resumes those possibilities.
This consideration can also be translated onto the school plans, by assigning
coloured hatches to each space according to its main activity. Nevertheless, this
initial connection between spaces and its main activity has to be addressed as an
introductory approach to the functional analysis of the school, which admittedly
limits the range of activity allocation to each space, by a single univocal connection
between a space to one main activity. In a deeper subsequent analysis each space
will be analysed according to the other possible activities it can hold, and so, a
potential overlapping of the referred activities described in Fig. 128 can occur in
the same space.
Since assessing adaptability implies the ability to hold several and distinct uses, this
research lies in an indisputable acknowledgement that spaces have the possibility
of holding diverse activities and that those activities can be diverse in nature and
even mutually inclusive of the above classiÀcation. E.g. activities that can be both
programmed and informal, moving and pedagogically representative611.
611
This potential overlapping of the classiÀcations is more extensively studied further in this chapter, when
addressing the entropy approach, particularly for validating the production of the activities sample (Fig. 133).
It is also based on Krüger, M. J. (1992). Caracterização e Programação de Edifícios Complexos. Departamento de
Engenharia Civil. Instituto Superior Técnico. Universidade Técnica de Lisboa. Abril de 1992 (Publicaçmo
N° 78).
342
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Fig. 128. Description of the activities of the school

(Carolina Coelho)
Therefore, after this Àrst approach on each spaces’ main brief and what they have
been designed to pursue, according to the information in the plans, on milestone
two of this methodology an in-depth matrix of all potential allocations will be
undertaken through the production of an extensive activity sample (Fig. 133). Then,
the identiÀed spaces in milestone one will be matched with these possible activities
from that extended scheme, producing a feasibility matrix (Fig. 134). This process
will then provide a more insightful interpretation of the possible activities that may
occur in that educational environment and the spaces’ ability to cope with them all.
This Àrst milestone also implies a study on spatial attributes for future conclusions
on their compliance with activity allocation and, ultimately, with the adaptability
of each space, recalling Brand’s (1994) and Duffy’s (1990) previous approaches to
layers.
Therefore, spatial attributes for this particular methodology have also been listed,
according to six properties: dimension (high, length, width), conÀguration (openness,
partitioning), coating (Áoors, ceilings), networks (power access, connectivity),
environmental conditions (temperature, acoustics) and accessibility (direct, by means of
a lift, staircases or ramp); which may constrain or enable activity allocation to a
space (Fig. 129).
It also becomes quite signiÀcant to highlight that this methodology concerns
adaptability as the ability to allocate a wider range of activities to spaces, so the
internal attributes of each space will determine their inner activity potential and ability
to cope with each speciÀc use. Hence, the attributes referred for this methodology
will necessarily focus on interior and built-in features that can potentially be applied
to each space.
343
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Fig. 129. Description of the spatial attributes of the school

(Carolina Coelho)
Nevertheless, the attributes considered for this particular methodology and the
literature references previously explained can be compared on deÀnition, duration
and potential overlapping of their meanings and scope of each concept according
to the authors of reference mentioned above. This will be addressed in these
following explanations.
As these attributes were chosen, by considering them representative to activity

allocation in a school building, especially when it has undergone a process of
adaptive re-use, so, large scale layers have not been moved or changed. So, Brand’s
“site” can be considered an attribute that can possibly condition adaptability in a
building, but for this case study it cannot be assessed, since the original site of the
school has not been changed during the adaptive re-use process.
It becomes relevant to underline that this chapter focus on the overall methodology
and its general application and not on the speciÀc application on the case study, in
which the following chapter 4 will focus on612. Nevertheless, at this point, it could
be recalled that this particular case study in which the methodology will be applied
to, having be adapted to a new pedagogical curriculum, has also had a new building
built that aims to resolve some precedent and current issues, such as: providing
the school with a representative street façade, coping with spatial needs brought
both by the enlarged school curriculum and also by the need for updating spatial
features for a more lasting and responsive school space overall, besides potentially
612
344
structuring the pavilion layout from the original brief by the pathways and exterior
and interior spaces that this new building connects. In this case, this could be
considered a change in both the implementation in the “site”, although it was a part
of the original school, and also on the “structure”, which is speciÀcally different
from of the original pavilions613.
. Dimension, such as height, length or width, is both deÀned by structure, when

concerning height and length deÀned by the load-bearing walls or structural
elements that deÀne a possible grid or layout. But it could be also associated with
interior partitioning, when it is concerned with the width or length of the interior
divisions and rooms, hence related to Duffy’s “shell” and Brand’s “structure”, but
also to Duffy’s “scenery” and Brand’s “space plan”.
Even though Duffy’s “shell” or Brand’s “structure” have not been changed on the
original pavilions, which is conÀrmed by both authors of reference who believe
this layer (whatever its name according to the author) to be lasting throughout the
building’s lifecycle, structure conditions interior dimension and partitioning of the
individual spaces, prone for activity allocation. Hence, this is an attribute already
recognised by both Duffy and Brand, which is here referred to as dimension.
. ConÀguration of each space will also be determined by Duffy’s “shell” or Brand’s

“structure”, when it deÀnes the possibilities of openness and partitioning of the
building. But, once more, it also relates to Duffy’s “scenery” and Brand’s “space
plan”, when it is concerned with the interior layout of the system overall.
These Àrst two attributes comprehend a larger scale, hence being naturally connected
with larger scale layers mentioned by the referred authors. The following will look
into a more detailed choice in features for each speciÀc space.
. Interior coating of Áoors and ceilings recall’s Brand’s “skin”, although he then
mentioned it for exterior surfaces rather than interior ones. Nevertheless, coating
plays an important role for activity allocation particularly in an artistic school,
namely for acoustics and environmental comfort.
. Networks are quite relevant in today’s learning model, where virtual accessibility and
power access to multiple electronic devices are crucial for knowledge transmission
and independent research. This is embedded in both Duffy and Brand’s “services”.
613
As mentioned, this matter will be subject to further analysis in the following chapter, when applying this
general methodology to the case study, and particularly when analysing the spatial sample as milestone one of
this methodology.
345

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(Carolina Coelho)
346
. Accessibility is also mentioned by Duffy within his “services” deÀnition when

he mentions elevators, which it is here taken further by adding other accessibility
conditions, like the need for a ramp or staircase.
. In the same manner, also environmental conditions can be understood amongst

Duffy’s “services” deÀnition, by his reference to air conditioning. Once more,
this could be further developed into more general terms, such as temperature and
acoustics, also particular relevant for the case study as a school of music, dancing,
sporting and regular teaching. Overall, when Brand refers to “services” he refers
to the overall “working guts of a building” (Brand, 1994, p.13), where these latter
attributes can be embodied as well in more general terms.
Finally, a reference to Duffy’s “set” and Brand’s “stuff ” that are not mentioned by
these attributes, considering the approach to adaptability rather than Áexibility. In
fact, the possibility of movable furniture of frequent interior small scale changes
is not believed to be fundamental to activity allocation. This much recall’s OECD’s
quote in 1975:
“Adaptability is the ability to physically change, by moving, replacing

and removing components, or by subsequent addition of other
components. Flexibility is the quality of the building as it exists at any
time, which makes it possible to modify the type of activities that it can
accommodate, without the need to perform a material adjustment. As
a result, the greater the Áexibility, the later the need for adaptation.”614
(Oddie, 1975, p.37)
This overall process of describing the school space as the Àrst step towards assessing
a school building’s adaptability, is resumed in the chart (Fig. 130).
This corresponds to a detailed description of both the items to be assessed and their
respective variables introduced in this Àrst milestone, for an extensive description
of the sample, which is the school environment, with its respective spaces, activities
and spatial attributes.
Subsequently, a space syntax analysis plays a critical role, as it focuses on spatial

morphology and the concepts of integration, depth, connectivity, visibility and,
614
Free translation from the quote in French: “L’adaptabilité est la capacité de changement matériel, par
déplacement, remplacement et suppression des composants, ou par addition ultérieure d’autres composants.
La Áexibilité est la qualité du bâtiment tel qu’il existe à n’importe quel moment, qui permet de modiÀer le type
d’activités qu’il peut accueillir, sans qu’il faille procéder à une adaptation matérielle. En conséquence, plus la
Áexibilité est grande, plus loin dans le temps peut rtre repoussé le moment o l’adaptation sera nécessaire.”
(Oddie, 1975, p.37)
347
ultimately, intelligibility. This will provide conclusions on the implications of spatial

placement towards patterns of natural movement and activity and users’ clusters.
The fact that this methodology is applied to the school brief endorses it with
speciÀcities that have to be particularly taken into account. Ultimately, Bernstein
(1971) states that “Educational knowledge is a major regulator of the structure of
experience.” (p.202), implying that it might be a reÁection of society at large and the
power holding structures (ibid.)615.
Pedagogically, as the contemporary learning paradigm is not conÀned to formal

classrooms, but yet to all the spaces in the school, knowledge is not transmitted only
by a content provider but by peer interaction and individual discovery, and because
learning occurs in several environments, the needs of the wide range of activities
that comprise it will also have to be speciÀcally contemplated. This emphasises
what Bernstein (1999) deÀnes as “vertical and horizontal” discourse acquisition
and circulation, and also his approach to the “changes in the structure of cultural
transmission” (1971, p.202) and his considerations on “valid knowledge”, “valid
transmission of knowledge” and its “valid realisation” (ibid.)616.
Spatially, when considering that learning occurs both in individual spaces as

well as amongst pathways where both formal and informal spaces are displaced,
the sequence or the promenade through those spaces is also a means towards
communication, interaction and learning between all the school community. Hillier
points out the dichotomy between convex spaces and axial lines, respectively related
to standing and moving in space:
“The space structure is admittedly highly broken up into ‘convex’

spaces — but there are always lines which link the convex spaces
together, usually several at a time. […] But because people move in
lines, and need to understand lines in order to know where they can go,
this means that the space structure is easily intelligible from the point
of view of movement.” (Hillier, 2007, p.116)
Thus, axial lines are particular signiÀcant for the school brief, because their
acknowledgement envisions the learning experience to happen on the whole spatial
layout. In fact, as axial lines cross several spaces, their analysis brings further data
to this research, because they refer to several activities in sequences of natural
615
Full quote from Bernstein on this matter: “How a society selects, classiÀes, distributes, transmits and
evaluates the educational knowledge it considers to be public, reÁects both the distribution of power and the
principles of social control.” (ibid.).
616
See a more detailed analysis of Bernstein’s work on chapter 2.3. Adaptability for contemporary learning
practices and environments.
348
a)
b)
Fig. 131. “An example of how convex and axial representations are mapped on House at Creek
Vean, Team 4.” “a) An analyse convex map,” “b) An analyse axial map”
(MSc AAS student work 2007 @UCL in Al_Sayed, Turner, Hillier, and Iida, 2014, p.12)
movement, thus gathering formal and informal activities and analysing them as a
spatial and pedagogical whole. Besides, axial lines also provide data on “shapeless”,
informal and indeterminate spaces, rather than the formal and deÀned classrooms,
which also hold pedagogical potential, but whose adaptability analysis was not in
other ways as deepened.
For such purpose, the space syntax analysis will be primarily undertaken on convex
spaces as individual entities and, subsequently, on a topological relation of spaces
by axial lines that cross the group of the spaces previously analysed solely. The
paralleling of both results will conclude on the relevance of the values encountered
in the adjacent spaces towards the actual use of a particular space (Fig. 131).
For a convex space analysis the contours of the spaces will be drawn in Autocad and
then imported to Depthmap; (Varoudis, 2012) and linked together, constructing
a convex space map whose attributes can be assessed by means of extended charts
imported then to Excel software or by means of the maps’ coloured schemes,
assuming the traditional colour range from warm to cold colours, respectively as
the highest to the lowest Àgures.
For the axial line analysis the same process will be undertaken, although it starts
by designing the outlines of the whole space in Autocad and then importing this
Àle to Depthmap; and reduce it to the fewest lines, creating an axial line map,
349
with subsequent production of the respective charts and coloured maps for the
same attributes.
For the purposes of this research, as already referred, the attribute considered
most insightful for the description of the school space is global integration, which
represents the most signiÀcant spaces/lines in the systems. This coincides with
literature indications: “The general form of this measure is called integration,
and can be applied to any space in any conÀguration: the less depth from the
complex as a whole, the more integrating the space, and vice versa.” (Hillier,
2007, p.25).
Local measures will also be assessed, namely connectivity that indicates which
spaces are the ones with the highest number of connections towards other adjacent
spaces, and mean depth, which refers to the changes in direction from one space
to another.
Subsequently, isovists will be analysed, in the form of a VGA analysis, for further
information on the visual properties of the system, the features of each “visibility
Àeld” (Al_Sayed, et al., p.27) and the “inter-visibility between each pair of points in a
layout” (ibid.). By gathering these outcomes with the intelligibility assessment it may
also bring additional information on the morphological, visual and comprehensible
relation between the spaces and the overall spatial system.
All in all, the crossing of the entire results will provide a broader outlook on the
patterns of co-presence, both in moving and static activities, and more fully describe
the relation between morphology, function(s) and behaviour.
This overall process depicted above, referred to as milestone one, will provide a
deeper understanding of the school’s brief and layout, the identiÀcation of its
features and the topological relations between the spaces within the overall spatial
system. It will also provide a detailed description of each space’s functions(s) and
potential activity overlapping, which is quite signiÀcant for the entropy approach
within the methodology, as the second milestone.
350
3.3.2. Description of all possible activity allocations to educational

environments
“The pursuit of adaptability can be seen as maximising the looseness of the Àt

of the known activity schedule into the Àrst-build physical schedule […] Thus the
concept of entropy seems likely to be a very helpful tool.” (Fawcett, 1976b, p.7)
Milestone two of this methodology is based on an entropy approach to adaptability.

It follows Fawcett’s assumption that adaptability can be measured in a “precise
numerical value” (1978, p.55) provided by an adaptability model (ibid.).
This value will represent a Àgure related to the potential of activity allocation to a
space in an ideal scenario, where no other contextual, individual or management
constraints bear signiÀcance for this allocation. Therefore, this approach embodies
the nomothetic perspective within this methodology, informing on the regular
and potentially quantiÀable activities and allocations by the referred “numerical
value”.
In fact, Fawcett’s studies represent a benchmark on the state of the art for this
approach, namely his Doctoral Thesis A Mathematical Approach to Adaptability
in Buildings (1978) on calculating adaptability and matching adaptability and
entropy.
Jaynes considers entropy and uncertainty as “synonymous” (1957, p.622), which

can be transferable to the case study as the uncertainty of an activity allocation to
a space. This, ultimately, implies that a higher entropy space has a wider range of
potential activity allocations, whereas a space where the uncertainty/unpredictability
about which activity is currently happening is lower will mean that it has a smaller
number of potential allocations. Ultimately, a space with a single function has a very
low or non-meaningful value of entropy, because of the full certainty about which
activity it is holding. This deÀnition can be paired with Tribus’s interpretation of
entropy as “a measure of the uncertainty of the knowledge about the answer to a
well deÀned question.” (1969, p.119).
Consequently, a high entropy space will be more adaptable, in condition ceteris paribus
(meaning that we assume that all other variables besides entropy are constant),
because its allocation potential is also higher. From these studies entropy becomes
close to an adaptability index.
For the current research, this can be translated into spaces’ “loose-Àt adaptability”617
(Fawcett, 1978, p.27), which Fawcett paired with Baird’s “index for the amount of
Áexibility” for “the measurement of the link between physical environments and the
617
“Its measure of Áexibility is basically what we term loose-Àt adaptability in this thesis.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.27)
351
manmade items which might be placed in those environments at some future date”
(1972, p.254), resorting to information theory to achieve the quantitative measures.
Thus, Baird’s outlook on Áexibility, when applying information theory to the man-
environment systems, is similar to the one explained above:
“If there are many reasonable ways to place the different items in the
PE [Physical Environment], great Áexibility exists, and consequently, a
unique match need not occur between the items of the ME [Manmade
(built) Environment], and the locations of the PE. For example, it may
be decided that a home, school, and recreation area could be placed
equally well in one of many alternative locations. In this case, an
information analysis would indicate that little information had been
transmitted between the PE and the ME. That is, knowing a certain
location in the PE would not assist us in predicting the item placed there
because there are many equally likely candidates. At the other extreme,
a PE may be so unique that only one reasonable mapping (reasonable
from the planner’s standpoint) could exist between its locations and
the items of the ME. Such a plan has minimum Áexibility, and in this
situation, the information analysis would indicate that a maximum
amount (not type) of information was transmitted by the planner.”618
(Baird, 1972, pp.254-255)
This could also be interpreted towards adaptability as a potential adaptability index

for estimating the possible allocations between spaces and activities in educational
spaces. But it is relevant to understand that, nor Baird, nor this current research,
aim at proposing a level appropriateness of the activity allocation to a space by
means of the information theory619, rather than an outlook on the range of them
all and their potential variability as operative data for the planner.
For this research, entropy will be calculated by means of the mathematical

formulation deÀned by Shannon (Shannon and Weaver, 1949) under the context
of information theory, which was later studied by Jaynes (1957) and Tribus (1969):
S = -Yi pi ln pi
The relevance of this formulation lies in the results provided towards space and the
relation between entropy and adaptability. Even though the mathematics involved
on this formulation are not derived or further explained, the original quote by
Weaver (1949) is set to clear the meaning of the variables involved:

618
“Information transmission is a measure of the uniqueness or Áexibility of a man-environment interaction,

619
but it is not a measure of its ultimate “goodness.” Such a measure must be based on other criteria.” (Baird,
1972, p.256).
352
“Although it is not at all the purpose of this paper to be concerned with

mathematical details, it nevertheless seems essential to have as good
an understanding as possible of the entropy-like expression which
measures information. If one is concerned, as in a simple case, with
a set of n independent symbols, or a set of n independent complete
messages for that matter, whose probabilities of choice are p1, p2 . . .
pn, then the actual expression for the information is
H= – [ p1 log p1 + p2 log p2 + . . . + p log p ],
n n
H= – Ypi log pi .
Where the symbol Y indicates, as is usual in mathematics, that one is

to sum all terms like the typical one, pi log pi, written as a deÀning
sample.” (Weaver, 1949, pp.14-15)
Following Krüger’s studies (1981a), maximising adaptability will mean determining

the feasibility matrix that corresponds to the highest “number of biunivocal
corresponding matches” between spaces and activity allocations (pp.1171-1172),
which can be provided by maximising entropy by means of a mathematical
expression, as proceeded in this methodology. Similarly, according to Hillier:
“Entropy is maximal in a system when the system is in one of the macrostates for
which there are the largest number of microstates” (2007, p.57).
For that purpose, a sample of spaces will be analysed according to their features and
respective potential for activity allocation. This can be measured as the entropy of
that probability distribution (Fawcett, 1976b, p.7) and as “a unique, unambiguous
criterion for the “amount of uncertainty” represented by a discrete probability
distribution” (Jaynes, 1957, p.622).
By producing a feasibility matrix, which displays activity allocation per space, it is

possible to calculate the entropy of each space. The application of the formulation
will present a Àgure linked to each space. These results can be crossed with the
actual occupancy of that space, concluding on whether it is holding an effective and
full usage, under or over the initial brief.
It is also relevant to underline that Hillier also pointed out the possibility of analysing
entropy by means of a mathematical formulation:
“In other words, entropy relates the notions of order and chaos into
a single concept, but at the same time gives it a much more precise
and limited reference to the world. […] It permits the concept to
be captured in a formal mathematical expression as well as through
words.” (Hillier, 2007, p.57).
353
In fact, Depthmap; (Varoudis, 2012) provides “point depth entropy”, by using

Shannon’s formulation (1949) of uncertainty, hence portraying “how orderly a
spatial system is structured from a certain location” (El-Khouly and Penn, 2012,
p.5). Thus, Depthmap; provides a measure of entropy, calculated according to the
distribution introduced in the software. Entropy is here understood according to
Hillier’s deÀnition (2007) and “corresponds to how easy it is to traverse to a certain
depth within the system (low disorder is easy, high disorder is hard) […]” (Turner,
2001, p.7-8).
However, while Depthmap;’s “point depth entropy” indicates the degree of

disorder from a particular point in the system analysed by its spatial morphology620,
for this research the distribution is another. Here, entropy is not only conditioned
by topology but by functional use caused by the design options and physical features
of each space, which introduces constraints in the activity allocation, and thus, a
diversity in the spatial sample. So, this calculation does not only indicate a pattern
of movement but rather relates also to activities, informing further on the effective
use of space towards the learning process621.
Having said that, it becomes clear that the concept of entropy has a wide scope in
deÀnitions, approaches and authors of reference. From a more subjective approach
from Shannon (later studied by Jaynes and Tribus) to a more objective one from
Wilson, this Thesis will have to Àrst deÀne what is the deÀnition used and why is
it considered to be the most adequate for this methodology. Overall, it measures
entropy rather than predicting a degree of uncertainty. This is because the subjective
approach introduces more information in the entropy measurement rather than
using a more objective and isotropic distribution. The capacity constraints that are
applied to allocate only a set of activities to spaces that are physically able to cope
with them, makes the distribution closer to the actual scenario, to the spaces and to
the activities of that school and hence, the uncertainty degree is lower and closer to
that real activity/space allocation. This is much different than Wilson’s parameter
estimates of an objective approach like coin-tossing, because not all microstates
have the same likelihood of happening in this school622.
Accordingly, the process of calculating the entropy of the system will be done by a
sequential production of speciÀc matrices (Coelho and Krüger, 2015) from the data
collected from milestone one, as follows in Fig. 132:
620
“Calculating point depth entropy can give an insight into how ordered the system is from a location” (Turner,
2001, p.7)
621
Overall, it informs on the degree of disorder introduced according to the spatial features of each space and
axial line and respective activity allocation potential.
622
This matter has also been discussed in an email exchange with William Fawcett in December 2015.
354

D/>^dKE/

D/>^dKE//

Fig. 132. Sequential procedure for measuring the entropy of the system
(Carolina Coelho)
After the initial spatial identiÀcation of the school, understood as part of milestone
one, it is possible to list the potential activities that can occur in those spaces. This
will be speciÀcally applied in the case study, in an original way, considering all
possible activities in a tree-shaped scheme that starts with the most general domains
to the most detailed ones, like so:
. Domain I) Corresponds to types of spaces in relation to the learning process.

They could either be: active learning environments or supportive environments, in
which the Àrst hold effective learning activities whatever their nature, considered to
be the “end-activities” of the school, and the latter support the activities held in the
Àrst, identiÀed as the “means-activities” (Krüger, 1992, p.7)623.
. Domain II) Corresponds to the nature of the uses: curricular or extra-curricular.

Curricular activities are the ones acknowledged within the pedagogical curriculum
of the school, whereas extra-curricular activities are activities that could also bear
pedagogical potential but are not included in the school’s curriculum.
. Domain III) Corresponds to types of activities: programmed or non-

programmed. According to Krüger (1992) programmed activities are related to a
623
Translation from the Portuguese respectively by: “actividades-Àm” and “actividades-meio”.
355
functional schedule and a work routine (usually a weekly schedule), whereas non-
programmed activities are related to spontaneous or non-repetitive activities and
present an “irregular usage of the space” (Krüger, 1992, p.7).
It is of the utmost importance to underline that non-programmed activities today
may be academic and comprehended in the school’s pedagogical curriculum, due
to the relevance of informality for the current learning model. Therefore, active
learning environments can accommodate curricular and extra-curricular activities,
which can be considered both programmed and non-programmed, according to
their speciÀcity, the users involved, the frequency of those activities and whether
they are contemplated in the school’s curriculum or not.
SpeciÀcally, programmed academic activities are related to classes, in the shape
of lectures, evaluation classes, group work formal activities or any speciÀc class
included in the school’s curriculum. Whereas non-programmed curricular activities
can also be classes that do not happen weekly, but rather sporadically, or occur due
to a speciÀc need or any curriculum’s schedule constraint or speciÀcity.
Also, extra-curricular activities can happen both in supportive learning environments
like the activities related to the Administration, or can also be held in active learning
environments. In this case, these can be: learning activities, social interactions
amongst all users, peer interaction only or, more speciÀcally, they can take the form
of external displays. All the former activities create moments for learning, whether
programmed or non-programmed. The non-programmed, extra-curricular activities
like circulation can also be considered prone on learning, because although patterns
of movement are not programmed, the learning process can also occur amongst
pathways, by means of peer socialisation or spontaneous encounters with anyone
from the school community that enables communication and knowledge exchange.
Nevertheless, some of these activities are mutually exclusive, which is the case
of learning activities in supportive environments, or circulation as programmed
activities, which have been disregarded. So, supportive learning environments
accommodate programmed and non-programmed activities, but deployed of
a pedagogical nature, like general interaction amongst the school community,
formal activities supportive of the learning process, such as the work from the
Administration and circulation, speciÀcally as a non-programmed activity.
. Domain IV) Corresponds to teaching regimes held by the pedagogical curriculum

of the school in which the methodology will be applied. This could vary from the
regular teaching alone, to others like the artistic teaching or the external teaching,
done by the school’s educators or by associations that use the spaces outside the
school schedule.
. Domain V) Corresponds to activities in each identiÀed teaching regime, detailed

according to the subdivisions and previous domains.
356
ACTIVITIES - SAMPLE
DOMAIN I DOMAIN II DOMAIN III DOMAIN IV DOMAIN V
EDUCATIONAL DOMAIN TYPES OF USES TYPES OF ACTIVITIES TEACHING TYPES DETAIL OF THE ACTIVITIES
Active learning Curricular Programmed Type 1 A 1, A2, A3, A4, A5
Type 2 A 1, A2, A3, A4, A5
Non-programmed Type 1 A 1, A2, A3, A4, A5
Type 2 A 1, A2, A3, A4, A5
Extra-curricular Programmed Type 1 A 1, A2, A3, A4, A5
Type 2 A 1, A2, A3, A4, A5
Type 2 A 1, A2, A3, A4, A5
Supportive Curricular Programmed Type 1 A 1, A2, A3, A4, A5
Type 2 A 1, A2, A3, A4, A5
Type 2 A 1, A2, A3, A4, A5
Extra-curricular Programmed Type 1 A 1, A2, A3, A4, A5
Type 2 A 1, A2, A3, A4, A5
Type 2 A 1, A2, A3, A4, A5
Fig. 133. Activities sample of an abstract scenario

(Carolina Coelho)
The matrix (Fig. 133) corresponds to a blank activities sample, with the referred
domains, to be Àlled in with further detail, according to the case study’s speciÀcities.
In order to produce the methodology, several procedures have been studied.

From Fawcett’s 1976 approach on the “loose-Àt” method on his paper Measuring
Adaptability, a feasibility matrix will be done that links the spaces identiÀed in the
school (not space-types, but actual spaces located in the plans), with the activities
that happen there. From the spatial attributes it is possible to match activities to
spaces and produce this matrix. This approach does not consider a particular time
period, because it would imply combinatorial models for the possible allocations
for each time period.
So, a feasibility matrix will be produced, by matching all the previous identiÀed
spaces with the activities in the sample (Fig. 134). This matrix points out the activity
allocation potential of each space in an abstract scenario, ideally identifying all the
activities that all spaces are physically prepared to shelter.
357
FEASIBILITY MATRIX
ACTIVITIES SAMPLE SPACES

DOMAIN I DOMAIN II DOMAIN III DOMAIN IV DOMAIN V 1 m2 3 4 v5 e6 r7 t8 r9 d10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Active Curricular Programmed Type 1 A1

learning
A2
A3
A4
A5
Type 2 A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
Non Type 1 A1
programmed
A2
A3
A4
A5
Type 2 A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
Extra-curricular Programmed Type 1 A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
Type 2 A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
Non Type 1 A1
programmed
A2
A3
A4
A5
Type 2 A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
Supportive Curricular Programmed Type 1 A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
Type 2 A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
Non Type 1 A1
programmed
A2
A3
A4
A5
Type 2 A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
Extra-curricular Programmed Type 1 A1
Total
activity allocations per space
ai/ ai 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
Fig. 134. Feasibility matrix of an abstract scenario to be Àlled in

(Carolina Coelho)
358
Then, it will also be possible to cross the number of activities that each space is
potentially able to allocate with the range of all activities accounted for in this study
and listed in the activities sample produced from scratch for the methodology.
From that feasibility matrix of spaces to activities, conclusions can be drawn on the
most relevant spatial features towards adaptability and the ones that, when provided
to a space, potentiate a higher range of uses.
By determining which are the spaces with the highest and lowest range of activity
allocations and studying their respective spatial attributes pointed out in Fig.
129 - according to their respective dimension, conÀguration, coating, networks,
environmental conditions and accessibility - this will inform which features are
present in the analysed spaces and, ultimately, which attributes enable higher activity
allocation, because they provide the space with the ability to hold further uses. From
then, professionals can be informed on the cost/beneÀt of introducing a particular
design solution and which spatial features have stronger and lower inÁuence on the
building’s adaptability.
Afterwards, an allocation matrix will be developed that joins activity allocations per
domains of activities. This is what Fawcett entitles “matrix ©sij, of all allocations”,
holding “integer entries” (Fawcett, 1978, p.181). At this point the procedure implies
a choice on the distribution to be analysed, whether a more or a less disaggregated
one. A more disaggregated distribution is one that holds deeper complexity, because
it has a wider range of items to be accounted for, and the less disaggregated has less
groups of activities to estimate partial calculations. In this case, if the distribution is
chosen for domain III it will be less disaggregated than for domain IV, because the
one for domain IV has additional detail and items (Fig. 135).
For this research, and in order to provide a more complete outlook on the
methodology to be validated and in the case study in which the methodology will
be applied, it is considered to be signiÀcant to consider two distributions: a more
and a less disaggregated. This will inform whether the degree of aggregation
of the probabilistic distribution analysed bears signiÀcance for the analysis, if it
provides different entropy results and which distribution proves to have higher
correlation with the other parameters, namely with integration, connectivity and
mean depth. All in all, the Ànal results will potentially establish new data for the
methodology itself and also for the correlation analysis between entropy and
integration, which aims to be innovative and to bring the architectural knowledge
forward in this matter.
Next, a distribution matrix will be produced by dividing the number of grouped

activities for each space by the overall number of potential activities for that space
359
ALLOCATION MATRIX _ DOMAIN III

ACTIVITIES SPACES
SAMPLE
I II III 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
I a) II a) III a)
III b)
II b) III c)
III d)
I b) II c) III e)
III f)
II d)
allocations
per space
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 14 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
ALLOCATION MATRIX_DOMAIN IV
ACTIVITIES SPACES
SAMPLE
I II III IV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
I a) II a) III a) IV a)
IV b)
IV c)
III b) IV d)
IV e)
IV f)
II b) III c) IV g)
IV h)
IV i)
III d) IV j)
IV k)
IV l)
I b) II c) III e) IV m)
IV n)
IV o)
III f) IV p)
IV q)
IV r)
II d)
allocations
per space
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Fig. 135. Allocation matrix of an abstract scenario to be Àlled in

Domain III _ less disaggregated
Domain IV_ more disaggregated
(Carolina Coelho)
DISTRIBUTION MATRIX_DOMAIN III

ACTIVITIES SPACES
SAMPLE
I II III 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
I a) II a) III a)
III b)
II b) III c)
III d)
I b) II c) III e)
III f)
II d)
allocations per
space
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 14 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
S = ENTROPY
Fig. 136. Distribution matrix of an abstract scenario to be Àlled in for Domain III
(Carolina Coelho)
360
(Fig. 136). This is what Fawcett entitles “stochastic matrix, ©tij, by diving all entries
by the total number of allocations, S” (Fawcett, 1978, p.181). Finally, Shannon’s
entropy formulation: S = -Yi pi ln pi, will be applied to all these spaces, presenting
an entropy Àgure for each space, that can be ranked and analysed.
From this Ànal matrix it is possible to derive the entropy of each space by using
Shannon’s formulation on the values from each column on the matrix. This will
provide a value of entropy for that space. At this point, this methodology diverges
from Fawcett’s approach, because this does not considerer activity-schedules and
also introduces Shannon’s formulation to derive the entropy for subsequent critical
analysis.
This process overall studies “the property of many-statedness”624 rather than

states, activity-schedules and space-types per time unit. As realised by the previous
explanation of the methodology and the expected results, the Ànal outcome
introduces a Àgure linked to each space overall, not regarded to any schedule. So,
this process aims to measure the possibility of allocating an activity to a space,
according to each space’s physical attributes like: dimension (high, length, width),
conÀguration (openness, partitioning), coating (Áoors, ceilings), networks (power
access, connectivity), environmental conditions (temperature, acoustics) and
accessibility (direct, by means of a lift, staircases or ramp); which may constrain or
enable activity allocation to a space625.
Conclusively, if the spaces with the highest entropy have common spatial features,
it is possible to identify which ones are more signiÀcant for a higher adaptability.
Ultimately, this will potentially provide guidelines to choose the attributes for a
more adaptable space and the cost/beneÀt of introducing each one.
All in all, this methodology is supported by the studies on building adaptability

representative of the state of the art, but critically projects them to the current
paradigm of the learning process and learning spaces. So, following Hertzberger’s
concept of the “learning street” (2008, p.113), another novelty introduced by the
research is the analysis of the adaptability potential of the learning environments,
within a broader deÀnition, already considered in the previous procedure.
Accordingly, after the analysis of convex spaces and axial lines through space syntax,
entropy will be calculated not only for all the convex spaces, but it will also provide
an entropy value to the axial lines recognised in milestone one of the methodology.
624
Expression used by William Fawcett in December 2015, in one of many emails exchanged during the
research process.
625
This matter has also been discussed in an email exchange with William Fawcett in December 2015.
361
For this purpose, this research introduces two original concepts on calculating
entropy for axial lines: ““axial line entropy” […] calculated as the sum of the
entropy of all convex spaces intersected by this axial line” and ““average axial line
entropy” […] calculated, by dividing the axial line entropy by the number of convex
spaces intersected” (Coelho and Krüger, 2015, pp.17:11626), as follows:
A;IAL LINE ENTROPY: Si = Yk Sik

Si entropy of axial line i
Sik entropy of convex space k intersected by axial line i
AVERAGE A;IAL LINE ENTROPY: ASi = Yk Sik/NK

ASi average entropy of axial line i
NK number of convex spaces intersected by axial line i
After measuring the entropy of each individual space, the grouped spaces taken
into consideration in the sample will also had their total entropy calculated. By
the formulation presented, the values estimated will, logically, be a product of
the individual spaces’ entropy that each axial line intersects, varying accordingly.
Naturally, it will increase as the axial line intersects more spaces and also if the
spaces intersected hold themselves higher entropy values.
The “average axial line entropy” will also be deÀned by the number of spaces
intersected by that axial line. Therefore, if it intersects a high entropy space but also
numerous others spaces with low entropy, the Ànal Àgure will diminish because of
the low entropy of the remaining spaces. So, it increases with the increase of the
average entropy of each space and decreases with the number of convex spaces for
the same number of average entropy of that axial line.
In Fig. 137 a representative axial line is highlighted in red that crosses an extensive
range of convex spaces in Quinta das Flores School, therefore if the entropy of the
spaces it crosses is high so will its axial line entropy and average axial line entropy
be, but if it is low and because it crosses so many convex spaces, these values will
naturally diminish627.
626
These concepts have been presented for the Àrst time in the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium, in 13-
17 July 2015, London, for peer validation. This communication was published in the Conference’s proceedings
as: Coelho, C.; Krüger, M. J. (2015). Towards a methodology to assess adaptability in educational spaces: An
entropy approach to space syntax. In Karimi,K; Vaughan, L.; Sailer, K.; Palaiologou, G.; Bolton, T. (Eds.).
Proceedings of the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium. p.17: 1-20. London, UK: Space Syntax Laboratory, The
Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.
627
This study and the analysis of each of the axial lines from the spatial sample chosen from Quinta das Flores,
362
Fig. 137. Floor plan of Quinta das Flores School with its several convex spaces
and a representative axial line (in red)
(Carolina Coelho)
3.3.3. Description of effective events and experience in the school
“Users are continuously making design decisions as they move scenery around on a
day-to-day basis to match changing demands.” (Worthington, 2007, p.17)
After assessing the full and expected activity allocation potential of the spaces, the
following procedure, milestone three of the methodology, focuses on describing
their effective occupancy, adding further information on spontaneous and non-
programmed activities, not referred in the activity sample used for the entropy
measuring.
Such a qualitative approach focuses on behaviour, actions and the way by each
people interpret their experience in the world. Subjectivity is here acknowledged as
a part of individual spatial fruition and a Àlter between the actual built environment
and the way people experience and appropriate space (Minayo, Souza and Santos,
2005, p.85).
So, for the assessment of space, after portraying the sample in its physical features,
it will also be signiÀcant to conceive space in regard to the experience it provides,
beyond the physical objects per se, and exploring what it implies to the individuals’
experience, embodying Hill’s words: “[…] architecture is not just a building. It is,
primarily, a particular relation between a subject and an object, in which the former
occupies the latter [...]” (1998, p.7).
Assuming that each method will provide different conclusions, this methodology
resorts to observation matrices, walkthroughs and focus groups628, for depicting
individual experience and spontaneous appropriation, adding information on the
will be dealt in detail in chapter 4. Application of the methodology in the case study.
628
These procedures will be developed in the following pages of this chapter.
363
Fig. 138. Illustration of observation practices.

a) “An example of snapshot at observation at Belén Library Park”
b) “An example of tracing observation at Belén Library Park”
c) “Aggregating all snapshots and tracings in a single GIS Àle”
(Capillé and Psarra, 2015, p.8)
adaptability potential of spaces for non-scheduled learning activities.
Observation matrices aim to recognise patterns of movement and use and to

identify invariables and Áuctuations in those patterns. They comprise a report on
the nature and density of the activities acknowledged in a speciÀc time period and
repeatedly in several intervals during a whole day.
Particularly for the analysis of a school by observation matrices it is relevant to

choose the most representative time periods like: the morning arrival, the lunch
break and the evening exit; as well as speciÀc observation dates, such as: a regular
school day, the examinations’ phase, or a community event day. These are considered
to be the schedules in which more users converge to the common spaces and,
hence, with a higher and more dense patterns of natural movement and activities.
It is also done in the spatial clusters acknowledged as the most signiÀcant for spatial
occupancy, such as: the main hall, the cafeteria and the main corridors.
This procedure also recognises the speciÀc diversity of meaningful time periods
for observations, due to the numerous extra-curricular activities a contemporary
school holds, even after school hours, which also acknowledges a wider community
of users within each spatial cluster performing activities of different nature. This
validates the school’s potential to be more often and intensively used.
Iconographic representations can be considered a straight way to illustrate those

observations of spatial experience, whether by free-hand drawing or drawing over
the school’s plans, in order to depict the activities occurring in the spaces analysed.
364
b)
a) c)
Fig. 139. a) “Observation analysis”
(Aragüez and Psarra, 2015, p.16)
b) “Snapshot data from the study areas showing the amount of pedestrians: […] SoFo”
(Choi and Koch, 2015, p.6)
c) “Five major routing patterns at the Keio Techno Mall.”
(Naya, Yamada, Kishimoto, 2015)
This process has already been undertaken by authors of reference, as useful and
straightforward means to illustrate observation matrices, considering it a proven
tool for retrieving information and to systematise the uncovered results. This is
proven by the Àgures 138 and 139, which illustrate the wide variety of potential
layouts that the iconographic representations can take, the variables that can be
analysed under the scope of spatial experience, and also on a wide range of working
scales (either on the city, the building or a single space) by various authors.
It is also used by pointing out densities of users within convex spaces or pathways,
by means of a density of dots on the plans (Fig. 139b) or by other types of
representations where effective quantitative amounts are displaced or represented
by the width or density of the routes identiÀed, for actionable knowledge on
effective spatial occupancy per cluster (Fig. 139a).
According to each of the authors of reference, even in the examples shown (chosen
due to the representativeness and clarity of the iconographic representations and the
information that they can hold), they are generally a product of observations whose
results can be retrieved either manually of by digital means (see the differences in
Fig. 138 a), b) and c) and their respective captions).
But also for the current theoretical presentation of the methodology in this chapter,
the schemes, models and plans are representative, and their actual and effective
application in the case study will be described on the following chapter 4629.
629
365
Walkthroughs are another procedure to assess experience. Logically, that several

sampling criteria could be proposed for the selection of the population under
study, which vary according to the references and study Àelds, from social research
(Neuman, 1996; Bryman, 2008) to a more mathematical nature of the sample
(Hansen, Hurwitz and Madow, 1953a and 1953b; Levy and Lemeshow, 1999;
Jessen, 1978). This could be either as a “probability” or a “non-probability or non-
random sampling method”, according to a possible bias on the selection of the
population or not (Bryman, 2008, pp.168-169). The most relevant criteria should be
the representativeness of the population, in which there is “a sample that reÁects
the population accurately”, ultimately, “to be able to generalize your Àndings from
your sample to the population from which it was selected” (Bryman, 2008, p.168).
For the purpose of assessing effective spatial fruition in active learning environments
in the school, it is considered to resort to assorted focus groups of the internal
school community, each with a common denominator, such as: students and
educators from each speciÀc teaching. This procedure aims to recognise how the
school community moves and acts in space and what are the main pathways each
focus group choose. Hence, the need for a thorough identiÀcation, a “sampling
method by clusters” (Hill and Hill, 1998, p.29) composed by representative groups
of people within the school community.
Naturally, the wider the variety of users and uses in the school, the greater the
complexity of this procedure and the number of walkthroughs necessary to better
describe the school’s experience and appropriation. Likewise, the diversity of
informal or non-programmed activities in a variety of school spaces, increasingly
broadens the range and nature of the activities into consideration.
All in all, it provides information on the possible routes taken by the school community
and their representativeness and density within the deÀned pathways (Fig. 139c).
Afterwards, within a last procedure for assessing spatial experience, each person
from each previous focus group identiÀed is asked detailed questions, adding
information on speciÀc situations recognised in the previous walkthroughs. Focus
groups, overall, aim to provide qualitative information of spatial experience, rather
than inquiries.
In fact, in inquiries the questions placed are limited and often resort to multiple
answers, restricting the possibilities of experiencing space to the answers considered,
and providing mostly a quantitative outcome. By contrast, in focus groups, the detail
of the questions is chosen according to the purposes of the research and is done
in the form of recorded interviews on individual experience and personal opinion
(Minayo, Souza and Santos, 2005, pp.96-97), with subsequent critical analysis. For
analysing school facilities, the focus groups consist mostly of a set of students and
a set of educators.
366
3.3.4. Description of the potential correlations and retrieval of the school’s

adaptability
“Strategic decisions made at the beginning of all design processes (typically, when
little information is available) always have great inÁuence on initial performance
and on long-term consequences […] In the subsequent life cycle phases (e.g. in a
refurbishment) design also assumes a long term impact; it must ensure or recreate
the adaptability of the building to meet future needs.” (König, Kohler, Kreißig and
Lützkendorf, 2010, p.19)
After having produced a critical analysis of the data gathered on the individual
approaches from speciÀc academic Àelds, the fourth and Ànal milestone of this
methodology aims to display an insightful outlook on the possibility of analysing
an educational space by these several procedures, but foremost to demonstrate its
relevance and originality when used within a hybrid methodology. This sustains
the possibility of a transversal gathering of approaches to be proliÀc for both the
practice and the academia:
“[…] the practical relationships between the sciences have been

successful in producing a richer and more vital interaction between
the various provinces of scientiÀc research than perhaps would have
been the case had they been interrelated on the basis of the more
abstract criteria employed in the scientiÀc academies.” (Windelband,
1894, p.172)
The data gathered in each sequential milestone will be transferred to the next as Schön’s
(1983) “reÁection in action” process, ultimately to provide a general conclusion on
the case study’s adaptability and the respective prominence of the partial results.
The signiÀcance of the methodology resides Àrstly in the fact that, because it is
applied to contemporary educational spaces prone on both formal and informal
learning environments, as vehicles for peer collaboration and communication, it
also takes that into consideration while assessing both formal and informal spaces.
Furthermore, within the Àrst two milestones, an analysis will be undertaken of the
formal spaces by themselves, followed by the same analysis on grouped spaces as a
whole and signiÀcant space in which learning occurs.
Therefore, assuming the speciÀcity of today’s active learning environments, whose

conÀguration can widely vary according to the diverse range of activities that
contribute to the learning process630, it has been considered relevant to analyse the
school building not only by its convex spaces but also to assume the pathways as
possibilities for learning.
630
367
As previously seen, on milestone one, charts and graphs will be produced on the axial
lines and convex spaces of the sample, for local and global syntactic properties, as a
means to further understand part-whole spatial relationships and space’s individual
representativeness towards to whole system. Then, the entropy of each convex
space and axial line will be measured and charts will be made with the end results.
Hence, one of the expected outcomes of this research is to demonstrate whether

the entropy levels achieved by means of the mathematical expression are correlated
with spatial morphology assessed by space syntax, in order to identify the degree
of adaptability of a building and its ability to physically cope with a vaster range of
activities.
Consequently, the relevance of this methodology also lies in the correlation between
convex spaces and axial lines within a space syntax and an entropy approach,
followed by a comprehensive analysis of the potential correlation between the
individual results. Overall, the methodology identiÀes the spaces whose individual
values and overall correspondence between all approaches are higher, in order to
inform on the most signiÀcant adaptable environments.
In fact, when the space syntax analysis is paired with mathematical entropy
calculations for each space, conclusions can be achieved on its quantitative
allocation potential, assuming that higher entropy implies a more adaptable
space. Furthermore, the paralleling of both approaches may also conclude on the
relevance of these variables towards the actual use of a particular space. E.g. space
x and y, sharing the same spatial features, and hence the same entropy levels, can
present different values of integration, depth and connectivity and hence, despite
their similar potential to allocate activities, their actual use may differ, because of
their spatial morphology within the school system. Besides, the fact that space x is
closer to space z, which has the highest value of integration, when grouped within
the same axial line, will naturally interfere with the end value of these parameters,
and thus, with its adaptability as the end conclusion.
Besides, the importance of this methodology is also supported by the originality of

the analysis of the two differently aggregated distributions analysed for the same
variables, concluding on their potential correspondence towards adaptability.
Thus, scattergrams will be produced that correlate space syntax’s integration with
entropy calculations for both convex spaces and axial lines. The correlation will be
analysed for both distributions, in order to understand which one proves to have
higher determination coefÀcients and hence, to be stronger. If the most integrated
axial lines intersect the spaces with the most signiÀcant values of entropy, this will
support a noticeable correlation between syntactic integration and entropy.
Should this correlation between axial line integration and entropy be the strongest,
368
this will bear signiÀcance at a pedagogical perspective as explained earlier, by

recognising the then proved potential of informal and open spaces towards knowledge
transmission, and corridors or sequences of spaces to act pedagogically.
It will also conÀrm a higher possibility of spaces with high entropy to be experienced
by users in various ways and highlight the signiÀcance of informality and non-
programmed activities, particularly for this school’s curricula and students.
Syntactic intelligibility will also be considered in order to demonstrate a potential

correspondence between the most intelligible distribution (whether by convex
spaces or axial lines) and the stronger entropy/integration correlation.
Additionally, this research also intends to conclude on the relevance of the

potential correspondence between spatial morphology and high entropy levels
towards building performance, its actual spatial usage and the learning process
within both formal and informal strands. Therefore, another possible conclusion
is the analysis of a possible overlapping of effective and full activity allocation, by
crossing the feasibility matrix of all activity allocations to the effective allocations
for a speciÀc time period. The outcomes will describe the school’s current
scenario, regarding its overall functional potential and may also point out external
variables, such as management decisions to inÁuence activity allocation or the
school’s agenda overall.
Furthermore, from this methodology it is also possible to conclude not only

on the representativeness of morphology, but also of spatial features, towards
adaptability, by cross-referencing the acknowledged high and low adaptable spaces
with their respective attributes, like: dimension, conÀguration, coating, networks,
environmental conditions and accessibility. Its Ànal outcome potentially provides a
comprehensive outlook on spatial analysis and a methodological development on
architectural research, to be applied to other schools or other design briefs.
Finally, the procedures for understanding experience and appropriation by qualitative

methods will potentially imply that a space can be used for a speciÀc purpose but
could also, before management decisions or informal spontaneous appropriation
by the users, hold other activities rather than the original ones from the brief. This
will vary according to the proÀle of the community analysed, which in this case is
particularly relevant, because it introduces a wider range of activities to be considered.
Besides, these methods will also promote a reÁection upon the degree of appropriation
the school enables. If this proves to be signiÀcant, following Hertzberger’s outlook
that: “[…] architecture should offer an incentive to its users to inÁuence it wherever
possible, not merely to reinforce its identity, but more especially to enhance and
afÀrm the identity of its users.” (1991, p.148). This will be admittedly recognised if the
369
Fig. 140. Analysis of the potential correlations between

Integration, Entropy and Experience from the milestones of the methodology
(Carolina Coelho)
school community proves to be creative and spontaneous when experiencing space

through non-programmed and informal activities, perceived in the walkthroughs
and by means of observation matrices and focus groups.
All in all, the multi-stage procedure this methodology implies, will introduce a
reÁection upon the potential correlations expected to be found. Firstly, results will
be analysed amongst each stage: regarding the analysis of the school space, namely
with the global and local syntactic measures studied; regarding convex and axial
entropy; and lastly on experience and appropriation. Then, it will be possible to
point out which spaces have the highest and lowest values on each of these stages.
Subsequently, the retrieved results will be correlated amongst the several stages
of the methodology, in order to understand a potential correspondence mostly
between integration, entropy and experience.
Conclusively, if spaces with recognisable values of entropy also represent some of

the most integrated and connected ones and the most signiÀcant for users when
experiencing space, this will also indicate a potential correlation between activity
allocation, integration and appropriation, and ultimately towards adaptability (Fig.
140). So, a more thorough study on their spatial attributes (indicated on milestone
one), will provide information on which features potentate adaptability and the
cost and beneÀt of introducing each one in a particular space, its relevance for
enhancing the adaptability of that space and increasing their allocation potential.
Ultimately, and recognising the importance of the educational spaces towards

learning, this methodology will conclude on the potential correspondence between
370
spatial morphology and high entropy levels towards actual spatial usage and building
performance. These outcomes provide in-depth data on the potential overlapping
of attributes, spaces and activities towards adaptability, whose input can inform
future projects on the design strategies that will affect the building’s occupancy,
ability to cope with change and overall lifecycle extent.
It could be argued that the Thesis is evaluating a possible methodology or rather

the school where it is applied in. It is therefore believed that the originality of
this Thesis lies Àrst on the methodology, the fact that it is a hybrid methodology
that recurs to different approaches to a more supported conclusion, and also the
fact that it is applied to active learning environments today, which are broader
in shape, size and deÀnition from the traditional classroom. And by measuring
“axial line entropy”, corridors and sequences of spaces, generally informal, but
that also hold pedagogical potential today, can also be considered and evaluated by
this methodology. Naturally, because this is applied to a case study, it is also being
evaluated and its degree of adaptability is, then, an ultimate conclusion. But, as
future developments, subsequently to this Doctoral Thesis, it could be of interest
to test it in other schools, whose outcomes may possibly differ.
As a Ànal remark, it is also relevant to underline the prominence of the iconographic

representation, in its so many diverse possibilities, visual layouts, nature and variables
under analysis. The iconographic representation by means of a functional analysis
of the plans will play a relevant role on the early depiction of the overall space, by
placing coloured hatches in each of the spaces according to an analytical study of
the brief and how it is translated onto the built spaces. The drawings produced
in Autocad to be introduced in Depthmap; software are also a means to reach
to charts and graphs that use colour and Àgures to best illustrate conclusions and
differences in the syntactic variables analysed. Then, entropy calculations produced
also with Excel software provide charts that rank the results encountered and
also tables and scattergrams for conclusions on compared results. Finally, and as
explained earlier, iconographic representations also play a relevant role in describing
spatial experience, in a less analytical manner than the latter procedures referred,
but as an immediate way to depict information under observation.
All in all, drawings, pictures, models and schemes, illustrate immediate observations,
systematise results, rank the Àgures on a particular variable, and lead to conclusions
under potential comparisons and respective interpretations. Hence, iconographic
representations will be a signiÀcant tool within this methodology, whether by plans,
free-hand drawings, annotations over the plans, tables, charts, graphs, scattergrams,
or photo or video recordings, each on its particular milestone of this methodology,
because they all introduce data to reach a comprehensive and more robust conclusion
on the problematics.
371
4. APPLICATION OF THE METHODOLOGY IN THE
CASE STUDY
Quinta das Flores School in Coimbra, Portugal
3UHVHQWDWLRQDQGMXVWLÀFDWLRQRI WKHFKRVHQFDVHVWXG\
4.1. Presentation and justiÀcation of the chosen case study
“The differences and uncertainties regarding the brief advised that the proposed
project had the intrinsic quality of future metamorphosis capacity.”631 (Santos, 2013)
The case study where the methodology will be applied is Quinta das Flores School in
Coimbra, a Basic and Secondary regular teaching school existing in a 1968 building
with a scattered pavilion layout, that was joint with the Artistic School of the Music
Conservatory of Coimbra632, by the rehabilitation made in 2008-2009, under the
Secondary School Modernisation Programme (Figs. 141, 142 and 143).
For the purposes of this Doctoral Research the methodology to be applied will
be done considering the regular teaching school and the artistic school as a whole
school633. Even though, for administration purposes, the schools are considered
separately, which is proven by the external evaluations and internal regulations
(Escola Básica e Secundária Quinta das Flores, 2015a; 20015b; 2014; Escola Artística
do Conservatório de Música de Coimbra, 2015; Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da
Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2010; 2011; Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo e Cirncia,
2014b, 201c) that are done separately, but for the aims of this research, under a
disciplinary scope on architecture, it is the shared space which is the focal point,
rather than its independent administrative management. And so, considering that
the new central building is shared by both the artistic and the regular schools, it will
be considered as one compound with a wide range of activities, a broad curriculum
and an extensive community. For future reference, and although they are individually
named “Quinta das Flores Basic and Secondary School” and “Artistic School of
the Music Conservatory of Coimbra”, the space under assessment will be entitled
Quinta das Flores School, acknowledging both teaching regimes and understanding
that their administrative boards work in a shared space.
In addition, for the purposes of the Secondary School Modernisation Programme,
631
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “As diferenças e indeÀnições do programa aconselharam
ao proposto projecto a qualidade intrínseca de futura capacidade de metamorfose.” (Santos, 2013).
632
The conservatory will be mentioned without capital letters as well as the school, its name in capitals will only
be done when a quote uses it originally or when the full names are recalled; Music Conservatory of Coimbra
or Quinta das Flores School.
633
After an initial brief presentation of the case study in chapter 1.5., this current chapter 4.1. intends to study
the building more fully and speciÀcally focused on the application of the proposed methodology.
375
Application of the methodology in the case study
Fig. 141. Quinta das Flores School _ Location in Portugal identiÀed with a red dot
(Google Earth)
Fig. 142. Quinta das Flores School _ Location in Coimbra identiÀed with a red dot
(Google Earth)
Fig. 143. Quinta das Flores School _ Bird’s eye view of the all school
(Google Earth)
376
3Uesentation and MustiÀcation of the chosen case study
as the space to be modernised is assigned to both regular and artistic schools, it is

considered as only one equipment called “Escola Básica e Secundária Quinta das
Flores / Conservatório de Música de Coimbra” (Parque Escolar, n.d. b).
According to the latest External Evaluation of Quinta das Flores School per se, the
modernisation process on this school offered “modern”634 and “adequate facilities”
namely “the library, labs, teachers’ rooms and sporting facilities” (Inspecçmo-Geral
da Educaçmo e Cirncia, 2014b, p.2)635. This complies with the previous report that
admitted that the facilities “provided the users with good working conditions and
comfort”636 (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2011, p.3)
SpeciÀcally, the Music Conservatory of Coimbra, dates from 5th September 1985,
legislated by the law “Portaria nº 656/85” as a public equipment for the specialised
teaching of Music (Escola Artística do Conservatório de Música de Coimbra, 2013,
p.4). Since its creation, it has been placed in several buildings since its creation. In
February of the following year it started working in a palace637 from the City Hall
located in Cerca de Smo Bernardo in Ladeira do Carmo. Then, in October of the
next year it has been displaced for the rehabilitated building of the old maternity
in Sé Velha, provided by the District Council of Coimbra638. Meanwhile, in the
academic years of 1996/1997 and 2002/2003 it has also been sited, at the same time,
in the Institute of Coimbra in Rua da Ilha, due to a protocol with the University
of Coimbra and this Institute. From the academic year of 2003/2004 to 2010 the
conservatory has been placed in a part of D. Dinis Secondary School’s facilities
in Rua Adriano Lucas (Escola Artística do Conservatório de Música de Coimbra,
2013, p.4; Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2010).
So, only twenty-Àve years after its institution, in 2010, has the Music School gained
a home speciÀcally built for its purpose, in Rua Pedro Nunes, a space also shared by
Quinta das Flores Basic and Secondary School. In the following year its designation
has been altered to “Artistic School of the Music Conservatory of Coimbra” because
all Music Schools have had that title included in their names (Escola Artística do
Conservatório de Música de Coimbra, 2013, p.4).
The Music School has its facilities in the new building (Fig. 144), distributed in
634
According to the full quote, modern in this context will imply a contemporary, and even future-forward,
design solution.
635
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A Escola Básica e Secundária Quinta das Flores situa-
se no Vale das Flores da cidade de Coimbra, ocupa uma área extensa, dispõe de novas e modernas instalações
e de equipamentos adequados, destacando-se a biblioteca, os espaços laboratoriais, os gabinetes de trabalho
para docentes e as instalações desportivas. Este campus escolar acolhe também a Escola Artística de Música do
Conservatório de Coimbra com quem partilha espaços especíÀcos apropriados (auditório, salas de dança, sala
de professores, secretaria, entre outros).” (p.2)
636
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Dispõe de novas e modernas instalações e de
equipamentos adequados, resultantes da intervençmo recente da Parque Escolar, E.P.E, proporcionando a todos
os seus utentes boas condições de trabalho e conforto.” (p.3).
637
In Portuguese “palacete” (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2010).
638
In Portuguese “Junta Distrital de Coimbra”.
377
Fig. 144. Quinta das Flores School _ New building in its street façade
(Carolina Coelho)
three curricular Áoors, with very diverse spaces for the also very diverse activities
that there take place, like: classrooms for the teaching of instruments, orchestra,
choir, electro-acoustic laboratory and composition rooms, besides individual
training rooms and administrative board rooms (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da
Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2010, p.3).
Besides, and according to the artistic school’s Educational Project (Escola Artística
do Conservatório de Música de Coimbra, 2013) their speciÀc facilities are also
composed by a small auditorium, a 400 places auditorium shared by both teaching
regimes and a dance studio, all placed in the main building. Not initially foreseen
and only for speciÀc purposes, for the Department of Musical Sciences and for the
subject of Group Classes639, the school uses classrooms in the pavilions B and D
(ibid.).
As mentioned above, this building has shared spaces with both the regular and
the artistic teachings, namely: the auditorium, locker rooms, dressing rooms and
restrooms; rooms that support the students’ activities, like the photocopy room,
the students’ shop and the psychologist’s ofÀce; the library; teachers’ ofÀces; the
staff room, pathways and administration areas (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro
da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2010, p.3). The sharing of the space with both
teaching regimes is considered to enhance the relation between the community
and the institutions: the regular teaching school and the artistic school (Delegaçmo
639
From the Portuguese “Classes de Conjunto”.
378
Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2011, p.4).
In fact, for the regular teaching school this new building has also been considered
“an asset in terms of access and use by the school students, of equipment and
installations concerning the arts […]”640 (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da
Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2011, p.3)
Also from the External Evaluation Report of the conservatory, from 2010
(Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2010), the
facilities, that had been just opened at that time, were considered suitable in what
concerns the generic and speciÀc equipment and parents had been informed of
the new functioning of the space641 and all students have been granted access to
all school assets and artistic events 642(p.5). Additionally also acoustics, accessibility,
safety and spatial dimension have also been valued positively, besides the existence
of signs and safety measures 643(p.11).
This particular school has already been presented overall in chapter 1.5.644, after the
presentation of the educational brief, the Portuguese context and the speciÀcity of
the artistic schools joint with the regular teaching. Already at that point, this school
had been justiÀed as a valid choice as the case study. This chapter aims to introduce
a deeper detail on this school and to present and support the chosen spatial sample
in which to apply the methodology explained in abstract in the last chapter645.
640
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Acresce que o novo edifício foi projectado para
acolher, também, o Conservatório de Música de Coimbra, o que constitui uma mais-valia em termos de acesso
e utilizaçmo, pelos alunos da Escola, de instalações e equipamentos especíÀcos ligados às artes (p. ex., salas de
dança, orquestra e música).” (p.3)
641
As considered in Chapter 1.8. Viability and feasibility, the lack of information on the functioning of a new
space and the persistence of old habits and routines might hinder the full usage of the rehabilitated buildings,
whose actions such as these might prevent.
642
Full quote in English: “The school facilities recently opened, are adequately equipped in terms of generic
and speciÀc furniture [...] The guardians are informed of crucial aspects of the school functioning and many
initiatives are promoted to attract families by engaging them, by standard, in the dynamics of the organization.
[...] The leaders have a general policy of fairness and justice, allowing access of all students to educational goods
and diverse artistic experiences.” (p.5)
Free translation of the original document in Portuguese: “As instalações escolares, recentemente inauguradas,
estmo adequadamente equipadas a nível de mobiliário genérico e especíÀco, […] Os encarregados de educaçmo
smo informados de aspectos cruciais do funcionamento escolar e smo promovidas múltiplas iniciativas para atrair
as famílias, envolvendo-se estas, por norma, na dinâmica da organizaçmo. […] Os responsáveis trm uma política
generalizada de equidade e justiça, permitindo o acesso de todos os alunos aos bens educativos e a experirncias
artísticas diversiÀcadas.” (p.5)
643
Full quote in English: “The Conservatory building, established in contiguous spaces to Quinta das Flores
Secondary School with 3rd cycle, was speciÀcally designed for the teaching of music and dance. Its opening is
very recent (December 2010), with facilities in good conditions in what concerns soundprooÀng (especially in
the auditorium, shared by both schools), accessibility, security and space size.” (p.11)
Free translation of the original document in Portuguese: “O edifício do Conservatório, implantado em espaços
contíguos da Escola Secundária com 3.º Ciclo da Quinta das Flores, foi especiÀcamente concebido para o
ensino da Música e da Dança. A sua inauguraçmo é muito recente (Dezembro de 2010), apresentando as
instalações boas condições de insonorizaçmo (especialmente no auditório, partilhado por ambas as escolas), de
acessibilidades, segurança e dimensionamento de espaços.” (p.11)
644
See Chapter 1.5. and particularly chapter 1.5.3. The case study under this research.
645
See Chapter 3. Construction of the methodology.
379
As previously explained, before the current shift in the pedagogical process and
consequently in the learning environments where it takes place, Portuguese school
buildings were not able to fully answering the spatial, pedagogical, technical or
digital needs. Hence, Portugal has undergone a secondary school modernisation
programme since 2007 by Parque Escolar, whose aim was “To renovate and
modernise the school buildings […], Opening the schools up to the community
[…], Creating an efÀcient and effective school building management system”
(Parque Escolar, n.d. a). Furthermore, “New standards for state-of-the-art
infrastructure have been developed for the programme, providing a benchmark to
ensure adequacy and equity across the school system and parity within the EU. The
aim is to develop innovative responses to the new educational and environmental
paradigms, taking into account the curriculum, functionality, motivation, replicability
and sustainability.” (Heitor, 2008, p.2). Renewed school buildings were guided
by Áexibility, multifunctionality, safety, accessibility, inclusiveness, durability and
environmentally efÀciency and spatial attractiveness for users’ well-being in space
(ibid.), in order to update, promote, and enhance school environments.
So, this school now holds a very particular teaching curriculum, where regular and
artistic teaching share the common spaces of the school, despite having separate
administrative boards. Thus, besides the general aims from the programme that
guided all the schools’ interventions, for this school the spatial modernisation had
the speciÀcity of widening the curricula options. Hence, it ultimately corroborates its
need to provide the community with adaptable spatial solutions that answer today’s
spatial, pedagogical and social requirements of both teaching regimes and respective
speciÀcities, which are clearly more extensive for this particular case study.
In fact, the adaptive re-use process in this school demanded more extensive
requirements in terms of modernising the educational spaces for the current
pedagogical and environmental legislation, but also to provide them with spatial
and technical features that the artistic school demanded for its teaching, according
to the architect José Paulo dos Santos:
“The existing property was recovered and adjusted to the new

requirements - with recurring materials and of local use - in which an
environmental comfort law caused quite constructive discomfort.” 646
(Santos, 2013)
Besides, it also bestow on the school a new openness to the city that was also one
of the goals of the programme, as seen in an upper quote, and that had a particular
representativeness in this school, due to is performative and cultural activities for the
most different and broad audiences. Naturally, that this implied a more demanding
intervention, as also stated by the architect José Paulo dos Santos:
646
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “O património existente foi recuperado e ajustado às
novas exigrncias – com materiais recorrentes e de uso local – em que uma lei de conforto ambiental causou
bastante desconforto construtivo.” (Santos, 2013)
380
Fig. 145. Quinta das Flores School _ New building and its accesses from the street
(Carolina Coelho)
“The brief provided for the Music Conservatory is naturally complex,

demanding in the environmental quality of the different educational
spaces and their relationship with the surroundings.”647 (Santos, 2013)
SpeciÀcally, this change in the pedagogical curriculum of this school also implied
the construction of a new building that introduces a new school front (Fig. 145),
which underlines the motivation for a current urban relevance, from which the
school was previously deployed, as the architect mentions:
“The plot where the Music Conservatory has been implemented in

conjunction with Quinta das Flores Secondary School is simultaneously
too exposed, unprotected and adjacent to a road punctuated by careless
rear housing blocks, supermarkets and structures that together qualify
these “weak-places” as near suburban.”648 (Santos, 2013)
Not to overlook the existing legacy, this new construction is also linked to the
existing buildings that were naturally modernised, by means of pathways649. The
647
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “O programa previsto para o CMC é igual e naturalmente
complexo, exigente na qualidade ambiental dos diferentes espaços de ensino e no seu relacionamento com a
envolvente.” (Santos, 2013)
648
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “O lote onde se implantou o CMC em conjunto com a
Escola Secundária da Quinta das Flores está simultaneamente demasiado exposto, desprotegido e adossado a
uma estrada pontuada por traseiras descuidadas de blocos de habitaçmo, supermercados e estruturas que, juntas,
qualiÀcam estes “fracos-lugares” quase suburbanos.” (Santos, 2013)
649
According to the architect these were designed for accessibility purposes (Santos, 2017) but that could also
be interpreted as pathways between the new and the existing built space.
381
urban cohesion is, thus, attempted by spatial connotation of this school’s new
façade in this plot, but also by the educational brief and the style of management.
In fact, the leadership and management are very appreciated in the latest External
Evaluation Report (Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo e Cirncia, 2014c) that considers it
to be engaging, to students and parents and sharing responsibilities with educators,
to be motivated and approachable, within what is called in the document “a culture
of shared management”650 (p.6), and ranked as “Good” (p.8).
Clearly, in this school the heritage of the regular teaching went along with the
present pedagogical agenda, that also brought an emphasised openness towards the
school, the cultural community and the city overall.
Hence, this is a school that embodies the need for adaptable space in a deeper sense,
due to the broad range of users and activities throughout the all day, and repeatedly
in a weekly base. So, spaces have to be able to cope with different requirements
from both teaching regimes as well as external uses, and also have to welcome and
answer the school’s internal and external community needs, acting as a pedagogical,
cultural, social and territorial core.
The relevance of the role of the school towards the community represents one
of the aims of the Secondary School Modernisation Programme651 and effectively
holds particular signiÀcance in this school, whose conservatory’s Educational
Project (Escola Artística do Conservatório de Música de Coimbra, 2013) starts
precisely by expressing the desire for supporting the educational training of a
widespread community, assuming a relevant role on the arts as a part and parcel of
a broad and comprehensive learning framework652 (p.2).
Additionally, the conservatory has guiding principles that consider, amongst others,
the artistic teaching to promote creativity, critical assessment and contemplative
capabilities, to understand and value the current cultural multiplicity, to enhance
the signiÀcance of the artistic teaching within the overall learning process, and to
regard student’s individuality, as well as the capacity of sharing and group-working,
which becomes quite signiÀcant for the joint regular and artistic regimes as a whole,
and for all youngsters in general (pp.11-13).
650
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Cultura de “gestmo partilhada”” (p.6).
651
“Opening the schools up to the community” (Parque Escolar, n.d. a).
652
Full quote in English: “[…] specialised music education is now seen as an integral part of the training of
children and young people, a perspective that does not exclude but rather equates, adherence to professional
options related to Music, Dance and other artistic expressions. Thus, in nearly three and a half decades of
existence, the Artistic School of the Music Conservatory of Coimbra (AS of MCC), as an artistic school, it has
been playing a unique role in the educational formation of its geographical area of inÁuence.” (p.2)
Free translation of the original document in Portuguese: “[...] a educaçmo musical especializada é hoje encarada
como parte integrante da formaçmo das crianças e jovens, numa perspetiva que nmo exclui, antes equaciona, a
adesmo a opções proÀssionais relacionadas com a Música, a Dança e demais expressões artísticas. Assim, em
quase trrs décadas e meia de existrncia, a Escola Artística do Conservatório de Música de Coimbra (EA do
CMC), enquanto escola artística, tem vindo a desempenhar um papel único no panorama educativo da sua área
geográÀca de inÁurncia.” (p.2)
382
This document also states that, currently, the artistic learning can be perceived with
particular interest due to the “profound reformations” on the requaliÀcation of the
teaching regimes, on the spaces, which have either been modernised or constructed
ex nuovo, and also on the regularisation of the employment status of teachers653 (ibid.).
Picking up in the positive context of the institution of the artistic teaching today, the
conservatory considers to have contributed to the growth of the artistic education
within the community, to the promotion of the space by its open and wide-ranging
offer of activities, to pedagogically approaching Quinta das Flores Basic and
Secondary School and also to the establishment of both Dance and professional
teaching courses654 (ibid.). Thus, this proves this school to be relevant to the context
of the artistic teaching, and also that the construction of its new and permanent
space has enabled the educational project and the expansion of its activities and
users towards the city and the community, culturally, socially and pedagogically.
Actually, its widespread school community includes students from the regular
teaching, from the artistic teaching, from both, all teachers, staff and parents.
Moreover, this school plays an active role in the community, enhanced by its artistic
nature, which leads to frequent performances and public exhibitions from the
students, as well as a special openness to external organisations of different kinds.
The music school has several possibilities of teaching, from the articulated655
653
Full quote in English: “There are reasons to face the educational role of artistic education with enthusiasm.
After a long period of stagnation in the various areas of this subsystem witnessed in the last decade, the deep
reforms ranging from the overhaul of the frequency regimes, to the rehabilitation/construction of equipment
and the regularisation of the educators’ professional situation.” (p.2)
Free translation of the original document in Portuguese: “Existem motivos para encarar o papel educativo do
ensino artístico especializado com entusiasmo. Após um longo período de estagnaçmo nas diversas áreas deste
subsistema assistiu-se, na última década, a profundas reformas que vmo desde a reformulaçmo dos regimes de
frequrncia à requaliÀcaçmo/ediÀcaçmo de equipamentos e regularizaçmo da situaçmo proÀssional dos docentes.”
(p.2)
654
Full quote in English: “Continuing the consolidation of the educational role of effort of the AS of the MCC
[Artistic School of the Music Conservatory of Coimbra] in the region to which it belongs, it is noteworthy the
progress made by the school in the recent past, namely:
. in boosting the equipment on which it is now deÀnitely located, producing a permanent and diverse supply
available to the community;
. in the development of an educational partnership with Quinta das Flores Basic and Secondary School;
. in the launch and consolidation of the Dance course, which also concerns the level of expansion of the
national public network on this area;
. in the launch and consolidation of the professional education, providing the region with a largely disadvantaged
offer in this area.” (p.2)
Free translation of the original document in Portuguese: “Prosseguindo o esforço de consolidaçmo do papel
educativo da EA do CMC [Escola Artistica do Conservatório de Música de Coimbra] na regimo em que se
integra, importa sublinhar os avanços obtidos pela Escola no passado recente, nomeadamente:
. na dinamizaçmo do equipamento no qual passou a instala-se em deÀnitivo, produzindo uma oferta permanente
e diversiÀcada acessível à comunidade;
. no desenvolvimento da parceria pedagógica com a Escola Básica e Secundária da Quinta das Flores;
. no lançamento e consolidaçmo do curso de Dança, também no que tal signiÀca a nível da ampliaçmo da rede
pública nacional nesta área;
. no lançamento e consolidaçmo do ensino proÀssional, dotando a regimo de uma oferta largamente carenciada
nesta área.” (p.2)
655
From the Portuguese “articulado”.
383
regime, to the supplementary656 regime, professional courses, and also free courses.
The articulated regime is taken with Quinta das Flores Basic and Secondary School
and also Martim de Freitas Basic School (Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo e Cirncia,
2014c, p.2). This articulation is also supported by the straight coordination of the
Class Director of the artistic teaching with the school’s Class Council (Delegaçmo
According to the conservatory’s Educational Project (Escola Artística do

Conservatório de Música de Coimbra, 2013), it teaches the following courses:
Initiation Course (Music and Dance), Basic and Secondary Course of Instrument,
Basic Course of Dance, Secondary Course of Singing, Secondary Course of
Composition, Secondary Course of Music Formation and Professional Course of
Jazz Player (p.10). From which the instruments that are taught are the following:
Keys - piano, carnation, organ, accordion; Woodwind - transverse Áute, bevel Áute,
clarinet, bassoon, oboe, saxophone; Brasswind - trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba;
Percussion and Drums; Strings (arches) - violin, viola d’arch, cello and double bass;
Plucked String / Plectrum - Portuguese guitar, classical guitar, mandolin, harp; and
Singing (Escola Artística do Conservatório de Música de Coimbra, 2013, pp.10,11).
The Basic Course of Music and the Secondary Courses of Music - Instrument and
Composition, are held in both supplementary and articulated regimes. Whereas the
Basic Course of Dance is taught only in the articulated regime, and the Courses
of Singing and Professional Jazz Player only in the supplementary regime (pp.6-8).
This wide educational offer has been considered in the External Evaluation Report
as impactful in the “valuing of the artistic teaching of Music by the community”
and also “in the demand of this teaching”657 (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da
This adds to the fact that, for the artistic teaching, learning holds different and very
diverse instruments and courses, taught in multiple situations and also in distinctive
spaces, determined by their speciÀcities; which underline the need for adaptability
from the existing spaces for the several learning activities of different sort, like:
knowledge creation, group interaction, individual training, evaluation moments and
even public displays.
Overall, according to data from Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo e Cirncia (2014c),

just the music school per se had at the time of that publication 967 students, from
which 83 were from the Initiation Course, 604 from the Basic Course, 238 from
the Secondary Course and 42 in the Professional Course. Its community was also
composed from 107 teachers and 24 staff members (ibid.).
In what regards Quinta das Flores School and according to the data from 2014 for
From the Portuguese “supletivo”.

656
Original quote in Portuguese: “A oferta educativa proporcionada tem tido um impacto muito signiÀcativo na
657
procura da formaçmo ministrada e na valorizaçmo comunitária do ensino artístico da Música.” (p.10).
384
the academic year of 2013-2014 (Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo e Cirncia, 2014b,

p.2), the school had 1194 students, from which 361 were from the basic teaching, 222
from the basic courses of music and dance in the articulated teaching regime with the
conservatory, 833 from the secondary course and 211 from the professional courses.
Additionally, this school under both the regular and articulated teaching regimes also
holds a widespread educational offer on “Sciences and Technologies, Socioeconomic
Sciences, Languages and Humanities, Visual Arts and professional Courses on
Technical Sporting Assistant Management, Technical Computer Equipment
Management and Technical Health Assistant, and also Professional Jazz Player in
articulation with the Conservatory” (ibid.)658. This had already been highlighted by
the previous report that already stated a diversity in the educational offer of “cultural,
sporting and scientiÀc nature” (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral
da Educaçmo, 2011, p.4), whose knowledge interplay accentuated the “integral
formation” of the student (p.4) referred in both reports from 2011 and 2014.
Student achievement is quite documented and attested by the External Evaluation

Report of the Music Conservatory from 2014 (Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo e
Cirncia, 2014c), which after a thorough analysis to each Artistic Deparment
concludes that “in a global analysis, it appears that the Conservatory has a very
positive academic performance [...]”659 (p.3), which has set a goal of 95% student
achievement for the academic year of 2013/2014 (p.5).
Actually, the social results from the referred External Evaluation Report of the
Music Conservatory from 2014 (Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo e Cirncia, 2014c) also
point out that all protocols and events from the music school promote “a positive
and motivational school environment”660 (p.3)661. This environment is appraised by
teachers, workers and parents that are generally pleased with the living and educational
experience in the conservatory (ibid.), and also with its facilities662 and overall its
Educational Service has been ranked as “Very Good” in the Evaluation Report (ibid.).
658
From the original quote in the referred document in Portuguese.
659
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “numa análise global, veriÀca-se que o Conservatório
tem um desempenho bastante positivo ao nível académico […]” (p.3).
660
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “um ambiente escolar positivo e motivador” (p.3).
661
Already in 2010 the External Evaluation report appraised this network of partnerships “for the improvement
of the educational service and creation of stimulating opportunities for learning”. ((Delegaçmo Regional do
Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2010, p.6).
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A rede de parcerias e protocolos é muito signiÀcativa,
contribuindo expressivamente para a melhoria das condições de prestaçmo do serviço educativo e para a criaçmo
de oportunidades estimulantes de aprendizagem.” (p.6)
662
According to External Evaluation Report of the Music Conservatory from 2014 (Inspecçmo-Geral da
Educaçmo e Cirncia, 2014c): “Parents and guardians of students show high satisfaction with the school facilities,
the appreciation that their child attends the Conservatory and incentive him/her to achieve good results […]”
(p.4).
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Os pais e encarregados de educaçmo dos alunos revelam
elevada satisfaçmo com as instalações escolares, o gosto em que o seu Àlho frequente o Conservatório e o
incentivo para a obtençmo de bons resultados [...]” (p.4)
385
The Student Association plays a relevant role in the engagement of the students
to the community and a sense of belonging to the school, with the promotion of
initiatives, like the Journal 441 Hz, and the Laureates Concert, or by management
decisions, such as: the Cultural Week, Final Students Recital and a selection of
public performances by the best students, besides its exposure in the media and
social networks, its monthly agenda and the performances done in public spaces
throughout Coimbra (p.5). In fact, in its Educational Project, the conservatory
states that it is crucial that the school continues to “go outside” (Escola Artística
do Conservatório de Música de Coimbra, 2013, p.19), meaning that it has to pursue
its aim to extend its activities outside the school’s boundaries and to promote the
artistic culture throughout.
The Conservatory Friends Association also draws the school community closer to
the general public and to the city. Consequently, the school has a recognised role
in the surrounding community, for its cultural, educational and social role, proven
again by the External Evaluation Report of the Music Conservatory from 2014
(Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo e Cirncia, 2014c) which ranks the conservatory results
has “Very Good” (ibid.): “The Conservatory has a relevant role in the development
of the surrounding community, because of its artistic production that it develops,
being generally recognised at a local, regional and national level.”663 (p.4). Already in
the previous report from 2010 (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral
da Educaçmo, 2010) the conservatory admitted to hold several events that promoted
students’ learning and a positive communitarian appearance664 (p.4).
Additionally, the artistic productions opened to public display as well as the creation
of strategic partnerships with local and regionals organisms such as other schools,
the City Council and the University of Coimbra (p.7), have been considered
strengths by this latest evaluation, that enable a higher prominence of the school
towards the city, an increase in the demand from students to seek the school and
the creation of formative events for the social and cultural development of the
community665 (p.9).
663
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “O Conservatório tem um papel relevante no
desenvolvimento da comunidade envolvente, pela produçmo artística que desenvolve, sendo objeto de
reconhecimento generalizado a nível local, regional e nacional.” (p.4)
664
Full quote in English: “Consistent actions are organised, aimed at the stimulation and enhancement of student
learning and compelling the effect that public musical performances have produced towards a favourable image
of the Conservatory in the community.” (p.4)
Free translation of the original document in Portuguese: “Smo organizadas acções consistentes direccionadas
ao estímulo e valorizaçmo das aprendizagens dos alunos, sendo incontornável o efeito que as actuações musicais
públicas trm produzido na imagem favorável do Conservatório junto da comunidade.” (p.4)
665
Full quote in English: “The provided educational provision has had a very signiÀcant impact on the demand
of the training and community appreciation of the artistic education of Music.” (p.9)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A oferta educativa proporcionada tem tido um impacto
muito signiÀcativo na procura da formaçmo ministrada e na valorizaçmo comunitária do ensino artístico da
Música.” (p.9)
386
In fact, the large extent of students that attend the conservatory, namely in the
supplementary regime that come from outside the city, besides the external and
internal events that take place there, implied an extension of the time the building
is opened, from 8.30p.m to 10.pm (p.7), for a more extensive use of the spaces and
a stronger justiÀcation of the investment in Ànancial terms, but also because of its
wide users, activities and a larger surrounding area of inÁuence666. In its Educational
Project (Escola Artística do Conservatório de Música de Coimbra, 2013), the
conservatory adds that, despite the growing demand for the articulated teaching
regime, the most required schedule is from 6p.m. to 8p.m., due to the students from
the supplementary regime and the availability of parents to bring their children
to the conservatory mostly after work. It continues by stating that it is one of its
intentions to offer the artistic teaching to all students, even the ones that live outside
the city’s outskirts, which explains the enlargement of its schedule (p.13).
This concern of openness to the community is also stated in the School’s Educational
Project as one of the aims of its “mission” to be an “inclusive, solidary and equitable
school” (Escola Básica e Secundária Quinta das Flores, 2014, p.13). This meets
with the aims of the general intervention by the Secondary School Modernisation
Process on being inclusive (Heitor, 2008) and open (Parque Escolar, n.d. a).
Equally, it is also very noticeable in the External Evaluation Report on Quinta das
Flores School (Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo e Cirncia, 2014b), the relevance of
encouraging “an open school culture” (p.7), by the engagement of the educational
agents667 (ibid.), besides an increasingly active participation of the students in a wide
range of activities (p.3), and the establishment of protocols and with several other
institutions (p.8). Moreover, this latest External Evaluation considered as some of
the school’s strengths, its ability to promote an active engagement of the school
community and its partnerships towards students’ and the overall community’s
interests (p.9). All in all, the school has been ranked “Very Good” in regard to
its Educational Service (p.7), respective Results (p.5), and to its Leadership and
Management (p.9), that have led to a positive improvement on the learning process
and student achievement (p.9).
666
According to the External Evaluation: “The educational resources and physical space of the Conservatory
are well monetized through its use in autonomous and collective work from the students and in the events open
to the educational community.” (p.7)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Os recursos educativos e o espaço físico do Conservatório
estmo bem rentabilizados, através da sua utilizaçmo em trabalho autónomo e coletivo dos alunos e em eventos
abertos à comunidade educativa.” (p.7)
667
Full quote in English: “The direction promotes an open school culture, promoting the dialogue and the
identity, highlighting the contribution of the various educational agents and their full participation in the School
life.” (p.7)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A direçmo promove uma cultura de escola aberta,
fomentando o diálogo e a identidade, valorizando o contributo dos vários agentes educativos e a sua plena
participaçmo na vida da Escola.” (p.7)
387
The impact of Quinta das Flores School on the community’s social development
and the increasing signiÀcance of the school is also proven by the External
Evaluation from 2014 (Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo e Cirncia, 2014b), supported
by “a strong connection with the surroundings, based on a network of partnerships
established with local entities, in increasing work with the Parents’ Association and
in the multiple activities opened to the exterior”668 (p.4). But it also acknowledges
its articulation with the conservatory as an opportunity that has led to an increasing
demand from students to enroll in this school. In fact, the attractiveness of this
school had already been considered in the school’s report from 2011, that attributed
this fact to “the educational offer and the existing environment”669 (Delegaçmo
Actually, according to the External Evaluation Report on the School (Delegaçmo

Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2011) this “partnership between
the School and the Music Conservatory [is considered an “opportunity”] for the
possibilities it represents for the development and establishment of both institutions
on the city of Coimbra”670 (p.13). This has also been highlighted by the School’s
Educational Project (Escola Básica e Secundária Quinta das Flores, 2014, p.12).
Therefore, this school acts as a urban and community hub, enhanced by its artistic
nature, which leads to frequent public exhibitions, as well as a special openness to
external organisations that use these spaces outside the school hours. This proves that
this school holds a high complexity on the adaptability of its learning environments.
Moreover, because this school holds a particular curriculum where regular and
artistic teaching share common spaces, it proves that this pedagogical model and
its spatial layout enable an effective use that is clearly participated by all, and that
668
Full quote on the impact of the school in the community: “The impact of the action of the School is
widely recognised by the community, translated, especially in the opening of the 2nd cycle for the teaching of
the Basic Courses of Music and Dance in collaboration with the Conservatory of Coimbra, in the increasing
demand for the School from the families, in the job offers and internships available by companies and
local and regional institutions. There is a strong connection with the surroundings, based on a network of
partnerships established with local entities, on the increasing work with the Parents’ Association and on the
multiple activities opened to the exterior, which contribute not only to enhancing the school but also for the
development of the social environment.” (p.4)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “O impacto da açmo da Escola é amplamente reconhecido
pela comunidade, traduzido, especialmente, na abertura do 2.º ciclo para ministrar os cursos básicos de
Música e Dança em articulaçmo com o Conservatório de Coimbra, no aumento da procura da Escola pelas
famílias, nas ofertas de emprego e de estágios disponibilizados por empresas e instituições locais e regionais.
Existe uma forte ligaçmo ao meio, alicerçada numa rede de parcerias com entidades locais, no trabalho
crescente com a associaçmo de pais e nas múltiplas atividades abertas ao exterior, que contribuem nmo só para
a valorizaçmo da Escola mas também para o desenvolvimento da envolvente social.” (p.4)
669
Full quote in English: “The school shows a good ability to attract students and families, to which contributes,
among other things, the educational offer and the existing environment.” (p.4)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A Escola mostra uma boa capacidade de atracçmo junto
dos alunos e famílias, para o que contribui, entre outros aspectos, a oferta formativa e o ambiente existente.”
(p.4)
670
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Oportunidades: Parceria entre a Escola e o Conservatório
de Música, pelas possibilidades que representa para o crescimento e aÀrmaçmo das duas instituições na cidade
de Coimbra.” (p.13)
388
enables higher levels of peer interaction, socialisation and ultimately cross-curricular

informal learning671.
This is proven by the Evaluation Report on the Quinta das Flores School
(Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo e Cirncia, 2014b), that informs that there is a wide
set of pedagogical activities that occur outside the formal classrooms, that support
particular learning needs (p.5).
But its artistic environment is also noted as being particular to this school and
leading to an “integral formation” (p.6) of the students, composed by the regular
teaching with the artistic teaching and also with the regular teaching of artistic
expression and theatre workshops, that organise artistic events of different sort,
from visual arts exhibitions, to performative shows on body expression and theatre
and music displays (ibid.), attesting a “high general artistic dynamics in the whole
school’s daily life”672 (ibid.), despite the curriculum of each student.
Particularly, the main hall and the library, both shared spaces, are considered to
be spaces of excellence for activities and cultural events and are acknowledged
as being adequately used for such purposes673 (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da
The main hall in the new central building represents the main entrance of the
school and is shared by all visits and inhabitants, despite each one’s purpose for
entering the building, their teaching regime, or the activity or event each one will
attend. What is more, that particular space holds both moving and standing activities
that enable peer interaction, spontaneous and informal events, as well as occasional
formal public displays or formal exhibitions.
In fact, the prominence of the main hall for cultural activities, formal and informal,
spontaneous or pre-determined events has already been highlighted in the External
Evaluation Report from 2011 for Quinta das Flores School:
“There is a great dynamism in organising scientiÀc, sporting and cultural
671
The high level of activities, when connected to their allocations to educational spaces has been presented in
the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium, in 13-17 July 2015, London, for validation of the procedure and of
the potential correlation. This communication was published in the Conference’s proceedings as: Coelho, C.;
Krüger, M. J. (2015). Towards a methodology to assess adaptability in educational spaces: An entropy approach
to space syntax. In Karimi,K; Vaughan, L.; Sailer, K.; Palaiologou, G.; Bolton, T. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 10th
International Space Syntax Symposium. p.17: 1-20. London, UK: Space Syntax Laboratory, The Bartlett School of
Architecture, University College London.
672
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Existe uma elevada dinâmica artística no quotidiano
escolar [...]” (p.6).
673
Full quote in English: “The main hall and the library are being very well used as privileged places for the
dissemination of the activities and as cultural spaces par excellence.” (p.4)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “O átrio principal e a biblioteca estmo a ser muito bem
utilizados como locais privilegiados para a divulgaçmo das actividades desenvolvidas e como espaços culturais
por excelrncia.” (p.4)
389
events, followed by exhibitions, musical demonstrations, dissemination

of activities from the different courses and from the Student Association,
among other initiatives, within the School hall.”674 (Delegaçmo Regional
do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2011 p.8)
The report adds that the main hall is used as a permanent exhibition space and
holds several events that promote the school’s image towards the community
(p.9). This is also attested by the External Evaluation Report from 2010 for the
conservatory (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo,
2010), that already, at that time, observed that it was a space that enabled creative
and artistic informal displays, in a spontaneous and encouraging manner:
“The installation of a grand piano in the common lobby of both

schools, with free access for experimentation and leisure, is another
example of a stimulus to civic attitudes, in which its use has been
registered without harmful effects.”675 (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro
da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2010, p.7).
Additionally, the library is also a signiÀcant space in the school life and the
community overall, holding several events of different sort (Delegaçmo Regional
do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2011, p.8). The fact that it is equipped
with signiÀcant material resources that enable it to hold different learning activities,
make this a central space for the school. This is again attested by the same report:
“The library is a large space, endowed with important material

resources, and with a diversiÀed interventions’ project. The activities
that it promotes, by supporting curriculum development in the Àeld
of information literacy and in an extra-curricular scope, make it to be
sought and valued by students and teachers.”676 (Delegaçmo Regional do
Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2011, p.9)
This becomes quite clear in the whole school, where students from the different
teaching regimes get together and interact, where the music students often
spontaneously start playing their instruments, whether in groups or individually, and
674
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Existe um grande dinamismo na organizaçmo de eventos
de natureza cientíÀca, desportiva e cultural, sucedendo-se exposições, demonstrações musicais, divulgaçmo das
actividades dos diferentes cursos e da Associaçmo de Estudantes, entre outras iniciativas, no átrio da Escola.”
(Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2011, p.8).
675
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A instalaçmo de um piano de cauda no átrio comum às
duas escolas, com livre acesso para experimentaçmo e lazer, constitui mais um exemplo de estímulo às atitudes
cívicas, registando-se o seu uso sem efeitos danosos.” (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da
Educaçmo, 2010, p.7).
676
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A biblioteca constitui um espaço amplo, dotado de
importantes recursos materiais, e com um projecto de intervençmo diversiÀcado. As actividades que promove,
de apoio ao desenvolvimento curricular, no campo da literacia da informaçmo e de âmbito extra-curricular,
fazem com que seja procurada e valorizada por alunos e professores.” (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da
390
where, all in all, socialisation and informality play a relevant role for this community’s
knowledge and student achievement, both in formal educational spaces but also, in
informal and moving spaces, rather than static ones, this school now provides.
This fact is even noticed by the architect José Paulo dos Santos that also acknowledges
the role of experience, spatial fruition and life, by and large, throughout the all
school, which encounters the programme’s goals for this school of modernisation,
multifunctionality and, foremost, of spatial attractiveness for users’ well-being, as
described above (Heitor, 2008, p.2).
Accordingly, the concept of memory goes along with change readiness and
adaptability, for both the people, the space and the curriculum, attesting this school
as a high complexity case study for the research on adaptability in educational
facilities677, but also a state of the art answer, that, according to the several internal
and external evaluations referred above, is proving to be effective in its actual
occupancy since its renewal. Ultimately, it corroborates its adaptable potential to
answer current spatial, pedagogical and social needs.
This meets us with the quote that initiated this chapter, by the architect in charge
of the school’s modernisation, with regard to its challenging need to cope with
future change, yet still uncertain, implying a deeper need for spatial features that
provide the school with Áexible, polyvalent and sustainable solutions towards future
developments and agendas, to which we would add, a profound need for adaptability:
“The differences and uncertainties regarding the brief advised that the
proposed project had the intrinsic quality of future metamorphosis
capacity. The brief requires a dialogue between the proposal and the
nearby urban environment leading to a clear and strong institutional image,
jovial but independent from the trendiness of the day. Also necessary -
in a country of scarce resources - a structure with a strong sense of
permanence in contrast to the ephemeral sense. The brief demands that
Áexibility and versatility are given to the concept within clear principles
of sustainability, more prosaically - common sense.”678 (Santos, 2013)
677
The choice on the case study and the results from a Àrst application of the methodology to this school prove
it to be “a high complexity case study for the research on adaptability in educational facilities” as stated in the
text. This has been appraised in peer review and presented in the10th International Space Syntax Symposium, in
13-17 July 2015, London. This communication was published in the Conference’s proceedings as: Coelho, C.;
Krüger, M. J. (2015). Towards a methodology to assess adaptability in educational spaces: An entropy approach
to space syntax. In Karimi,K; Vaughan, L.; Sailer, K.; Palaiologou, G.; Bolton, T. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 10th
International Space Syntax Symposium. p.17: 1-20. London, UK: Space Syntax Laboratory, The Bartlett School of
678
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “As diferenças e indeÀnições do programa aconselharam
ao proposto projecto a qualidade intrínseca de futura capacidade de metamorfose. O programa requer que
a proposta dialogue com a envolvente urbana próxima induzindo a uma clara e forte imagem institucional,
jovial mas independentemente da moda do dia. Igualmente necessário - num país de fracos recursos - uma
estrutura com forte sentido de permanrncia em contraste com o sentido efémero. O programa reclama que
a Áexibilidade e polivalrncia sejam dados ao conceito dentro de claros princípios de sustentabilidade, mais
prosaicamente - senso comum.” (Santos, 2013)
391
0 10
m
Fig. 146. Quinta das Flores School (ground Áoor) _ Spatial sample identiÀed in grey
(Plans provided by Parque Escolar with the spatial sample screened in grey by Carolina Coelho)
-ustiÀcation of the spatial sample
For this paper, the methodology will be focused on the new central building from
2008, built under this modernisation programme, identiÀed in grey in Fig. 146. The
following arguments will justify the chosen spatial sample.
1. Narrowing the sample enables a clearer explanation of the

methodological procedure.
Narrowing the sample enables to make the methodological process clearer and
to better understand its outcomes. Instead, a more complex endeavour could
potentially blur the explanation on the process, with all the possibilities that had to
be taken into consideration in regard to the activities and spaces and their allocations,
according to their respective spatial requirements and features provided.
2. An initial testing of the methodology has already been undertaken

in a smaller sample for validation purposes of both the procedure and
the results achieved.
This process has, in fact, been already applied, as an initial test to validate the
392
methodology, within an even more restricted sample composed by the ground and
the Àrst Áoors of the new central building, which hold a very diverse allocation
of activities to spaces. Both the methodology and the results achieved have been
subject of peer review for validation of the procedure and presented in the 10th
International Space Syntax Symposium, in 13th-17th July 2015, London, and also in
the 3rd International Symposium Formal Methods in Architecture, in 30th November-2nd
December 2015, Porto, and published in their respective conferences’ proceedings
(Coelho and Krüger, 2015; Coelho, 2015c).
This simpliÀcation has been done as an initial test to the methodology and for a
simpliÀcation of its explanation, due to the length required and nature from these
publications, but that already corroborated the process overall and the choice of the
case study. This endorses the suggestion make by Gray and Baird:
“Our experience of such empirical planning suggests that it is useful to

conduct a trial or test evaluation to start with, developing what works and
reworking or discarding what does not work so well in practice.” (Gray
and Baird, 1996, p.6)
3. Authors of reference also supported narrowing the sample for

simpliÀcation of the procedure to assess adaptability and for its
subsequent explanation and critical assessment.
This has been supported by Fawcett679 in a communication by email in December

2015, where it was suggested narrowing the sample to better present the
methodology, considered to be a core and original development and an architectural
advancement made by this Doctoral Thesis, Àrstly in abstract680, and then applied
to a case study681. In fact, after explaining to Fawcett the methodology underlying
this research, he suggested narrowing the sample in order to enable to more clearly
follow the process proposed by the methodology.682
So, acknowledging that this case study was chosen precisely because it holds a
higher need for adaptability but also a broader range of activities and spaces,
which introduces a higher complexity on measuring the entropy, narrowing
the spatial sample from the entire school would beneÀt the explanation of the
methodology per se.
679
We acknowledge William Fawcett in the acknowledgements section, who has always shown interest and
availability to accompany this research and its developments since our Àrst email communication from April
2011.
680
See Chapter 3. Construction of the methodology.
681
See Chapter 4. Application of the methodology in the case study.
682
(Fawcett, email from December 2015)
393
4. The analysis of the whole built compound over-complexiÀes the

methodological application.
The school is composed of several buildings, dating from different time periods
and having different uses and morphological layouts. The original school from 1968
has a pavilion layout, to which a new building has been added in 2008-2009 that
presents a more asserted school front towards the city.
The analysis of all the buildings alone and followed by the interrelations between
the partial results from each building and with a subsequent retrieval of the school’s
overall adaptability, with all the procedures that it would take, would over-complexify
the methodological application, potentially hindering the comprehensibility of the
procedure, the results achieved from each stage, the information brought by each
approach and the potential correlations amongst themselves, which would add
excessive information and calculations to the central problematics.
5. The building from the sample is the most representative in terms of

activity, user and spatial mix and allocation.
In order to restrict the level of complexity and the diversity of the spaces and their
respective attributes, as well as to reduce the list of all the possible activities that
occur in the school as a whole, spaces and attributes, portrayed in the research, the
choice of the spaces to be analysed centres around the ones that hold the highest
levels of effective use and the ones that are most shared by all the community,
potentially representing the spaces with the highest adaptability levels in the school.
The chosen building is the one that holds the common spaces and embodies the main
entrance through a new street façade, which underlines its representativeness towards
the city and the community, which is also the most representative in terms of activity,
user and spatial mix683, precisely because it receives all the users of the school and
enables a broader range of activities in a variety of spaces required for them.
683
The choice on the case study and the results from a Àrst application of the methodology to this school
have been presented in the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium, in 13-17 July 2015, London, for validation
of the procedure and of the potential correlation. This communication was published in the Conference’s
proceedings as: Coelho, C.; Krüger, M. J. (2015). Towards a methodology to assess adaptability in educational
spaces: An entropy approach to space syntax. In Karimi, K.; Vaughan, L.; Sailer, K.; Palaiologou, G.; Bolton,
T. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium. p.17: 1-20. London, UK: Space Syntax
Laboratory, The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.
Besides, this methodology, as an overall procedure, has also been presented in the 3rd International Symposium Formal
Methods in Architecture, in 30 November – 2 December 2015, Porto, for testing and academic validation. It will
also be published as: Coelho, C. (in publication). A Gathered Methodology Towards Enhancing Adaptable
Learning Spaces. In D. Viana, F. Morais, J. Vaz (Eds.). Formal Methods in Architecture and Urbanism. Cambridge:
Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
In both cases, the spatial sample was restricted to the ground and Àrst Áoors of the new building.
394
6. According to the purposes of this methodology regarding the

assessment of adaptability, the chosen spaces represent, in advance,
the most adaptable ones.
According to the deÀnition of adaptability used under this Doctoral Thesis, the
most adaptable spaces are able to better cope with changing needs, pedagogical and
social activities and the uncertainty of future demands. The spaces analysed represent
the ones that hold the most diverse set of people and activities, both internal and
external to the school, hence, these can be considered the ones that are able to better
answer new or different events and demands in a yet unknown future.
As the methodology aims to identify and assess the adaptability of the spatial
sample, the spaces chosen should be considered the most adaptable ones, a priori,
to better understand the results obtained and the validation of the methodology in
a real life scenario.
For the purposes of this research it will be crucial to focus particularly on the spaces
that are acknowledged, in advance, to be very signiÀcant for the learning process and
school life overall. By the External Evaluation Reports on both Quinta das Flores
School and the Music Conservatory, these are the main hall (Delegaçmo Regional
do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2010, p.7; Delegaçmo Regional do
Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2011, p.4, 8, 9) and the library (Delegaçmo
Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2011, pp.4, 9)
Therefore, after assessing their adaptability level under the methodology proposed,
acknowledging the nature and amount of different activities that these can allocate,
and the diversity of users that they can hold, a comparison can be undertaken, in
order to conclude on a potential overlapping on the Ànal results obtained and the
information referred on these reports, considered by the educators and external
evaluators, for both the artistic and regular teaching.
7. The application of the methodology to the most recent and central

building can identify whether it has effectively accomplished the
purposes of the Secondary School Modernisation Programme.
The methodology is applied to the new central building designed within the
Secondary School Modernisation Programme, whose main goals were, amongst
others, Áexibility, multifunctionality, inclusiveness and well-being (Heitor, 2008,
p.2). By assessing the adaptability of that new built space, and by relating it to the
experiences and events that currently take place there, it is possible to retrieve results
on its potential and effective allocation of spaces to activities and conclude whether
395
0 10
m
Fig. 147. Quinta das Flores School _ New construction from the Secondary School Modernisation
Programme identiÀed in dark grey
(Parque Escolar, n. d. b)
it is multifunctional: if there occur diverse activities in the same space; open and
inclusive: if it welcomes a broad internal and external community; comfortable: if
considered as such by the focus groups and observations matrices undertaken as a
milestone in the proposed methodology.
Finally, it is possible to conclude on its adaptability as a design content, by the

acknowledgement of the building’s morphology and spatial attributes; as a spatial
asset, by the description of all possible activity allocations to spaces; and as a tangible
quality by the effective events and experience corroborated by the school’s community.
Note that other buildings have been built under this modernisation process that are
connected with particular functions and activities, and hence they are not physically
and functionally central to the artistic school (Fig. 147). In fact, they are speciÀcally
connected with paths for circulation and sporting pavilions. Additionally, even if
some classrooms are used for the artistic teaching, it is only for the speciÀc purposes
of the Department of Musical Sciences and for the subject of Group Classes the
school uses classrooms in the pavilions B and D (Escola Artística do Conservatório
396
de Música de Coimbra, 2013), not considered relevant for the overall Music School,
as all other spaces are placed in the main central building (ibid.).
8. Practical procedures when applying the methodology:

Functional analysis.
As explained in detail in chapter 3.3.684, this methodology is composed of a

sequential procedure of several approaches in which each of them informs on
the adaptability of the space to be assessed in a particular manner, contributing
to a Ànal, more informed and supported conclusion overall. So, its intricacy and
wide-ranging sequence, while analysing speciÀc features of that space, can become
increasingly more complex and extensive according to the extent of the sample and
all the spaces, attributes, features, activities and users that characterise it.
The Àrst milestone of the methodology implies the functional characterisation

of the spatial sample. This means analysing extensively all the spaces, activities
and attributes in the sample. As seen in chapter 3.3., at this point spaces will be
described according to their nature, that could either be social and informal, formal
and academic or for specialised purposes. Moreover, the activities that occur in
the school will also be listed according to their category, from: programmed and
formal, to non-programmed and informal to circulation. Finally, all spaces will be
described according to their speciÀc attributes namely: dimension, conÀguration,
coating, networks, environmental conditions and accessibility.
The attributes considered on the school’s initial construction may have changed
from the ones introduced in the modernisation process on 2008-2009, due to
educational requirements, to the expansion of the artistic spatial demands for the
teaching of music and dancing in the rooms, but also because of the construction
developments and the natural modernisation of the materials and technical
solutions used today. This identiÀcation will be valuable in terms of this research,
when pairing this information with the space’s adaptability results at the end, for
a conclusion on which attributes provide higher adaptability and the cost/beneÀt
relationship in introducing each one.
Consequently, this becomes a very important issue, because it allows a more

supported comprehension of the attributes that have been changed, that have now
been used and the ones which have been necessary for this adaptive reuse process,
in order to provide the spaces with the features to allocate the activities of this
new pedagogical curriculum. Gehl (1970) also concurs with the fact that attributes
684
See Chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments.
397
condition the space’s occupancy, experience and activities:
“Any building erected thus creates or situates some human activity and
people moving in or around the building will be able to experience the
building as well as these activities. Users, visitors and bypassers will be
able to experience spaces of various shape, size, colour, light etc., and
with various kinds and degrees of human activity.” (Gehl, 1970, p.62)
So, clearly a very extensive spatial sample will potentially hinder a rigorous and
detailed development of all these initial stages, because listing all the spaces,
activities and spatial attributes and then allocating them to each space and activity,
in a very extensive space, will not necessarily validate the methodology any more
than a narrower spatial sample which is considered to be the most representative of
the school, of its modernisation process and of its blending of activities and users
in space.

Space syntax analysis.
In the Àrst milestone of the methodology, as seen in the previous chapter685, a

morphological analysis will also take place, in order to better inform the description
of the school space and how it supports activity allocation. As also explained then,
it will focus on convex spaces, axial lines and isovists.
The space syntax analysis undertaken for this Doctoral Thesis will, therefore, look
into all the Áoor plans of the new central building from 2008-2009. This will already
bring a considerable degree of complexity to the analysis, not only by the quantity
of Áoor plans, but also because of the tripartite process of this procedure, through
convex spaces, axial lines and isovists.
Besides, this building holds a particular autonomy towards the others, that bestows
upon it the possibility of being analysed solely rather than as a part of a more
extensive compound, with several assorted other buildings, with different functional
purposes, and from different time periods, not as close, nor as representative of the
school’s mixed curricula, spatial sharing and urban openness.
Moreover, according to Hillier (2007686): “The general form of this measure is

called integration, and can be applied to any space in any conÀguration: the less
depth from the complex as a whole, the more integrating the space, and vice versa.”
685
See Chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments.
686
398
(p.25). So, the space syntax analysis of the more topologically distant buildings will
provide lower values on the parameters upon consideration, such as integration and
connectivity in both convex spaces and axial lines.
Therefore, if the integration has low values, the connections to others spaces are
less meaningful, and so these spaces are also less meaningful for the study of the
system and their activities687.
Hillier refers to the connection between integration and activities in his paper Visible
Colleges:
“A key syntactic measure of conÀguration is integration. […] This is

initially a purely spatial measure, but it gives a conÀgurational analysis
of function as one simply looks at the integration values of the spaces
in which functions are located. As soon as we can identify common
patterns in the degree of integration of different functions or labels in a
sample of dwellings, then it is clear that we are dealing quite objectively
(i.e., in terms of the properties of objects) with cultural genotypes
acquiring a spatial dimension - that is, with social knowledge taking on
a spatial form.”688 (Hillier and Penn, 1991, p.30)
Actually, the spaces with lower integration are less signiÀcant for the study of the
whole built compound of the school, but also the activities that there take place are
also more speciÀc and less central for the all functional analyses of the school as
proceeded in milestone one of the methodology.
Again, Gehl (1970) also agrees that spatial morphology can condition or promote
experience and activities in space:
“Shape, location, orientation and the use of a building will determinate

which spatial sequences and which activity sequences there are to be
experienced in and around the building or the complex of buildings.
Buildings can, for instance, be arranged in a way which concentrates and
channels activities or they can be arranged in a way which decentralises
or plainly hampers activities. Human activities in a building can, as
another example, be laid open to bypassers or they can be obscured
from anybody who is not participating. Whether the activities are
concentrated or decentralised,- are channelled or spread out, - are laid
open or closed in, - are integrated or segregated - whether the distances
687
According to Hillier and Hanson (1984): “[…] integration is a global measure since it takes into account the
relations of a space to every other space in the system”. (p.109)
688
399
0 10
m
Fig. 148. Quinta das Flores School _ Transversal section of the plot and overall plan
(Drawings provided by Parque Escolar and edited by Carolina Coelho)
for perceiving are short or long - whether the time for perceiving (i.e.
driving, walking) is long or short, are all important factors which
determines whether you will be able to experience just the earth, the
buildings and the sky, or the people who are using the buildings, as
well.” (Gehl, 1970, p.62)
Additionally, there are other obstacles that interfere in the pursuit of a space syntax
analysis of the entire school compound with all the pavilions that compose it. First
and foremost, as explained, and considering the most central space to be the new
central building with the street façade that welcomes all the visitors and inhabitants,
the most distant pavilions hold very low values of integration or connectivity
towards this one. This adds to the fact that the activities that there take place in
distant pavilions do not represent as well the mixture of uses and experiences that
the central building holds, and that only the students and staff go there for particular
purposes, not representing a shared space by a broad or a mixed school community.
Besides, space syntax is usually proceeded with an analysis by Áoor plans, which is
not clear in this school because the plot leans over from south to north (being the
south the highest elevation) (Fig. 148).
So, there would only be two possibilities for a space syntax analysis for the all
compound: a speciÀc analysis of each pavilion alone - which would bring partial
results, mostly for very similar buildings with very similar activities from the regular
400
teaching that occur there; or an analysis made by horizontal sections on the plot
that could imply analysing a lower Áoor from the central building with a higher one
from other pavilions that are located in a higher part of the plot.
However, in the latter possibility the relation between the buildings is not also clear,
because the global analysis only becomes relevant when there are pathways that
link the buildings, otherwise, the connectivity between isolated buildings is not
meaningful for this analysis. In this case, these pathways can either be interior or
exterior, which also adds another point of intricacy to the analysis, because it would
imply analysing the school’s buildings but also its external paths and courtyards as
informal pedagogical spaces. This would be intensiÀed by the fact that the procedure
implies a tripartite analysis of convex spaces, axial lines and isovists, which would
imply a dense and very extensive area, analysed by a not straightforward or literature
supported procedure, for the study of a leaning plot with multiple buildings and
external areas in a whole single analysis.
All in all, a space syntax analysis to a pavilion layout can be considered uncanny
and not providing the results from integration or connectivity that are aimed with
such an analysis, aggravated by the fact that the school’s plot of implementation is
inclined and adds a deeper complexity to this procedure.
If the analysis of other buildings is considered to be non-meaningful in the

parameters to be assessed, such as connectivity and integration, because of their low
centrality to the entrance and high depth within the plot, and because the method
to analyse them would also be more time-consuming and would imply a deeper
intricacy and little beneÀt, not necessarily bringing operative results. Then, these
facts all justify not including them in the analysis and potentially being negligible
for the Ànal results.
So, by acknowledging that adaptability is a product of several approaches

undertaken by this methodology, the chosen spatial sample represents the spaces
morphologically most relevant for a space syntax analysis. Thus, having the highest
levels in the Àrst stage of the methodology that focus on how school space supports
activity allocation, these spaces are potentially the ones with the highest adaptability.

Entropy approach.
The entropy approach corresponds to milestone two of the proposed methodology.

As seen on the previous chapter689, and following Jaynes (1957) and Tribus (1969)
689
See Chapter 3.3.2. Description of all possible activity allocations to educational environments.
401
approaches on entropy, in this context it is related to the uncertainty of an activity

allocation to a space, which means, as already pointed out, that low entropy implies
a low range of potential activity allocations to a space.
So, with all that has been previously described, the main central building that
corresponds to the spatial sample, relates to the spaces that hold the widest range
of activities and, therefore, that will potentially lead to the highest levels of entropy,
in advance, and according to this deÀnition.
Conversely, the remaining buildings would bear low meaningful values of entropy,
not representative to inform the results achieved, because their functional uses are
speciÀcally related to particular teaching classes, such as formal classrooms for the
regular teaching or sporting activities, rather than a blend of activities, teaching
regimes and users - external and internal - like it happens in the main central building.
Once more, this justiÀes the higher levels of entropy, a priori, of the spatial sample
rather than of the remaining pavilions.
So, recognising that the level of adaptability is a result of the several approaches that
compose this methodology, this spatial sample embodies the spaces with potentially
the highest entropy. Hence, having the highest levels assessed in the second
milestone of the methodology that focuses on all possible activity allocations, these
spaces are potentially the ones with the highest adaptability.

Experience and spatial fruition.
The chosen spatial sample represents the spaces which all the school community
uses and experiences, because these spaces hold the widest range of activities of all
sorts and teaching regimes, besides internal and external community events. Besides,
the fact that this building embodies the street façade, implies that all visitors and
inhabitants enter through it and know the school at Àrst from this space, despite
their following purpose and path in the school.
Thus, having the highest levels considered in the third milestone of the methodology
that focus on effective events and experience, these spaces are potentially the ones
with the highest adaptability.
12. If the spatial sample holds, in advance, the highest levels in all
the parameters assessed on the methodology, then it will potentially
conclude on its high adaptability.
Overall, the balance between the cost and beneÀt of introducing the methodology
in the whole school can be considered extremely extensive for an individual research
402
and potentially not providing an additional gain on the methodology’s potential and
robustness. In fact, if all the data to be processed, calculated and correlated is too
extensive and complex, it could potentially delay or hamper the results or blur the
developments and stages within the all process, here under testing.
The choice of this spatial sample is considered to achieve the higher results in
all approaches assessed throughout the sequential procedure of the methodology
proposed and hence, the highest Ànal results.
13. The application of the methodology aims at testing it as a robust

approach to adaptability, in which the spatial sample is considered
adequate in its relevance and extent for this purpose.
The process of applying the methodology to a case study aims, Àrst and foremost,
at validating the methodology, rather than assessing the school or the Secondary
School Modernisation Programme, so the spatial sample is considered adequate in
its relevance and extent for this purpose.
The process of applying the methodology to a case study will both validate the
methodology and conclude on the adaptability of the spaces’ assessed690. Actually,
this Thesis’s objectives691 reside Àrstly on the development of the methodology
itself and its sequential and hybrid set of approaches, considering that it is applied
to current Portuguese educational spaces. Naturally, because it is tested on a case
study, the spatial sample will be evaluated, concluding on its adaptability.
With all that it has been said, the methodology will be applied to a speciÀc spatial
sample, which corresponds to the new building from 2008-2009, whose justiÀcation
has been considered to be extensively supported, acknowledging this building
as the most relevant for an adaptability research on this school, whose extent is
also considered to be adequate for applying an original methodology, extensively
explaining all procedures, and presenting partial results, potential correlations and
overall adaptability levels, within the scope of this Doctoral Research.
Indeed, as future developments, and after testing and validating the methodology
and considering it to be robust, it could be tested in other school spaces or buildings,
or even other schools, whose outcomes may differ.
690
As explained in tat the end of Chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in
learning environments.
691
As seen on Chapter 1.7. Architectural disciplinary scope, relevance and originality of the research.
403
SCHOOL’S TECHNICAL DATASHEET
School’s Typology: Pavilion
Name: Escola Básica e Secundária Quinta das Flores

Conservatório de Música de Coimbra
Location: Santo António dos Olivais | Coimbra
Designated capacity: 75 classes
Architecture: Traço Banal Arquitectura Lda.
Project Management: José Paulo dos Santos
Collaboration: Jomo Vieira Campos, Liliana Vieira, Catarina
Almeida, António J. Teixeira
Project’s Date: Fase 2A | 2008-2009
Project’s Client: Parque Escolar, EPE
Project’s Teams
Structural Engineering: Eng. Eugénio Maia | Struconcpet, Lda
Waters | Sewage: Hidrofunçmo
Gas: Rodrigues Gomes & Associados – Consultores de
Engenharia, S.A.
Electrical Engineering: Rodrigues Gomes & Associados – Consultores de
Engenharia, S.A. | Eng. J. Viseu
Integrated Security: Rodrigues Gomes & Associados – Consultores de
Engenharia, S.A.
HVAC (Heating, Ventilating
and Air Conditioning): Rodrigues Gomes & Associados – Consultores de
Engenharia, S.A.
Energetic CertiÀcation: Rodrigues Gomes & Associados – Consultores de
Engenharia, S.A.
Acoustics: dblab | Eng. Rui Ribeiro
Solid Waste: Eng. Eugénio Maia
Safety and Health Plan: Rodrigues Gomes & Associados – Consultores de
Engenharia, S.A.
Landscape Design: Imochiado, Lda. | Arch. Jomo Junqueira
(Adapted to English from Parque Escolar’s Characterization sheet #67, n.d., complemented with the Data
sheet from the data in ARQA 2013 (Santos, 2013) and Domus 2016 (Domus, 2016) and explained by the
architect José Paulo dos Santos during the interview in 26th June 2017 (Santos, 2017))
404
The sequential procedure for the application of the methodology
4.2. The sequential procedure for the application of the methodology

The previous chapter 3 focused on the overall presentation of the sequential
procedures to identify and assess adaptability in educational environments692.
Departing from the state of the art on the several approaches to identify spatial
fruition and, in a more analytical manner, to assess spatial usage693, overall it has
been concluded on the diversity of study Àelds that tackle it694. This was then
narrowed to the methodologies for speciÀcally identifying adaptability, namely
Fawcett’s (1978) Doctoral Thesis A Mathematical Approach to Adaptability in Buildings
695
, which is considered to be of substantial relevance for adaptability assessment
on school buildings, even if a critical reÁection on the contemporary educational
context, on both the curricula and the school community, have to be acknowledged
in order to translate this methodology into the changes in space and practices that
have occurred since the 1970s696. So, understanding the previous approaches and
their diversity in the procedures and in the conclusions achieved, which can lead to
outcomes of varied nature, a methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability
in learning environments has been then proposed, explained and justiÀed in a
general manner697.
The purpose of this current chapter 4 is therefore to apply it to a speciÀc case study,
already presented and justiÀed in the previous sub-chapter698. For a validation of the
methodology, it was Àrst applied, partially, by means of a space syntax and an entropy
weighting on the ground Áoor and on the Àrst Áoor of the new building of Quinta
das Flores School, which have been considered to be an early test before a more
comprehensive and exhaustive application699. At this point, this Thesis will now proceed
with its sequential application on the chosen spatial sample. As explained in abstract,
this approach will be tripartite producing the sequential items of this chapter (Fig. 149):
692
693
Use and fruition have been addressed initially on chapter 1.2. Motivation and background: Architecture and
Life - conceiving forms of engagement.
694
695
696
697
698
See chapter 4.1. Presentation and justiÀcation of the chosen case study.
699
The results encountered then were presented in the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium, in 13-17 July
2015, London. It has also been published in the Conference’s proceedings as: Coelho, C.; Krüger, M. J. (2015).
Towards a methodology to assess adaptability in educational spaces: An entropy approach to space syntax. In
Karimi,K; Vaughan, L.; Sailer, K.; Palaiologou, G.; Bolton, T. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 10th International Space
Syntax Symposium. p.17: 1-20. London, UK: Space Syntax Laboratory, The Bartlett School of Architecture,
University College London.
405

. Activities
. Attributes
I.II SPACE SYNTAX

. Axial lines
. Isovists


III.II WALKTHROUGHS
Fig. 149. Description of the methodology and identiÀcation of the current milestone I.
(Carolina Coelho)
406
4.2.1. Description of the school space and how it supports activity

allocation
“The spatial experience starts from the moment of entering a building - the number
and location of entrances from the outside, the sequence and linkage of spaces,
the ‘depth’ of the different spaces (that is, the number of other spaces one has to
pass through to reach them) and the number of alternative routes to a space (that
is, whether it is on one or more rings or on part of a branching, tree-structure). All
of these create spatial experiences which relate to function - who does what, where,
with, and controlled by, whom.
Each of these three experiences relates to characteristics of buildings which are
capable of theoretical analysis.” (Markus, 1987, p.469)
This initial stage comprises a description of the spatial sample, functional and
morphological, and informs on how it supports activity allocation. A space syntax
analysis regarding convex spaces and axial lines, as places and pathways for learning,
will provide a thorough understanding of the sample’s morphology and conclude
on the relevance of global and local syntactic measures towards activity allocation,
spatial cognition and the overall “social logic of space” (Hillier and Hanson, 1984).
But, primarily, it will be paramount to analyse this spatial sample according to its
spaces, activities and attributes. So, the subsequent analysis will be supported by an
in-depth understanding of the physical environment, in regard to its main functional
allocations and spatial features. After this, it will be possible to understand each space
individually, its positioning and links to the whole spatial system, but also its overall
topology, and to associate it with natural movement, co-presence and spatial fruition.
4.2.1.1. DeÀnition of the spatial sample B Functional analysis
. Spaces
For functionally analysing the spatial sample, the building’s Ànal plans provided by
Parque Escolar have been studied and edited in Autocad, in order to speciÀcally
identify the information needed for this current Thesis and for the implementation
of the methodology in this school, leaving out further data that the Ànal plans
provided, namely technical one, that added extra, yet unnecessary information, that
was not Àt for the scale of the drawings here presented and that interfered with its
immediate understanding. Besides, the work undertaken in these drawings intended
to detach the spatial sample700, to be studied in particular detail, from the building’s
Ànal plans from the entire school’s rehabilitation.
700
For the justiÀcation of the chosen spatial sample see chapter 4.1.2. JustiÀcation of the chosen case study.
407
Rooftop plan
Second Áoor plan
First Áoor plan 0 10 20

m
408
Ground Áoor plan
Underground _ -1 Áoor plan
19 cafeteria 35 speciÀc music

1 main hall 20 canteen training room
2 access–corridor 21 kitchen 36 study room
3 vertical access–stairs 22 kitchen storage 37 dance studio
4 vertical access–elevator 23 staff room 38 science lab
5 entrance–outdoor access 24 teachers’ room 39 generic classroom
6 reception desk 25 students’ room 40 common living space
7 ticket ofÀce 26 secretariat 41 teachers’ ofÀce
8 bathroom–toilet–sink 27 administration ofÀces 42 teachers’ meeting room
9 dressing room regular teaching 43 teachers’ ofÀce for
10 locker room 28 administration ofÀces meeting students
11 storage artistic teaching 44 students’ shop
12 indeterminate 29 orchestra room 45 photocopy room
supportive space 30 music studio 46 parent council room
13 spare space 31 music instrument 47 auditorium supportive
14 vault training room (individual spaces
15 archive or for small groups) 48 psychologist’s ofÀce
16 auditorium 32 choir room 49 technical area
17 auditorium’s cafeteria 33 singing studio 50 music instrument storage
18 library 34 song writing studio 51 maintenance room
Underground _ -2 Áoor plan 0 10 20

m
Fig. 150. Quinta das Flores School’s new building

(Plans provided by Parque Escolar and edited with captions by Carolina Coelho)
409
This procedure implied the creation of particular layers on the drawings, divided
as such: the main layout of each drawing, the accessory information that still holds
relevance for the understanding of the represented space, and the remaining part
of the school complex, still visible in light grey in the drawings presented in the
previous pages of this current Thesis. For a more clear representation, only the
main information has been identiÀed in black lines and all the remaining layers were
identiÀed in shades of grey, according to the layout that was considered to be more
adequate for this Thesis and then edited in Photoshop for achieving the layout of
the plans here presented.
Accordingly, the drawings have been revised from its original source for layout
purposes, aiming at a more clear study on the selected spaces per se and the overall
building’s morphology, and additionally for identifying in the plans the main
functions conceived for each one and each one’s pedagogical potential in the school.
Conclusions will then be reached from the analysis of the drawings and from deeper
understanding of each Áoor plan in a number of different layers of functional and
pedagogical analysis, to be carried out in this part of the methodology.
The previous Fig. 150 illustrates the Ànal plans from which this Thesis will depart
from, followed by a deeper study on the functioning of the building, using coloured
hatches, followed by a space syntax and a subsequent entropy analysis.
From the analysis of the plans in Fig. 150, and after a deeper study on the drawings
made in Autocad as already referred701, countered by several visits to the building,
the captions on each space have been placed according to the main function
indicated in the Ànal plans.
Generally, this building is composed by three Áoor plans above ground, comprising
the ground Áoor and two upper Áoors, and two underground Áoors envisioned mainly
for technical services and devices. Both the main façade to the street (Fig. 151) and
sections, either longitudinal or transversal (Figs. 152 and 153), clarify the building’s
layout explanation.
The six plans presented in Fig. 150 provide relevant input on the building and its
overall functional arrangement and allow us to determine that the rooftop plan does
not feed us information on the building’s spaces but rather on its volumetric layout,
and that the underground Áoor plans might also be disregarded from the analysis,
because they are largely related to technical functions, in regard to heating, ventilation
and air conditioning systems, holding supportive spaces for the main active learning
environments, such as the auditorium supportive spaces identiÀed in the captions as
spaces’ number 47 and that contains all of the -2 Áoor plan (Fig. 153).
701
This is considered to hold relevance due to the disciplinary realm of this current Doctoral Thesis on
Architecture, which is a discipline that relies on drawings and representations for both conceiving space and
representing it. So, drawings provided a speciÀc architectural knowledge from the building.
410
0 5
m
Fig. 151. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Main façade
0 2,5
m
Fig. 152. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Transversal section through the administrative block
0 2,5
m
Fig. 153. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Transversal section through the auditorium
Furthermore, the -1 Áoor plan indicates that it holds supportive spaces for the
regular functioning of the school, such as storage - either for the regular teaching or
speciÀcally for the music instruments - and also maintenance spaces and spare spaces.
So, having concluded that both the -2 and -1 Áoor plans only hold technical areas,
these have been disregarded from the further analysis carried on, particularly on
the spaces with pedagogical potential, or on the ones that functionally but also
socially, support active learning environments. Acknowledging that supportive
spaces can hold pedagogical potential, for the purposes of future analysis on this
school, the spaces isolated in the referred -2 and -1 Áoor plans, are considered to
be technically and physically relevant for the functioning of the school building,
but lacking learning potential, not only due to the lack of formal and/or informal
activities with that objective, but foremost for not being conceived for the common
use of the school community, but merely for its staff. A remark is here to be left,
that if activities with pedagogical potential might happen in the future on those
411
Áoors, particularly on the -1 Áoor, which has a broader range of spaces, namely still
indeterminate ones, then this Áoor might be considered in future analyses, because
both students and educators might start to be and circulate in this Áoor. Yet, as
these have not been conceived by the architect as such based on the school’s Ànal
plans, which are currently being used for this milestone’s description of the space,
then the current analysis will disregard them on their lack of educational events.
So, all in all, and after dismissing the rooftop plan and the two underground Áoor
plans, three main Áoor plans will then be analysed with further detail: the ground
Áoor and the two upper Áoors702.
Another relevant information taken from the analysis of the Ànal plans is the existence
of spare spaces, identiÀed as number 13 in the plans and placed throughout the all
building, particularly on the Àrst and second Áoors and not only on the underground
Áoors, potentially implying future change and a wider range of forthcoming spatial
needs. Because they are already indicated as such on the original Ànal plans703, it is
concluded that these spaces have already been regarded during the design as spaces
without a speciÀc purpose, but leaving it possible to cope with upcoming needs or
current spatial requirements that have not been considered in the brief704. These
spaces are here considered as potential active learning environments. Because, even
though their purpose is still underlying in the design, its effective usage can in the
present or in a near future, bestow on these spaces functions related to knowledge
transmission or acquisition. In further analysis, the dimensions of these spaces may
consider them as possible formal or informal study rooms, students’ rooms or
students-educators meeting rooms, or even informal common living spaces for small
groups, all of which can be recognised as active learning spaces. Note that these
spaces differ from the ones whose captions are “indeterminate supportive spaces”,
which are exactly that: spaces that aid other, larger or more relevant supportive
spaces, namely on the technical areas of the school but primarily deprived from
pedagogical potential from the start, particularly due to their technical speciÀcity or
their adjacent location to a supportive area.
Furthermore, the analysis from the direct study of the plans listed 51 different
spaces (Fig. 150). These hold different functions, either active or supportive of
the learning process, from different teaching regimes, more or less specialised,
and for staying or circulation purposes. This is considered to be relevant for the
702
It is signiÀcant to highlight that the Àrst Áoor plan differs from the second Áoor plan not only in programmatic
terms but also physically, because of the building’s volume deÀnition that becomes narrower near the top. This
can be better understood in the transversal sections in Figs. 152 and 153.
703
Originally named “reserva” in Portuguese, which could be translated as a spare space or space of reserve
or set aside.
704
In the captions the spaces with the number 12 are indicated as indeterminate supportive spaces. These are
spaces that do not have a speciÀc function but often represent a space of entry for another more relevant space.
Originally in the plans, these are called in Portuguese “antecâmara”, but could also provide for other functions
other that the mere entrance due to their signiÀcant dimension and frequency in the building and their physical
attributes and location – to be analysed subsequently.
412
understanding of the building as an educational environment. Therefore, after

locating the spaces’ main activities in each plan, this procedure will focus on the
placement and dimension of each of these spaces by subsequently identifying them
in the plans using coloured hatches for each of the mentioned situations. So, in
order to better understand the spaces and there main programmatic functions,
colours were assigned in a systematic way, to classify the spaces according to the
main type of activity those spaces hold.
Active or supportive learning environments
The initial analysis will portray the range and location of both active and supportive
learning environments. It is considered that active learning environments are spaces
that have pedagogical potential and where students can acquire knowledge, either
by a formal or an informal activity, or by a programmed or a non-programmed
event. Therefore, classrooms or deÀned spaces for classes, training and knowledge
communication or evaluating, are the most traditional spaces to be considered
as active. But also, circulation pathways, both in stairs and elevators, as well as
corridors, are places where the school community can gather together for informal
activities, programmed or non-programmed events and where the information
transfer can also occur. Besides, it is also considered as active learning spaces the
social areas allocated to students, such as the cafeteria or common living spaces,
where knowledge can be created and passed on to others. For such purposes, the
main hall, having a considerable width and length, can potentially be a space where
both circulation and staying can occur, and it is hence, a space that can hold a wide
range of different activities with pedagogical potential.
Conversely, technical areas are considered deprived of pedagogical potential as

explained earlier, and duly pointed out in these Áoor plans in grey. The spaces
considered to be supportive of the learning process are the ones that shelter activities
in order to complement the spatial requirements of the educational activities, such
as the locker rooms and the dressing rooms for the auditorium and the dance studio,
where the artistic teaching takes places. Essentially, activities such as dancing and
performing require speciÀc supportive spaces such as these. It is noteworthy the fact
that this school carries a wider scope of spatial requirements on supportive spaces,
in order to aid with the several music and dance teaching, like the storage of music
instruments that comprise a wide area particularly on the -1 Áoor705. Furthermore,
it also embraces a broad array of active learning environments for different artistic
activities such as: studios for the individual music training or for small group classes
on music instruments, music studios for a larger number of students, the choir
room and spaces for public display such as the dance studio, the orchestra room or
the auditorium for events of a broader scale.
705
IdentiÀed in the plans with the number 50.
413
Second Áoor plan
First Áoor plan
Ground Áoor plan
Fig. 154. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Active and supportive learning environments
(Original plans provided by Parque Escolar, edited and colour assigned by Carolina Coelho)
Additionally, as supportive learning spaces for all the students’ community, the
kitchen areas on the ground Áoor, where the meals’ preparation and cleaning take
place, have been recognised as supportive of the cafeteria and the canteen. The
latter are informal yet with learning potential.
Furthermore, the areas reserved to educators and staff, such as the administrative
area on the ground Áoor and the teachers’ meeting rooms, are considered to
be supportive spaces, whereas the teachers’ ofÀces for meeting students can be
understood as spaces where learning can occur, outside the classroom, in a more
individual manner.
Overall, active learning environments (in cyan in Fig. 154) imply the gathering
of the school community or primarily students’ encounters that can convey
information and knowledge amongst each other, while in class but also in social
events or circumstances of natural movement. On the contrary, spaces only for
staff or educators that do not transmit information to students are considered to be
supportive of the main, active educational spaces706 (in blue on Fig. 154).
706
This distinction will be considered again later on, with regard to the entropy calculation, in which active and
supportive learning environments will be dealt as Domain I of the entropy analysis.
414
In a deeper analysis of the areas in the three main Áoor plans, it is clear that the
ground Áoor carries a more extensive range of supportive areas than the two upper
Áoors. Nevertheless, it is on the ground Áoor that there is a wider addition of
active but also informal learning environments, whereas, on the upper Áoors the
active learning environments are clearly more deÀned by formal spaces, such as
classrooms and music studios, that can be both for programmed activities but also
for non-programmed informal training. This building, as more speciÀcally identiÀed
in a subsequent analysis, holds more activities regarding the artistic curricula rather
than the regular one that takes place in the pre-existing pavilions of the schools, as
it did prior to this rehabilitation707 (Fig. 154).
Social and informal and/or formal and curricular
It is now relevant to focus on the spaces’ nature, not only to what it has been
envisaged for on the design, but also on its potential to allocate other uses. Learning
activities can be both strictly curricular in the sense that they are embedded in
the formality of programmed events, lectures or classes in spaces designed for
that purpose, namely classrooms for either the artistic or the regular teaching,
and specialised rooms such as laboratories for the teaching of sciences. But also
spaces for ofÀcial meetings between the peers or between educators and students,
such as teachers’ ofÀce for meeting students or the psychologist’s ofÀce, or even
spaces where peer interaction occurs but with a particular ofÀcial purpose, like
the photocopy room and the students’ shop that can also be considered as formal
spaces with a pedagogical curricular nature.
Contrarily, spaces with a particular social purpose where the gathering of the
students is the main purpose in terms of knowledge acquisition, are considered
in Fig. 155 as informal and social spaces, bearing in mind their role as an active
learning environment. Also, for this analysis, only the identiÀed active learning
environments from Fig. 154 have been considered, which are the ones that provide
knowledge creation, acquisition and transmission between students.
It is important to underline that Fig. 155 identiÀes the spaces as formal and curricular
from the ones that are considered social and informal, and Ànally the spaces that
are both, or have the potential to be in the future. Nonetheless, it is recognised
that this is a simpliÀcation that functions at this initial stage of the methodology
as a Àrst recognition of the spaces, simplifying their nature to their main purpose.
Later in the methodology, after an initial acquaintance with this school space, when
addressing the entropy approach, the difference between formal/informal spaces
and for social or curricular uses will be cleared out708. Because, even though the
707
Once more is highlighted that it has been within the modernisation process of this school that the artistic
teaching has been conveyed into the school’s curricula.
708
At the entropy analysis spaces will be considered either curricular or extra-curricular in Domain II, and for
415
Second Áoor plan
First Áoor plan
Ground Áoor plan
Fig. 155. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Informal and formal spaces
most straightforward dichotomy may be a formal/programmed/curricular event

from an informal/non-programmed/social one, other options can also be possible
to consider like: an informal and social event that may be programmed such as a
seasonal party, or a social event that can be a formal one such as a public concert
from a renown artist; or even a social event that can be of curricular purpose such
as a social meeting for the purposes of organising a group work. According to
this variability, an extensive activity sample will be produced speciÀcally for this
school, considering all of these possibilities for this particular space and then these
activities will be allocated in detail to the spaces where they can potentially occur.
But for stage one, the application of the methodology will start by an initial and less
detailed approach to this space, gathering social and informal spaces as the most
striking difference from the formal and curricular ones.
It is also signiÀcant to provide a clear explanation of what it is here considered

when addressing these concepts. Programmed events have a previous arrangement,
and a time and location deÀned a priori709. Curricular is here used as opposed to
programmed or non-programmed uses dividing them in Domain III.

709
These deÀnitions have already been dealt in detail in chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing
adaptability in learning environments, have been derived from Krüger (1992, p.7).
416
extra-curricular, which is an activity with pedagogical potential as opposed to the

ones that do not provide knowledge or any learning moment for the students. Social
implies that the event has in its nature a group gathering in a collective arrangement,
that in a school often results in knowledge exchange and learning moments by
peer interaction. Informal, as opposed to formal activities, is related to more relaxed
moments often spontaneous, casual and unplanned; where interaction occurs which
can also lead to knowledge transmission or even creation, such as an instrument
music improvisation by the artistic students.
After a detailed study on the space and the possibility to categorise each space according
to its potential as either curricular and formal, or social and informal, or both, Fig.
155 systematises this particular analysis, to be further clariÀed on the justiÀcation
and critical examination of the coloured schemes on the following paragraphs.
Generally, the most remarking aspect when comparing the three Áoor plans is the
difference in colours assigned to each one. The second Áoor has mainly formal and
curricular spaces conveyed to the artistic teaching and coloured in light green in Fig.
155, mostly music training rooms or music studios of formal nature for individual or
group lectures and music formation at large. In addition, it also has spaces identiÀed
as common living spaces (caption 40), which are cluster spaces adjacent to the main
corridor in all Áoor plans and which destitute them from a strictly rectangular shape
to a more irregular one that provides them not just with a longitudinal axis for
circulation, but also with spaces on that axis that can contemplate group interaction
by standing and not only by moving. The existence of these spaces throughout the
building is quite relevant for the possibility to bestow on the main circulation other
purposes rather than just moving, and mainly the possibility of learning, which is
most evident in the main hall, wider and more signiÀcant in dimension, accessibility
and, hence, in activity allocational potential.
Besides those spaces, also the spare spaces are considered for this analysis spaces
with both formal and informal potential, because the common living spaces, while
more likely recognised as informal spaces for social gathering, can also shelter small
exhibitions of academic nature, displaying contents produced in formal classes,
acting as a curricular space with the formality of an ofÀcial presentation. For this
Áoor plan in particular, another space has been considered to have potential for
both situations: the choir room on the west corner of the building, which is a
space with a proportion and dimension that enables group activities, both formal
for learning, practising and performing, but also for external formal events and
informal gatherings, and informal gatherings of social nature. For social purposes
alone only the circulation spaces, either vertical or horizontal, have been recognised,
acknowledging the possibility of socialising even when moving from one place
to another in the same Áoor or amongst different Áoor plans. Hence, as assumed
417
before, the remaining spaces, other than the strictly formal ones, like common
living spaces and spare spaces, were presented as having both formal and informal
character, assuming their potential for both, even if not designed as such, or possibly
not still effective in the present.
The Àrst Áoor has a well-deÀned combination of colours and, henceforth, of

formal and informal spaces. The transversal wing to the science labs is evidently
of formal nature, and social gatherings for those purposes alone may not occur
there due to the sensitivity of the materials and equipment on these spaces. As for
the artistic teaching, also music studios and music training rooms are spaces for
formal learning and practising. Also considered as formal spaces are the already
mentioned students’ shop and photocopy room, where student interaction occurs
but for academic purposes, and also teachers’ ofÀces for meeting students, as well
as the psychologist ofÀce, as formal interfaces between students and educators.
Again, circulations have been recognised only as spaces with social potential and
neither formal nor academic ones710. Once more, common living spaces as adjacent
clusters to the main corridor and spare spaces have been identiÀed with potential
for both informal and formal activities, here added to the study rooms and students’
common living room. If the Àrst study rooms are mainly for curricular functions
but able to hold informal extra-curricular conversations or any other spontaneous
experiences between students, while studying or on a break from studying; the
latter: the students’ common living room has social gatherings as its main function
and is considered a space for unwind, even if it can also shelter students formal
meetings or study groups. Naturally, as a place for student appropriation it has the
potential to allocate what the students intend to best suit them on their free time
within the school. Finally on this Áoor, the orchestra room and the dance studio, on
the opposite ends of the building, and similarly to the choir room upstairs, are also
spaces intended to formal and curricular events, but which can also allocate informal
experiences like spontaneous actions or programmed events of social nature.
The ground Áoor overall, is a place foremost for activity mix and combination of
both teaching regimes, of both social and curricular nature. Circulation is again
considered to be of social nature, but in this Áoor in particular the exterior accesses
both from the street and from the interior of the school building are also added
as circulation spaces. Additionally, the cafeteria is here identiÀed as a social space,
due to its narrowness that hinders the possibility of considering it as a space for
any formal event because the quite longitudinal proportion of the space does not
provide it with the possibility of standing there for some time or to display there
any content which would obstruct the circulation between the canteen and the main
hall. All the remaining active learning environments recognised in the previous
710
Circulations will be deÀned in a detail analysis between vertical and horizontal ones for each Áoor plan in
Fig. 156.
418
Fig. 154 are considered to have potential to be both formal and informal spaces
namely: the auditorium, the library, the canteen and the main hall, due to the several
events they can cater for: either social ones, non-programmed, programmed for
internal and external audiences, formal exhibitions and displays, or informal and
spontaneous artistic practices.
All in all, and after a thorough analysis of each Áoor, it is possible to conclude
on a stratiÀcation by Áoors for academic purposes, where the ground Áoor can
hold both informal and social, formal and curricular events of different sort and
teaching regimes; the Àrst Áoor presents a combination of either formal or informal
spaces; and the second Áoor has mainly curricular and formal spaces, even if it
has some common living spaces and spare spaces which could, either in current
or forthcoming times, be appropriated by informal activities, diverging from the
remaining spaces on that Áoor plan.
At this point it is possible to recall Fig. 127 in chapter 3.3.711, where it presented
the possible scales of analysis of the spaces of the building for a comprehensive
deÀnition of the spatial sample. That table divided the spaces between: social and
informal spaces, formal and curricular spaces, and the spaces with both formal and
informal potential. This is clearly seen in Fig. 155’s colour scheme, when applied to
this building, and has been previously explained how and why each space has been
categorised as such in this particular spatial sample. At chapter 3.3., while explaining
the methodology in abstract for future application in a case study, that table presented
a detailed categorisation, considering social and informal spaces to be either for
staying or circulation; and formal and curricular spaces to be either classrooms
or others. For this spatial sample in particular, only the vertical and horizontal
circulation spaces are identiÀed as being social and informal spaces because712
the other social and informal spaces are here considered to also bear potential as
formal and curricular areas, which bestows a higher relevance and diversity on this
school as a pedagogical system overall. In fact, the predominance of dark green
in Fig. 155, identifying the spaces considered to have potential for sheltering both
formal and informal activities, concludes at this stage on a considerable wider array
of activities and students and a potential high adaptability713 from the school, but
still to be proven to be more robust after completion of the application of the
full methodology on this spatial sample. Therefore, the social spaces that enable
staying are recognised here as such due to their dimension to shelter a group of
people, their proportion not overly longitudinal and their direct adjacency to the
711
712
The identiÀcation of the circulation spaces per se will be dealt with in the subsequent text and with an in-
depth analysis, systematised in Fig. 156.
713
According to the deÀnition of adaptability chosen for this current Thesis and presented in chapter 2.1.
Adaptability: deÀnition and adjacent concepts.
419
main corridor in all Áoor plans, that enable to consider them also to have formal
activities even if possibly not effective at this point, but potentially undertaken if
management and curricular decisions were to be taken. Also, in Fig. 127 in chapter
3 considered the possibility of these spaces to be exterior or interior, but at this
school, only the interior spaces are considered for this particular spatial sample714.
In what regards formal and curricular spaces, it is possible to identify in this school
the classrooms for the artistic, the regular and for both teaching regimes715. It is also
possible to consider other formal spaces, as stated earlier, such as the photocopy
room, the students’ shop, the psychologist’s ofÀce or the teachers’ ofÀces for
meeting students, namely on the upper Áoors.
Spaces with both potential are mainly on the ground Áoor, which are also the
spaces shared by all the school community, like the auditorium, the library or the
canteen. These spaces, even if more prone to formal performances could also take
up informal or spontaneous activities of educational nature. On the other hand, the
main hall, even if mainly acting as a circulation, has distinctive spatial features from
the upper main corridors, and its direct access to the street as well as its wideness
and length, enables it to have informal displays, formal exhibitions and an external
public audience, amplifying its usages and experiences. On the upper Áoors, due to
their dimensions, the choir room, the dance studio and the orchestra room can also
allocate both formal and informal events. In addition, the quite frequent common
living spaces opened to the main corridors extend the corridors outside its social
purpose to a wider potential to shelter occasional formal events. Moreover, the
spare spaces identiÀed act as indeterminate spaces with the possibility to take up
undeÀned activities both formal and/or informal if needed.
Henceforth, the subsequent analysis, critical examination and systematisation in

coloured schemes, will provide particular attention towards: circulation spaces,
the approach to interior spaces rather than exterior spaces, the teaching regime
on the active learning environments of this school building, the spaces for a more
specialised use and the multiple option spaces, and also the spaces that can be
used externally for a wider local community. This intends to complete a more
comprehensive study of the school building, in regard to its spaces, in order to
proceed to the next stages of the methodology.
Pathways for circulation or spaces for standing or both
At this point, space will be identiÀed according to its potential as a pathway or
714
This will be further analysed in a subsequent text in that speciÀc manner applied for this school.
715
The division on teaching regimes will be dealt with in the subsequent text and with an in-depth analysis,
systematised in Fig. 157. But that analysis will provide further detail because it will focus not just on the formal
spaces for each teaching regime, but on all active learning spaces.
420
a space for standing, which will bear considerable relevance for the space syntax
analysis further on.
Spaces conceived for circulation purposes are either corridors for horizontal
circulation, which connect two particular points in space, or vertical circulations
such as lifts and staircases that connect two particular Áoor plans.
Circulation could also be considered for staff use only, like the corridors on the
technical areas or on the restricted administrative areas and the elevator with the
widest area to lift heavier and larger loads, which is the one on the east side of the
building.
Despite disregarding the circulation on both technical areas and supportive spaces
identiÀed formerly, the remaining circulation spaces in active learning environments
hold pedagogical potential and so, they are important to point out in the Áoor plans.
Both by walking from one point to another, as well as by standing in a particular
space, students and the general school community, can exchange information and
generate knowledge transmission.
Hertzberger (2009) supports that “corridors do not belong in schools” (Hertzberger,

2009, p.9) and so, besides its functional purpose, circulation spaces can hold other
activities if provided with physical features to accommodate a group of people
standing there in a particular activity, rather than just walking from one place
to another. Therefore, if a speciÀc space has the ability to be considered both a
pathway for the community to cross, but also a standing space where activities
can occur – particularly if it is provided with a larger width, then it is also more
probable to hold more frequent and diverse activities and users, potentially tending
towards a more adaptable space, as expected in the Ànal conclusions.
Furthermore, if a circulation space connects not only two spaces but more than
two, it is more likely that it holds a more extensive range of users and so its fruition
would be wider. Besides, if it is placed in a more central, or integrated, location in
the building it also is more prone to a more frequent usage. These circumstances
will also bear particular signiÀcance when resorting to space syntax for analysing
this building and variables such as the spaces’ placement in the overall system, the
spaces that it connects and namely its status as a pathway or a standing space will be
of consideration, assessment and further conclusion.
At this point, it becomes important to identify the circulation spaces on their

difference from the standing spaces or the ones that can be considered for both.
Fig. 156 provides information on circulation, pinpointing in orange the horizontal
circulation spaces such as indoor corridors, but also access corridors, whose
relevance is clear to recognise the possible external entries.
421
Second Áoor plan
First Áoor plan
Ground Áoor plan
Fig. 156. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Pathways for circulation
Fig. 156 also recognises spaces identiÀed with the caption “common living space”
as circulation spaces if they are a part of the corridor area and do not present
any spatial feature that isolates these areas from the circulation space individually.
This aims to better portray the boundaries of the circulation spaces, remark that
they are not necessarily of rectangular shape, but rather hold corners that can have
pedagogical potential for standing alone or in a group. This is very relevant when
considering these spaces not just as the corridors mentioned by Hertzberger, but
as actual active learning spaces with both circulation and standing purposes. Also
to note that all the main three corridors in the three Áoor plans analysed have
particular shape plans, diverse in conÀguration and area between Áoors. Crossing
this remark with the captions that identify the spaces, it is acknowledgeable that the
second Áoor holds a diverse set of spaces foremost for the artistic teaching and less
common living spaces in the main access; whereas the Àrst Áoor that holds both
regular and artistic teaching and a potential wider community of users has more of
those spaces in the main circulation space; and Ànally the main hall on the ground
Áoor, which is wider and clearly traverses all the building longitudinally, has more of
these compartments, has also the exterior and interior accesses and also allows the
access to other prominent areas of the building shared by all and with pedagogical
potential like the library and the auditorium, and also even the cafeteria and the
422
canteen, more socially engaged.
In Fig. 156 the vertical accesses for community use: the staircases and regular or
wide dimension lifts are identiÀed in red, disregarding the vertical and horizontal
circulations deployed from pedagogical potential and previously considered in
technical or supportive areas.
Interior or exterior spaces
In what regards the identiÀcation of the spaces as either interior or exterior, this
analysis will only focus on the interior spaces of this new building, which has already
been justiÀed.716
Teaching regime
This analysis will now consider the teaching regime allocated to each space, which
embraces higher complexity in this case study, as a school that has both regular
and artistic teaching, in order to recognise spaces that were conceived only for
the regular teaching, spaces for the artistic teaching, but foremost to highlight the
spaces that can be used by both, which ultimately can be considered the more
adaptable to different activities and people717.
In fact, the spaces shared by the school community overall have a prominent
pedagogical implication because these are the spaces where the community can
be gathered and where the diverse areas of knowledge conveyed in the school live
together and are possibly shared amongst each other.
This is particular important since this school’s curricula has a very comprehensive
educational offer, both within the artistic teaching of dancing and music of different
sorts of instruments, but also in what concerns the regular teaching, with its lectures
of diversiÀed Àelds of study, feasible for a secondary school718.
For the presentation of the coloured schemes in Fig. 157 only the active learning
environments identiÀed in Fig. 154 were again taken into consideration and then
categorised, as conceived for the regular or the artistic teaching, or for both. So,
the spaces without a coloured hatch are the ones considered to be supportive, and
hence disregarded, even if attached to a particular teaching regime, because they
716
See “JustiÀcation of the spatial sample” in chapter 4.1. Presentation and justiÀcation of the chosen case
study.
717
The analysis on the association of the teaching regimes to spaces will be further developed on the entropy
analysis, namely considered as Domain IV of the spatial sample, which also enhances the relevance of current
coloured schemes that aim to point out this diversity early on this study.
718
423
Second Áoor plan
First Áoor plan
Ground Áoor plan
Fig. 157. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Teaching regime
are, from the start, considered to lack potential as a knowledge acquisition space,
which is paramount for this research. Essentially, only the spaces with pedagogical
potential are the subject of this analysis and studied on whether and how they take
on adaptability, and so, the spaces deployed of this purpose, even if located in the
school building, do not constitute the object of this study and are deprived of
relevance when undertaking this methodology.
For example, spaces on the teachers’ main area, even if holding interaction between
the peers, and even if that interaction may enable information exchange amongst
each other, do not immediately concern the knowledge provided towards the
students, though it can have an underlying impact how and what contents are
provided to the students, from the reunions and dialogues that take place in this
particular area. So, being in a school building, it is expected that what happens in
the whole space may concern the students, although latently or not immediately,
like the spaces for teachers’ meetings, the parent council room, the board rooms,
or where the administrative staff informs the students on any formal questions
they might have. But those are spaces that do not directly assign any knowledge
exchange, but rather secondarily contribute to it, supporting the functioning of the
school as a pedagogical complex.
424
From the examination of Fig. 157 some conclusions can be drawn:
. The primary longitudinal wings, mostly on the second Áoor but also on the Àrst
Áoor, have been mainly envisaged for the artistic teaching, which is proven by all
the different artistic spaces with their distinctive geometrical volumes for acoustics
performance. Their diversity for the teaching is also well-deÀned in the multiple
captions reserved for identifying these spaces, for formal teaching or instrument
training, for individual lessons or group classes, amongst the most diverse music
instrument teaching, within music laboratories and songwriting studios and spaces
for singing individually or in a choir. This is relevant because this actual building has
been constructed, as recalled, within the curricular change that brought the music
conservatory to this school, as so it contemplated the spaces for this teaching that
the school did not require before, whereas the regular teaching mostly lies in the
remnant pavilions from the school’s original layout.
. Having said that, this building also provides the students with the shared spaces
for all the school community, namely the administrative area, the teachers’ area,
but most importantly the common living spaces, both formal and informal, that
may be used by all such as the library and the auditorium, but also the cafeteria and
the canteen, located on the ground Áoor. This may bestow on that Áoor a sense
of community and act as a gathering place for all the students, more frequently,
intensively and differently used - formally and informally, socially or academically.
. If the second Áoor has been initially envisaged for the artistic teaching (as seen by
the predominance of magenta in the coloured scheme in Fig. 157), it is also possible
to point out that the spare spaces that have also been considered in the Ànal plans
of the buildings, may imply the accommodation of future uses, not just for this
teaching in particular, but for the regular one as well, or for all students. And so, if
the formal spaces are claimed by the conservatory in this Áoor, the spare spaces,
more numerous than on the other analysed Áoor plans, can bring in the present or
future effective use, the possibility to gather other curricula’s students and a more
diversiÀed spatial fruition for this Áoor.
. The Àrst Áoor is where the colour mix is more evident: with a transversal wing
deÀned for the regular teaching of sciences; both ends of the longitudinal wing
with relevant artistic spaces for their dimension and also signiÀcance as places for
public training and displays; and the darker spaces, more central in the longitudinal
wing719, as the spaces with communal usage potential, such as the students’ common
living room, the photocopy room and the shop, besides all the small common
spaces adjacent to the main corridor, which can provide small group gatherings for
informal standing.
719
To be seen in the space syntax analysis as the integration of the spaces on the building.
425
. The ground Áoor is very clearly the space shared by all the students (identiÀed in
dark purple in Fig. 157), regardless of their curricular options. It is the entrance of
the school and, hence, the more attended space in the building, not just for standing
but also as a circulation area to reach to other buildings or particular spaces in that
one. It is also the gateway for the external usages, namely for the local community
to reach the auditorium and the library, or the sporting pavilion outside the building
opposite the street, or even to reach to other Áoors where the orchestra room or
the dance studio are located.
. From the upper remarks and from the coloured schemes, it is then possible to
conclude that there is a vertical stratiÀcation of the assortment of uses and students,
in which the most shared spaces are on the ground Áoor, and the least common and
most speciÀc ones for a particular teaching regime and hence, for a deÀned group
of users, are on the upper Áoor.
Spaces used by the external community or by the school community alone
The recognition of spaces that can be both used by the artistic teaching and
by the regular teaching students and educators can be more broadly analysed
when considering the spaces that can be open to the external community, either
for displays of the students to their families or, in a more public sense, to the
performances or exhibitions of the students to the general community. Ultimately,
it can be pointed out which school spaces can be used outside the school hours
for external or community practices besides the secondary teaching, widening the
frequency and occupants of each of these spaces.
Furthermore, the artistic teaching per se requires spaces that have a cultural
signiÀcance at an urban scale, acting not just as learning spaces for the basic and
secondary students but also as a cultural focal point for the city, where music, dance
and drama can be performed for all the local community, or even other displays
deployed of artistic provenance but with communal interest. Particularly, the fact
that the school has an auditorium, implies its potential use not just for the students
to perform, but also for innovative or renowned artists.
It is possible to conclude, from the adaptability deÀnition used for this current
Thesis, that the more varied collective users in the audience and the vastest the
range of activities for the events displayed, the more adaptable each space might
be. Hence, community use from a number of spaces on this building can suggest a
higher adaptability potential.
Nevertheless, the diversity in use can also come from management decisions to
allow community activities and collective gatherings in the building, and also from
426
the external community itself whose direct demand to use certain spaces can prove
their possibility to be shared to other activities, even if not initially conceived for
those purposes. So, even though some spaces are immediately prone to community
uses such as the auditorium, the orchestra room or the library, the spaces with
potential to hold external activities or an external community as the audience of
an internal display, can vary and are not all identiÀable from the start, and hence
not straightforwardly marked on a coloured scheme like the previous ones. The
acknowledgement of spatial fruition and change through the building’s usage can
emphasise this fact, because the activities held can vary on the building according to
local requirements and/or particular events. For example, formal classrooms can be
occupied by groups of the local community for extra-curricular activities, and even
the main hall can hold public exhibitions, provided there is a community demand
to pursue an event in a particular space and that there is positive feedback from the
school to accept it.
Multiple option spaces or with a specialised use
For this analysis it is similarly relevant to acknowledge the specialised spaces for a
particular use, which are quite frequent in this school for the spatial requirements of
activities like the music teaching – either in groups or individually, varying according
to the instruments or the kind of classes taught. This is evident in the variety of
captions in the plans that indicates different spaces in the school, particularly in
the second Áoor, all for speciÀc activities and with different physical requirements,
namely with regard to the dimension and the acoustics.
Additionally, this also occurs for the regular teaching, where the teaching of sciences,
located on the Àrst Áoor in a distinguishable area of the building, has speciÀc spaces
from laboratories to classrooms for those purposes.
On the contrary, other rooms exemplify the multiple option spaces, where a wider
number of activities can be held and not immediately determined, such as: the
auditorium or the library - in what regards spaces for a diversity of formal events;
the cafeteria and the canteen - in a social sense; the students’ common living room,
the teachers’ main ofÀce and all the common living spaces – for a varied spatial
fruition. These spaces will potentially be acknowledged as more adaptable for the
variety of activities that can be allocated there and that potentially will prove to
be the ones with higher entropy, to be examined later on this analysis, because its
uncertainty on activity allocation is also higher.
427
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Fig. 158. Descriptions of the spaces of the school

(Carolina Coelho)
Second Áoor plan
First Áoor plan
Ground Áoor plan
Fig. 159. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Spatial analysis (according to Fig. 158)
428
Overall conclusions
From the previous separate analysis, a Àrst outlook on the layout of the school may
be undertaken and interpreted for providing the following conclusions:
. From the crossing of Fig. 159 with the circulation scheme in Fig. 156, all circulation
areas, both vertical and horizontal, are considered as active learning environments,
of general use by all teaching regimes.
. Non-pedagogical formal and informal spaces are shared by the all community,
hence common spaces do not segregate users by teaching regime. These are also the
most preponderant spaces amongst the space sample in the analysis.
. The situation on learning spaces is quite the opposite, since these spaces have
the potential to allocate whether regular or artistic teaching and rarely both. Music
rooms require speciÀc attributes in conÀguration, soundprooÀng, layout, height,
materials,… Besides both individual training rooms as well as group teaching rooms
can accommodate less students than a regular classroom which has a high number
of students per time period.
. This classiÀcation was undertaken according to the Ànal plans, which correspond
to the expected use the architect has envisioned to each space conceived. In any
case, effective and expected use may not correspond, particularly in the spaces
identiÀed by the architect as “indeterminate supportive spaces”.
. One general conclusion already possible from this analysis is a clear blend of
uses, users and teaching regimes, identiÀed Àrst as a crucial demand in the renewal
brief already conceived in the design by the architect, and actual taking place in the
spaces’ appropriation by all the school community that co-exist in a very tight way.
. Due to the speciÀcity of this school’s pedagogical curriculum, its needs on

supportive spaces is higher, specially in what concern the artistic teaching and the
external uses offered by the school namely for performative activities, that requires
more plentifully spaces such as locker rooms, dressing rooms and training rooms,
with particular attributes which add to the school’s overall dimension.
From the table already presented in chapter 3.3.720, and again placed at this chapter
as Fig.158, it is possible to apply it to this spatial sample in particular, which results in
the coloured scheme of Fig. 159, as a systematisation of all the detailed approaches
previously provided, that hold the overall information on both the space and the
activities it holds.
Fig. 159 much resembles the previous Fig. 155 in regard to social and informal
720
429
spaces vs formal and curricular spaces, but introduces further detail on the analysis
speciÀed in its captions. In addition, for the application of the designations
introduced by the table from Fig. 158, some speciÀcations had to be adopted due
to the particularity of the case study.
Therefore, the spatial sample also considers “social and informal spaces”, “formal
and curricular spaces” and “spaces with both formal and informal potential”, as Fig.
155 already did. Still, the division of social and informal spaces in “clusters” and
“pathways” is not applicable for this particular case study. As already explained in
the topic that critically reviewed this categorisation presented along with Fig. 155,
all social spaces have been considered as circulation spaces alone, and the ones that
were considered clusters had also their potential recognised both as social but also as
curricular spaces, placing them not on the social and informal spaces category, but on
the more general one, which are spaces “with both formal and informal potential”.
That justiÀes the fact that clusters are not applicable as social spaces in this building,
and are considered with a broader potential. These have been identiÀed in yellow
on Fig. 159 and entitled “clusters in pathways”, which recalls their placement on
the main corridors of the Áoor plans and their broader width in regard to the latter,
which enables standing and not just moving along. Note that from the initial captions
these spaces were entitled “common living spaces” identiÀed with the number 40,
that already presented them as spaces for standing collectively.
Also, the table on Fig. 158 separated interior from exterior pathways, but for this
case study, and as explained in the topic on “Interior and exterior spaces” previously
addressed, all the spaces considered are within the building itself and are not exterior.
Nevertheless, for a more in-depth analysis, the access spaces identiÀed with caption
5 on Fig. 150 are here speciÀed as interface between the interior and the exterior
space, within social spaces for circulation, and coloured in light blue in Fig. 159.
Furthermore, the table on Fig. 158 determined the distinction between classrooms
and other spaces considered formal and academic. In this case this has been strictly
applied, concluding that the formal spaces are placed on the Àrst and second Áoor,
and that the rooms that are not classrooms themselves are located on the Àrst Áoor
of this building, identiÀed in light green. The division according to the teaching
regime refers to the previous topic on that speciÀc matter, systematised on Fig.
157. It is not identiÀed in Fig. 159, because it was thought it would introduce over-
complexity to a clear understanding of these coloured schemes, which has already
been identiÀed in detail in a separate preceding coloured scheme.
In what concerns spaces with both formal and informal potential, these have been
considered as speciÀc rooms bounded by walls and partitions, differentiated from
the already mentioned clusters within corridors that have been added to the initial
division on Fig. 158.
430
. Activities
Following this same methodological approach, and recalling the table from 3.3 in
regard to the activities allocated in the spatial sample, here presented again as Fig.
160, it is also possible to identify these activities according to the spaces from this
spatial sample and presenting the systematisation of this study on Fig. 161, as a
coloured scheme.
The table on Fig. 160 establishes three types of activities: programmed/formal, non-
programmed/informal and circulation/Áuxes. These refer to the activities that can
be allocated in this building’s spaces and not the spaces themselves, even though a
clear correspondence between the previous analysis is expected, because, as already
mention before, although some spaces are identiÀed with a speciÀc functionality
and may not have been initially designed for a wider array of purposes, the fact that
they can cater for other functions in the present or near future has determined their
categorisation, not just for their strict current use but for their potential.
So, generally, programmed/formal activities can be approached to formal and

curricular spaces, whereas non-programmed/informal activities can be paralleled
to social and informal spaces, corresponding Fig. 159 to Fig. 161. Besides, both
programmed/formal and non-programmed/informal activities can occur in
spaces with both formal and informal potential. Circulation as considered in
Fig. 161 corresponds to Fig. 159 circulation/pathways in social and informal
spaces. One clear distinction of both tables is the detailed approach in each one,
where in the latter it refers to the nature of the activities, mostly regarding the
teaching regimes but also introducing other speciÀcations such as administration
and social, which, ultimately, can call not just for active but also for supportive
learning environments when considering this analysis. Another difference is that
in this scheme, a space is matched to its corresponding main activity, in a univocal
connection between an activity and its correspondent space(s). Finally, spaces
of this sample are identiÀed with a colour, regardless of their nature as active
or supportive721. It is in fact that correspondence that enables to understand the
nature of that activity.
The following Fig. 161 then presents the study of the spatial sample according
to the space’s main activity and systematises the captions on Fig. 150 rendering a
possible arrangement of the activities by their nature.
On this schematic categorisation of spaces according to their main activities, there

has also been the need to add further detail to the categories of analysis provided in
721
Only technical zones, supportive and indeterminate spaces and toilets/bathrooms (except the ones related to
artistic performances like the ones near the auditorium or the dance studio) have not been coloured, considering
them of low relevance for the learning process.
431
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Fig. 160. Descriptions of the activities of the school

(Carolina Coelho)
Second Áoor plan
First Áoor plan
Ground Áoor plan
Fig. 161. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Activities of the school (according to Fig. 160)
432
the initial tables, that is the case of the programmed/formal activities, which can be
for the regular, the artistic and both teaching regimes, but also for the administration,
the teachers, the staff and the parents. By indicating in the plans the spaces allocated
to each of these users, it shows a spatial mix that enables the gathering of different
members of the school community in the common spaces and circulations. This
adds additional information to the previous analysis, because the remaining ones
only regarded spaces associated with students and active learning environments
speciÀcally for them, and did not portray all the users and their respective activities
in space.
On the ground Áoor, the cafeteria, the canteen and the auditorium’s cafeteria hold
the social activities, and on the upper Áoors it is the teachers’ main ofÀce and the
students’ common living room.
Also, in this particular Fig. 161 the common living spaces identiÀed with caption 40,
which are the ones adjacent to the main corridors, are indicated here as social spaces
for informal activities undertaken while moving or meeting the peers, unlike in the
previous analyses where their potential as formal spaces has also been recognised,
even if considering it not to be its primary purpose. Undetermined supportive
spaces are considered to shelter formal activities, because of their formal volumetric
deÀnition and placement on a central part of the building, though this can be for
both teaching regimes.
All things considered, it is possible to conclude that the second Áoor has mainly
formal activities related to the artistic teaching, the regular teaching as a formal area
related to the teaching of sciences transversally to the main hallway on the Àrst
Áoor, and that the ground Áoor is prone on spaces for social and artistic purposes
for all the community and it is also the Áoor plan which enables more informal
activities. Circulation happens both vertically and horizontally, paralleling the street
and also as a main corridor for the transversal volumes on the building. Those
speciÀc wings have clear purposes: there is a volume for the auditorium; another
for the teachers and staff, with the administration located on the ground Áoor and
the teachers’ ofÀces on the upper Áoor; and a third volume on the west side of the
building that holds the cafeteria and the canteen on the ground Áoor, along with
the kitchen and the staff ’s supportive quarters, which also shelters the sciences’
rooms on the Àrst Áoor. On the opposite ends of the main volume there are larger
rooms for the artistic teaching, but those can have performative events for a wider
community as well, except on the west side of the ground Áoor where the library
is located, designed for the formal purpose of studying, even though informal
activities can occur there.
433
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Fig.162. Descriptions of the spatial attributes of the school

(Carolina Coelho)
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Fig. 163. Detailed drawings of a typical music classroom (plan, section and interior façade)
(Parque Escolar)
434
. Attributes
Recalling the table in chapter 3.3, on the attributes of the spatial sample, placed
again here as Fig. 162, it is currently possible to provide a critical analysis of the
physical features that generally enable activity allocation.
The most remarkable difference regarding the attributes on this spatial sample is
between the spaces for the artistic teaching from the remaining ones, namely for the
regular teaching. In fact, if the environmental conditions concerning heating have
to be adequate for every space in the school, foremost to provide physical comfort
for learning, the acoustics claim speciÀc requirements as well as a more intricate
design for the artist related spaces (Fig. 163). These imply speciÀc conÀguration
properties, namely to avoid reverberation and to improve the acoustics, besides its
deeper need for soundprooÀng that has been envisaged amongst the rooms.
These requirements also involve a particular choice in both interior and external
materials for insulation and coating, as well as non-orthogonal conÀgurations that
are evident in the plans of the building and that clearly identify the artistic associated
spaces. Moreover, the choice in materials on the Áoors need a thorough choice
for the dance studio’s moving activities, and the ceilings and walls for the artistic
learning overall also have to consider acoustics’ properties in both the materials’
application and the surfaces’ conÀguration. Fig. 163 also displays the walls and
ceiling’s geometrical design for a typical music classroom and the heavier load of
insulation materials.
Proportion and overall dimension, in regard to height, length and width, are
also a relevant attribute not just for circulation, but also for the learning spaces,
namely formal ones and for both teaching regimes. As disclosed earlier, the formal
classrooms on this school mostly separate the regular from the artistic teaching.
Music related rooms are usually smaller for individual or reduced groups. The dance
teaching along with the largest rooms for the music teaching, represent the spaces
where larger assemblies of students are held, like the choir or the orchestra rooms,
or where performances are envisioned to be held with their respective audiences.
The regular teaching does not require such speciÀc environmental attributes,
not for acoustics nor for audience’s displays. In this particular sample the most
representative area for the regular teaching is the science area where laboratories are
placed, which also embodies a very innovative working manner from the traditional
ones, considered to have supportive equipment “too rigidly placed”, often “worn
out” or “obsolete” for its current usage and overall “located in difÀcult access areas
with low prominence on the school” (Heitor, Teodoro, Fernandes and Boavida,
2007, p.40)722.
722
Based on the original quote in Portuguese: “Com efeito, na maioria das escolas portuguesas, estas áreas
integram exclusivamente espaços de laboratório associados a salas de preparaçmo e de armazenamento de materiais
435
Dimension is also a feature that interferes with spatial allocation, and according
to the scale of the collective gatherings the spaces can hold external and wider
audiences, or only internal performances for students alone or for small groups
of educators, or for all the school community. That justiÀes the fact that the wider
spaces like the dance studio, the orchestra room or the choir room have potential to
hold external displays. The possibility of these spaces for holding distinctive artistic
displays can vary according to the expected public and the nature of the activities
and their respective spatial requirements. The example of the orchestra room on
the Àrst Áoor, where either group classes or public displays can occur, differs from
the possible displays in the auditorium, that can hold a wider audience in particular
physical conditions provided by the stage and its technical possibilities.
Additionally, from the upper analysis conveyed and particularly from Fig. 155, it
can be established that the proportion of each space conditions its ability to shelter
activities, because if it is too narrow for its length it can hinder standing and imply
moving activities, leading to circulation more than group gatherings on that space.
These remarks enable other considerations on the partitioning of the spaces. The
artistic teaching recalls for both open spaces with large dimensions for public
performances, but also for small partitions for the music studios for individual
training or small group classes. Additionally, the regular teaching usually involves
a larger number of students in the classroom with a very clearly deÀned axial
development, whereas these small music studios often revolve around a music
instrument and do not bear such a deÀned longitudinal setting.
The spaces used by all the school community will need to have higher openness
and larger dimensions, like the informal spaces of the cafeteria, the canteen or
the students’ common living room, or the more formal spaces of the auditorium
or the library. While the spaces for speciÀc functions or smaller groups, despite
their curricula, are more divided spaces, such as the teachers’ ofÀces, the shop, the
psychologist’s ofÀce, the music studios or the instrument training rooms.
To note that this building in particular has a very open main hall, that has also a
substantial length and width. This proportion enables standing activities, and its
openness facilitates a series of different events, a large frequency of movement and
numerous patterns of co-presence, all in that space.
Naturally, the acoustics and the environmental conditions of these spaces are also
vital to cater for the performances, namely for the artistic teaching but also for
external events. Even so, the fact that the choir room is placed on the second Áoor
e equipamentos. Estmo em regra posicionadas em zonas do edifício com acesso limitado e fraca visibilidade
face ao conjunto escolar. A par do desgaste físico a que trm sido sujeitos e da precariedade das redes infra-
estruturais, incapazes de responder às exigrncias actuais, denotam sinais de obsolescrncia funcional derivados
da alteraçmo das condições de uso iniciais, da evoluçmo dos curricula e das práticas experimentais e do recurso
a meios computacionais. Ao adoptarem uma organizaçmo espacial rígida, decorrente da utilizaçmo de mobiliário
Àxo, inviabilizam a prática de diferentes modos de ensino-aprendizagem e diÀcultam adaptações a situações em
que se pretende uma aprendizagem mais activa.” (Heitor, Teodoro, Fernandes and Boavida, 2007, p.40)
436
also conditions its choice for a public performance when considering spaces with
similar spatial features on the Àrst Áoor, and so, it is also concluded that the direct
access from the street is paramount, mainly for external displays for a local and
diverse community but also for the school community, avoiding them to move
through the school in order to reach the intended space. All in all, the direct access
from the street can facilitate the choice in space, but also the space’s dimension and
its physical provision can condition its allocation to the activities.
The direct access spots for this building are placed from the street side and from the
external courtyards towards the other building pavilions of the school complex. It is
noteworthy that the primary entrance can be done by the main hall from the street
or, as a secondary access, on the east side of the building towards the supportive
spaces of the auditorium; but also in the school, internally, through the canteen
on the south side of the building, leading to an exterior space to reach the other
buildings in the school. The street leans longitudinally, and so the school building
has stairs in both ends of the volume for its direct access from the street, in which
the east side the stairs go down a few steps towards the school entrance, and in the
west side there are more sets of steps to reach the school (Fig. 164).
Interiorly, the school has two sets of ramps and stairs, located on the main hall on
the ground Áoor, that enable the access to the external courtyards of the school
complex towards the south side, opposite the street (Fig. 165).
Besides, there are also accesses that connect this new building with one existing
pavilion on the west side, and two ramps that connect the Àrst Áoor from the
transversal wings of the teachers’ ofÀces and the science labs, to external spaces of
the school, leading to the other existing pavilions (Fig. 166).
Vertical circulation, which has already been previously subject of detailed study, is
achieved by means of staircases and lifts, which are adjacent to one another. There
are 3 sets of vertical circulation in the main hallway of the building connecting the
remaining Áoors. From these three, the lift on the east end side of the building, is
particularly for heavy loads, namely for carrying music instruments for the upper
Áoors or for its storage on the underground Áoors.
In what concerns the networks, the current learning processes imply power
access and connectivity for technological devices to support the learning process
and to reach network connectivity for information research, communication and
knowledge acquisition. This is considered in the whole school, not just in the formal
spaces but overall.
After a more general approach to the school on its attributes, a more profound
analysis of all the spaces would be overly exhaustive at this point. So, at the end of
the whole methodological application, the spaces identiÀed to be the most adaptable
will have their attributes more detailed, so that conclusions may be drawn speciÀcally
correlating high adaptability to the physical attributes detailed on this table.
437
Fig. 164. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Entrance from the street
(Carolina Coelho)
Fig. 165. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Accesses from the main hall to the exterior
(Carolina Coelho)
Fig. 166. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Accesses from the new building to the exterior
(Carolina Coelho)
438
4.2.1.2. Space Syntax B Morphological analysis
“Through conÀguration, buildings, like organisms, both contain and transmit

information. Second, we know that although the parts of a building do not move,
through their conÀgurational differences they do affect the pattern of movement,
in that other things being equal, the degree to which spaces are used for movement
is a function of their conÀgurational position. This is not an effect of the building
on individuals, but a system effect from the space structure of the building to the
probabilistic distribution of people.” (Hillier, 2007723, p.303)
. Datasets and Methods
The Àrst milestone of this methodology, considered to provide a description of

school space and how it functionally supports activity allocation, also includes a
morphological analysis made by means of space syntax724.
The space syntax approach aims to analyse the school from a conÀgurational point
of view. Findings allow the understanding of movement and standing spaces and
their potential as active learning environments, deepening the knowledge on “spatial
form” for a more inclusive understanding of the social relations of people from
space, recalling Hillier’s (1989, p.13) “Type 3: Laws from space to society”, as well
as Popper’s (1972) thoughts on the third world.
Syntactic analysis has been approached by means of convex spaces, axial lines and
visibility techniques (Fig. 167). This acknowledges, for the school brief, the relevance
of studying individual spaces as well as their sequential layout and connectivity,
which can trigger knowledge development:
“What do we mean by a deformed grid? First, compared to an

orthogonal grid, the length of sightlines from particular spaces - their
one-dimensional extension - is sometimes restricted and sometimes
extended. This one-dimensional extension we call axiality. Second, the
width of spaces - their two-dimensional extension - varies considerably.
723
724
The initial results encountered by a space syntax analysis on this case study were presented in the 10th
International Space Syntax Symposium, in 13-17 July 2015, London. These have also been published in the
Conference’s proceedings as: Coelho, C.; Krüger, M. J. (2015). Towards a methodology to assess adaptability in
educational spaces: An entropy approach to space syntax. In Karimi, K.; Vaughan, L.; Sailer, K.; Palaiologou,
G.; Bolton, T. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium. p.17: 1-20. London, UK: Space
Syntax Laboratory, The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.
Afterwards, a subsequent study comprising all stages of the methodology, has been presented in the 11th
International Space Syntax Symposium, in 3-7 July 2017, Lisbon. It has also been published in the Conference’s
proceedings as: Coelho, C.; Heitor, T. (2017). Adaptability Retrieval In Artistic Learning Environments. In
T. Heitor; M. Serra; J. Silva; M. Bacharel; L. Silva (Eds.). Proceedings of the 11th International Space Syntax
Symposium. (pp. 7: 1-19).
Both presentations and publications validate these contents and the methodological application by the academia,
which have been developed amongst this current Thesis and particularly in this chapter.
439

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(Carolina Coelho)
440
This we call convexity […]

Axiality and convexity will be shown to account for the way in which space
- whatever its style or three-dimensional form-structures movement.
This does not mean that the third dimension is not an important aspect
of an architectural appreciation of urban space, but that the movement
of people through an urban area is limited to two dimensions.” (Hillier,
Hanson, Peponis, Hudson and Burdett, 1983, p.50)
The latter analysis, on the visual relations between spaces is also signiÀcant for
its potential towards social relations and encounters and for structuring the third
milestone of the methodology on the observation spots for analysing effective
spatial experience.
As it has already been recognised from the previous chapter, this building is very
particular and has speciÀc plans for all Áoors analysed. This is very relevant because
not only is the interior spatial conÀguration different, but also its overall spatial
form differs from Áoor to Áoor. So, the analysis will be done by Áoor plan and will
then be examined as a whole integrated spatial system with critical assessment on
the partial and overall results, comparing the values on the attributes.
Recognising all the attributes’ relevance, this analysis will focus foremost on global
integration725 and local connectivity of radius n, for the understanding of spaces’
overall syntactic structure and their conÀgurative relations, towards patterns of co-
presence and movement.
It is relevant to state that a full space syntax analysis has been done for all three
approaches, regarding the several attributes the software provides and also
recognising their relevance for a whole outlook on the building’s spatial form. The
data here presented is based on that comprehensive study and all its parameters,
which have enabled a critical assessment of the results gathered and a subsequent
detailed acknowledgement of the buildings conÀgurational speciÀcities.
For the axial line and convex space analyses the following results have been
gathered: choice, connectivity, integration, line length, mean depth, node count and
intelligibility. For the visibility analysis the following results have also been collected:
connectivity, visual control, visual integration, visual mean depth and visual node
count. Besides, all the attributes that Depthmap; provides for each approach have
been dealt and reÁected upon, both by maps and by the attributes comprehensive
725
“The syntactic measure of greatest relevance is integration and it expresses the degree of centrality (or accessibility)
of the spaces in the system, thus, working as a measure of spatial hierarchy” (Heitor, 2001, p.62) From the Portuguese
original version: “A medida sintáctica de maior relevância é a integraçmo e exprime o grau de centralidade (ou
acessibilidade) dos espaços presentes no sistema, funcionando, assim, como uma medida de hierarquia espacial.”
This has been thought by Hillier and Hanson in regard to “relative asymmetry”: “Relative asymmetry (or relative
depth) can therefore be thought of more simply as the measure of integration. […] Note that a low value means a
space with a high degree of integration.” (Hillier and Hanson, 1984, p.109)
Krüger (1989, 1990) has demonstrated that integration is the inverse of real relative asymmetry.
441
table of results that has been exported to Excel and worked on. These have not
been included here for systematisation purposes, and considering them a partial
step towards the Ànal results that may be mentioned and whose results may be
regarded without all the graphic materials, maps and tables to account for it. In fact,
it is a qualitative consideration made from the quantitative results that is intended,
in order to reÁect upon the building’s form and its speciÀc ability to allocate more
or less activities, so that the Ànal aim on retrieving the building’s adaptability may
be accomplished, in a direct and less blurred manner, than the triangulation of the
three approaches of this methodology already implies: functional on the school
space, nomothetic on the possible activity allocations and idiographic on effective
events and experience.
Still, for the purposes of achieving these milestones amongst the proposed
methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in this particular case study,
this subsequent analysis will focus particularly in the global measure of integration
in order to generally inform on the spatial system, and also on the local measures
of connectivity and mean depth, concerning the neighbours of each node and axial
line, and its consideration as deep or shallow, which will impact interaction and
encounters where knowledge can be passed on amongst peers.
Anyway, two remarks have to be made on this behalf prior to the presentation of
the analysis: the fact that a more detailed study has been undertaken that also justiÀes
the critical examination on these speciÀc results within a more in-depth outlook on
the spatial sample. Secondly, the fact that this methodology is composed of several
stages and, for presenting each one sequentially, it is relevant to underline the most
signiÀcant results which support a speciÀc knowledge on the building and its features,
which in this case, is its conÀguration, in order to understand how it can support
activity allocation. That justiÀes the relevance taken on integration, which is the most
important for informing on interactions. According to Krüger:
“It should be emphasized that Integration or its inverse (RRA) is

the global conÀgurational property that predicts movement and not
Connectivity, which is a local property.” (Krüger, 1990, p.35)
Not only will the results have to be systematised, in their description and appraisal,
but so as the comparison between the three approaches: convex, axial and VGA.
It is intended that, at the end of this part, a supported outlook on the building is
able to be provided and also a critical comparison between what are the nodes and
axial lines with the highest values from each analysis, whether they coincide or not
and, from the building’s general knowledge, to provide a critical explanation and
reÁection upon that.
Thus, it is not possible to compare a wider array of variables, or others that do not
coincide between the three analyses. Furthermore, these results will be subsequently
compared to the results from the next approaches, and so, they need to be the
442
most representative and systematic, leaving out others that have contributed to the
understanding of these conclusions and the overall spatial form, but reducing the
comparisons for a more insightful and less blurred outlook that a wider array of
variables might bring along.
Once more, this analysis contemplates the spaces from the Áoors considered to
be active learning environments, rather than the remnant ones: the underground
Áoors for the technical areas. Anyway, on these considered Áoors, and since this is a
morphological analysis, all spaces were considered, despite their original purpose or
effective functionality. In fact, at this stage it is the all system that is under scrutiny
and its spatial organisation. Hence, no space can be dismissed, which may lead
to conclude on the potential correlation between the centrality of a space and its
function, already presented as the Àrst milestone of this process.
So, after all the processes of this methodology, it is intended to conclude on the
relation between the spatial sample, how it is able to support the activities, provided
by the Àrst milestone; the potential to allocate those activities and the detail on
their nature, given by the following entropy approach; and Ànally the spatial
sample’s effective fruition, both formal and programmed and informal and non-
programmed, regardless of their overall potential proven earlier.
. Convex Spaces
For the convex space analysis, the data gathering followed a sequential procedure.
First, the Ànal plans, considered to be the closest to the actual built space, as already
used for the initial stage of this analysis, constituted the basis in which the convex
spaces were drawn.
It is most remarkable in the description of this procedure that this school’s speciÀcity
on the artistic teaching leads it to have numerous non-convex spaces for acoustics
performance, as previously detailed, besides the non-convex spaces designed for
functional organisation. But for this analysis on convex spaces, all have been drawn
as convex. Fig. 168a illustrates this situation, showing the drawing of the convex
spaces as a preparation for the space syntax analysis, by overlapping them to the
plans. Spaces that were already convex are speciÀed in magenta and the convex
spaces that have been adjusted from non-convex spaces for the purposes of this
analysis are indicated in green.
Finally, Fig. 168b shows all the convex spaces from the studied Áoors, that have
been saved from Autocad in .dxf format by Áoor plan, so the Àles can be opened on
Depthmap; and worked on as a basis for the space syntax analysis.
Then, in Depthmap; polygons were drawn over the convex spaces already identiÀed
443
Second Áoor
a) Second Áoor
First Áoor
c) Ground Áoor
Ground Áoor a) b)
Fig. 168. Quinta das Flores School’s new building, Convex Spaces: a) over the plans; b) detached
(original spaces as convex spaces in magenta; convex spaces adjusted from the original non-convex spaces in green)
(Original plans provided by Parque Escolar, editing and convex spaces’ drawings by Carolina Coelho)
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor a) b)
Fig. 169. Quinta das Flores School’s new building: a) Convex spaces; b) Pajek graph
(Carolina Coelho)
444
from Autocad and then they were linked by joining those polygons (Fig. 169a), in
order to produce a convex map. Subsequently, a graph analysis was run in order to
generate the visual images of the map according to the chosen attributes. This Àle
has also been exported to Pajek software in order to make a correspondent graph
on the spaces’ connectivity (Fig. 169b).
General Àndings from the convex space analysis
Following Depthmap;’s colour scheme726 the most integrated space (HH radius
n) is the main hall on the ground Áoor, followed by the corridor that accesses the
auditorium’s dressing rooms, the corridor that accesses the administrative services
and the library. Spaces such as the secretariat, the auditorium, main hall’s adjacent
rooms and the cafeteria, are also highly integrated. These rooms correspond to
common living spaces, shared by all, which corroborates once more the school’s cross-
curricular teaching. On the Àrst Áoor it is also the main corridor and the transversal
corridor towards the teachers’ ofÀces are the most integrated, followed by the
adjacent spaces and the perpendicular corridor towards the science labs (Fig. 170a).
When the integration map is ran by r3 there are only slight differences in what
regards the ground and the Àrst Áoor plans, because it analyses the local convex
integration through the number of changes in direction until the radius chosen,
which in this case is a maximum of three727. This aims to identify “all spaces j which
have a topological distance dij equal or inferior to a certain radius r”, being r in this
case three (Figueiredo, 2004, p.38728). As it is perceive by Fig. 170b, although these
Àgures change, it does not imply a hierarchical change from the previous r n maps.
According to the attributes summary there is an average integration on the ground

Áoor of 1,34 that ranges from 0,76 to 3,00, an average integration of 2,08 on the Àrst
Áoor that spans from 0,83 to 7,35, and an average integration of 2,70 on the second
Áoor that goes from 1,13 to 14,17. These results clearly identify the upper Áoors as
being more integrated than the lower ones (Fig. 171). This would be straightforward
to understand because morphologically, the Áoor plans change and along with that
change, vertically the plans become less and less scattered and so, the spaces are
more integrated in the system, reaching to a point where the second Áoor plan does
not have transversal hallways, making those spaces morphologically less deep.
726
The colour range chosen for the graphic materials provided by Depthmap; has been “Equal Ranges
(3-Colour)”, because it is one of the default colour schemes and the one considered to be more clear on a white
background, as opposed to the classic Depthmap’s colour range, that did not provided such a clear presentation
due to the very light and bright colours the maps had for Quinta das Flores School. Still, it does not involve
different interpretation from the classical colour scheme from warm to cold colours.
727
Although different numbers of r can be chosen, radius 3 is widely used in local measures of syntactic analysis
(Figueiredo, 2004, p.38).
728
From the Portuguese: “Integraçmo local (local integration): a integraçmo de um espaço i pode ser calculada em
relaçmo a um subconjunto k’ correspondente a todos os espaços j que estmo a uma distância topológica dij menor
ou igual a um dado raio r.”
445
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor a) b)
Fig. 170. Convex Space Analysis: a) Integration HH r n map; b) Integration HH r3 map

(Carolina Coelho)
Generic classrooms and science labs, because of their location in one building
section predominantly for regular teaching, present lower values of integration. Also
the dance studio, the music room and the orchestra room, located in the extremities,
are poorly integrated. Consequently, from the rooms which have a more communal
use and an a priori expectation of high entropy, because they are expected to allocate
numerous activities, when plotted against this syntactic analysis, indicate that it is
the library and the auditorium on the ground Áoor that correspond to high levels
of integration, whereas on the Àrst Áoor this correspondence would probably not
be so noteworthy. This will be subject of analysis after the entropy approach, as the
following milestone of this methodology. Nevertheless, the most integrated spaces:
the main hall and the main corridors, present a strong correspondence between
activity allocation concluded from the initial analysis on the spatial sample729 and
integration, all similarly signiÀcant.
The mean depth and the connectivity charts added to this conclusion (Fig. 172).
The main hall is also the space with the highest connectivity, as well as the mains
corridors on the upper Áoors, followed by the transversal corridor on those hallways
– the administrative services corridor and the dressing room corridor from the
auditorium and the teachers’ ofÀces corridor and the science labs corridor, besides,
also the auditorium itself and the library present high values of connectivity,
whereas the remaining present extremely low values.
729
See chapter 4.2.1.1. DeÀnition of the spatial sample _ Functional analysis.
446
CONVEX SPACE ANALYSIS (ATTRIBUTES SUMMARY)
Ground Floor First Floor Second Floor
Attribute Minimum Average Maximum Minimum Average Maximum Minimum Average Maximum
1 Choice 0 420,793 11897 0 133,807 6281 0 80,8333 3272
2 Choice [Connectivity Wgt] 262 2368,71 58810 49 703,123 19744 69 238,25 5362
3 Choice [Connectivity Wgt] [Norm] 0,0064967 0,0587361 1,45829 0,0079224 0,0593834 1,09385 0,0102556 0,0187475 0,796968
4 Choice [Norm] 0 0,0589346 1,66625 0 0,0645515 1,90887 0 0,0322343 1,97943
5 Connectivity 1 2,34711 21 1 2,2807 46 1 1,93333 46
6 Integration [HH] 0,764492 1,33832 3,0015 0,834672 2,07998 7,34511 1,13372 2,69885 14,1715
7 Mean Depth 2,46667 4,50661 6,75833 1,34483 2,87308 4,95181 1,24138 2,37701 4,01724
8 Mean Depth [Connectivity Wgt] 2,02113 4,05797 6,42254 0,885714 2,47263 4,47368 0,741379 1,88534 3,51724
9 Node Count 121 121 121 30 69,7895 84 1 58,0333 59
10 RA 0,0246499 0,0589437 0,0967787 0,0146929 0,0645515 0,216749 0,00846945 0,048901 0,105868
11 Total Connectivity 284 284 284 70 158,421 190 116 114,067 116
12 Total Depth 296 540,793 811 39 202,596 411 72 137,867 233
Fig. 171. Attributes Summary r n

(Carolina Coelho)
This analysis corroborates the previous results indicating the main hall and the
corridor as being central to the system, followed by the library, the auditorium and
the cafeteria on the ground Áoor. According to the values encountered, there are
well-deÀned differences amongst the spaces: the ones with high connectivity from
the ones with low values, which are amongst themselves similar. This is proven by an
average connectivity of 2,35 on the ground Áoor, although it varies from 1 to 21; and
on the Àrst Áoor the average connectivity of 2,28, ranges from 1 to 46, similarly to
the second Áoor which as the same space and an average connectivity of 1,93. This
again could be explained by the morphological distribution of the spaces adjacently to
the main corridors in the upper Áoors, which is more spread out in the ground Áoor.
The mean depth also proves these results, providing some additional information
(Fig. 172b). Because the building is not straightforward in accessing the spaces from
a central location, certain spaces are syntactically very deep because their location
implies numerous changes in direction and through several other spaces to reach
them. These are the ones identiÀed with the warmest colours in the mean depth
map, because according to the Depthmap;’s colour scheme, they have the highest
values on this attribute and also by the attributes Àgures provided by the software.
On average, the ground Áoor has the highest value of 4,51, signiÀcantly different
from the Àrst Áoor with 2,87, which has also perpendicular sections to the building
but which are not has signiÀcant for the topological distance of their spaces, and
Ànally, the second Áoor, only with a longitudinal layout has the lowest average mean
depth of 2,38.
447
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor a) b)
Fig.172. Convex Space Analysis: a) Connectivity r n map; b) Mean Depth r n map

(Carolina Coelho)
Moreover, it is also on the ground Áoor that the spaces with the highest minimum
mean depth of 2,47 are located, decreasing vertically to the second Áoor to 1,24.
Additionally, convex spaces also on the ground Áoor have the highest values of
mean depth of 6,76, whereas convex spaces on the Àrst Áoor have a lowest of 4,95,
similarly to the second Áoor with 4,02.
Besides those mentioned hallways, the layout of the building itself and the accesses
provided to reach to each space explain these high values of mean depth. This
is the case of the canteen and cafeteria’s hallway where small supportive spaces
are not easily accessed by the corridors, as it also happens on the second Áoor; as
well as on the ofÀces overall: the secretariat ofÀces on the ground Áoor, and the
teachers’ ofÀces and the supportive spaces to the laboratories on the Àrst Áoor,
whose location involves the previous crossing of other spaces, and so they hold a
higher mean depth.
The following tables and scattergrams (Figs. 173 and 174) were produced in order to
provide a more immediate comparison between the Àgures obtained by the software
and potentially rank them with regard to r n and r3 and the range of values achieved
from the spaces analysed. Note that it is not the purpose of this assessment to be
redundant to what has already been identiÀed and explained. It was simply considered
the most adequate means of comparing the explained results and to critically analyse
possible correlations. This will be done sequentially in each approach – for convex
spaces and axial lines, by Áoor plan, and overall in a more comprehensive table and
scattergram all results will be displayed for the Ànal interpretation.
448
CONVEX SPACES rn
ATTRIBUTE SUMMARY
Ground Floor First Floor Second Floor Integration rn
15
minimum 0,76 0,83 1,13
INTEGRATION average 1,34 2,08 2,70

10
maximum 3,00 7,35 14,17
5
minimum 1,00 1,00 1,00
CONNECTIVITY average 2,35 2,28 1,93

0
GROUND FIRST SECOND
maximum 21,00 46,00 46,00 FLOOR FLOOR FLOOR
minimum 2,47 1,34 1,24
MEAN DEPTH average 4,51 2,87 2,38 INTEGRATION maximum

INTEGRATION minimum
maximum 6,76 4,95 4,02
INTEGRATION average
Fig. 173. Integration, Connectivity and Mean Depth r n comparison for the convex space analysis
(table and scattergram)
(Carolina Coelho)
Integration has a great span of values from 0,76 on a convex space from the ground
Áoor, which is the least central to the spatial system, to very high levels on the
second Áoor. Overall, integration by Áoor plan is considered to increase vertically,
which is also explained by the lesser scattered layout plan on the second Áoor as
compared to the ground Áoor with the transversal hallways and secondary accesses
to supportive spaces.
As for connectivity, the wide span of values for the upper Áoors continues to occur,
paralleling the integration results, which may be justiÀed by the main corridor
that connects to most of the spaces by a very forthright morphology that differs
from the ground Áoor. Still, despite having signiÀcantly higher levels of maximum
connectivity on the Àrst and second Áoors, the average connectivity is higher for
the ground Áoor and decreases vertically to the upper ones. This implies that the
ground Áoor has spaces with higher connectivity but, due to its spatial form, it does
not have a space such as the main corridors with these much connected spaces to it.
From the mean depth comparison, it is once more the ground Áoor that has the
higher levels both the minimum as well as the maximum ones, implying it to be the
Áoor with the deepest convex spaces.
From the analysis by r3, the results are generally similar, as it has already been
scrutinised, but as it dismisses the situations where the “topological distance”
(Figueiredo, 2004, p.38) is superior to three, then the spaces considered are the
most shallow. This has implications on the mean depth that decreases and becomes
closer between Áoors, as in the r n analysis in the ground Áoor that had a very superior
449
CONVEX SPACES
ATTRIBUTE SUMMARY
Integration
rn r3 rn r3 rn r3
15
minimum 0,76 0,53 0,83 0,33 1,13 0,53
INTEGRATION average 1,34 1,56 2,08 2,22 2,70 2,77 10
maximum 3,00 3,64 7,35 7,35 14,17 14,17

5
minimum 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00
0
CONNECTIVITY average 2,35 2,35 2,28 2,28 1,93 1,93
rn r3 rn r3 rn r3
GROUND FIRST SECOND

maximum 21,00 21,00 46,00 46,00 46,00 46,00
FLOOR FLOOR FLOOR
minimum 2,47 2,00 1,34 1,34 1,24 1,24
MEAN DEPTH average 4,51 2,53 2,87 2,44 2,38 2,22 INTEGRATION maximum
INTEGRATION minimum
maximum 6,76 2,87 4,95 2,94 4,02 2,94
INTEGRATION average
Fig. 174. Integration, Connectivity and Mean Depth r n and r3 comparison for the convex space
analysis (table and scattergram)
(Carolina Coelho)
average and maximum mean depth then, and is no longer that distinctive from the
other two Áoor plans. Besides, the minimum integration r3 is held by a space on the
Àrst Áoor and not on the ground Áoor, which continues to have least integrated
spaces, but whose minimum integration r3 is equal to the one of the second Áoor.
All in all, the differences from the attributes can be explained by the differences
from the plans’ spatial forms and its consideration as more scattered, which is the
ground Áoor; to the more cohesive, which is the second Áoor plan, guided by the
main corridor in a longitudinal arrangement and deployed of perpendicular sections.
The intelligibility results, as a second order measure, have been produced by the
scattergram that correlates integration (in the x axis, because it is the global measure)
to connectivity (in the y axis, as a local measure) and will be examined according to
its regression line (Fig. 175), according to Hillier’s account730:
“We can read the degree of intelligibility by looking at the shape of the
scatter. If the points (representing the spaces) form a straight line rising
at 45 per cent from bottom left to top right, then it would mean that every
time a space was a little more connected, then it would also become a
little more integrated - that is to say, there would be a perfect ‘correlation’
between what you can see and what you can’t see.” (Hillier, 2007, p.94)
730
“The location of the point on the vertical axis is given by the number of other convex spaces that space
overlaps with, that is, the ‘connectivity’ of the space with other spaces, and on the horizontal axis by the
‘integration’ value of the space, that is, its ‘depth’ from all others.” (Hillier, 2007, p.94)
450
Ground Áoor First Áoor Second Áoor
Fig. 175. Intelligibility r n Scattergram

(Carolina Coelho)
This analysis has concluded that the highest intelligibility regards the second
Áoor plan when analysed in r n, of 0,89. The Àrst Áoor is also more intelligible
than the ground Áoor, respectively with an R2 of 0,50 and 0,35, even though all
the community enters by the same access on the ground Áoor and should, at Àrst
glance, realise each one’s pathway from the possible ones. So, the ground Áoor is
the least intelligible, from the deÀnition of intelligibility731 this potentially indicates
a certain dispersion of the spaces amongst the several sections in the system that
hampers users’ orientation in space.
Nevertheless, this information comes along the previous conclusions on the

building, supported by the integration, connectivity and mean depth analyses, which
have provided an overall outlook on the building’s morphology. Again, if the second
Áoor has a main corridor that distributes to its connected spaces it is easier to
perceive than the lower Áoors, which have transversal hallways. If both the Àrst and
ground Áoors have those perpendicular spaces to the central longitudinal part of the
building, the Àrst Áoor is more intelligible than the ground Áoor, which can also be
held by the mean depth higher values of some of the convex spaces on the ground
Áoor, more than on the Àrst Áoor and which have already been subject of analysis.
. Axial Lines
Afterwards, the same analysis was undertaken for the axial line map. This time the
perimeter of each Áoor has been drawn as the closed polygon that speciÀes the
Áoors layout. Fig. 176a shows the closed polygons identiÀed in red over the Ànal
plans of the building and the following Fig. 176b clariÀes the closed polygons as
731
“The property of ‘intelligibility’ in a deformed grid means the degree to which what we can see from the
spaces that make up the system - that is, how many other spaces are connected to - is a good guide to what we
cannot see, that is, the integration of each space into the system as a whole.” (Hillier, 2007, p.94)
451
Second Áoor
a) Second Áoor
First Áoor
c) Ground Áoor
Ground Áoor a) b)
Fig. 176. Quinta das Flores School’s new building: a) Closed polygons for axial maps over the Ànal
plans of the building (in red); b) Closed polygons for axial maps
(Original plans provided by Parque Escolar, editing and closed polygons’ drawings by Carolina Coelho)
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor a) b)
Fig. 177. Quinta das Flores School’s new building, Axial line map:
a) With all axial lines; b) Reduced to the fewest lines
(Carolina Coelho)
452
separate drawings that, once more have been saved in .dxf format by Áoor plan, to
be opened in Depthmap; and considered the basis of the axial map analysis.
Having the outlines of the building drawn over the Ànal plans and exported to
Depthmap;, then an axial map was produced automatically by the software, Àrst as
an all-line map, and then reduced to the fewest lines (Figs. 177a, b).
Subsequently, a graph analysis was run primarily for the same attributes analysed
for the convex map. These results can be analysed visually either by the map colour
arrangement, which has been produced by exporting the screen pictures, and the
chart’s values, by exporting the Àle as a .txt format and opening them as an Excel’s
chart where it can be worked on, or even by the attributes summary table provided
by Depthmap; (Fig. 180).
General Àndings from the axial line analysis

Clearly, the most integrated axial lines on both Áoors, identiÀed in red, cross the
building longitudinally paralleling the street (Fig. 178a). This matches the analysis
on convex spaces, where the main hall and longitudinal corridors were also the
most integrated. Furthermore, all the other axial lines placed in those same convex
spaces bear high levels of integration, rather than the remaining in the perpendicular
sections of the building, more segregated and identiÀed in blue. This fact can be
explained by the highest segregation that the spaces further from the main hall have
towards the overall system’s morphology.
Similarly to the convex space integration analysis, when undertaken by radius 3

there are very minor changes and mostly regarding the Àgures themselves rather
than the rank between them, which is natural since it only speciÀes the maximum
“topological distance” (Figueiredo, 2004, p.38), which has been chosen to be three,
as it seldom is (Fig. 178b).
These results coincide with the values of mean depth encountered during the analysis
and also the connectivity results (Fig. 179a). Besides coinciding with the outcomes
of the integration analysis in the axial line map, these also meet the results from the
connectivity analysis of the convex spaces, where the main corridors had the highest
values, followed by the main corridors from the perpendicular wings of the building
in both Áoors. All in all, the values of mean depth and connectivity reÁect the
integration’s interpretation and also the previous convex space analysis. But this time
the remnant axial lines hold very distinct values both in what concerns connectivity
and mean depth, which is very straightforwardly perceived by the different colour of
the axial lines from red (the upper values) to blue (the lower ones).
It is on the ground Áoor that a more varied mixture of coloured axial lines can
be found, particularly on the longitudinal area of the building for comprising the
corridor for the supportive spaces of the auditorium, but most importantly, the
453
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor a) b)
Fig. 178. Axial Line Analysis: a) Integration HH r n map; b) Integration HH r3 map
(Carolina Coelho)
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor a) b)
Fig. 179. Axial Line Analysis: a) Connectivity r n map; b) Mean Depth r n map
(Carolina Coelho)
454
AXIAL LINE MAP ANALYSIS (ATTRIBUTES SUMMARY)
Attribute Minimum Average Maximum Minimum Average Maximum Minimum Average Maximum
1 Choice 0 250,262 8362 0 250,262 8362 0 33,9 1126
2 Choice [Connectivity Wgt] 2136 61729,6 1,45637 2136 61729,6 1,45637 621 1990,1 33397
3 Choice [Connectivity Wgt] [Norm] 0,0000931 0,0269082 0,634836 0,0000931 0,0269082 0,634836 0,0189514 0,060733 1,0192
4 Choice [Norm] 0 0,0243067 0,81216 0 0,0243067 0,81216 0 0,045749 1,51957
5 Connectivity 1 14,7724 69 1 14,7724 69 3 6,4 38
6 Integration [HH] 1,39032 2,89507 7,79224 1,39032 2,89507 7,79224 1,85728 6,05159 113,294
7 Line Length 1,27368 8,32686 64,73 1,27368 8,32686 64,73 3,5676 7,73841 47,9622
8 Mean Depth 1,59722 2,73793 4,34722 1,59722 2,73793 4,34722 1,02564 1,86923 2,5641
9 Mean Depth [Connectivity Wgt] 1,3366 2,48408 4,19795 1,3366 2,48408 4,19795 0,867188 1,70107 2,39062
10 Node Count 145 145 145 145 145 145 40 40 40
11 RA 0,0083527 0,0243067 0,0468143 0,0083527 0,0243067 0,0468143 0,00134953 0,045749 0,0823212
12 Total Connectivity 2142 2142 2142 2142 2142 2142 256 256 256
13 Total Depth 230 394,262 626 230 394,262 626 40 72,9 100
Fig. 180. Attributes Summary r n

(Carolina Coelho)
entire main hall and the library. This is very speciÀc of the axial analysis, as opposed
to the convex space approach that separated the bounded spaces. Here, the axial
lines cross several of the previously considered convex spaces in an overall system
and, as proven by the integration and connectivity maps, these are most signiÀcant
in terms of a morpho-syntactic approach. Recalling the speciÀcity of this spatial
sample as being a school, a relevant conclusion provided by the space syntax
approach is the higher signiÀcance of the study of the learning spaces in a set and
not in isolated units, by axiality. In doing so, corridors are considered signiÀcant
learning spaces and movement a potential activity where knowledge transmission
may occur, which is very signiÀcant, particularly for contemporary schools where
informality is valued, and the creation of knowledge and its communication
amongst the peers is considered a means for learning. This will be even deeper
studied throughout this chapter.
As for the more detailed analysis of the results of the mean depth map, it again
parallels the overall outlook on the building (Fig. 179b). The deepest axial lines
comprise the transversal areas of the building and imply the most changes in
directions to reach them. Anyway, when overlapped with the primarily functions
on those areas, these are mostly supportive areas or regard activities for a particular
part of the school community, like the teachers’ ofÀces, the staff rooms, the
administrative quarters, the kitchen’s private spaces or even the dressing or locker
rooms, and so, it is naturally explained to be deeper because of its speciÀcity in
users and the need for a more reserved use.
455
AXIAL LINES rn Integration rn

ATTRIBUTE SUMMARY 120
120
100
100
80
80
60
60
minimum 1,39 1,39 1,86 40
40
20
20
0
INTEGRATION average 2,90 2,26 6,05
GROUND
rn r3 rnFIRST
r3 SECOND
rn r3
FLOOR FLOOR FLOOR
GROUND FIRST SECOND
maximum 7,79 5,33 113,29 FLOOR FLOOR FLOOR
100
10
minimum 1,00 1,00 3,00
80
CONNECTIVITY average 14,77 8,96 6,40

560
40
maximum 69,00 41,00 38,00
20
0
GROUND FIRST SECOND
minimum 1,60 1,82 1,03 0
FLOOR FLOOR FLOOR
rn r3 rn r3 rn r3
GROUND FIRST SECOND

MEAN DEPTH average 2,74 3,03 1,87
INTEGRATION maximum
INTEGRATION minimum
maximum 4,35 4,15 2,56
INTEGRATION average
Fig. 181. Integration, Connectivity and Mean Depth r n comparison for the axial line analysis
(table and scattergram with and without outliers)
(Carolina Coelho)
Then, a comparison is now possible to be achieved between Áoor plans for the
attributes analysed, which intends to identify the higher and lower levels, to rank
them, to compare them and to critically assess these results (Figs. 181 and 182).
The highest integration levels are from the second Áoor, which also has the widest
span because of the most integrated longitudinal axial line that reaches 113,29,
which is a fairly different value from the remaining ones that are even indicated
in blue on the axial line integration map. A scattergram has also been produced
comparing the minimum, average and maximum integration for all Áoor plans,
but it was conclude that, due to this disparity, the scattergram did not provide a
clear outlook on the results, because all the other values were very close together
and separate from this outlier. Hence, after its completion, another one has been
undertaken leaving out the outlier 113,29 from the mentioned axial line, so a more
detailed comprehension of the remaining values could be critically considered.
Naturally, that along with this increase on the maximum integration from the
second Áoor comes an increase on its average integration. When comparing the
ground and Àrst Áoors, even graphically on the maps, it becomes very prominent
the wide scope in warm colours, opposite to the second Áoor map with extreme
levels, which implies that there are not as signiÀcant differences as it occurs on the
second Áoor. But it is the ground Áoor, when compared to the Àrst one, that has
the highest average and maximum axial integration.
456
AXIAL LINES Integration

ATTRIBUTE SUMMARY 120
Ground Floor First Floor Second Floor 100
rn r3 rn r3 rn r3 80
60
minimum 1,39 0,98 1,39 1,44 1,86 1,86 40
20
0
INTEGRATION average 2,90 3,18 2,26 2,73 6,05 6,05
rn r3 rn r3 rn r3
GROUND FIRST SECOND

maximum 7,79 7,79 5,33 5,32 113,29 113,29 FLOOR FLOOR FLOOR
15
100
minimum 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 3,00 3,00
80
10
CONNECTIVITY average 14,77 14,77 8,96 8,96 6,40 6,40 60
5
40
maximum 69,00 69,00 41,00 41,00 38,00 38,00
020
rn r3 rn r3 rn r3
minimum 1,60 1,60 1,82 1,82 1,03 1,03 0
GROUND
rn r3 FIRST
rn r3 SECOND
rn r3
FLOOR FLOOR FLOOR
GROUND FIRST SECOND
MEAN DEPTH average 2,74 2,39 3,03 2,40 1,87 1,87
INTEGRATION maximum
INTEGRATION minimum
maximum 4,35 2,85 4,15 2,84 2,56 2,56
INTEGRATION average
Fig. 182. Integration, Connectivity and Mean Depth r n and r3 comparison for the axial line analysis
(Carolina Coelho)
It is also the ground Áoor, when axially examined, that has a very signiÀcant
higher connectivity, both average and maximum, from the upper Áoors, even
recalling that the second Áoor indicated a very elevated maximum integration with
the outlier. This implies that the ground Áoor axial lines have more “immediate
neighbours that are directly connected to a space” (Al_Sayed, Turner, Hillier and
Iida, 2014, p.12). This can be comprehensible from a deeper examine on the plans
provided in the previous chapter732, where the more scattered conÀguration of
the ground Áoor is also paralleled with more numerous accesses from spaces to
others, than on the upper Áoors, where the accesses are mostly done through the
longitudinal or perpendicular corridors.
In fact, when overlapping the Áoor plans and their interior conÀguration to their
speciÀc activities on the building, the ground Áoor has less corridors and more general
areas that may be functionally considered more than a corridor, as both convex
spaces and axial lines, for moving and standing, such as the main hall, the library
or the cafeteria because, despite their longitudinal form, they facilitate gatherings
and are even embedded with a communal function for the school building, which is
connected to other spaces from which people arrive. The main hall is the paramount
example of this situation, since it is connected very extensively and even more so
when analysed by axial lines, because of its moving nature which is very speciÀcally
engaged with a standing area overall. It is connected to its adjacent spaces and
732
See chapter 4.2.1.1. DeÀnition of the spatial sample _ Functional analysis.
457
lines longitudinally towards the library and the auditorium supportive spaces, and
transversally to all the perpendicular sections of the building: the auditorium, the
secretariat and the cafeteria. Being analysed by axial lines more than by convex
spaces, it is not only the space per se of the main hall that is more signiÀcant, but the
most representative axial line that comprises the library and the east corridor that
hold even higher levels of integration and connectivity, and all the partial ones to
these, with similar levels but logically lower.
As far as the mean depth goes, the lowest levels are held by the second Áoor,
which indicates it to have more shallow axial lines than the remaining Áoors. The
average mean depth is higher for the Àrst Áoor and the maximum mean depth is
held by the axial line map from the ground Áoor. Both have similar values and
a wide span of warm to cold colours on their mean depth axial line maps and,
analogously, the higher values are on the transversal sections of the building that
the second Áoor lacks, which also inherently decreases its mean depth in general,
explaining these results.
In regard to the comparison provided by the two tables on the analyses by r n and r3,
there are some differences worth of a more detailed examination, namely for the
integration. When the analysis is restricted to r3, the axial integration for the ground
Áoor differs from the previous r n, in which the minimum integration decreases
but the average integration increases, implying a wider span in levels, potentially
because the axial lines considered are only those three or “less steps away” (Al_
Sayed, Turner, Hillier and Iida, 2014, p.12). The Àrst Áoor’s lowest and average
integration slightly rises and the second Áoor remains equal, even with regard to the
previous mentioned potential outlier of 113,29, whose “neighbours [are] located
[three] steps away from it” (ibid.)733. The connectivity remains equal and the mean
depth decreases considerably on the ground and Àrst Áoors, implying that the
higher levels considered previously where related to higher “topological distances”
(Figueiredo, 2004, p.38) than three.
This Áuctuation in the values is also supported by the intelligibility analysis, in

which the second Áoor is the most intelligible, which might be explained by its
straightforward conÀguration, easily perceived by its users. The intelligibility for the
Àrst Áoor has decreased from the previous analysis on the convex space map, for
a more scattered regression line (from R2=0,50 to 0,27). While, the second most
intelligible Áoor plan, when analysed by axial lines is not the Àrst Áoor as it was by
means of the convex space analysis, but the ground Áoor, with a very prominent
regression line and a very relevant R2=0,67 (Fig. 183). This implies that the ground
Áoor’s intelligibility has increased signiÀcantly from the previous analysis to this
733
“Radius n is usually used to Ànd measure values for each node in relation to the whole system. Radius 2
(sometimes called radius 3), is used to measure the relationship between each node and the neighbours located
two steps away from it.” (Al_Sayed, Turner, Hillier and Iida, 2014, p.12)
458
Ground Áoor First Áoor Second Áoor
Fig. 183. Intelligibility r n Scattergram

(Carolina Coelho)
one (from R2=0,35 to 0,67), leading to the hypothesis of this Áoor to be intelligible,
when analysed through axial lines, which infers that “well-connected spaces also
tend to be well-integrated spaces” (Hillier, 2007, p.94).
According to Hillier’s Àndings on intelligibility, axial intelligibility is more

comprehensive: “We Ànd that the intelligibility of the system seen axially is better
than seen convexly, because lines are more ‘global’ spatial elements than convex
elements, in that they explore the full limits of visibility and permeability within the
layout.” (Hillier, 2007, 98). So, these latter Àgures better demonstrate the easiness
to perceive a space and are more representative of the system. So, the high increase
on the axial intelligibility of the ground Áoor, can be considered a more accurate
outlook on its intelligibility, which considers it to be highly intelligible in its relation
between global integration and local connectivity of its axial lines.
. VGA Analysis and Isovists

Besides the convex and axial analyses, a visibility analysis has also been performed
(Turner, Doxa, O’Sullivan and Penn, 2001). This takes deeper relevance since
observations are intended to be pursued in a later stage of this methodology, and
so, it is important to identify the most visually integrated spaces and also the isovists
from each observation spot.
For that purpose, a .dxf format Àle has been produced in Autocad and imported to
Depthmap;, as a basis for the development of the graphs. This has been undertaken
for all Áoors analysed, namely: the ground, Àrst and second Áoors. After importing
the .dxf Àle with a closed polygon for the software, a “sensible grid spacing” has
been determined that “matches the human scale” 734 with 0,5 units of spacing, as
734
Also according to Turner, Doxa, O’Sullivan and Penn (2001): “If analysis is to relate to human perception
459
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor a) b)
Fig. 184. VGA Analysis, Visibility graph: a) Filling in the spaces; b) Connectivity
(Carolina Coelho)
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor a) b)
Fig. 185. VGA Analysis, Visibility graph: a) Visual integration HH; b) Visual clustering coefÀcient
(Carolina Coelho)
460
suggested by the textbook from The Bartlett (Al_Sayed, Turner, Hillier and Iida,
2014, p.32). Then, the spaces have been Àlled (Fig. 184a) and a visibility graph has
been made that provided connectivity properties (Fig. 184b).
General Àndings from the visibility analysis

Afterwards, the visibility graph has been run in order to achieve other measures,
namely to include visual integration HH with radius n, which informs on the visual
perception from a particular location that ultimate can be more central in the
building, enabling more encounters and patterns of co-presence:
“Similar to integration in a convex map, visual Integration is

representative of potentially core area in the layout where one can see
much of the layout and can be easily seen. We can’t really establish that
people will want to be in such areas, may be if they want to see much
of the layout and communicate with others.” (Al_Sayed, Turner, Hillier
and Iida, 2014, p.35)
From the analysis of visual integration, most like the convex integration map, it is
the main corridors, particularly on the intersections with other perpendicular paths
that enable visual integration in both longitudinal and transversal directions; and
also the main hall, namely in the areas that provide pathways to the auditorium, the
administrative transversal hallway, the cafeteria and the canteen transversal hallway,
and the library, with speciÀc regard for the west side of the building towards the
library; that hold the highest levels (Fig. 185a).
Afterwards, local measures, considered to be of signiÀcance for this methodology,

have also been attained735, namely: the visual clustering coefÀcient and visual control.
Visual clustering coefÀcient as stated by Al_Sayed, Turner, Hillier and Iida (2014,
p.35) speciÀes the areas that are “potentially occupational spaces” from the ones
more prone to “high movement activity”, from the Depthmap’s colour scheme,
respectively in red and blue. This gains higher importance after having analysed in
depth the results from a convex space analysis from the ones from an axial analysis,
which showed similarities but also provided a differentiation between spaces that
were bounded by its conÀguration and the areas that comprised a more directional
movement along several spaces. By reporting the visual clustering coefÀcient, a
systematisation from a visibility perspective is possible, that differs between the
convex spaces and the ones with a more axial description.
From the results, the highest levels of visual clustering are held by the very deÀned
spaces whose conÀguration is clear and potentially facilitates gathering rather than
of an environment, then the resolution of this grid must be Àne enough to capture meaningful features of the
environment.”
735
Local measures have been provided by Depthmap 10 (Pinelo and Turner, 2010).
461
movement through them (Fig. 185b). When overlapped with their actually uses, it is
possible to acknowledge that these spaces have very deÀned educational activities,
able to occur inside closed doors, such as: the choir room, the dance studio, the
orchestra room and the auditorium, where the artistic community is gathered
in a more conjoint manner; but also the teachers’ common living room and the
secretariat main ofÀce, where clusters of speciÀc users of the school gather; and
also the canteen.
Pedagogically this is relevant because learning may occur both through movement
but also by gatherings, either formally in the classes, as is the case of the large
science rooms that hold the classes and where knowledge is conveyed; but also
in the separate room in the library, where formal activities may occur in a non-
recurrent way, like a book reading that implies a formal space for a speciÀc event
outside the regular classes schedule. Additionally, other clusters have been noted
such as the canteen where programmed meal serving occurs, but which can also
allocate more informal events of social nature such as seasonal celebrations or, in
this particular case, artistic performances.
Finally, the possible clustering of users on the main hall near the longitudinal wall
facing the entrance is something to be studied in deeper detail when observations
on effective spatial fruition take place, in order to conclude on the possible
overlapping of the potential for visual clustering coefÀcient of those areas and the
actual gathering of people in space. Because, these are in fact spaces where people
may stay and wait for their colleagues or even accomplish some activities, rather
than simply moving through the hall towards other space.
In what regards control, this is also important for this current analysis, but mostly
in what concerns the following procedure on observation of effective experience
in space. According to Turner (2001):
“Control for a location, which we will label ci, is deÀned by Hillier

and Hanson (1984), and is calculated by summing the reciprocals of
the neighbourhood sizes adjoining the vertex […] It should be noted
that in VGA many of the immediately adjoining neighbourhoods will
overlap, so that perhaps a better deÀnition of VGA control would be
the area of the current neighbourhood with respect to the total area
of the immediately adjoining neighbourhood - that is, rather than use
the sum the size of all the adjoining neighbourhoods, use the size of
the union of those adjoining neighbourhoods […]” (Turner, 2001, p.5)
This implies that this measure is relevant for observation purposes, because
control recognises the areas “where observers can have a large view of the spatial
layout” (Al_Sayed, Turner, Hillier and Iida, 2014, p.28). Therefore, those might
be the areas to consider for placing observers for identifying effective spatial
fruition. When applied in this building, the high level spaces of visual control are
462
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor
Fig. 186. VGA Analysis, Visibility graph: Visual control

(Carolina Coelho)
located on the main hall, the main corridors, the canteen, the cafeteria and the
library – all places of common use which are intended to be analysed subsequently
in regard to effective spatial fruition on the third milestone of this proposed
methodology736 (Fig. 186).
Isovists as “location-speciÀc patterns of visibility” (Benedikt, 1979, p.48), have

also been studied for considering the possible observations points and their visual
scope, which is speciÀed by the visibility analysis from Depthmap;. So, having
considered the spaces with most informal potential and the ones that possibly are
more frequented, according to the initial analysis of the spatial sample, a set of
isovists has been pinpointed on Depthmap; on the following spaces: the main
hall, the library, the cafeteria and the canteen on the ground Áoor, and the main
corridors on both the Àrst and second Áoors (Fig. 187). These have been produced
for a quarter isovist (90º) and the coloured graphs provided by Depthmap; indicate
the visibility from several points on these spaces, which may justify the choice in
observation spots further on, because isovists “provide a description of the space
‘from inside’, from the point of view of individuals, as they perceive it, interact with
it, and move through it.” (Turner, Doxa, O’Sullivan and Penn, 2001, p.103).
Then, a Ànal analysis has been undertaken, considering the situation where classes
are taking place in the building, and therefore, the doors leading towards the main
corridors are closed. This leads to a different spatial layout that conditions the
736
See chapter 4.2.3. Description of effective events and experience in the school.
463
Second Áoor _ Main corridor
First Áoor _ Main corridor Ground Áoor _ Main corridor and library
Ground Áoor _ Cafeteria and canteen Ground Áoor _ All isovists chosen
Fig. 187. VGA Analysis, Visibility graph: Isovists

(Carolina Coelho)
Second Áoor _ Main corridor a) b)
First Áoor _ Main corridor a) b)
Second Áoor _ Main corridor c) d)
First Áoor _ Main corridor c) d)
Fig. 188. VGA Analysis, Visibility graph: a) Isovists with closed doors; b) Visual integration HH with
closed doors; c) Visual clustering coefÀcient with closed doors; d) Visual control with closed doors
(Carolina Coelho)
464
isovists from the corridors (Fig. 188a) and also the respective visibility graphs with
visual integration, visual clustering coefÀcient and visual control (Figs. 188b, c, d).
Naturally, that if doors are closed, the visual scope of possible observers within
the corridor embraces only the whole corridor and the several openings that each
corridor has, duly pointed out in the initial analysis for the spatial sample. This
also conÀrms whether these spaces, with standing potential, are visually integrated
in space or whether an observant from the corridor has visual control over them,
which may condition the activities that these spaces may effectively allocate737.
At this point it is also relevant to recognise that Depthmap; also provides

two measures: visual entropy and visual relativized entropy under the visibility
graph. However, these are different indicators from Shannon’s entropy, as already
explained in detail in chapter 3.3. when the methodology was presented in a
detailed manner prior to its application in this case study738, considering that he
entropy calculation undertaken for this methodology relates not only to topology,
as space syntax does, but rather to a wide range of constraints regarding activity
allocational potential.
All in all, the visibility analysis provides data on the potential of a spatial system to
allocate people and infers on the possibility of patterns of co-presence according to
its conÀgurational properties. Naturally, that this potential will have to be critically
assessed when arriving to the third milestone of this methodology which regards
the effective spatial experience after the acknowledgement of the spatial sample’s
potential to gather people, to enable interactions, movement and ultimately, to be
adaptable to multiple activities and users amongst this space. The individual, societal
and cultural context of this speciÀc community may introduce further information
on this space’s use and compel or even enlarge its potential to allocate activities, but
this initial description of the school space and how can it support activity allocation
through its conÀguration is a constraint that will potentially facilitate or hinder
higher or lower adaptability towards multiple uses and users:
“In this sense, sets of locations within the isovist of a point determine
conditions of copresence of occupants and hence potential action
and interaction. The isovists we employ are used to derive the graph
of intervisible locations and hence the visibility graph is a tool with
which we can begin consciously to explore the visibility and permeability
relations in spatial systems. We must of course be careful to note
that any population of a space will lead to changes in the visual Àeld
which we have not considered and that members of the population
will experience a space through their personal memory of the previous
737
This will be subject of particular analysis within the observation stage of the methodology.
738
Please see chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments.
465
spaces they themselves have moved through. However, by looking at

relationships at both a local and a global level, we hope to capture the
common experience of that space, and so visibility graph analysis may
represent a step towards exploring the relationship between architects,
as designers of spaces, and users, as architects of their own experience
of space.”739 (Turner, Doxa, O’Sullivan and Penn, 2001, p.119)
. Overall conclusion from the morphological analysis by Space Syntax
Integration as a global measure provides an overall description of the space:

“Clearly the more a space is integrated, the more it may be able to exploit the
existing pattern of movement of people caused by the arrangement of space.”
(Hillier et al., 1983, p.59).
The most integrated spaces and axial lines have been identiÀed by Depthmap;’s
graphics, coloured in red according to the interpretation of the software’s colour
scheme from the highest values in warm colours to the lowest in cool colours, and
also by its attributes’ extended listing. The most integrated convex spaces are the
main hall and the main corridors and the axial lines placed on those same corridors
are also the most integrated ones. On the second Áoor the most integrated axial
line throughout the all corridor highly differs from the remaining segregated axial
lines that connect formal classrooms of the artistic teaching. On the ground Áoor
this has particular relevance because it relates the main hall to the library, as well
as on the Àrst Áoor longitudinally joining the small auditorium, the main corridor
and the dance studio, in what might be considered potential “learning streets”
(Hertzberger, 2008, p.114), for both moving and standing activities, spontaneous
and/or programmed. Overall, and besides the main corridors, the most integrated
convex spaces are generally the most connected ones, like the library, the auditorium
and the cafeteria: all spaces with a communal use.
Similarly, axial integration has also been paralleled to convex integration (Fig. 189),
and the overall conclusion is the potential correspondence between the corridors
as convex spaces and their axial lines, bearing in both situations the highest values
of global integration and local connectivity. Note that the library, the auditorium
and the cafeteria, all spaces with a communal use are also highly connected convex
spaces. On the Àrst Áoor it is clear that the main corridor is the most connected,
followed by the corridor on each transversal wing (Fig. 172). And again on the
second Áoor this coincides with the integration analysis.
It is now possible to parallel the values from integration, connectivity and mean
depth, in order to critically analyse their proximity or variance on all Áoors and both
739
466
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor a) b)
Fig.189. Axial and Convex Integration HH: a) Axial map; b) Convex map
(Carolina Coelho)
convex and axial approaches (Figs. 190 and 191). Generally, in terms of integration
and connectivity the highest values are from the axial maps rather than the convex
ones. Contrarily, the convex map from the ground Áoor holds the lowest and the
narrowest range in values and hence, the highest mean depth.
In terms of integration, axial integration widely increases in values in all Áoors

when compared to convex integration. The highest maximum and the average
integration are held by the second Áoor axial map, whereas the lowest integration
is held by the ground Áoor convex space map. The convex Àgures increase very
signiÀcantly for all Áoors, when analysed by axial lines, foremost the second Áoor
that reaches a maximum of 113,29 from a previous maximum of 14,17. Having
already examined this value in detail on the part of the individual axial results,
again this high increase constraints the comparison because of its signiÀcant
distinctiveness. In fact, when plotting the values together on a scattergram this
high number impedes to make a more detailed analysis of the remaining ones
because they come too close together, so the scattergram reaches 113. So, as it has
been done previously for the separate axial analysis on compared results, a second
scattergram has been produced without this number, and considering it an outlier it
is now possible to comprehend the other values in a more detailed manner in which
the scale of analysis is Àne-grained.
Generally, it could be argued that the values rise from convex to axial analysis
and from the ground to the second Áoor, where the highest integration both by
convexity and axiality is on the second Áoor, an the lowest in regard to minimum,
467
Ground Floor First Floor Second Floor Integration rn

convex axial convex axial convex axial 120
ATTRIBUTE SUMMARY spaces lines spaces lines spaces lines 100
80
rn 60
40
minimum 0,76 1,39 0,83 1,39 1,13 1,86 20
0
convex axial convex axial convex axial
INTEGRATION average 1,34 2,90 2,08 2,26 2,70 6,05 spaces lines spaces lines spaces lines
GROUND FLOOR FIRST FLOOR SECOND FLOOR
maximum 3,00 7,79 7,35 5,33 14,17 113,29
minimum 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 3,00 15
10
CONNECTIVITY average 2,35 14,77 2,28 8,96 1,93 6,40
5
maximum 21,00 69,00 46,00 41,00 46,00 38,00

0
convex axial convex axial convex axial
spaces lines spaces lines spaces lines
minimum 2,47 1,60 1,34 1,82 1,24 1,03
GROUND FLOOR FIRST FLOOR SECOND FLOOR
MEAN DEPTH average 4,51 2,74 2,87 3,03 2,38 1,87

INTEGRATION maximum
maximum 6,76 4,35 4,95 4,15 4,02 2,56 INTEGRATION minimum
INTEGRATION average
Fig. 190. Integration, Connectivity and Mean Depth r n comparison between all parameters
(Carolina Coelho)
ATTRIBUTE SUMMARY convex spaces axial lines convex spaces axial lines convex spaces axial lines
rn r3 rn r3 rn r3 rn r3 rn r3 rn r3
minimum 0,76 0,53 1,39 0,98 0,83 0,33 1,39 1,44 1,13 0,53 1,86 1,86
INTEGRATION average 1,34 1,56 2,90 3,18 2,08 2,22 2,26 2,73 2,70 2,77 6,05 6,05
maximum 3,00 3,64 7,79 7,79 7,35 7,35 5,33 5,32 14,17 14,17 113,29 113,29
minimum 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 1,00 3,00 3,00
CONNECTIVITY average 2,35 2,35 14,77 14,77 2,28 2,28 8,96 8,96 1,93 1,93 6,40 6,40
maximum 21,00 21,00 69,00 69,00 46,00 46,00 41,00 41,00 46,00 46,00 38,00 38,00
minimum 2,47 2,00 1,60 1,60 1,34 1,34 1,82 1,82 1,24 1,24 1,03 1,03
MEAN DEPTH average 4,51 2,53 2,74 2,39 2,87 2,44 3,03 2,40 2,38 2,22 1,87 1,87
maximum 6,76 2,87 4,35 2,85 4,95 2,94 4,15 2,84 4,02 2,94 2,56 2,56
120 15
100
80 10
60
40 5
20
0 0
rn r3 rn r3 rn r3 rn r3 rn r3 rn r3 rn r3 rn r3 rn r3 rn r3 rn r3 rn r3
convex spaces axial lines convex spaces axial lines convex spaces axial lines convex spaces axial lines convex spaces axial lines convex spaces axial lines
GROUND FLOOR FIRST FLOOR SECOND FLOOR GROUND FLOOR FIRST FLOOR SECOND FLOOR
INTEGRATION maximum INTEGRATION minimum INTEGRATION average
Fig. 191. Integration, Connectivity and Mean Depth r n and r3 comparison between all parameters
(Carolina Coelho)
468
average and maximum integration is the convex map for the ground Áoor. But
the conclusion cannot be that straightforward because the lowest values of axial
integration are from the Àrst Áoor and not from the ground Áoor, in which the
average and maximum integration is higher for the ground than for the Àrst Áoor.
Even the second Áoor has the highest one very distinctive from the latter. If the Àrst
Áoor maps indicate a rise from the convex average integration to the average axial
one, it is still lower than the growth from the ground Áoor that reaches an average
of 2,90, as opposed to an average of 2,26 of the Àrst Áoor’s axial integration. And
when comparing the maximum integration, if the ground Áoor increases from
3,00 to 7,79, the Àrst Áoor’s integration decreases when analysed by convexity with
7,35, than when analysed by axiality with 5,33. This is the exception on the overall
conclusions by Áoor plans and convex vs axial analysis: not only is the average axial
integration higher in the ground Áoor than on the Àrst Áoor, but also the maximum
axial integration of the Àrst Áoor decreases when compared to its convex integration.
The widest span in values is also from the second Áoor precisely because of the
potentially considered outlier of 113,29. But leaving out that Àgure, the widest
span is also from the convex space map on that same Áoor, because of the already
mentioned difference between a very integrated main corridor and the shallow
spaces, making the map very distinctive between blue and red.
Overall, these results all bring to a general conclusion on the existence of actual
differences between Áoor plans on the attributes studied, due to the differences
in spatial form, in which the second Áoor is more concentrated and lacks the
transversal sections the remaining Áoors and the ground Áoor is more diffused,
inÁuencing the relations on the “part-whole structure” of the spatial system and
potentially on patterns of co-presence and movement (Hillier, 2007, p.113).
Another conclusion is that the most representative values are from the axial line
map than the convex map, that isolates the spaces per se and does not provide a
more comprehensive regard on the relations between spaces in a whole area of
analysis, that can ultimately gather both movement and standing. Hillier has already
reÁected upon this difference:
“Convex elements are not, of course, the most ‘global’ spatial elements
in a layout, and do not exhaust all relationships of visibility and
permeability. These limits are found by looking not at two-dimensional
convex elements, but at one-dimensional line elements. In a deformed
grid, the elements most spatially extended linearly will be the set of
straight lines that are tangent to the vertices of blocks of buildings.”
(Hillier, 2007, p.98)
Therefore, it could be concluded that the axial line analysis is more comprehensive
because the axial lines cross not only the mentioned corridors but also other convex
469
spaces. This is particularly relevant when identifying the most integrated axial line on
the ground Áoor, gathering the library, the main hall and the auditorium’s cafeteria,
the Àrst with a more formal and programmed activities’ proÀle and the latter space
with a more spontaneous and social one. This adds pedagogical diversity to this
pedagogical line or “learning street” (Hertzberger, 2008, p.114), for both moving and
standing activities, spontaneous and/or programmed:
“The space structure is admittedly highly broken up into ‘convex’

spaces — but there are always lines which link the convex spaces
together, usually several at a time. […] But because people move in
lines, and need to understand lines in order to know where they can go,
this means that the space structure is easily intelligible from the point
of view of movement.”740 (Hillier, 2007, p.116)
Analogously, another highly integrated and connected axial line is the one linking
both extremities of the Àrst Áoor: the small auditorium to the dance studio, where
formal and informal artistic events occur, and whose convex integration is low.
Again, these Àndings contribute to a mixture of environments for knowledge
transmission that hold diverse situations and even a broad community of students
and teachers with different proÀles, besides also the possibility of being an external
cultural and social aggregator.
Therefore, when analysing this school by means of axial lines rather than convex
spaces, the outcomes are more representative of the spaces’ actual layout and
foremost of its pedagogical enriched curricula. Corridors with movement,
associated with socialisation and communication, can be considered active learning
environments, having in this school a very integrated position, metaphorically
denoting its pedagogical signiÀcance. Furthermore, the fact that corridors and spaces
for staying, and that also spaces for formal and informal uses, are highly connected
enables that formality and informality can be simultaneous, like communication
and moving and spontaneity and knowledge creation.
As for the mean depth, the results also coincide with this approach on the building’s
form and report to the integration conclusions: the highest values are from the
ground Áoor convex space map and the lowest and more shallow spaces are on the
second Áoor when analysed by axial lines.
The connectivity results add complementary information on this building’s form.

The lowest maximum connectivity is held by the convex map of the ground Áoor
but contrarily, the highest is also held by that same Áoor, when analysed by axial lines,
altering from a maximum of 21 to 69. This implies that the ground Áoor’s analysis
This quote has already been previously remarked on the general explanation of this proposed methodology,
740
due to its high representativeness in explaining convex spaces and axial lines, for active learning environments.
470
changes considerably when analysed by the spaces per se or by an arrangement of

areas, in which its gathering as pathways or standing spaces, is more representative
in terms of a more “immediate neighbours that are directly connected to a space”
(Al_Sayed, Turner, Hillier and Iida, 2014, p.12).
This is very different from the situation on the upper Áoors, where both have the
same maximum of 46 by convexity and decrease axially. Still, the Àrst Áoor is more
connected than the second Áoor, proven by the comparison between the average
and maximum axial connectivity on both Áoors. This occurs, potentially, because of
the variety of connections besides the main corridor, which increases that corridor’s
integration exponentially as already explained, but that decreases the other spaces’
connectivity.
A visibility analysis also bears particular relevance for this case study, because highly
visual integration may enhance patterns of encounters and therefore informal
learning. By the analysis of the graphs, the spaces with the highest visual integration
are also the most integrated, namely the main corridors on each Áoor.
Remarkingly, this analysis carries additional information because it emphasises this

school’s blending of moving with standing spaces, namely by the introduction of
open spaces to the main corridors. And even if this is not particularly signiÀcant by
axiality or convexity, visually the fact that students stand on those spaces and visually
perceive the users that move throughout the corridor, inÁuences the patterns of co-
presence. Additionally, highly visual integration of the open spaces to the corridors,
deemphasises the sole moving nature of the corridor, introducing pedagogical,
artistic and social activities in the common spaces, proven to be highly integrated and
connected in the building. This conclusion carries additional relevance on patterns
of co-presence, not particularly signiÀcant by axiality or convexity, regarding the
fact that students there visually perceive others. Furthermore, according to Hillier
(2007) the visibility graphs can, ultimately, be a conjoint result of both axial lines
and convex spaces:
“These analysed visibility maps are quite remarkable entities, and appear
to synthesise aspects of conÀgurational analysis which had previously
seemed to be quite independent of each other. For example, it is clear
that, by deÀnition, axial maps are subsets of the lines that make up
the ‘all-line’ visibility map. Visibility maps, we may say, ‘contain’ axial
maps. It follows that they will also contain some account of the global
structure of a pattern of space in a conÀguration because axial maps
do. We shall see shortly that this is the case.” (Hillier, 2007, p.271)
In this case, and after a separate analysis of the three approaches, the overall results
are understood as complementary information for an overall outlook on the building’s
morphological study that, when overlapped, can also provide correlations of the most
471
Second Áoor Main corridor
First Áoor Main corridor
Ground Áoor Main hall, library, cafeteria and canteen
Fig. 192. Visibility graph and Isovists

(Carolina Coelho)
representative approaches, but mostly on the gathered results. Therefore, the crossing
of these outcomes with the other syntactic measures may also bring additional
information on the morphological, visual and comprehensible relation between the
spaces and the overall spatial system. Thus, by the analysis of the graphs (Fig. 192) the
spaces with the highest visual integration are also the spaces previously recognised as
the most integrated in a convex approach, namely the main corridors on each Áoor.
Benedikt’s (1979) paper on To take hold of space: isovists and isovist Àelds is very
representative for the state of the art on isovists, where it is clearly deÀned the
concept: “An isovist is the set of all points visible from a given vantage point in space
and with respect to an environment.” (Benedikt, 1979, p.47). Isovists, therefore,
also describe space, complementing the previous analysis on spatial morphology
for describing space, as: “Sets of isovists and isovist Àelds form an alternative
description of environments.” (Benedikt, 1979, p.47). Even more so, this could also
engage the behaviour in space:
“The nature of isovist boundaries will also be discussed. This in turn

will lead to consideration of the capacity of isovist sets to specify
completely an environment. The shape and size of the isovist become
especially salient since these may change with position research relative
to the environment. It will be suggested that various perceptual and
cognitive factors are well represented by certain numerical measures of
shape and size attached to the isovist. These measures vary over space
so as to create Àelds unique to a given environment. Potentially this may
472
allow a number of spatial behaviors to be explained and predicted as

Àeld-dependent behaviors. […] The whole should be considered simply
as an introduction to a new method of describing environmental or
architectural space, and as an exploration of its potential.” (Benedikt,
1979, pp.48-49)
This also justiÀes the analysis of isovists also according to Benedikt’s mentioned
“size” and shape” (ibid.), for the acknowledgement of the more operative locations
for the subsequent observations, undertaken as a later approach on the proposed
methodology to assess adaptability, provided by the visibility graphs. According to
the conclusions achieved by the visibility graphs and subsequently proceeding with
isovists of the identiÀed spots with higher visibility, then the methodology is able
to propose the most adequate placement of observers to report on effective spatial
fruition in space.
Having described and explained the results separately, and after the critical assessment
on the correlation between Áoors, radius n and radius 3, and the convex and axial
analyses, the Ànal comparison aims to be the most extensive, comprising all ground
Áoors for all three analyses: convex, axial and VGA. This time, only integration is
examined, considered to be the global measure and so the most representative, and
to provide a more clear conclusion on the potential parallels, that might be blurred
if other parameters were added (Fig. 193).
The lowest VGA integration is from the Àrst Áoor, both minimum and maximum,
as compared to the other Áoors, potentially due to more closed spaces and a diffused
plan. Contrarily, the maximum VGA integration is from the ground Áoor, which
might be explained by the openness of the main hall towards other spaces that
makes it also axially very integrated.
The lowest convex integration is from the ground Áoor and the highest from the
second Áoor, increasing vertically upwards. The axial integration is lower on the Àrst
Áoor, both for the average and maximum values, as opposed to the second Áoor, in
which it is extremely high. This high value has been previously considered an outlier
to better analyse the remaining ones in a more detailed manner, that the 113,29
did not enable, which justiÀes the two scattergrams provided, with and without
that Àgure. In fact, the scattergram that only reaches the other maximum of 14,17,
which is the convex integration for the second Áoor, allows a more detailed scrutiny
on the values, their rank, scope and potential comparisons.
Generally, the levels of integration increase from convex to axial and then to VGA
analysis, which the ground Áoor clearly embodies by the highest VGA integration
of 9,24 and the lowest convex integration of 0,76. This could be a succeeding
conclusion from the previous comparison between convex and axial approaches.
But similarly to that, this cannot be stated as straightforward, because there are
473
ATTRIBUTE SUMMARY convex axial vga convex axial vga convex axial vga
rn
minimum 0,76 1,39 1,78 0,83 1,39 1,69 1,13 1,86 2,08
INTEGRATION average 1,34 2,9 5,15 2,08 2,26 3,32 2,7 6,05 4,24
maximum 3 7,79 9,24 7,35 5,33 6,76 14,17 113,29 8,07
120 15
100
80 10
60
40 5
20
0 0 INTEGRATION maximum
convex axial vga convex axial vga convex axial vga convex axial vga convex axial vga convex axial vga
INTEGRATION minimum
GROUND FLOOR FIRST FLOOR SECOND FLOOR GROUND FLOOR FIRST FLOOR SECOND FLOOR
INTEGRATION average
INTEGRATION maximum INTEGRATION minimum INTEGRATION average
Fig. 193. Integration r n comparison between convex, axial and VGA analysis
(Carolina Coelho)
three exceptions where the increase is not directly by this order, which are the
second Áoor average and maximum integration which have higher axial values
rather than regarding visibility, and also the maximum integration of the Àrst Áoor
that is higher by convexity.
More speciÀcally, when comparing the maps run by the three analyses it is also
important to examine the spaces that provide the highest and the lowest values and
reÁect upon their compared results (Fig. 194). This is very evident by the colour
range of the maps and it brings a very clear conclusion on the coincidence of high
integration on the same spaces for all three analyses, that could be widened outside
the space per se when concerning axial line or VGA. The second Áoor’s main corridor,
the Àrst Áoor’s main longitudinal and transversal corridors and foremost the main
hall on the ground Áoor hold the highest integration on all analyses. These are more
integrated spaces themselves, hold the most integrated axial lines and represent the
“core area[s] in the layout where one can see much of the layout and can be easily
seen.” (Al_Sayed, Turner, Hillier and Iida, 2014, p.35). Naturally that when axial
lines are concerned it is not only the main corridors per se, but rather the longest
lines that functionally reach the library space and the auditorium supportive areas
on the ground Áoor, the dance studio and the orchestra room on the Àrst Áoor, and
the music studios and the choir room on the second Áoor. When analysed by axial
lines and visibility maps, the transversal corridors on the Àrst Áoor decrease on their
representativeness, because longitudinal axial lines become even more relevant and
the visibility increases, not on those hallways, but rather the speciÀc intersections.
474
INTEGRATION
CONVEX AXIAL VGA
Fig. 194. Integration map for convex, axial and VGA analysis
(Carolina Coelho)
The convex space analysis can be considered constricting because some of the
less integrated convex spaces, being located on the extremities, are deeper even if,
functionally, they are very signiÀcant common spaces for a school, as large artistic
rooms on the upper Áoors. Contrarily, by means of an axial line analysis, these are
already comprised in the most integrated axial lines and so become very signiÀcant
for the spatial system. The difference between the warm colours of the most
integrated spaces to the cold colours of the less integrated ones is very clear and
enables its identiÀcation from the remaining ones and also its overlapping between
all three forms of syntactic integration. Furthermore, even if the second Áoor along
its concentrated plan holds a very distinctive high integration from the other spaces,
proven by the outlier of 113,29 regarding its axial integration, the more scattered
plans on the ground and Àrst Áoors provide a wide range of areas all very integrated,
particularly along the longitudinal section of the building. This is even more evident
on the ground Áoor, where the warm colours are very noteworthy in a wide area
rather than only on the Àrst Áoor’s main corridor, because it is less partitioned and
the openness of the main hall that continues to the library, enables a wide extent of
very integrated axial lines, coinciding also with a wide area of high visual integration.
As previously explained on the individual axial analysis, even in what regards

intelligibly, naturally that the high intelligibility from the ground Áoor is brought by
the axial analysis741, which demonstrates a high correlation between global and local
741
Even if the intelligibility on the Àrst Áoor has decreased and the second Áoor is very similar when comparing
convex and axial analyses. This all has been explained on that previous separate critical analysis.
475
measures, rather than by convex spaces because it implies a general understanding

of space from which convexity lacks.
All things considered, and despite the differences encountered on a more detailed
analysis and the Áuctuations on the Àgures, on rank and scope, between all Áoor
plans, which have been qualitatively assessed and understood, the general outcomes
on a larger scale of analysis provide coinciding results on the high integration areas
and a common outlook on the school building, from which partial and more Àne-
grained conclusions have been previously held and commented on.
This overall process depicted above, including a Àrst and a second part of this initial
milestone, provides a wide-ranging understanding of the school’s activities and
layout, its attributes and the topological relations between them all. It also provides
a detailed portrait of each space’s main activities, signiÀcant for the subsequent
entropy analysis. It will also be signiÀcant when overlapped with the effective
spatial fruition, as the Ànal milestone of the proposed methodology, where it is
possible to correlate the spaces’ attributes and conÀguration understood from this
syntactic analysis, to the potential these attributes provide to activity allocation, but
foremost how the space is perceived and actually used from observations, focus
groups and walkthroughs on the school. So, recalling Hillier’s “laws from space to
society”, which he entitles of “type 3” 742, in his 1989 paper to Ekistics, these regard
the inÁuence of spatial form towards people743, without prior “determinism” but
recognising the signiÀcance of the potential brought by space:
“I argue that the belief that spatial form has no effects on people and
society is patently absurd. […] My proposal is that the determinable
effects on people are both limited and precise. Spatial form, I argue,
creates the Àeld of probable - though not all possible - encounter and co-
presence within which we live and move; and whether or not it leads to
social interaction, this Àeld is on itself an important sociological and
psychological resource.”744 (Hillier, 1989, p.13)
Nevertheless, this potential is subject to the context of those people that surpasses
the “virtual community” impacted directly by design. Still, syntactic attributes
of space, namely integration, which is the global measure to be subsequently
correlated with other variables such as entropy and effective encounters on the
following milestones of this methodology, is understood as a means to enable those
encounters, to be thought from design and to be observed on space use745, and hence, a
paramount “instrument” to work “with” on our Thesis’ theory on adaptability and
742
After “type 1: laws of the urban object itself ” and “type 2: laws from society to space” (Hillier, 1989).
743
“Laws from space to society are those by which determinable and describable effects on people arise from
spatial form.” (p.13)
744
745
From the main title of our current Thesis: “Life within architecture from design process to space use”.
476
on its application on a case study:
“However, I must not disguise my belief that, important as these other

aspects are, it is the syntax of space itself, especially at the global level,
and its relation to the virtual community, that is at the heart of the
urban question. This I believe is equally true whether we think of it as
a question of understanding and research or as a question of design
and action. Space syntax, and its associated theory, is both. It is both
research instrument and design tool. In either case, it is a “thing to
think with”.” (Hillier, 1989, p.20)
Quoting Benedikt’s (1979) seminal paper, he concludes by addressing the possibility

of studying isovists as a possible description of space in a way that it informs
the design: “In the latter role it is hoped that an information-Àeld theory such as
the one presented can help provide fruitful common ground for designers and
researchers.” (p.47). In fact, despite the current expansion of that study Àeld at that
time, the sense of potential association of behaviour and perception with isovists
was considered a possibility:
“The direct empirical testing of how some human behaviors and

perceptions might correlate with isovists, isovist measures and isovist
Àelds. However, remains to be done. Suitable data are not extant, and
obtaining such data will require experiments and techniques speciÀcally
directed at the problem.” (Benedikt, 1979, p.59)
The aim of this milestone has been to better depict the spatial sample, Àrst from a
functional perspective that implied the examination of the plans and the activities
expected to be held on each of the designed spaces and, in this subsequent stage, to
resort to space syntax to analyse, in a more supported manner, the morpho-syntactic
speciÀcity of this school building and how it acts as an interface between visitors and
inhabitants. Having studied the building by its conÀguration and acknowledging the
differences by Áoor plans, which are very signiÀcant for the results accomplished, it
is relevant to overlap these results to the actual building form and to the functions
presented in the initial part, so that a conclusion regarding the allocation of the
functions to the spaces can be achieved. Overall, by studying the spatial sample, a
deeper comprehension of the building is projected upon the potential is has to hold
more or less activities, and also to enhance encounters and interactions, all of which
relate to the Ànal conclusions on adaptability.
So, it is understood that thorough information on each milestone is relevant, but it is

also relevant to acknowledge that this information has to be critically assessed from
the speciÀcity of our own problematics on adaptability, and Ànally that the results
obtained may be correlated amongst the several milestones, in order to gradually
study their potential parallels and differences, and also their speciÀc contributions
477
to the identiÀcation of the adaptability of this building.
All in all, after resorting to the software, particular to Depthmap; for achieving the
levels of the all attributes on space syntax, but particularly the ones considered to be
more representative to our study, it has been the aim of this chapter to analyse them
from a qualitative perspective, acknowledging that the Àgures represent qualitative
differences from the form of the building that imply critical assessment. It has been
very clear that the fact that all Áoor plans have different internal and external forms
and partitions, leads to different results on global and local measures, in which the
second Áoor is more concentrated and the ground Áoor is more diffused.
Thus, after presenting the values and foremost the Áuctuations between Áoor plans,
between the lowest and the highest scores, and between a radius n analysis and
radius 3, the following aim has been to study these results and to offer potential
explanations regarding their conÀguration, and Ànally to provide critical assessment
on the correlations between attributes and spaces, axial lines and Áoor plans.
Then, the functions of the spaces and areas previously reported on the Àrst part of
this milestone, have been overlapped to these conclusions on the building’s shape,
in order to correlate the expected functions to the building’s spaces and areas,
movement and standing places. Results on the activities held in the more and less
integrated spaces, the supposed activities on the deep or shallow spaces, and the
connectivity of each one towards their neighbours, are relevant conclusions that are
considered to be even more relevant when passing from abstract Àgures to an actual
building and Ànally to a school, with all the speciÀc spaces and activities it implies.
This, overall, is considered to be a more comprehensive and less abstract outlook

on this spatial sample, and to provide considerations on this actual case study, that
could be subsequently regarded with the following milestones. In fact, if the next
milestone concerns entropy analysis, which correlates activities to spaces, then a
large perspective on the spaces’ conÀguration and on the activities expected to
happen from the plans, might be considered adequate contents from this Àrst
milestone, that will support the following one.
478
4.2.2. Description of all possible activity allocations to educational

environments
“[…] the function called entropy, deÀned by S = -Y pi ln pi was shown to be a

measure of the uncertainty of the knowledge about the answer to a well deÀned
question.” (Tribus, 1969, p.119)
This following milestone of the methodology aims to calculate the entropy of the
spatial sample in order to conclude on all the possible activity allocations to that
space. This is only possible after the Àrst procedure of the proposed methodology,
in which the space has been analysed, from its morphology and from its physical
attributes that allow its compliance to the activities (Fig. 195).
This milestone’s state of the art, authors of reference and intentions have already
been identiÀed and reÁected upon chapter 3.2.746, and all its stages and tables to
undertake this procedure under the proposed methodology have been presented in
the chapter 3.3.747. That chapter had the detailed explanation and justiÀcation of each
part of this procedure to calculate the entropy of a space and had already introduced
all the tables that are here to be Àlled in with the Àgures from the application on
this case study. So, we refer to that particular chapter for the theoretical depiction
of this sequential procedure and its full explanation.
Having a previous detailed acknowledgement of the spatial sample from milestone

one of this methodology, at this point it is intended to undertake the following steps
in order to achieve the space’s entropy, as depicted in Fig. 196748, with the actual
Àgures from the school’s spaces and activities that enable its speciÀc applicability.
746
747
See chapter 3.3. A methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments. The
sources and theoretical support of this chapter are remitted to that chapter where the entropy explanation and
detailing of its calculation has already been undertaken.
748
This Àgure had already been presented in chapter 3.3. and it is here again displayed for a better understanding
of the following procedures involved.
479

. Activities
. Attributes
I.II SPACE SYNTAX

. Axial lines
. Isovists


III.II WALKTHROUGHS
Fig. 195. Description of the methodology and identiÀcation of the current milestone II.
(Carolina Coelho)
480

D/>^dKE/

D/>^dKE//

Fig. 196. Sequential procedure for measuring the entropy of the system
(Carolina Coelho)
4.2.2.1. Entropy B Nomothetic analysis
“If an element had many alternatives and all were equally probable, then the activity
would be at its loosest; if an activity could only use one space it would have a probability
of 1, and then there would be no looseness. […] The measure of this looseness across
the probability distribution is Shannon’s entropy.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.182)
The following procedure relates to an analytical approach to adaptability, whose

foundations have been laid in the 1970s for its assessment as a Àgure provided by an
adaptability model from a combinatorial procedure (Fawcett, 1978). As previously
recalled, Fawcett parallels adaptability with a probability.
The procedure for calculating the entropy of a space has been determined by a
set of stages. The crossing of the existing spaces of the school identiÀed in the
previous stage of this methodology with the possible learning activities that occur
there, provides a feasibility matrix that describes the activities that each space can
cater for, according to its attributes. Then, other mathematical elaborations are
undertaken using stochastic matrices, in order to lastly apply Shannon and Weaver’s
(1949) entropy formulation for each space: S = - pi ln pi. This provides an accurate
outlook on the adaptability of each space of the school.
481
This procedure has also been developed by Krüger (1981a, p.1169) determining
“a model building approach towards the maximization of adaptability between
activities and spaces, at the architectural scale”, which leads to the highest binary
matches between activities and spaces. Similarly, this study also proposes maximising
entropy for maximising adaptability of activities to spaces.
For that purpose, an initial approach has been made in order to test and validate this
milestone and to correlate it to the previous space syntax analysis. This has been
done for the same case study but for a smaller set of spaces, which has allowed to
produce a list of activities and to critically assess it for providing any changes in
it for this Ànal presentation of the implementation of this milestone on the case
study. It also enabled to produce the tables from scratch to be Àlled in with the
initial Àgures and to analyse its adequacy, comprehensibility and fulÀllness. Finally
with that initial testing of this procedure it was also possible to establish the Àrst
correlations between entropy and space syntax measures, namely with integration,
in order to consider that possibility and its effective occurrence in this case study.
These initial results were presented in the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium,
in 13th-17th July 2015, London, after being peer reviewed and assessed, they have
been well considered by the peers. Later on, that initial validation continued on
in a subsequent study comprising all stages of the methodology, which has been
presented in the 11th International Space Syntax Symposium, in 3rd-7th July 2017, Lisbon.
Both presentations and publications validate these contents and the methodological
application by the academia, which have been developed amongst this current
Thesis and particularly in this chapter749.
As perceived from Fig. 196 in order to calculate the entropy, milestone one regarding
the space’s categorisation and depiction is needed. Then, conclusion can be made
in regard to the list of spaces, the main activities that have been identiÀed for each
space in coloured diagrams and the main attributes that have been conveyed to each
space according to their main purposes. These are paramount as background input
for the subsequent entropy calculation, for listing the spaces to which to calculate
the respective entropy, to consider the main activities on that sample and to identify
the physical consideration from the architect’s design that can make the spaces
able to cater for those primary activities. In a deeper recalling of that sub-chapter’s
749
The initial results correlating space syntax to entropy were presented in the 10th International Space Syntax
Symposium, in 13-17 July 2015, London. These have also been published in the Conference’s proceedings as:
Coelho, C.; Krüger, M. J. (2015). Towards a methodology to assess adaptability in educational spaces: An
Afterwards, all stages of the methodology have been presented in the 11th International Space Syntax Symposium,
in 3-7 July 2017, Lisbon. It has also been published in the Conference’s proceedings as: Coelho, C.; Heitor, T.
(2017). Adaptability Retrieval In Artistic Learning Environments. In T. Heitor; M. Serra; J. Silva; M. Bacharel;
L. Silva (Eds.). Proceedings of the 11th International Space Syntax Symposium. (pp. 7: 1-19).
482
conclusion, and from the coloured hatches that indicated different activities, it was
possible to conclude on a wide variety of different spaces with different and speciÀc
spatial characteristics and also a variety of activities that a school with both regular
and artistic teaching regime has to cope with, both on the variety of the spaces’
scale and its more or less speciÀcities for individual and group learning, formal and
informal, besides the very signiÀcant communal spaces of that building. All of this
adds further complexity to this extensive list of spaces and activities and, therefore,
to the entropy calculations.
The Àrst step toward calculating the entropy is to list the spaces from the sample.
After the initial testing of this procedure, the actual spatial sample provided by
the captions placed onto the Ànal plans from chapter 4.2.1750 lists a total of 51
spaces, from which the last two are technical areas located only on the technical
underground Áoors that have not been accounted for this case study, as justiÀed
in that speciÀc chapter. So, for the purpose of calculating the entropy, a list of 49
spaces is considered, as follows:
1 main hall 18 library 35 speciÀc music training room
2 access–corridor 19 cafeteria 36 study room
3 vertical access–stairs 20 canteen 37 dance studio
4 vertical access–elevator 21 kitchen 38 science lab
5 entrance–outdoor access 22 kitchen storage 39 generic classroom
6 reception desk 23 staff room 40 common living space
7 ticket ofÀce 24 teachers’ room 41 teachers’ ofÀce
8 bathroom–toilet–sink 25 students’ room 42 teachers’ meeting room
9 dressing room 26 secretariat 43 teachers’ ofÀce for meeting students
10 locker room 27 administration ofÀces regular teaching 44 students’ shop
11 storage 28 administration ofÀces artistic teaching 45 photocopy room
12 indeterminate supportive space 29 orchestra room 46 parent council room
13 spare space 30 music studio 47 auditorium supportive spaces
14 vault 31 music instrument training room 48 psychologist’s ofÀce

(individual or for small groups)
15 archive 32 choir room 49 technical area
16 auditorium 33 singing studio
17 auditorium’s cafeteria 34 song writing studio
750
See chapter 4.2.1. Description of the school space and how it supports activity allocation.
483
Second Áoor plan
First Áoor plan
Ground Áoor plan 0 10 20

m
Fig. 197. Quinta das Flores School’s new building

484
The spaces’ captions can be identiÀed onto the plans for grasping their speciÀc
locations on the building (Fig. 197), which has also been placed on the previous
chapter but is placed again here for the immediate recalling of the spaces’
location. Again it is underlined that the plans used for this study are the Ànal plans,
considered to be the most accurate in regard to the built space, but may differ
from the space’s effective spatial fruition and each spaces’ actual main activity,
which will be identiÀed as the subsequent milestone to this one, concluding on
the correlation between expected and effective use. So, this entropy calculation
regards all the potential the space has for holding a list of activities and not the
effective activities it actually holds, which could either be narrowed from these lists
or even broadened, according to the school community’s appropriation of space.
. Activities sample
Subsequently, an extensive list of activities is needed that goes beyond the spaces’
initial purpose or primary activity but that considers all their potential for complying
with other activities, even if they could be more suitable or less costly when
occurring elsewhere. This list intends to acknowledge a wide array of activities that
occur on this precise school, it has been done with all its curriculum speciÀcities
and is only possible after a deeper knowledge of the school’s activities according to
the previous chapter.
As previously explained in abstract751, in this activities sample, Àve domains were

considered, from the most general to the most detailed scale, projecting a tree-
shaped scheme (Fig. 198) that is now concretised for this speciÀc case study.
In addition, for the analysis of this particular case study, details have been introduced
in the teaching regimes, which are quite signiÀcant for this school and respective
activities in each teaching regime. Also the sample of activities is considered to hold
great variety due to the numerous different activities that this school holds. Besides,
for this speciÀc school, non-programmed activities are quite frequent and have to
be accounted primary due to the spontaneous nature of the students of the artistic
teaching who naturally rehearse dancing and music instrument playing, individually
or collectively, outside formal classes, as well as the programmed activities that
occur on that matter. Besides, this spontaneous proÀle, mostly from the artistic
students, adds an even wider range of items to be considered in the activity sample
from extra-curricular activities undertaken in diverse ways detailed in domain V,
which are also signiÀcant in this school. This speciÀcity leads to the following
sequence of domains:
751
485
ACTIVITIES SAMPLE
DOMAIN I DOMAIN II DOMAIN III DOMAIN IV DOMAIN V

EDUCATIONAL DOMAIN TYPES OF USES TYPES OF ACTIVITIES TEACHING TYPES DETAIL OF THE ACTVITIES
I a) Active learning II a) Curricular III a) Programmed IV a) Regular Lecture

Evaluation class
Group work class
Individual class
Study practice
External display
Laboratory experiment
IV b) Artistic Artistic class
Evaluation class
Group work class
Individual class
Study practice
External display
III b) Non-programmed IV c) Regular Lecture
Evaluation class
Group work class
Individual class
Study practice
External display
Laboratory experiment
IV d) Artistic Artistic class
Evaluation class
Group work class
Individual class
Study practice
External display
II b) Extra-curricular III c) Programmed IV e) Regular Lecture
Study practice
Social interaction amongst all users
Peer interaction only
External display
IV f) Artistic Lecture
Study practice
External display
IV g) External Lecture
Study practice
External display
III d) Non-programmed IV h) Regular Lecture
Study practice
External display
IV i) Artistic Lecture
Study practice
External display
IV j) External Lecture
Study practice
External display
I b) Supportive II c) Extra-curricular III e) Programmed IV k) Regular Specific uses
IV l) Artistic Specific uses
IV m) External Specific uses
III f) Non-programmed IV n) Regular Circulation
Specific uses
IV o) Artistic Circulation
Specific uses
IV p) External Circulation
Specific uses
II d) Curricular (not applicable)
Fig. 198. Activities sample

(Carolina Coelho)
486
. Domain I) Corresponds to educational domain: active learning environments or

supportive environments.
The concept of active implies effective learning possibilities in space, while supportive
implies the activities that aid to that process but do not comprise it per se. According
to Krüger (1992), this corresponds to the “productive” that comply with the
primary activities of learning the school has been conceived for coping with: or the
“end-activities”; and the “supportive” spaces are the ones that hold the “means-
activities” (Krüger, 1992, p.7).
. Domain II) Corresponds to types of uses: curricular or extra-curricular.

It has been difÀcult to Ànd the most adequate concept for this domain. Is has been
considered the need to divide the activities between active for the learning process
and supportive of it (meaning they are not primary activities but that they aid with
the learning).
The concepts of curricular and extra-curricular activities introduce a difference that
has been made from the beginning of this Thesis and that adds contemporaneity
to this methodology – the signiÀcance of activities that complement the learning
outside the formality of the classes, evaluation processes and lectures. This could
be identiÀed as pedagogical or academic, as opposed to non-pedagogical and non-
academic. The concept of curricular has been considered more straightforward
to this assumption: the activities held formally by the pedagogical curriculum
and the ones that complement it, often with a more informal nature, but that
could also be formal activities in the sense of being programmed, public and of
representativeness to the school and to the student(s). Curricular uses relate to
classes and direct pedagogical and educational activities.
. Domain III) Corresponds to types of activities: programmed or non-programmed.

As explained by Krüger (1992), in which programmed activities are held in a routine
usually weekly in a school, concerning both classes but also staff and secretariat
work schedules, and non-programmed activities may imply an “irregular usage of
space” (Krüger, 1992, pp.5-7). Naturally that formal events such as classes and
artistic performances are the most frequent resemblance to programmed activities,
and informal activities to non-programmed and spontaneous ones. Yet, informal
events may also be organised by students for a particular schedule in a programmed
manner like a celebration or an artistic improvisation performance.
. Domain IV) Corresponds to teaching regimes: regular, artistic and external,

particularly meaningful for this school.
This school has both regular and artistic curricula as explained, but has also a very
signiÀcant external representativeness, that broadens its learning potential outside
the student community to an external audience when extra-curricular activities
are concerned. The fact that there are several protocols established between the
487
conservatory and several collectivities of external users that use the school spaces
outside school hours, like the library or the auditorium in a more sporadic manner,
but also classrooms in a weekly schedule, also reinforces the need to consider them
in this domain. That explains the three teaching types in domain IV from the extra-
curricular activities in domain II, which is very speciÀc of this school in particular752.
There is a signiÀcant difference to be explained at this point: there are external
displays considered in all possible sets of the curricular activities, which are activities
held by the effective students of either the school and/or the conservatory towards
a public and enlarged audience. But this differs from the extra-curricular activities
that occur in this space for other groups, which use the space but that are not
students from the school nor from the conservatory. Naturally, that these are only
considered applicable in the activities sample in the extra-curricular activities because
these groups of people use the space for those purposes and not for the school’s
curricular uses per se. So, the use by the external community is solely extra-curricular
and not applicable to the curricular domain. That also explains the extra-curricular
activities as supportive of the learning process and the fact that curricular activities
are always active and not applicable when supportive ones are concerned753.
. Domain V) Corresponds to detailed activities according to the previous domains.

As this domain holds the highest complexity and it is this list of activities that will
be matched to the spaces according to their potential allocation, some clariÀcation
is needed in regard to the detailed activities in domain V according its regard from
the previous ones:
The curricular activities are related to classes, in different manners of proceeding
with a more formal learning: lecture implies explaining and providing knowledge,
evaluation is considered to assess the previously perceived contents, groups and
individual classes are held to work on the contents explained and to acknowledge
them, study is needed as a support to the acknowledgement of the contents explained
in class and external displays occur when the work of a group or individual can be
perceived by the all school or a wider audience. So, the curricular activities for both
teaching regimes have been considered as follows: lecture, evaluation class, group
work class, individual class, study practice and external display, because the learning
process implies all of that for both the artistic and the regular curricula.
The difference between individual class and study practice is that individual class
has formally a teacher and a student, this is most applied to the artistic teaching, but
752
Logically this has signiÀcance for this school’s curricular mixture and also for its community relevance,
recognising that in more general terms, if this methodology was to be applied to regular secondary schools
this domain could be simpliÀed. Still, in this case it more extensively portrays the effective activities that occur
there and its respective spatial needs in a more accurate manner than if this domain was not split into three
possible categories.
753
This implies a change from the abstract table displayed on chapter 3.3. because of the removal of supportive
curricular activities, considered not applicable for this case study.
488
it can also be a supportive class for a student in need. All of these activities could
be programmed in the weekly schedule or be a more sporadic complement to the
Àrst, as non-programmed.
In what regards the artistic teaching, there are artistic classes both in music and
dancing, of both theoretical and practical nature: from lectures to individual
training, which all take place in the spaces considered for this case study. This
explains its approach to the same types of detailed curricular activities as the regular
teaching regime.
The regular curriculum has the speciÀcity of the laboratory experiments. If a wider
sample of spaces was to be considered, more activities speciÀc from the regular
teaching regime would have to be considered. Nevertheless, they do not occur in
this building and in this spatial sample, therefore they are not considered here.
Lectures, study practice and external displays are the three categories that are
common in both curricular and extra-curricular activities, because they could be a
part of the formal learning process of the student, like a supplementary class from
an invited teacher or expert, a study group and an external display that could be
enclosed as a Ànal purpose of a particular subject to publicly show the students’
Ànal work. Besides, these activities could also be informally deÀned as an extra-
curricular activity, complementing their previously engaged accomplishments from
the formal curriculum, such as a non-programmed external display of a group work
or, more likely, an artistic non-programmed performance.
External displays are very relevant for this particular school, because they can also
be considered a part of the pedagogical curriculum, a part of the formal learning
process. An exhibition or a book reading from a noted author and other events
within the teaching curriculum, that could be programmed – e.g.: a weekly book
signing, or a monthly new exhibition in the main hall with a respective formal
opening session. All of these represent formal events relevant for the learning
process, with external potential to be outside the classroom.
Programmed and non-programmed activities from domain V are considered the
same for each previous domain, because they can occur in a weekly schedule or in a
more spontaneous or in a non-repetitive way. This is prominent when considering
external displays, that can have a regular programming of a weekly or a monthly
happening, or occur just one time.
Most school spaces can be allocated to social interaction, either by all the community
or amongst peers, even if not initially considered as such, namely the main access,
circulations and common spaces, used by all teachers, staff, parents and students
and therefore, these are potential interfaces for social interaction. This speciÀcity
is needed because there are spaces for only a speciÀc group of users, such as the
staff room, the teachers’ ofÀces and others where social interaction can occur
489
amongst all, like the circulations or the main hall. Interaction is considered to
be extra-curricular because it is understated that it occurs throughout curricular
activities, not necessarily explicitly or separate from them. But if considered an
extra-curricular activity, interaction can be actually the main activity in that space,
like the canteen or the cafeteria.
Circulation is an informal, non-programmed activity, hence, its identiÀcation in
domain V.
Mutually exclusive activities have been removed, such as curricular activities in
supportive spaces or curricular activities for an external audience of non-students,
generating an overall activity sample that lists a total of 77 possible activities for the
analysis of this case study.
To produce this activity sample it has been recognised the relevance of providing
extra detail to it, because that would introduce a Àne-grained analysis of the spaces’
potential to cope with the identiÀed activities and would provide more in-depth
conclusions. Moreover, after the initial testing of this procedure, it has also been
determined that the more disaggregated the list, in which the more activities and
speciÀcities it had, the broader the differences in spaces that can cope with all the
activities as compared to a more shallow analysis. And so, by introducing deeper
detail, variances in the potential for activity allocation could be identiÀed. This would
ultimately provide a more comprehensive understanding of the spaces’ allocation
potential and a deeper insight in the entropy results. Naturally, that the broader
the list of activities and the sample of spaces, by introducing more variables and
entities, the more complex all the calculations and the Àlling in of all the tables
and, overall, the more complex the entropy calculations. Anyway, and considering
this to be a Doctoral Thesis that may resort to concepts on mathematics and
combinatorial calculations, it is Àrst and foremost a Thesis in architecture that aims
at the more robust procedures and results, that does not aim at deriving the formulae
or to critically consider the mathematical procedures. They are here only in a very
simpliÀed manner to reach for results that support architectural knowledge and that
may add input when correlated with other results from previous and subsequent
milestones of the proposed methodology.
The purpose of having a more speciÀc activity sample lies in the objective of
approaching this model to reality and to the speciÀcity of this school’s reality and
contextual needs and activities. It is recognised that a more abstract model of an
activity sample could also have been used. Still, according to what has already been
justiÀed, the more detailed this activity sample is, potentially, the more accurate
its entropy results and differences will be, and the closer it will depict the actual
potential of this building to allocate activities according to its pedagogical curriculum,
particularities and speciÀc uses, that are very representative of this school and that
have also led to its choice as the most adequate case study.
490
. Convex Spaces’ Entropy

Considering the Àrst step towards the entropy analysis to be the identiÀcation of
49 different spaces in the sample, then, an original list of activities with 77 possible
activities was produced according to the speciÀc curriculum of this school already
explained in detailed. At this point, the following step is to allocate the identiÀed
activities from the sample to the spaces listed in the plans, identifying the thresholds
of feasibility for this case study.
Then, it will be possible to cross the number of activities that each space is
potentially able to allocate with the range of all activities accounted for in this study
and listed in an activity matrix produced from scratch for this case study and the
methodology. This will conclude on the potential that each space has to allocate
each of the activities considered and which are the most prominent attributes that
potentiate a higher level of adaptability. Fawcett has referred to this correspondence
as “loose-Àt” (1976a, p.5).
The allocation has been done according to the assumption of the spaces’ ability to
cater for the speciÀcity of each activity, also from the previously acknowledgement
of its intrinsic attributes and physical features and respectively from the spatial
needs for holding each of the activities. Hence, this implies a potential of each
space, usually broader than its sole purpose or the objective to which it has been
created or simply as it is identiÀed in the plans. Nevertheless, this will occur mostly
for spaces that have higher entropy, meaning the possibility of allocating more
activities is higher and the uncertainty to what activities are happening in space is
also higher. SpeciÀcally for a certain space, the higher the x number of possible
activities the space has, the least likely is one happening in regard to a broader
possible group and thus the higher the uncertainty. Opposite to this, spaces with
very speciÀc uses have very low entropy because there is not uncertainty regarding
its activity allocation. This will be reÁected upon later on, after the Ànal results from
the entropy calculations for this school space.
The possibility of a space to change its functional purpose according to its allocational
potential, given by the feasibility matrix, is very relevant to reÁect upon. Because
if the space has the potential to allocate several activities, then over time its main
purpose can change according to that time’s current needs. So, it will ultimately imply
that it is a more adaptable space to change. According to Krüger (1992) the building’s
lifecycle depends of its physical endurance in regard to “materials, installations and
its structure”, and also of its functional provision to cope with the “users’ changing
needs” and the “appearance of new technologies”. So, the design of “complex
buildings” should attend to the “non-foreseeable changes of the users’ needs”
and also resort to the most adequate materials. Therefore, research on adaptability,
particularly applied to complex buildings, provides a better understanding of
this cost-efÀciency on the design choices and its compliance towards the future
unpredictable changes (pp.16-17). In this regard Krüger adds that:
491
FEASIBILITY MATRIX
DOMAIN I DOMAIN II DOMAIN III DOMAIN IV DOMAIN V 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49
Active Curricular Programmed Regular Lecture X X X X X X X X X

learning Evaluation class X X X X X X X X
Group work class X X X X X X X X X
Individual class X X X X X X X X X X
Study practice X X X X X X X
External display X X X X X X X X
Lab experiment X
Artistic Artistic class X X X X X X X X X X X
Evaluation class X X X X X X X X X X
Group work class X X X X X X
Individual class X X X X X X X X X X X X
Study practice X X X X X X X X X X X
External display X X X X X X X X
Non- Regular Lecture X X X X X X X X X

programmed X X X X X X X X
Evaluation class
Group work class X X X X X X X X X
Individual class X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Study practice X X X X X X X X X X X X X
External display X X X X X X X
Lab experiment X
Artistic Artistic class X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Evaluation class X X X X X X X X X X X
Group work class X X X X X X X
Individual class X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Study practice X X X X X X X X X X X X
External display X X X X X X X
Extra- Programmed Regular Lecture X X X X X X X X X X X

Curricular X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Study practice
Social interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Peer interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
External display X X X X X X X X X X
Artistic Lecture X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Study practice X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Social interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Peer interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
External Lecture X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Peer interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Non- Regular Lecture X X X X X X X X X X X

programmed X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Study practice
Social interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Peer interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Artistic Lecture X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Study practice X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Social interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
External Lecture X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Peer interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Supportive Extra- Programmed Regular Specific uses X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Curricular X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Social interaction
Peer interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Artistic Specific uses X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Peer interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
External Specific uses X X X X X X X
Social interaction X X X X X X X X X X X
Peer interaction X X X X X X X X X X X
Non- Regular Circulation X X X X X X X X X

programmed X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Specific uses
Social interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Peer interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Artistic Circulation X X X X X X X X X
Specific uses X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
External Circulation X X X X X X X X X
Specific uses X X X X X X X X X X X X
Social interaction X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Peer interaction X X X X X X X X X X X
Curricular
(not applicable)
total = 77
activity allocations per space 55 9 9 9 9 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 51 2 2 66 45 65 39 42 2 2 4 12 16 13 4 4 66 59 22 66 22 22 31 22 38 30 39 43 12 12 24 4 4 2 3 5 2
ai/ ai 0,05 0,01 0,01 0,01 0,01 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,05 0,00 0,00 0,07 0,04 0,06 0,04 0,04 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,01 0,02 0,01 0,00 0,00 0,07 0,06 0,02 0,07 0,02 0,02 0,03 0,02 0,04 0,03 0,04 0,04 0,01 0,01 0,02 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
potential allocations = 1005
Fig. 199. Feasibility matrix

(Carolina Coelho)
492
“Adaptability is the result of the reorganisation of the operational

patterns of activities with the minimum environmental and spatial
change. In this case it should be considered the locational tolerance of
activities, aiming at minimising the costs of possible changes in spatial
conÀguration.” (Krüger, 1992, p.17)754
Accordingly, adaptability should be considered in the design, because its spatial
conÀguration and physical features, such as the mentioned structure and materials,
constrain the future ability of the building to cope with the changing needs and may
lead to physical obsolescence. A balanced choice between the initial cost and the
future beneÀts of saving when alterations are needed, should therefore be thought.
The feasibility matrix can provide an initial approach to this matter since it identiÀes
the ability of a space to cope with activities according to their physical features and
the Ànal results on entropy may also demonstrate how is the distribution of entropy
for activity allocations, and when and if there is a stabilisation that informs on the
cost/beneÀt of providing for initially more activities.
In the feasibility matrix designed, if all spaces had the possibility of allocating all
the activities, we would have a total of 3773 allocations (from the 49 spaces to 77
activities), but this would involve that all activities could occur in all spaces, not
involving time schedules, meaning that all spaces could have the same activity, but
also that each space could simultaneously have all the activities. The allocation of
activities to spaces has possible variances according to what the activities spatially
require and to what spaces can cater for. So, capacity constraints are needed to
weigh the spaces according to their functional potential that differs regarding their
physical properties. If the spaces are not all physically equal, then there is only a
probability of allocating an activity to a space if that space has the speciÀc functional
requirements. The sum of all the possible activity schedules leads to 1005 potential
allocations, that are the ones that can actually occur in that spatial sample and
that represent all possible activity allocations to that space. This is maximising the
entropy of the space, because it informs on all possible activities to spaces that can
actually occur. This coincides with Krüger’s (1981a) studies on the association of
entropy to a combinatorial process of activities to spaces, in which maximising the
entropy is achieved by the “determination of the feasibility matrix” with the highest
“number of biunivocal corresponding matches” between activities and spaces755
(Krüger, 1981a, pp.1171-1172).
These activities were then matched with the spaces, providing a feasibility matrix of
the potential allocations, identifying each allocation activity to a space with a dark
square (Fig. 199).
754
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A adaptabilidade é o resultado da reorganizaçmo dos
padrões operacionais das actividades com o mínimo de mudança ambiental e espacial. Neste caso deve ser
explorada a tolerância locacional das actividades com a Ànalidade de se minimizarem os custos de possíveis
alterações da conÀguraçmo espacial.” (Krüger, 1992, p.17)
755
Krüger´s studies on this behalf hold a higher complexity in regard to the combinatorial process of associating
activities to spaces in different manners. For the purposes of this current Doctoral Thesis the mathematical
formulae have been simpliÀed and are only used when considered to hold results that can be qualitatively
interpreted under the scope of architecture and which ultimately provide information for architecture,
embracing its disciplinarity.
493
This correspondence of spaces to activities, can be assessed in order to conclude on

the most relevant features towards adaptability and that, when provided to a space,
potentiate a higher range of potential uses.
Not only that, but this association might also indicate other possible activity
allocations. Actually, there are other constraints that in a real case scenario can compel
space use. Management may also inÁuence how spaces are used and what are their
functions, even more so in a school, because management can ultimately change
the spaces’ expected use to a different effective one, according to upcoming needs
or pedagogical changes that might occur. Other possible condition is the number
of students enrolled in each class and the number of classes, which inÁuence the
need for smaller or larger formal classrooms and their speciÀcities from music and
dance studios, to generic classrooms, or to laboratories. Another possible constraint
is the cost-efÀciency of using a room in regard to other, in which two spaces can
cater for an activity allocation but one could be over-providing to activities that can
occur in a smaller space to lit, heat and overall maintain, which is ultimately also
related to management decisions. Furthermore, the spaces’ morphology can also
condition the choice of a space in relation to another, deeper in the overall system
or less connected to the rooms of more frequent use. Anyway this matrix aims to
identify all possible activity allocations to spaces, starting from the activities the
spaces have been envisioned for, to others also possible there. Only afterwards, in
the subsequent milestone of this methodology will the actual usage be assumed and
correlated to the expected one, considering individual and group appropriation and
all the referred variables that might weigh on the activity allocation.
Time schedules are not here a main purpose, because they regard mostly the
management of space. Moreover, if adaptability is concerned, its ultimate application
is the possibility of several activities happening in the same space at the same time.
Hence, if a space can cater for simultaneous activities, than it would be more
adaptable and this would be a signiÀcant contribution for the optimisation of the
schedule. This is also a part of the contemporary learning model, in which several
learning activities can occur at the same time and all with pedagogical potential.
The main hall, the library or even the dance studio can have that possibility, and this
is something to consider, because in a space like a formal dance studio, different
individuals or groups can be performing different learning/practising activities, as
it in fact occurs there. For the main hall or the library that is also relevant, because
if the library is a more formal space and the main hall a more informal one, then
both can hold different activities, both formal and informal, programmed and
non-programmed, for different uses and teaching types, hence these are potentially
more used and occupied by more people, which coincides with the deÀnition of
adaptability.
From the feasibility matrix some conclusions can already be taken regarding the
spaces’ potential and the location of activities in spaces. This could, in fact, be
correlated later on with the entropy results to analyse its possible overlapping.
494
The main hall has all possible external displays because it acts as the schools’
common space towards the community and the Àrst space to be accessed from
the outside. It also has the possibility of holding extra-curricular events and as
a supportive space to the learning events, such as circulation purposes. Even if
curricular learning procedures are not intentionally held here, like evaluations,
lectures and study practices, extra-curricular ones could be accomplished here.
The library is also a space with a very extensive list of possible activity allocations for
very diverse situations and undertaken by different users from each teaching type.
Accesses like horizontal and vertical circulations hold non-programmed interaction,

but these could be either supportive or even as a possible way of knowledge
transmission, as an extra-curricular active learning process.
Some spaces are conceived for very speciÀc uses, all supportive of the learning
process but with secondary activities related to it, such as the reception desk, the
ticket ofÀce, the locker room, the dressing room,… This school also has a signiÀcant
amount of supportive spaces with technical nature such as storage, the vault, the
archive, technical areas and even indeterminate supportive spaces, whose allocation
is restricted to a speciÀc functionality.
There are also common spaces used by all the community that may have curricular
but mostly non-curricular activities for all, some with a more informal set of
activities that can lead to knowledge transmission through social interaction amongst
all users or even through peer interaction only, like the canteen, the cafeteria and
the common living spaces near the main circulations. The library can hold both
curricular and extra-curricular activities of different sorts and for different users.
Spaces with still indeterminate functionality can also cater for different activities
and users, but do not cope with very speciÀc acoustics requirements. This is the
case of the common spaces near the main corridors and also the spare spaces
indicated as smaller rooms. Still unknown in the Ànal plans, all in all, these could
also have curricular activities for medium or smaller groups. Not been provided
with the most adequate soundprooÀng for the artistic teaching of music instrument
practice, holding artistic programmed events is not a possibility, but these could be
places for practising, just like a corridor that also does not have the best acoustics.
These could also be supportive of other activities, or could even be a social space
for a smaller group. So, despite the indeterminacy of these spaces, the array of
possible activity allocations is wide.
There are also the spaces that have been concerned for the artistic teaching but that
can also hold regular teaching activities, from individual monitoring to group classes
and even for holding larger sets of students. Naturally that these spaces are overly
provided for the regular teaching because of all the acoustics requirements, but
theoretically these do not impede the regular teaching to use them. Contrarily, rooms
deployed of acoustics conditioning cannot hold the artistic teaching and are restricted
495
to the regular and external uses. In addition, large rooms such as the auditorium, the
choir room and the orchestra room can cope with most groups and smaller ones,
even if that proves to be actually overly costly, whereas small individual training
rooms for the music teaching can only be used for individual study or practice.
In the auditorium all activities concerned with the artistic teaching, even individual
ones, can be accomplished. Even smaller groups could use it for the regular and
external teaching, although in some cases it would be over sized for a class or
a smaller group. In this case, most like the library, the use is very disaggregated,
meaning that all teaching types can resort to it in very different situations and so, it is
not only compelled to a certain teaching regime or domain, despite being conceived
because of the conservatory, but could be used in very different situations also for
external uses and regular teaching events.
Medium size classrooms are the ones that can cope with a large amount of activities,
because the fact they are generic and average in size makes them appropriate for
most groups and also adequate in terms of physical sizing for its maintenance. That
explains the large activity allocation of music studios of average size and generic
classrooms, and even though, as explained, music instrument practising requires
physical requirements that a generic classroom does not have, theoretical music
classes can be taught in generic regular classrooms.
In what concerned the laboratories, overprovision can also be the case, because
most regular classes can occur there but they are over-provided for them. Naturally
that this would also dependent on the layout of the furniture and the placement of
the sinks and counters.
There are also spaces related more to peer interaction, such as the teachers’ ofÀces,
the students’ room, the staff room and even the parent council room. Others
imply social interaction between teachers and students, such as the teachers’ ofÀces
for meeting students, where curricular and extra-curricular and programmed
and non-programmed activities can occur, also connected to learning and most
frequently individually-led. Supportive activities such as the ones undertaken in
the administration ofÀces are speciÀc of each teaching regime and also engage
interaction, as supportive of the learning process. Other supportive spaces of the
learning, where services and activities are provided to the students, are spaces such
as the students’ shop and the photocopy room.
The overall outlook of the matrix is perceived vertically, associating each space with
the activities it can cope with, which is its purpose, because it aims at allocating the
listed activities to the spaces, and that justiÀes its immediate vertically perception by
space. It is noticed that there are some spaces with a signiÀcant array of dark squares
that indicate possible allocations, which could be either more or less disaggregated
through the all matrix in different domains or altogether within the same one. This
will be noted for the conclusions, associating the entropy calculations with the
disaggregation of the activities allocations within the domains.
496
Spaces such as the auditorium and the library hold a very wide array of activity
allocations in most domains, meaning that not only do they have an extensive
functional potential, but they also can cope with very different spatial requirements
from different activities domains. Similar to the auditorium, but regarding its smaller
dimension as compared to it, the orchestra room and the choir room can also
accommodate several activities, because their size enables holding wider or smaller
groups. This will be intentionality dealt further on, in the subsequent analysis on
spatial fruition, as to if it is actually used in such a manner, due to a potential over-
provision. Still, for the purpose of an entropy calculation, these spaces can cope
with larger groups and thus, also with smaller ones.
More generic spaces can also have a wide variety of different activities but cannot
cope with more speciÀc requirements, opposite to the laboratories or the dance
studio for speciÀc classes and teaching regimes. So, generic classrooms and music
studios of average medium size, are spaces that enable curricular and extra-
curricular, programmed and non-programmed activities, in a very wide array of
possibilities. That explains their signiÀcant amount of activity allocations as well,
which are also disaggregated amongst several different domains.
Then there are spaces, such as the canteen or the cafeteria, that also hold several
possibilities but regarding speciÀc domains. In this case, these spaces serve extra-
curricular activities, even if they can be active learning environments for knowledge
acquisition and transmissions amongst peers. That justiÀes their lesser-disaggregated
allocations within the matrix.
Finally, the spaces that hold the least allocations are the ones for speciÀc uses,
namely supportive ones that have a very clear deÀnition of its purpose and cannot
cope with any other. So, there is no uncertainty in which activity is happening there.
A critical analysis can also be done concerning the distribution of activities onto
spaces, examining the matrix horizontally.
It is noticeable that there are activities with a wide array of possible locations and
some that are site-speciÀc. The latter is the case of laboratory experiments, only held
in the science laboratories. Social interaction amongst all users and peer interaction
only, can occur in several different supportive spaces, but there are numerous
supportive spaces of the learning activities that have a single usage related to a very
speciÀc functionality.
In what regards active learning activities, extra-curricular study practice is also
an activity that can be held in numerous spaces, according to the choice of the
student(s), from larger to smaller size spaces, or from more formal to more informal
and socially prone ones. That is also the case of peer interaction for the purposes
of information transmission, creation and acquisition that may also occur in formal
classrooms of different sizes to more informal spaces of social nature and for all
teaching types.
497
ALLOCATION MATRIX _ DOMAIN III
I II III 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49
I a) II a) III a) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 12 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 11 4 12 4 4 8 4 6 6 6 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
III b) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 12 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 10 6 12 6 6 9 6 6 6 7 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
II b) III c) 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 15 12 15 9 12 0 0 0 2 4 0 0 0 15 13 6 15 6 6 7 6 11 7 11 12 2 2 6 0 0 0 0 2 0
III d) 15 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 15 12 15 9 12 0 0 0 2 4 0 0 0 15 13 6 15 6 6 7 6 11 7 11 12 2 2 6 0 0 0 0 2 0
I b) II c) III e) 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 6 0 0 6 9 6 9 9 0 0 2 4 4 6 2 2 6 6 0 6 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 6 4 4 4 2 2 2 0 1 0
III f) 12 6 6 6 6 3 3 3 0 2 2 2 6 2 2 6 12 9 12 9 2 2 2 4 4 7 2 2 6 6 0 6 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 9 4 4 4 2 2 0 3 0 2
II d)
allocations
55 9 9 9 9 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 51 2 2 66 45 65 39 42 2 2 4 12 16 13 4 4 66 59 22 66 22 22 31 22 38 30 39 43 12 12 24 4 4 2 3 5 2
per space
ALLOCATION MATRIX_DOMAIN IV
I II III IV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49
I a) II a) III a)IV a) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 6 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 5 0 6 0 0 4 0 0 6 6 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
IV b) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 6 4 6 4 4 4 4 6 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
III b)IV c) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 6 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 5 2 6 2 2 5 2 0 6 6 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
IV d) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 6 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 5 4 6 4 4 4 4 6 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
II b) III c) IV e) 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 5 4 5 3 4 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 5 4 2 5 2 2 3 2 3 4 5 4 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0
IV f) 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 5 4 5 3 4 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 5 5 3 5 3 3 3 3 5 0 1 4 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0
IV g) 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 5 4 5 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 4 1 5 1 1 1 1 3 3 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
III d)IV h) 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 5 4 5 3 4 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 5 4 2 5 2 2 3 2 3 4 5 4 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0
IV i) 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 5 4 5 3 4 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 5 5 3 5 3 3 3 3 5 0 1 4 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0
IV j) 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 5 4 5 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 4 1 5 1 1 1 1 3 3 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
I b) II c) III e)IV k) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 2 3 3 0 0 1 2 2 3 2 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 1 0
IV l) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 2 3 3 0 0 1 2 2 3 0 2 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 0
IV m) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 2 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
III f) IV n) 4 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 4 3 4 3 1 0 1 2 2 3 2 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 2 2 2 1 1 0 1 0 1
IV o) 4 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 4 3 4 3 1 1 1 2 2 3 0 2 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 2 2 2 1 1 0 1 0 1
IV p) 4 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 4 3 4 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
II d)
allocations
55 9 9 9 9 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 51 2 2 66 45 65 39 42 2 2 4 12 16 13 4 4 66 59 22 66 22 22 31 22 38 30 39 43 12 12 24 4 4 2 3 5 2
per space
Fig. 200. Allocation matrices per domain

(Spaces 1 to 49 are identiÀed in Fig. 197 and Domains I to IV are identiÀed in Fig. 198)
DISTRIBUTION MATRIX_DOMAIN III

I II III 1 2 a3 v4 5 6 7 8 9 10 l11 s12 i13 s14 v15 a16 a17 a18 l19 c20 c21 k22 k23 s24 t25 s26 s27 a28 a29 o30 m
31 m
32 33 34 35 36 37 38 s39 g40 c41 t42 t43 t44 s45 p46 p47 a48 p49
I a) II a) III a) 2/55 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5/51 0 0 2/11 0 2/13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2/11 11/59 2/11 2/11 2/11 2/11 8/31 2/11 3/19 1/5 2/13 2/43 0 0 1/12 0 0 0 0 0 0
III b) 2/55 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/51 0 0 2/11 0 2/13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2/11 10/59 3/11 2/11 3/11 3/11 9/31 3/11 3/19 1/5 7/39 2/43 0 0 1/12 0 0 0 0 0 0
II b) III c) 3/11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4/17 0 0 5/22 4/15 3/13 3/13 2/7 0 0 0 1/6 1/4 0 0 0 5/22 13/59 3/11 5/22 3/11 3/11 7/31 3/11 11/38 7/30 11/39 12/43 1/6 1/6 1/4 0 0 0 0 2/5 0
III d) 3/11 1/3 1/3 1/3 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4/17 0 0 5/22 4/15 3/13 3/13 2/7 0 0 0 1/6 1/4 0 0 0 5/22 13/59 3/11 5/22 3/11 3/11 7/31 3/11 11/38 7/30 11/39 12/43 1/6 1/6 1/4 0 0 0 0 2/5 0
I b) II c) III e) 9/55 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2/17 0 0 1/11 1/5 6/65 3/13 3/14 0 0 1/2 1/3 1/4 6/13 1/2 1/2 1/11 6/59 0 1/11 0 0 0 0 1/19 1/15 2/39 6/43 1/3 1/3 1/6 1/2 1/2 1 0 1/5 0
III f) 12/55 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 2/17 1 1 1/11 4/15 9/65 4/13 3/14 1 1 1/2 1/3 1/4 7/13 1/2 1/2 1/11 6/59 0 1/11 0 0 0 0 1/19 1/15 2/39 9/43 1/3 1/3 1/6 1/2 1/2 0 1 0 1
II d)
allocations
55 9 9 9 9 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 51 2 2 66 45 65 39 42 2 2 4 12 16 13 4 4 66 59 22 66 22 22 31 22 38 30 39 43 12 12 24 4 4 2 3 5 2
per space
S = ENTROPY 1,578 0,637 0,637 0,637 0,637 0,000 0,000 0,000 0,000 0,000 0,000 0,000 1,732 0,000 0,000 1,729 1,379 1,746 1,378 1,376 0,000 0,000 0,693 1,330 1,386 0,690 0,693 0,693 1,729 1,745 1,373 1,729 1,373 1,373 1,381 1,373 1,611 1,684 1,615 1,600 1,330 1,330 1,705 0,693 0,693 0,000 0,000 1,055 0,000
DISTRIBUTION MATRIX_DOMAIN IV
ACTIVITIES SPACES
SAMPLE
I II III IV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49
I a) II a) III a) IV a) 1/55 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5/51 0 0 1/11 0 1/13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1/11 5/59 0 1/11 0 0 4/31 0 0 1/5 2/13 1/43 0 0 1/24 0 0 0 0 0 0
IV b) 1/55 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1/11 0 1/13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1/11 6/59 2/11 1/11 2/11 2/11 4/31 2/11 3/19 0 0 1/43 0 0 1/24 0 0 0 0 0 0
III b) IV c) 1/55 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5/51 0 0 1/11 0 1/13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1/11 5/59 1/11 1/11 1/11 1/11 5/31 1/11 0 1/5 2/13 1/43 0 0 1/24 0 0 0 0 0 0
IV d) 1/55 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5/51 0 0 1/11 0 1/13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1/11 5/59 2/11 1/11 2/11 2/11 4/31 2/11 3/19 0 1/39 1/43 0 0 1/24 0 0 0 0 0 0
II b) III c) IV e) 1/11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4/51 0 0 5/66 4/45 1/13 1/13 2/21 0 0 0 1/12 1/8 0 0 0 5/66 4/59 1/11 5/66 1/11 1/11 3/31 1/11 3/38 2/15 5/39 4/43 1/12 1/12 1/8 0 0 0 0 1/5 0
IV f) 1/11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4/51 0 0 5/66 4/45 1/13 1/13 2/21 0 0 0 1/12 1/8 0 0 0 5/66 5/59 3/22 5/66 3/22 3/22 3/31 3/22 5/38 0 1/39 4/43 1/12 1/12 1/8 0 0 0 0 1/5 0
IV g) 1/11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4/51 0 0 5/66 4/45 1/13 1/13 2/21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5/66 4/59 1/22 5/66 1/22 1/22 1/31 1/22 3/38 1/10 5/39 4/43 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
III d) IV h) 1/11 1/9 1/9 1/9 1/9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4/51 0 0 5/66 4/45 1/13 1/13 2/21 0 0 0 1/12 1/8 0 0 0 5/66 4/59 1/11 5/66 1/11 1/11 3/31 1/11 3/38 2/15 5/39 4/43 1/12 1/12 1/8 0 0 0 0 1/5 0
IV i) 1/11 1/9 1/9 1/9 1/9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4/51 0 0 5/66 4/45 1/13 1/13 2/21 0 0 0 1/12 1/8 0 0 0 5/66 5/59 3/22 5/66 3/22 3/22 3/31 3/22 5/38 0 1/39 4/43 1/12 1/12 1/8 0 0 0 0 1/5 0
IV j) 1/11 1/9 1/9 1/9 1/9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4/51 0 0 5/66 4/45 1/13 1/13 2/21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5/66 4/59 1/22 5/66 1/22 1/22 1/31 1/22 3/38 1/10 5/39 4/43 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
I b) II c) III e) IV k) 3/55 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2/51 0 0 1/33 1/15 2/65 1/13 1/14 0 0 1/4 1/6 1/8 3/13 1/2 0 1/33 2/59 0 1/33 0 0 0 0 0 1/30 1/39 2/43 1/6 1/6 1/12 1/4 1/4 1/2 0 1/5 0
IV l) 3/55 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1/2 0 0 0 2/51 0 0 1/33 1/15 2/65 1/13 1/14 0 0 1/4 1/6 1/8 3/13 0 1/2 1/33 2/59 0 1/33 0 0 0 0 1/19 0 0 2/43 1/6 1/6 1/12 1/4 1/4 1/2 0 0 0
IV m) 3/55 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1/2 0 0 0 2/51 0 0 1/33 1/15 2/65 1/13 1/14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1/33 2/59 0 1/33 0 0 0 0 0 1/30 1/39 2/43 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
III f) IV n) 4/55 2/9 2/9 2/9 2/9 1/3 1/3 1/3 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 2/51 1/2 1/2 1/33 4/45 3/65 4/39 1/14 1/2 0 1/4 1/6 1/8 3/13 1/2 0 1/33 2/59 0 1/33 0 0 0 0 0 1/30 1/39 3/43 1/6 1/6 1/12 1/4 1/4 0 1/3 0 1/2
IV o) 4/55 2/9 2/9 2/9 2/9 1/3 1/3 1/3 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 2/51 1/2 1/2 1/33 4/45 3/65 4/39 1/14 1/2 1/2 1/4 1/6 1/8 3/13 0 1/2 1/33 2/59 0 1/33 0 0 0 0 1/19 0 0 3/43 1/6 1/6 1/12 1/4 1/4 0 1/3 0 1/2
IV p) 4/55 2/9 2/9 2/9 2/9 1/3 1/3 1/3 0 0 0 0 2/51 0 0 1/33 4/45 3/65 4/39 1/14 0 1/2 0 0 0 1/13 0 0 1/33 2/59 0 1/33 0 0 0 0 0 1/30 1/39 3/43 0 0 0 0 0 0 1/3 0 0
II d)
allocations
per space
55 9 9 9 9 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 51 2 2 66 45 65 39 42 2 2 4 12 16 13 4 4 66 59 22 66 22 22 31 22 38 30 39 43 12 12 24 4 4 2 3 5 2
S = ENTROPY 2,647 1,735 1,735 1,735 1,735 1,099 1,099 1,099 0,693 0,693 0,693 0,693 2,643 0,693 0,693 2,681 2,478 2,720 2,476 2,475 0,693 0,693 1,386 2,023 2,079 1,551 0,693 0,693 2,681 2,696 2,098 2,681 2,098 2,098 2,213 2,098 2,228 2,095 2,287 2,661 2,023 2,023 2,398 1,386 1,386 0,693 1,099 1,609 0,693
Fig. 201. Distribution matrices per domain

(Spaces 1 to 49 are identiÀed in Fig. 197 and Domains I to IV are identiÀed in Fig. 198)
498
One of the most striking remarks is the aggregation of artistic related activities to
the spaces conceived for such purposes. This is due to its speciÀcities. Activities of
more general spatial requirements, such as the regular teaching and external types,
can occur on conservatory spaces, but the contrary is not possible because these
activities require soundprooÀng conditions that these more generic spaces are not
provided with.
Having identiÀed the thresholds of feasibility when applied to this particular case
study, activities and spaces, then the following procedure is to calculate the entropy
by a series of matrices. Consequently, an analysis has been done in order to produce
an allocation matrix that sums up the number of potential happenings for each space
according to the domain speciÀed (Fig. 200). As already studied in chapter 3.3.756,
this is what Fawcett entitles “matrix ©sij, of all allocations” (Fawcett, 1978, p.181).
For this research, it was considered relevant to proceed with the calculations for
two different distributions – a less and a more disaggregated one – in which the Àrst
focused on the types of activities (corresponding to domain III) and the latter on
the teaching regimes (domain IV), which displays more extensive items of activity
allocations and hence, a deeper complexity.
Allocation matrices were constructed by identifying the distribution of the possible
activities for each space according to the sections considered, which are clearly
more extensive for domain IV.
At the end of this chapter, and after proceeding with all calculations, the differences
or similarities between the results from the two analyses – a more and a less
disaggregated, will be examined so that conclusions can be drawn on the relevance
of the degree of disaggregation of the distribution towards the entropy results.
By the study of the allocation matrices it is clear that these hold what Fawcett called
“integer entities” (Fawcett, 1978, p.181)757. So subsequently, a distribution matrix
was produced for each domain that divides these Àgures already displayed in the
previous matrices by the all potential activities for that space. Again, comparing
to Fawcett’s procedure, this can be paralleled to the “stochastic matrix, ©tij, by
dividing all entries by the total number of allocations, S” (Fawcett, 1978, p.181).
The tables displayed as distribution matrices report those results, now already as
fractions from a part-whole distribution (Fig. 201).
The entropy calculation for each of the spaces corresponds to the values
encountered from the previous allocation and subsequent distribution matrices and
their respective calculation using Shannon’s entropy formulation:
S = -Yi pi ln pi
As already established in chapter 3.3., which proposed this methodology before
756
757
499
VALUES RANK
ENTROPY CALCULATIONS
Domain III Domain IV

space value space value
18 library 1,746 18 library 2,720

30 music studio 1,745 30 music studio 2,696
13 spare space 1,732 16 auditorium 2,681
16 auditorium 1,729 29 orchestra room 2,681
29 orchestra room 1,729 32 choir room 2,681
32 choir room 1,729 40 common living space 2,661
43 teachers¶ of¿ce for meeting students 1,705 1 main hall 2,647
38 science lab 1,684 13 spare space 2,643
39 generic classroom 1,615 17 auditorium’s cafeteria 2,478
37 dance studio 1,611 19 cafeteria 2,476
40 common living space 1,6 20 canteen 2,475
1 main hall 1,578 43 teachers’ of¿ce for meeting students 2,398
25 students’ room 1,386 39 generic classroom 2,287
35 speci¿c music training room 1,381 37 dance studio 2,228
17 auditorium’s cafeteria 1,379 35 speci¿c music training room 2,213
19 cafeteria 1,378 31 music instrument training room 2,098
20 canteen 1,376 33 singing studio 2,098
31 music instrument training room 1,373 34 song writing studio 2,098
33 singing studio 1,373 36 study room 2,098
34 song writing studio 1,373 38 science lab 2,095
36 study room 1,373 25 students’ room 2,079
24 teachers’ room 1,33 24 teachers’ room 2,023
41 teachers’ of¿ce 1,33 41 teachers’ of¿ce 2,023
42 teachers’ meeting room 1,33 42 teachers’ meeting room 2,023
48 psychologist’s of¿ce 1,055 2 access - corridor 1,735
23 staff room 0,693 3 vertical access - stairs 1,735
27 administration of¿ces - regular teaching 0,693 4 vertical access - elevator 1,735
28 administration of¿ces - artistic teaching 0,693 5 entrance / outdoor access 1,735
44 students’ shop 0,693 48 psychologist’s of¿ce 1,609
45 photocopy room 0,693 26 secretariat 1,551
26 secretariat 0,69 23 staff room 1,386
2 access - corridor 0,637 44 students’ shop 1,386
3 vertical access - stairs 0,637 45 photocopy room 1,386
4 vertical access - elevator 0,637 6 reception desk 1,099
5 entrance / outdoor access 0,637 7 ticket of¿ce 1,099
6 reception desk 0 8 bathroom-toilet-sink 1,099
7 ticket of¿ce 0 47 auditorium supportive spaces 1,099
8 bathroom-toilet-sink 0 9 dressing room 0,693
9 dressing room 0 10 locker room 0,693
10 locker room 0 11 storage 0,693
11 storage 0 12 indeterminate supportive space 0,693
12 indeterminate supportive space 0 14 vault 0,693
14 vault 0 15 archive 0,693
15 archive 0 21 kitchen 0,693
21 kitchen 0 22 kitchen storage 0,693
22 kitchen storage 0 27 administration of¿ces - regular teaching 0,693
46 parent council room 0 28 administration of¿ces - artistic teaching 0,693
47 auditorium supportive spaces 0 46 parent council room 0,693
49 technical area 0 49 technical area 0,693
Fig. 202. Table with the entropy results per space for both distributions
(Spaces’ locations are identiÀed in the school plans illustrated in Fig. 197)
(Carolina Coelho)
500
applying it to the case study, the fact that this methodology does not comprise
activity-schedules differs from Fawcett’s original approach758.
This calculation has been done for all spaces and, as a practical demonstration it
will be explained in detail for the main hall, identiÀed as 1 in the less disaggregated
distribution, for domain III:
1) In the feasibility matrix there were 55 potential allocations to this space.
2) The allocation matrix for domain III for space 1 indicated: 2 active learning,
curricular, programmed activities; 2 active learning, curricular, non-programmed
activities; 15 active learning, extra-curricular, programmed activities; 15 active
learning, extra-curricular, non-programmed activities; 9 supportive, extra-curricular,
programmed activities; and 12 supportive, extra-curricular, non-programmed
activities. This adds to the total of the 55 activities, now subdivided in sections.
3) A distribution matrix divided the activities by the total allocations for this space:
2/55, 2/55, 15/55 (=3/11), 15/55 (=3/11), 9/55, 12/55.
The simpliÀed fractions are presented in both distribution matrices (Fig. 201).
4) Finally, the entropy for space 1 is calculated:
S1= - (2/55 ln2/55 2/55 ln2/55 3/11 ln3/11 3/11 ln3/11 9/55 ln9/55 12/55 ln12/55 ) = 1,578
Since it depends from the previous procedures, at the end of the distribution
matrices for both distributions (Fig. 201), the entropy has already been calculated
and displayed for all the 49 spaces assessed from the spatial sample. Still, a table has
been produced that ranks the results (Fig. 202).
From its analysis, conclusions can be drawn regarding the highest and lowest entropy
values and the similarities and/or differences between the two distributions.
It is the library that holds the highest entropy for both distributions, which can
be justiÀed by the fact that it can potentially allocate both curricular and extra-
curricular activities, considering that the curriculum also implies events outside
the formal classroom and the library copes with that sought for ambiance, with
a formal outlook where technological devices, books and magazines are available
for knowledge acquisition, but where a more casual environment is also possible
compared to the classroom and even the layout of the students in class. This is
also a space that can hold external displays, exhibitions, book signings and events
for groups, either in a programmed and non-programmed / more spontaneous
manner. Furthermore, the library has sofas and a lounge area that potentiates more
casual social interaction amongst all or just amongst the peers. It is also a place for
storage of books and with supportive uses. The fact that this library in particular
758
Chapter 3.2. explains Fawcett’s (1978) A Mathematical Approach to Adaptability in Buildings and chapter 3.3. sets
the proposed methodology in this Thesis, to which Fawcett’s work is extremely signiÀcant, but that also reviews
it according to the cultural and pedagogical contemporary context and to the possibility of introducing other
inputs from different approaches that complement this more analytical one.
501
has adjacent spaces to a more relevant one, also enables simultaneous uses, some
more formal and curricular within those rooms, paralleled with a more freestanding
distribution of people in space in this open space. It is also a place that can be used
by all teaching types and users in many different manners.
The music studio has the second highest value also for both distributions. It is a
medium size space that can cater for the artistic teaching, but that can also hold
regular and external activities, curricula and extra-curricular, programmed and non-
programmed.
Overall, there are six spaces that are ranked very high in both distributions, which
are the auditorium, the orchestra room and the choir room, that hold consecutively
high values of high entropy in both distributions, following the library and music
studio. As previously mentioned for justifying the feasibility matrix’s allocations,
these spaces have the possibility of holding more or less people within them. As
they are provided with soundprooÀng intrinsic attributes, they can have artist
activities of different sort, but can also cope with the more general requirements
of regular and external activities. Besides, these could cater for curricular and extra-
curricular activities, for example external concerts and events, as well as conservatory
performances or evaluation displays. The discussion on its potential over-provision
can be dealt in the subsequent milestone of this methodology, regarding effective
spatial fruition, but even so, these have the potential to cope with smaller groups
for less spatially demanding activities.
Then, other spaces have also to be mentioned has holding high entropy levels,
more representative when analysed by domain IV, such as: common living spaces
and the main hall, and when analysed through the distribution of domain III, these
are: spare spaces and the teachers’ ofÀce for meeting students. Nevertheless, the
differences are not striking and even if these spaces have lower entropy values when
examined through the other distribution, their placement on this rank is still very
high. A deeper assessment of these results will be made on the overall conclusions
of this chapter, while comparing both distributions to the activity allocations.
. Axial Lines’ Entropy
The previous procedures regarded the calculation of the entropy for each space
from the ones listed on the Ànal plans. But two situations may imply an additional
development on the entropy results. The Àrst is the fact that the school space
today is understood as an environment, an active learning environment towards the
learning process, bestowed with informality and socialisation that may go beyond
the classroom premises. This involves the consideration of informal spaces as places
for learning but, under a broader reÁection, it also suggests not only the informal
spaces alone to be thought as active learning spaces, but the pathways: vertical and
horizontal circulations as a means for knowledge transmission. This has already
502
been thought in the previously presented entropy calculations that considered all
spaces of the school sample, including the stairs and corridors, the main hall and
the cafeteria, for example, and not just the formal ones.
Nonetheless, there is another consideration that the concept of environment implies:

the fact that it does not have to be bounded by walls or by physical limitations. So,
reÁecting upon current active learning environments could suggest a gathering of
spaces as a whole set to convey and create knowledge. This could be tackled with
the preceding study on space syntax for the description of the spaces morpho-
syntactic features759. That study provided input on the spaces’ axial lines. If axial
lines are thought to potentially represent a whole space and could describe an active
learning environment more comprehensively than the isolated convex spaces per se,
then that space syntax analysis and the concept of active learning environments and
informal spaces in the school building today, may lead to a further development on
how to think and to calculate the entropy of the school space.
Therefore, another consideration that provides additional information to the entropy

analysis is the introduction of two concepts: “axial line entropy” and “average axial
line entropy”. The concepts of “axial line entropy” and “average axial line entropy”
were originally presented in the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium, in 2015760
in London for correlating space syntax to entropy, assuming that space syntax
resorts to both convex spaces and axial lines, and these could be conceived as a
possible vehicle of correlation, for the purposes of using them within this proposed
methodology regarding adaptability in contemporary school buildings.
In fact, these concepts bear particular relevance for this case study, since learning
occurs both in formal convex spaces but also in pathways, moving interactions
and sequential sets of spaces, better translated onto axial lines, as explained
earlier. Following Hertzberger’s idea of the “learning street”761, the analysis of the
adaptability potential of the learning environments can more fully be understood
not only through the analysis of the clearly deÀned spaces, but also of the informal
and shapeless environments where learning also takes place in the form of different
activities, as such as the deÀned in the sample presented earlier.
Naturally that the identiÀcation of the axial lines implies a previous space syntax
analysis of the space, that was already comprised in the initial milestone of this
759
760
These have also been published in the conference’s proceedings as: Coelho, C.; Krüger, M. J. (2015). Towards
a methodology to assess adaptability in educational spaces: An entropy approach to space syntax. In Karimi,K;
Vaughan, L.; Sailer, K.; Palaiologou, G.; Bolton, T. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 10th International Space Syntax
Symposium. p.17: 1-20. London, UK: Space Syntax Laboratory, The Bartlett School of Architecture, University
College London.
761
“There are school buildings where learning and instruction are not conÀned to the classroom, where there is
as much going on outside the classrooms as inside, and where there are no longer corridors as such with coats
hanging everywhere and bags and rucksacks scattered around, what was originally a space for passing through
is now a place to stay.” (Hertzberger, 2008, p.113)
503
proposed methodology as a way of introducing a more in-depth description of

the spatial sample and justifying how it can allocate the activities for this entropy
analysis. Thus, the calculation of the axial line entropy is based in the same axial
lines identiÀed by Depthmap; on the prior procedure, and whose attributes have
already been previously studied, namely their integration.
Finally, on the adaptability retrieval milestone of this methodology762, their

correlation will be analysed. But for accomplishing that, it is Àrst required to
calculate all the results for the axial lines already acknowledged in all the spatial
system under adaptability assessment.
The “axial line entropy” is calculated as the sum of the entropy of all convex
spaces intersected by this axial line and the “average axial line entropy” is calculated,
by dividing the axial line entropy by the number of convex spaces intersected, as
follows763:
A;IAL LINE ENTROPY: Si = Yk Sik
Si entropy of axial line i
Sik entropy of convex space k intersected by axial line i
AVERAGE A;IAL LINE ENTROPY: ASi = Yk Sik/NK
ASi average entropy of axial line i
NK number of convex spaces intersected by axial line i
This has been done for all axial lines identiÀed by Depthmap; on the previous
space syntax analysis, because it is considered that the potential correlation have to
be on the same number of variables and also on the same variables individually, in
this case, both convex spaces analysed by space syntax and also the same axial lines.
So, all axial lines from all Áoor plans have been identiÀed and their axial entropy and
average axial entropy has been manually calculated per domain III and IV, similarly
to convex spaces’ entropy distribution (Figs. 203a, b).
After undertaking this procedure for all axial lines considered from the space syntax
analysis, then their axial entropy has been estimated by the sum of the entropy of
all the spaces identiÀed that intersected those same axial lines. Besides Depthmap;,
only Excel has been used to proceed with these extensive calculations done for
each axial line one-by-one. So, as a future development a software could be studied
762
See chapter 4.3. Systematisation of the results: Description of the potential correlations and retrieval of the
school’s adaptability.
763
504
that would identify each axial line from the integration map and that overlaid it to
the convex space integration map and that also calculated the axial line entropy by
summing up all the convex spaces’ entropy of the spaces identiÀed for each axial
line, for automatisation of this process that is extensive and time consuming.
As an example of this calculation, it is considered the axial line [ref. 1] on the

ground Áoor, paralleling the street façade with the longest metric length, it crosses
the following spaces: library (18), main hall (1), corridor a and corridor b (2) and
entrance (5). By summing up all their entropy, the axial line entropy corresponds to:
S18S1S2aS2bS5 that equals 5,235 for the distribution for domain III and 10,572
for the distribution for domain IV. Its average entropy results from dividing these
values by this number of spaces, which is 5,235 /5 that equals 1,047 and 10,572 /5
that equals and 2,114, respectively for domains III and IV (Fig. 203a).
The same calculation can be applied to the most integrated axial line [ref. 30] from
the Àrst Áoor, which corresponds to the entropy of the orchestra room (29), access,
main corridor, access (2) and dance studio (37). This corresponds to an axial line
entropy of 5,251 for domain III and 10,114 for domain IV and an average axial line
entropy respectively of 1,050 and 2,023 (Fig. 203b).
Crossing the axial line entropy with the entropy of individual spaces, we conclude
that the values can be very diverse, from entropy values lower than the entropy value
of a sole space, to higher entropy levels when we consider an axial line with spaces
with high entropy levels per se. In what regards the maximum entropy found for
each domain, these represent signiÀcantly higher values than the ones for individual
spaces, because they represent a sum of spaces.
The axial entropy for domain IV ranges from a maximum of 13,497 to the lowest
1,386. The maximum result is due to the fact that it crosses several spaces and
most of them with high entropy. Naturally that if an axial line intersects several
high entropy spaces, its sum explains a high axial line entropy. The minimum value
is explained by the intersection of only two convex spaces with low entropy per se.
Still, the axial line entropy, in average, is 2,533 for domain III and 5,315 for domain
IV’s distribution, hence, signiÀcantly higher than the individual spaces’ entropy.
When analysing the average axial line entropy, it can also be both higher or lower
than the average entropy value of a single space. The average axial line entropy is
lower, in average, than the average entropy of individual spaces, because for domain
III the average axial line entropy is, in average, 0,803 and the individual spaces’
entropy is 0,905 for the same domain. Similarly, for domain IV the average axial line
is also, in average, lower than the individual spaces’ entropy, which is 1,672 for the
average axial line and 1,706 for the convex spaces’ entropy. So, overall the average
axial line does not increase the entropy of the individual spaces that are intersected
by the same axial line.
505
CORRELATION ENTROPY / SPACE SYNTAX (GROUND FLOOR)

136 2,127 9+9+10 0 2,079 0,000 0,693
AXIAL LINES SPACES AXIAL LINE AVERAGE AXIAL 101 3,131 1+17+12+5 3,594 7,553 0,899 1,888
INTEGRATION INTERSECTED ENTROPY LINE ENTROPY 115 2,926 1+5+12 2,215 5,075 0,738 1,692
94 2,735 5+16 2,366 4,416 1,183 2,208
Line ref. Value Spaces ref. in plans Domain III Domain IV Domain III Domain IV
112 2,816 5+12+17 2,016 4,906 0,672 1,635
1 7,792 18+1+2+2+5 5,235 10,572 1,047 2,114 100 2,939 5+12+17+12+5 2,653 7,334 0,531 1,467
4 5,983 18+18+1 5,07 8,087 1,690 2,696 96 2,249 17+12+5 2,016 4,906 0,672 1,635
3 2,978 18+18 3,492 5,44 1,746 2,720 95 2,702 5+12+17+12+5 2,653 7,334 0,531 1,467
2 3,019 18+18 3,492 5,44 1,746 2,720 93 2,148 5+14 0,637 2,428 0,319 1,214
6 3,088 18+18+1+2+4 6,344 11,557 1,269 2,311 48 2,681 2+26 1,327 3,286 0,664 1,643
5 3,317 18+18+1+2 5,707 9,822 1,427 2,456 40 2,500 11+2+26 1,327 3,979 0,442 1,326
7 3,527 3+2+1+2+21+19+19 6,245 13,497 0,892 1,928 55 2,804 2 0,637 1,735 0,637 1,735
8 3,334 1+2+23 2,908 5,768 0,969 1,923 57 2,577 2 0,637 1,735 0,637 1,735
17 3,131 1+2+8 2,215 5,481 0,738 1,827 56 2,548 2 0,637 1,735 0,637 1,735
18 3,131 6+1+2+8 2,215 6,58 0,554 1,645 43 2,482 26+27+27 2,076 2,937 0,692 0,979
111 3,527 5+1+19+20 4,969 9,333 1,242 2,333 71 1,692 28+28+2 2,023 3,121 0,674 1,040
116 3,472 5+1+19+19+2+2+22 6,245 13,497 0,892 1,928 49 2,538 15+27+2 1,33 3,121 0,443 1,040
35 4,137 5+1+2+11 2,852 6,81 0,713 1,703 66 2,568 2+28+28 2,023 3,121 0,674 1,040
34 5,277 5+1+17+12+5 4,231 9,288 0,846 1,858 77 2,311 28+28+28+2+28 3,409 4,507 0,682 0,901
16 3,368 1+2+8 2,215 5,481 0,738 1,827 79 2,327 28+2 1,33 2,428 0,665 1,214
104 4,654 1+17+12+5 3,594 7,553 0,899 1,888 82 2,411 28+28+27+27+27+27 4,158 4,158 0,693 0,693
50 4,498 3+1+17+12+5 4,231 9,288 0,846 1,858 80 1,778 28+28+28+27+27 3,465 3,465 0,693 0,693
59 4,821 4+2+1+2 3,489 7,852 0,872 1,963 68 2,568 27+2+2 1,967 4,163 0,656 1,388
19 4,323 8+1+2 2,215 5,481 0,738 1,827 70 2,548 27+28+2 2,023 3,121 0,674 1,040
84 3,490 8+1+17 2,957 6,224 0,986 2,075 76 2,548 27+27+2 2,023 3,121 0,674 1,040
81 3,368 8+1+15+27+28+28 3,657 6,518 0,610 1,086 69 2,538 27+2+27 2,023 3,121 0,674 1,040
117 3,454 1+5 2,215 4,382 1,108 2,191 73 1,759 27+27 1,386 1,386 0,693 0,693
85 3,317 1+5+12 2,215 5,075 0,738 1,692 64 2,538 27+27+2 2,023 3,121 0,674 1,040
86 3,317 1+5+16+47 3,944 8,162 0,986 2,041 78 1,736 27+27+27+27 2,772 2,772 0,693 0,693
89 3,437 7+1+5 2,215 5,481 0,738 1,827 53 2,548 27+2+27 2,023 3,121 0,674 1,040
90 3,437 7+1+17+12 2,957 6,917 0,739 1,729 54 2,510 27+2 1,33 2,428 0,665 1,214
91 3,402 7+1+17 2,957 6,224 0,986 2,075 75 2,529 27+27+2 2,023 3,121 0,674 1,040
87 3,385 7+1+5+16+47 3,944 9,261 0,789 1,852 74 1,764 27+27+27 2,079 2,079 0,693 0,693
88 3,351 7+1+5+12 2,215 6,174 0,554 1,544 58 2,538 27+27+2+15 2,023 3,814 0,506 0,954
108 3,317 5+1+2+8 2,852 7,216 0,713 1,804 62 2,428 2+8+8 0,637 3,933 0,212 1,311
113 3,437 5+1+5+16+47 4,581 9,897 0,916 1,979 60 2,437 2+8 0,637 2,834 0,319 1,417
114 3,419 5+1+17 3,594 6,86 1,198 2,287 72 2,510 27+2+8 1,33 3,527 0,443 1,176
107 3,402 5+1+17+12 3,594 7,553 0,899 1,888 61 1,603 8+8 0 2,198 0,000 1,099
106 3,385 5+1+5 2,852 6,117 0,951 2,039 38 2,510 2+15+27 1,33 3,121 0,443 1,040
109 3,351 5+1+5 2,852 6,117 0,951 2,039 52 2,510 2+15 0,637 2,428 0,319 1,214
110 3,385 5+1+17+12 3,594 7,553 0,899 1,888 46 2,519 2+27+27 2,023 3,121 0,674 1,040
99 3,472 5+1+5 2,852 6,117 0,951 2,039 47 2,500 2+27+27 2,023 3,121 0,674 1,040
92 3,437 5+1+17 3,594 6,86 1,198 2,287 39 2,311 27+27+15+14 1,386 2,772 0,347 0,693
30 3,472 8+2+1+5+16+47 4,581 10,996 0,764 1,833 20 2,037 2+8 0,637 2,834 0,319 1,417
105 3,419 8+2+1+5+12 2,852 7,909 0,570 1,582 21 2,176 2+21+19+19 3,393 7,38 0,848 1,845
118 3,527 8+2+1+17 3,594 7,959 0,899 1,990 32 2,169 19+2+2 2,652 5,946 0,884 1,982
83 3,509 8+2+1+5 2,852 7,216 0,713 1,804 33 2,190 19+2+23 2,708 5,597 0,903 1,866
103 3,546 8+2+1+17+12 3,594 8,652 0,719 1,730 24 1,555 2+2+2+21 1,911 5,898 0,478 1,475
0 3,527 8+2+2+10+9 1,274 5,955 0,255 1,191 22 1,544 2+2+22 1,274 4,163 0,425 1,388
120 3,206 8+2+2+9 1,274 5,262 0,319 1,316 23 2,049 22+2 0,637 2,428 0,319 1,214
97 3,603 8+2+1+5 2,852 7,216 0,713 1,804 28 2,088 22+2+2+19 2,652 6,639 0,663 1,660
102 3,546 8+2+1+17+12 3,594 8,652 0,719 1,730 25 2,197 19+2+2+2 3,289 7,681 0,822 1,920
122 3,060 2+2+8 1,274 4,569 0,425 1,523 13 2,190 19+19+20+5 4,769 9,162 1,192 2,291
123 3,060 4+2+9 1,274 4,163 0,425 1,388 31 2,088 19+2+21+21+21 2,015 6,29 0,403 1,258
125 3,237 3+2+10+9+9 1,274 5,549 0,255 1,110 29 1,451 2+21+21 0,637 3,121 0,212 1,040
124 3,206 3+2+10 1,274 4,163 0,425 1,388 26 1,454 21+21+20+5 2,013 5,596 0,503 1,399
121 3,102 3+2+2+8 1,911 6,304 0,478 1,576 27 2,062 19+20+5 3,391 6,686 1,130 2,229
127 3,088 2+9 0,637 2,428 0,319 1,214 9 1,971 8+8+23 0,693 3,584 0,231 1,195
128 3,191 10+2+5 1,274 4,163 0,425 1,388 10 1,971 8+8+23 0,693 3,584 0,231 1,195
129 3,237 10+2+10+9+9 0,637 4,507 0,127 0,901 11 1,971 8+8+23 0,693 3,584 0,231 1,195
137 3,191 2+10+9+8 0,637 4,22 0,159 1,055 14 1,977 8+8+8+23 0,693 4,683 0,173 1,171
132 3,237 10+2+10 0,637 3,121 0,212 1,040 15 1,390 8+8 0 2,198 0,000 1,099
131 3,161 10+2+5 1,274 4,163 0,425 1,388 12 2,037 8+8+23 0,693 3,584 0,231 1,195
130 2,025 10+9+9 0 2,079 0,000 0,693 141 3,269 10+2+10 0,637 3,121 0,212 1,040
126 3,206 10+2+9 0,637 3,121 0,212 1,040 98 3,584 8+2+1+5 2,852 7,216 0,713 1,804
143 1,989 8+9+9 0 2,485 0,000 0,828 45 4,037 1+26+2 2,905 5,933 0,968 1,978
142 3,191 8+9+10+2 0,637 4,22 0,159 1,055 37 3,786 1+26+27+27+15+14 3,654 6,97 0,609 1,162
119 3,285 9+10+2+2+8 1,274 5,955 0,255 1,191 36 3,565 1+26 2,268 4,198 1,134 2,099
135 2,037 9+9+10 0 2,079 0,000 0,693 63 2,608 2+8 0,637 2,834 0,319 1,417
138 3,237 9+9+10+2+10 0,637 4,507 0,127 0,901 67 2,558 2+2+27+27 2,66 4,856 0,665 1,214
140 3,237 9+9+10+2 0,637 3,814 0,159 0,954 65 2,491 28+2 1,33 2,428 0,665 1,214
139 3,191 5+2+10 1,274 4,163 0,425 1,388 42 2,500 2+27+15 1,33 3,121 0,443 1,040
134 3,161 5+2+10 1,274 4,163 0,425 1,388 41 2,519 2+2+26 1,964 5,021 0,655 1,674
144 2,075 9+9+8 0 2,485 0,000 0,828 44 2,510 27+2+2+27 2,66 4,856 0,665 1,214
133 2,114 9+9+10 0 2,079 0,000 0,693 51 2,538 2 0,637 1,735 0,637 1,735
Fig. 203a. Axial line entropy and average axial line entropy distributions for the ground Áoor per domain
(Carolina Coelho)
506
23 1,529 12+12+2+38 2,321 5,216 0,580 1,304

CORRELATION ENTROPY / SPACE SYNTAX (FIRST FLOOR)
24 2,256 2+2+12+12 1,274 4,856 0,319 1,214
AXIAL LINES SPACES AXIAL LINE AVERAGE AXIAL 53 1,566 38+38+38 5,052 6,285 1,684 2,095
INTEGRATION INTERSECTED ENTROPY LINE ENTROPY 21 1,552 38+38 3,368 4,19 1,684 2,095
20 2,227 38+2 2,321 3,83 1,161 1,915
26 2,227 38+2 2,321 3,83 1,161 1,915
30 5,327 29+2+2+2+37 5,251 10,114 1,050 2,023 70 2,084 41+2 1,967 3,758 0,984 1,879
31 2,415 9+2+9 0,637 3,121 0,212 1,040 52 2,266 2+38 2,321 3,83 1,161 1,915
32 2,426 40+2+8 2,237 5,495 0,746 1,832 49 2,266 2+38 2,321 3,83 1,161 1,915
34 2,426 40+2+8 2,237 5,495 0,746 1,832 68 2,171 39+38+2 3,936 6,117 1,312 2,039
33 2,437 40+2+8 2,237 5,495 0,746 1,832 42 2,297 2+39+2+8 2,889 6,856 0,722 1,714
37 2,461 13+40+2+48 5,024 8,648 1,256 2,162 17 2,190 38+38+2 4,005 5,925 1,335 1,975
36 2,472 40+2+46 2,237 5,089 0,746 1,696 44 2,208 39+2+38+38 5,62 8,212 1,405 2,053
35 2,437 40+2+3 2,874 6,131 0,958 2,044 12 2,370 39+2+2+2+38 5,21 9,587 1,042 1,917
38 2,437 2+2+4 1,911 5,205 0,637 1,735 13 2,360 39+2+2 2,889 5,757 0,963 1,919
29 3,113 2+2+48 2,329 5,079 0,776 1,693 51 1,595 39+38 3,299 4,382 1,650 2,191
28 3,094 2+2+46 1,274 4,163 0,425 1,388 40 2,349 39+2+2 2,889 5,757 0,963 1,919
27 4,069 2+2+40 2,874 6,131 0,958 2,044 54 1,533 39+38 3,299 4,382 1,650 2,191
47 3,250 2+2+45 1,967 4,856 0,656 1,619 41 2,266 39+2+2 2,889 5,757 0,963 1,919
45 3,113 2+2+44 1,967 4,856 0,656 1,619 39 2,266 38+39+2 3,936 6,117 1,312 2,039
46 3,113 2+2+3 1,911 5,205 0,637 1,735 9 2,266 38+2+2 2,958 5,565 0,986 1,855
56 2,545 13+40+2+45 4,662 8,425 1,166 2,106 55 1,595 38+39 3,299 4,382 1,650 2,191
57 2,970 2+2+44 1,967 4,856 0,656 1,619 48 2,180 38+38+2 4,005 5,925 1,335 1,975
72 3,614 4+2+2+2 2,548 6,94 0,637 1,735 50 2,256 38+2+39+2 4,573 7,852 1,143 1,963
58 3,210 2+2+2 1,911 5,205 0,637 1,735 6 1,605 12+2+38 2,321 4,523 0,774 1,508
91 2,936 8+2+2 1,274 4,569 0,425 1,523 10 1,605 12+2+38 2,321 4,523 0,774 1,508
90 3,004 25+2+2 2,66 5,549 0,887 1,850 4 1,542 38+38 3,368 4,19 1,684 2,095
96 2,449 13+40+2+8 3,969 8,138 0,992 2,035 8 2,276 38+38+2 4,005 5,925 1,335 1,975
97 2,472 13+40+2+25 5,355 9,118 1,339 2,280 3 2,307 38+2+2 2,958 5,565 0,986 1,855
100 2,521 40+2+36 3,61 6,494 1,203 2,165 7 2,286 38+2+2 2,958 5,565 0,986 1,855
99 2,533 42+2+25 3,353 5,837 1,118 1,946 1 2,286 38+38+2 4,005 5,925 1,335 1,975
98 2,545 42+2+25 3,353 5,837 1,118 1,946 0 2,286 38+2+2 2,958 5,565 0,986 1,855
103 2,508 2+2+36 2,647 5,568 0,882 1,856 2 1,610 38+38 3,368 4,19 1,684 2,095
101 2,521 2+2+30 3,019 6,166 1,006 2,055 11 2,276 2+38 2,321 3,83 1,161 1,915
102 2,521 42+2+8 1,967 4,857 0,656 1,619 67 2,109 24+2+41 3,297 5,781 1,099 1,927
109 2,508 42+2+8 1,967 4,857 0,656 1,619 64 2,067 24+2 1,967 3,758 0,984 1,879
111 2,508 42+2+4 2,604 5,493 0,868 1,831 60 1,556 41+24 2,66 4,046 1,330 2,023
113 2,484 13+40+2+8 3,969 8,138 0,992 2,035 83 2,162 41+2+41+41 4,627 7,804 1,157 1,951
107 2,533 42+2+36 3,34 5,856 1,113 1,952
110 2,472 42+2+36 3,34 5,856 1,113 1,952
105 2,496 42+2+36 3,34 5,856 1,113 1,952
112 2,496 8+2+2+47 1,274 5,668 0,319 1,417
CORRELATION ENTROPY / SPACE SYNTAX (SECOND FLOOR)
106 2,521 2+2+47+47 1,274 5,668 0,319 1,417
104 1,640 47+47+47 0 3,297 0,000 1,099
AXIAL LINES SPACES AXIAL LINE AVERAGE AXIAL
108 1,605 47+47 0 2,198 0,000 1,099 INTEGRATION INTERSECTED ENTROPY LINE ENTROPY
114 2,437 40+2+8 2,237 5,495 0,746 1,832
116 2,426 35+2+30 3,763 6,644 1,254 2,215
115 2,461 30+2+4 3,019 6,166 1,006 2,055 4 113,294 2 0,637 1,735 0,637 1,735
117 2,426 2+13 2,369 4,378 1,185 2,189 0 3,237 32+40+2 3,966 7,077 1,322 2,359
118 2,426 2+2+3 1,911 5,205 0,637 1,735 1 3,147 40+2+8 2,237 5,495 0,746 1,832
94 1,493 42+41+41 3,99 6,069 1,330 2,023 2 3,147 40+2+8 2,237 5,495 0,746 1,832
43 2,171 41+2+41+24 4,627 7,804 1,157 1,951 3 3,147 40+2+8 2,237 5,495 0,746 1,832
95 1,515 41+41 2,66 4,046 1,330 2,023 5 3,147 13+40+2+31 5,342 9,137 1,336 2,284
87 2,135 41+2+2 2,604 5,493 0,868 1,831 6 3,147 40+2+3 2,874 6,131 0,958 2,044
92 1,957 41+2 1,967 3,758 0,984 1,879 7 3,062 40+2+2+4 3,511 7,866 0,878 1,967
93 1,489 41+2 1,967 3,758 0,984 1,879 8 3,147 31+2+31 3,383 5,931 1,128 1,977
89 2,126 41+41+2 3,297 5,781 1,099 1,927 10 3,147 31+2+31 3,383 5,931 1,128 1,977
88 2,171 41+41+2+41 4,627 7,804 1,157 1,951 11 3,237 31+2+31 3,383 5,931 1,128 1,977
69 2,126 41+2+41+41 4,627 7,804 1,157 1,951 9 3,332 31+2+34 3,383 5,931 1,128 1,977
82 2,153 41+2+2 2,604 5,493 0,868 1,831 13 3,237 31+2 2,01 3,833 1,005 1,917
66 1,520 41+24 2,66 4,046 1,330 2,023 12 3,540 3+2+31 2,647 5,568 0,882 1,856
65 2,109 24+2 1,967 3,758 0,984 1,879 15 3,332 35+2+2 2,655 5,683 0,885 1,894
81 2,180 41+2 1,967 3,758 0,984 1,879 14 3,237 13+2+31 3,742 6,476 1,247 2,159
62 2,171 41+2 1,967 3,758 0,984 1,879 20 3,433 33+2+8 2,01 4,932 0,670 1,644
80 2,162 13+2 2,369 4,378 1,185 2,189 36 3,540 13+2+8 2,369 5,477 0,790 1,826
84 2,118 43+2+2 2,979 5,868 0,993 1,956 21 3,433 31+2+2+4 3,284 7,303 0,821 1,826
61 1,502 24 1,33 2,023 1,330 2,023 19 3,540 31+2+31 3,383 5,931 1,128 1,977
71 2,034 41+2 1,967 3,758 0,984 1,879 18 3,540 31+2+34 3,383 5,931 1,128 1,977
78 2,051 41+2 1,967 3,758 0,984 1,879 17 3,540 31+2+31 3,383 5,931 1,128 1,977
63 2,059 42+2+2+24 3,934 7,516 0,984 1,879 23 3,237 31+2+31 3,383 5,931 1,128 1,977
59 2,059 41+41+2+24 4,627 7,804 1,157 1,951 24 3,147 2+31 2,01 3,833 1,005 1,917
85 2,003 41+2 1,967 3,758 0,984 1,879 27 3,433 13+2+31 3,742 6,476 1,247 2,159
77 2,011 41+2+41 3,297 5,781 1,099 1,927 28 3,332 31+2+31 3,383 5,931 1,128 1,977
79 2,067 2+41+41 3,297 5,781 1,099 1,927 31 3,332 2+8 0,637 2,834 0,319 1,417
86 2,034 41+2+2 2,604 5,493 0,868 1,831 29 3,433 13+40+2+4 4,606 8,774 1,152 2,194
75 2,026 2+8+8 0,637 3,933 0,212 1,311 32 3,332 40+2+3 2,874 6,131 0,958 2,044
74 2,018 2+8+8 0,637 3,933 0,212 1,311 39 1,857 40+40+30 4,945 8,018 1,648 2,673
73 1,393 2+2+8 1,274 4,569 0,425 1,523 16 3,540 30+40+40+2 5,582 9,753 1,396 2,438
76 1,389 8+8 0 2,198 0,000 1,099 37 4,357 40+40+2 3,837 7,057 1,279 2,352
25 2,218 38+38+2+38 5,689 8,02 1,422 2,005 30 3,433 40+2+4 2,874 6,131 0,958 2,044
16 1,566 38+38+39 4,983 6,477 1,661 2,159 34 3,332 13+40+2+31 5,342 9,137 1,336 2,284
22 2,286 38+2+2+2+38 5,279 9,395 1,056 1,879 33 3,433 31+2+31 3,383 5,931 1,128 1,977
18 2,247 8+2+2+38 2,958 6,664 0,740 1,666 35 3,433 31+2+31 3,383 5,931 1,128 1,977
5 2,208 8+2+2 1,274 4,569 0,425 1,523 25 3,147 31+2+31 3,383 5,931 1,128 1,977
19 2,227 2+38 2,321 3,83 1,161 1,915 26 3,147 13+2+8 2,369 5,477 0,790 1,826
14 2,256 2+2+38 2,958 5,565 0,986 1,855 22 3,237 35+2+8 2,018 5,047 0,673 1,682
15 1,552 12+2+38 2,321 4,523 0,774 1,508 38 3,332 40+2+8 2,237 5,495 0,746 1,832
Fig. 203b. Axial line entropy and average axial line entropy distributions for the Àrst and second Áoors per domain
(Carolina Coelho)
507
VALUES RANK
FEASIBILITY MATRIX ENTROPY CALCULATIONS
Activity allocations Domain III Domain IV

space value space value space value
16 auditorium 66 18 library 1,746 18 library 2,720

29 orchestra room 66 30 music studio 1,745 30 music studio 2,696
32 choir room 66 13 spare space 1,732 16 auditorium 2,681
18 library 65 16 auditorium 1,729 29 orchestra room 2,681
30 music studio 59 29 orchestra room 1,729 32 choir room 2,681
1 main hall 55 32 choir room 1,729 40 common living space 2,661
13 spare space 51 43 teachers’ of¿ce for meeting students 1,705 1 main hall 2,647
17 auditorium’s cafeteria 45 38 science lab 1,684 13 spare space 2,643
40 common living space 43 39 generic classroom 1,615 17 auditorium’s cafeteria 2,478
20 canteen 42 37 dance studio 1,611 19 cafeteria 2,476
19 cafeteria 39 40 common living space 1,6 20 canteen 2,475
39 generic classroom 39 1 main hall 1,578 43 teachers’ of¿ce for meeting students 2,398
37 dance studio 38 25 students’ room 1,386 39 generic classroom 2,287
35 speci¿c music training room 31 35 speci¿c music training room 1,381 37 dance studio 2,228
38 science lab 30 17 auditorium’s cafeteria 1,379 35 speci¿c music training room 2,213
43 teachers’ of¿ce for meeting students 24 19 cafeteria 1,378 31 music instrument training room 2,098
31 music instrument training room 22 20 canteen 1,376 33 singing studio 2,098
33 singing studio 22 31 music instrument training room 1,373 34 song writing studio 2,098
34 song writing studio 22 33 singing studio 1,373 36 study room 2,098
36 study room 22 34 song writing studio 1,373 38 science lab 2,095
25 students’ room 16 36 study room 1,373 25 students’ room 2,079
26 secretariat 13 24 teachers’ room 1,33 24 teachers’ room 2,023
24 teachers’ room 12 41 teachers’ of¿ce 1,33 41 teachers’ of¿ce 2,023
41 teachers’ of¿ce 12 42 teachers’ meeting room 1,33 42 teachers’ meeting room 2,023
42 teachers’ meeting room 12 48 psychologist’s of¿ce 1,055 2 access - corridor 1,735
2 access - corridor 9 23 staff room 0,693 3 vertical access - stairs 1,735
3 vertical access - stairs 9 27 administration of¿ces - regular teaching 0,693 4 vertical access - elevator 1,735
4 vertical access - elevator 9 28 administration of¿ces - artistic teaching 0,693 5 entrance / outdoor access 1,735
5 entrance / outdoor access 9 44 students’ shop 0,693 48 psychologist’s of¿ce 1,609
48 psychologist’s of¿ce 5 45 photocopy room 0,693 26 secretariat 1,551
23 staff room 4 26 secretariat 0,69 23 staff room 1,386
27 administration of¿ces - regular teaching 4 2 access - corridor 0,637 44 students’ shop 1,386
28 administration of¿ces - artistic teaching 4 3 vertical access - stairs 0,637 45 photocopy room 1,386
44 students’ shop 4 4 vertical access - elevator 0,637 6 reception desk 1,099
45 photocopy room 4 5 entrance / outdoor access 0,637 7 ticket of¿ce 1,099
6 reception desk 3 6 reception desk 0 8 bathroom-toilet-sink 1,099
7 ticket of¿ce 3 7 ticket of¿ce 0 47 auditorium supportive spaces 1,099
8 bathroom-toilet-sink 3 8 bathroom-toilet-sink 0 9 dressing room 0,693
47 auditorium supportive spaces 3 9 dressing room 0 10 locker room 0,693
9 dressing room 2 10 locker room 0 11 storage 0,693
10 locker room 2 11 storage 0 12 indeterminate supportive space 0,693
11 storage 2 12 indeterminate supportive space 0 14 vault 0,693
12 indeterminate supportive space 2 14 vault 0 15 archive 0,693
14 vault 2 15 archive 0 21 kitchen 0,693
15 archive 2 21 kitchen 0 22 kitchen storage 0,693
21 kitchen 2 22 kitchen storage 0 27 administration of¿ces - regular teaching 0,693
22 kitchen storage 2 46 parent council room 0 28 administration of¿ces - artistic teaching 0,693
46 parent council room 2 47 auditorium supportive spaces 0 46 parent council room 0,693
49 technical area 2 49 technical area 0 49 technical area 0,693
Fig. 204. Correlation between activity allocations and entropy per domain _ Table
(Spaces’ locations are identiÀed in the school plans illustrated in Fig. 197 and the numbers near the
spaces’ identiÀcation refer to their caption on those plans)
(Carolina Coelho)
508
In fact, the average axial entropy ranges from 2,720 to 0,693 for domain IV’s
distribution and 1,746 and 0 for domain III, which are exactly the same as the
respective ranges for domain IV and III when analysing individual spaces’ entropy,
which implies that the axial line entropy does not increase the maximum entropy of
individual spaces and it can also be similarly low and near zero, if the original spaces
also have those low entropy values.
Clearly, both axial line entropy and average axial line entropy vary according to
the entropy of the convex spaces that each axial line intersects. If more spaces are
accounted which have low entropy values, the average entropy of that axial line will
be low. On the opposite, if an axial line crosses space with high entropy, its axial line
entropy and average axial line entropy will also be higher.
. Overall conclusion from the nomothetic analysis by Entropy

calculations
In a compared analysis of the entropy calculations for both distributions, plotted

against the activity allocation of the feasibility matrix, and despite each one’s level
of complexity, the entropy values are ranked similarly, meaning the highest and
lowest entropy are consistent for both analyses and also with the results from the
feasibility matrix (Fig. 204).
The following spaces were identiÀed with the highest entropy in both distributions:
library, music studio, auditorium, orchestra room and choir room. The least
disaggregated distribution also considers the spare space, the teachers’ ofÀce
for meeting students as spaces with high entropy, and the most disaggregated
distribution also comprises the main hall and the common living spaces, followed
by the spare spaces as well. The feasibility matrix encloses all the mentioned six
spaces as the ones with the highest activity allocations, followed by the main hall
similarly to domain IV’s distribution and also the spare spaces also included in
domain III’s top distribution.
These conclusions support their similarity overall. Even so, although mostly the
same spaces have been identiÀed with the highest results in all three analyses, they
have slight differences in the entropy rank, due to the accuracy of the values that
go up to 3 decimal places and their grouping together according to the detail of the
domains chosen.
The spaces with the lowest entropy are supportive and conceived for a particular
activity, such as: the dressing room, the locker room, storage, indeterminate
supportive space, the vault, the archive, the kitchen, the kitchen storage, the parent
council room and technical areas. These are the spaces with the lowest entropy for
both distributions. Similarly to what has been perceived for the highest values, there
509
are also smaller differences in the lowest values, in which domain III’s distribution
also includes the reception desk, the ticket ofÀce, the restroom and the auditorium
supportive spaces. These still have very low levels of entropy for domain IV’s
distribution, slightly higher than the previously mentioned lowest spaces. In addition,
domain IV’s distribution also included the administration ofÀces as holding the
lowest levels of entropy, identical to these referred spaces, but that rise the entropy
rank signiÀcantly when regarding domain III’s calculation.
All in all, the library has been acknowledged as the highest entropy space for
both distributions and, although very high on the feasibility matrix’s rank, it is the
auditorium that holds the top position with the largest number of possible activities
allocations. These results may reÁect the school’s artistic and regular curriculum,
which requires spaces with several features to allocate diverse activities of different
nature. In fact, these spaces identiÀed as the ones with the highest entropy hold
several features that provide them with the potential to shelter both curricular and
extra-curricular activities, group and individual practices, of external and internal
uses, and for both formal and informal situations, which fundaments these results.
Under a closer study, the high entropy spaces are larger or medium size spaces that can
cater for groups for diverse activities. There is no visible difference between the spaces’
entropy when analysed according to their Áoor plan placement, because the highest
entropy spaces are placed on all Áoors: the main hall, the auditorium, the library, all
communal spaces, are on the ground Áoor; the orchestra room is on the Àrst Áoor and
the choir room on the second Áoor; and the music studios are placed near the remaining
classrooms for the artistic teaching, either on the Àrst and on the second Áoor.
The fact that these calculations were based on two different distributions, also
provided higher values for the most disaggregated distribution from domain IV,
which is the most complex and holds the widest activity allocations. Naturally, this
difference is clearer between the initial results from the feasibility matrix and the
end results from the entropy calculations, because the comparison between the
entropy results and the activity allocations can only be regarding the rank of spaces
and not the values per se, due to the formulation applied.
Anyway, domain III’s distribution presents lower overall values in regard to domain
IV’s. Amongst the results per distribution, often very close, implied to be presented
with three decimal numbers for a more well-deÀned ranking.
From a closer examination on the previous matrices, it can be concluded that spaces
that hold the more diverse activities, meaning possible activity allocations in the
most diverse domains, are the ones that have higher entropy. Naturally that a more
disaggregated distribution, such as domain IV’s, has the widest extension of Àelds
to be considered. So, if a space has the possibility of allocating activities from all
the detailed domains in the most aggregated distribution, it might not potentially
510
allocate activities from all domains when they are more and more detailed. So, its
entropy could decrease. This can explain the differences between the spaces rank
for each distribution. The main hall and the common living space have allocation
possibilities in all domains from domain IV’s distribution, but the high entropy
spaces from domain III’s distribution: the spare space and the teachers’ ofÀce
for meeting students, when analysed in the most disaggregated distribution have
speciÀc domains where there are no activity allocations which makes their Ànal
entropy to decrease signiÀcantly.
Another possible conclusion, is that the more diverse the activities and teaching
types the space can cater for, the higher the entropy of that space. This concurs
with the basic assumption of adaptability as the ability to cope with different uses.
In this case, the most spread the uses amongst the all activities sample - as opposed
to an aggregation of the possible activity allocations all to a speciÀc domain -
the highest the entropy. Ultimately, the most extensive and assorted the activity
allocation potential regarding the listed activities, the most adaptable the space is for
answering different functional requests.
Overall, the most disaggregated distribution, despite being more complex and
holding a more extensive set of possible activities, introduces more detail in the
analysis that ultimately may approach the analytical model to a potentially closer
outlook on the actual activities that occur in the school. So, it could be argued that
the most disaggregated the distribution, the more accurate the results regarding
the entropy, because they depict an activity allocation potential that most precisely
describes the events of that school, their functional requirements and the spaces’
ability to cope with them.
Subsequently, a correlation between the activities in the sample and the entropy
of each space produced a scattergram that overlapped the two distributions (Fig.
205). When plotting the activities allocations from the feasibility matrix to the
entropy results from the calculations, the distribution is rather similar between the
two domains and there have not been noted signiÀcant outliers that could diverge
drastically from the overall distributions. Both of them start by increasing rapidly
with the increment of activities allocations and then they get stationary at about
twenty activity allocations. Overall, both distributions are visibly skewed to the left
and the tendency for entropy stabilisation is very clear.
This graph conÀrms the previous hypothesis on the entropy correspondence

between both domains, and that the features of the growth trend tend to be similar.
But it also provides another central conclusion: whatever the level of aggregation in
the correlation between activities and entropy, the entropy tends to stabilise when
the activities schedules increase. This can be interpreted in terms of uncertainty:
at some point, which corresponds in this graph to about two dozen activities
potentially allocated to a space, the increase in the number of activities that can
511
CONVEX SPACE CORRELATION

activity allocations, entropy

ENTROPY

DOMAIN II
DOMAIN IV

ACTIVITY ALLOCATIONS
Fig. 205. Correlation between activity allocations and entropy per domain _ Scattergram
(Spaces’ locations are identiÀed in the school plans illustrated in Fig. 197)
(Carolina Coelho)
potentially be allocated to a space does not interfere with the entropy value of that
space, and the probability distribution does not change signiÀcantly.
In short, from this analysis what is more signiÀcant in terms of adaptability, are the
Àrst 20 activities the system can allocate to spaces, and from that point the system
is practically invariant.
This could be paralleled to Cowan’s (1963) conclusions on the regard of activity

allocation per room size (Fig. 206), because it displays a similar distribution when
plotting activity allocation against entropy. Cowan demonstrates a stabilisation of
the possible activities when the room size reaches an average and from that point
on, even if the room increases signiÀcantly there is not a proportional extension of
the activity allocations, presumably because it relates to more speciÀc uses:
“If we list as many human activities as possible, starting with the Àve
senses and ranging up to large group activities such as dances and
conferences, we may count the number of activities which can be
accomplished in various areas of Áoor space. From these data we may
draw a curve which starts at a minimum value of about four square
feet, when about ten basic activities are possible, and then rises very
rapidly to about 200 square feet, at which point the curve levels off
abruptly. After this even large increments of Áoor space make possible
relatively few additional activities. [...]
512
Fig. 206. Distribution of activities per room size

(Cowan, 1963, p.57)
Of course the exact shape of the curve depends upon the basic list of
activities. But we can check the general idea if we count the number
of rooms of each size in existing buildings, and plot the results as
frequency distributions. Although minor differences do appear, the
distributions are all skewed far to the left.” (Cowan, 1963, pp.57-58)
Even though Cowan mentions particularly hospitals, this could be paralleled to

the school building and to the application in this case study, speciÀcally with the
mentioned activity sample. This could also be reÁected upon according to the high
entropy results of the generic classrooms and music studios of average size. This
can again be supported by Cowan, stating that the widest array of activities can be
accommodated in average size spaces:
“Between one-half and two-thirds of the rooms in most hospital

buildings are under 200 square feet in area. The largest single group
of rooms almost always occur in a very narrow size range, between
100 and 150 sq. ft. [...] Hospitals contain a fairly typical cross section
of social functions, and since most rooms in houses are also about
this size, it may well be that the majority of human activities occur in
spaces of under 200 sq. ft. In addition, it is quite reasonable to suppose
that rooms of 150 sq. ft. will serve a very large proportion of human
needs.” (Cowan, 1963, pp.58-59)
513
In a real life scenario, this can also justify the effective preference and cost-beneÀt
in using the orchestra room for external performances with a smaller audience and
not using the auditorium as much as its potential would initially imply. A potentially
higher appropriation and more frequent use of these average size rooms in regard
to the auditorium, or a larger room such as the orchestra or the choir room for
smaller groups, could also be justiÀed after the subsequent analysis on effective
spatial fruition that will complement the description of the building according to
its actual use and beyond what it is able to prove at large.
So, the subsequent milestone of this methodology is to analyse whether these

results on possible activity allocation portray the actual use of the school spaces and
if they are under or over-providing for the current usages they are accommodating.
Also information can be gathered on whether the effective and the expected use
identiÀed in these plans coincide or differ and why.
This overall, can widen the array of possible uses to others not foreseen during the
design, or can constraint their occupancy to a particular function. Observations,
focus groups and walkthroughs will then provide data on this regard. Ultimately, in
the last milestone of this methodology, these can be correlated with the entropy of
each space and conclude on their potential overlapping or divergence between what
are the effective activities of the school and where or how is the space complying
with them.
514
4.2.3. Description of effective events and experience in the school
“The school must be an ever-changing, stimulating environment where there is a

lot going on and there are choices to be made, as in a shop where everything is laid
out waiting for you. Not only that, children have to contend with other children;
they learn to do things together, take another into account, work things out between
them, understand each other. This is a great deal more than reading, writing and
arithmetic and the school space must encourage it.” (Hertzberger, 2008, pp.8-9)
. Datasets and Methods
This stage corresponds to the description of effective events and informs on

behaviour and appropriation, holding higher relevance in the artistic ambiance
bestowed in this school. This is, in fact, clearly experienced in this case study and
represents its speciÀcity, even if the previous methodological milestones, either
functional, morphological or nomothetic, due to the nature of these analytical
approaches and the abstraction of the conceived models for representing spatial
experience, have not entirely depicted this ambiance.
In fact, after a background reÁection on experience and sensory fruition made in
chapter 1.2764, it can be considered that this school potentiates a sensory environment,
both intellectual and sensitive. Intellectual experiences, such as Plato and René
Descartes described them, are often triggered in this building by the prominence
of light and matter, most present in the school’s main hall and auditorium. Sensory
experiences, such as John Locke or David Hume described them, are prominent in
an artistic school, since any form of artistic communication triggers the senses in a
multi-sensory experience that engages the human being, as Edward T. Hall (1990765)
considered. Therefore, this school acts as “life-enhancing” example (Goethe apud
Pallasmaa, 2005, p.44), having the ability to arouse the senses in order to be an
active learning, cultural and social environment for the whole community.
So, following the analysis of the physical features of space and the overall potential
of each one, this stage intends to realise its effective appropriation, how and by
what means do the students use space and why may a space be more often chosen
than another one. It also aims to identify the activities that occur in each space,
both the ones conceived for it from the start, or the experiences that may be more
spontaneous or informally decided by the students, who perceive the spaces’ potential
to allocate them. Having already considered informality and social activities in the
prior approaches, this one intends to determine what activities can be considered on
this behalf and where do they take place in the school. It also aims to recognise the
knowledge conveyed through social and artistic activities and to identify the effective
764
765
515

. Activities
. Attributes
I.II SPACE SYNTAX

. Axial lines
. Isovists


III.II WALKTHROUGHS
Fig. 207. Description of the methodology and identiÀcation of the current milestone III.
(Carolina Coelho)
516
learning environments of a contemporary school that gathers regular and artistic

teaching.
Consequently, this Ànal methodological procedure takes a relevant part in the
Àndings on spatial experience and its diversity, and complements the previous
approaches. It corresponds to an idiographic approach on singularities, while the
latter to a nomothetic approach on regularities (Windelband, 1894)766.
In fact, this stage depicts three methodological approaches that can be triangulated
with the previous analysis on the overall spatial potential of the school on generalities.
All three of these procedures consider effective spatial fruition, as an approach
to individual assessment, complementing or constraining the overall allocation of
activities to spaces according to the actual situations that are veriÀed in the school
space. All in all, these three processes aim to inform on the adaptability of this
school space, complementing the previous entropy approach that focused on the
whole potential allocation of activities to spaces.
This is undertaken by three following procedures. Observation matrices aim to
report both the activities and movements on space, as well as their nature and density.
These consist of non-participated accounts of life within the school. Walkthroughs
aim at gathering information from speciÀc target users of space on the research
question, in this case, on the spaces considered to be the most adaptable, which
may differ or coincide with the previous conclusions taken from the analytical
and abstract models. Focus groups complement this information, focusing on this
question and accounting for different perspectives and uses of the spatial sample
from each group. This represents the moment to pose more direct questions, where
some elaboration can occur and further justiÀcation on the answers according to
personal habits and perspectives (Fig. 207).
Aiming for a wide-ranging account of the living and learning experience in this
school, all three of these procedures have implied the gathering of a wide part of
the school community, regarding its diversity in people, curriculum and activities.
In fact, appropriation can be recalled at different levels, portrayed by the activities
and actions undertaken, either individually or collectively by this particular school
community, which is intended to identify and critically analyse who uses and learns
within it at this speciÀc time period, by means of the observation of the uses and by
direct query to the people within this environment. So, it is relevant to underline that
these procedures validate the contemporary usage of this space, which may differ
from the previous ones, namely when this school was rehabilitated, but also not
proceeding with any speculation on future uses767. Thus, the observations and the
766
This parallel between nomothetic and idiographic has been approached in detail in chapter 3.3. A methodology
for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments.
767
This justiÀes the time period chosen for the application of the methodology, speciÀcally pointing out its
contemporaneity. See the title of the current Thesis: “Life within architecture from design process to space use:
Adaptability in school buildings today – A methodological approach”.
517
Àndings through these surveys report to people’s current activities and movements
in space, subsequent to the school’s spatial and curricula change.
All in all, the three procedures undertaken in this milestone intend to add further
information on space use in a real life scenario, in order to complement the data
from prior milestones of this methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability.
Therefore, all three of these procedures are directly associated with assessing how
effectively adaptable are Quinta das Flores School’s learning spaces and how do
their users perceive them in such a manner. So, more than assessing space use, these
intend to inform on adaptable spaces for a wide diversity of uses and users, hence
their speciÀc deÀnition and framework within this methodology.
At this point it is paramount to justify that the population for each of these three
procedures is representative for the purposes of this research. As seen, the Àrst
procedure undertaken in this milestone consists of observations of users in space.
There, the observed population is, in fact, the entire “universe” (Bryman, 2008,
p.168) of people in the school. So, there is no sampling768 or selection of the
individuals whose space use is reported onto the plans, because it coincides with
the whole population. Moreover, the observation process consists on observing
and recording the movements of all the individuals that use that space, so the plans
of each observation actually show the use that the space has in terms of density and
types of fruition of the entire population in that space, regardless of the proÀle of
each individual in the school. The most tangible case to exemplify this situation is
the main hall of the school, which is the common entrance to all the people who
are inside: students, teachers, parents, staff, ... Thus, the observation in this space
immediately denotes all its users and what their uses are within this space.
As for the remaining two procedures for describing experience in school, these are
more speciÀc for the proposed methodology and hence, more particularly focused
on spatial adaptability. Indeed, after an initial procedure that describes effective
experience by means of observations, these two processes: walkthroughs and focus
groups, seek to question the users of the school in relation to this particular research.
Since there is a higher speciÀcity of these two procedures towards spatial adaptability,
these focus on the users for whom the issue of spatial adaptability is more relevant,
which are the students and teachers, because they are the active users of the active
learning environments. Hence, and opposite to the observations of the whole
population of the school, both walkthroughs and focus groups are undertaken by
a sample of the population, considered to better inform on the effective space use
of the active learning environments, how diverse it is enabled by spatial provision,
and how varied it is actually perceived through effective use.
768
According to Groves et al. (2004, p.45): “A sample is selected from a sampling frame. This sample is the
group from which measurements will be sought. In many cases, the sample will be only a very small fraction of
the sampling frame (and, therefore, of the target population).”
518
As already depicted in chapter 3.3.769, where this milestone of the methodology

has been described in detail, the sampling process for these two procedures could
be selected by different approaches to sampling, either by a “probability sample”
(Bryman, 2008, pp.171-176) or “non-probability sampling” (pp.183-187). For this
approach the selection of the population has lied on its representativeness for the
learning process, also guided by the “reliability” and “validity” of the results (Bryman,
2008, p.149). Hence, it was considered that both students and teachers, either of the
regular and the articulated teaching, would better report space use in regard to formal
and informal learning that the school environments might comprise. So, focus
groups and walkthroughs have been undertaken in subsets of population arranged
by “cluster sampling” (Groves et al., 2004, p.102)770, gathering the participants by
“groupings or aggregations of population units” (Bryman, 2008, p.175).
In this case, and similarly for walkthroughs and focus groups, the above criteria
support four proÀles of participants, as it will be subsequently explained. As seen,
the nature of the activities proceeded in this school, as well as the teaching regime
taken on by each student, enable to consider groups of users with common proÀles,
even if more individual in-depth information on spatial experience and fruition
may be retrieved further on during the focus groups, which complement collective
Àndings from the observation matrices and more comprehensive remarks from
the walkthroughs. All in all, educators and students can be conceived as two major
groups, described in more detail according to their teaching regime: articulated
(where students have both regular and artistic classes altogether) and regular (for
the students whose curriculum is deployed of the conservatory classes). In each of
these teaching regimes, students represent an extensive group, whose ages are wide-
ranging from the basic to the secondary levels. This has also been taken into account
for the teachers, and both the walkthroughs and focus groups conceived aimed at
presenting that diversity in curricula and age and have been formed with educators
from different study areas. Other focus groups could have been arranged, but the
cost-beneÀt in proceeding with a more complex set of information to process and
also with all the background agencies to implement, like asking for the Directors
and parents’ permissions and fostering more contacts for volunteers in this process,
has led to conclude on the following 4 focus groups and 4 walkthroughs with:
. teachers of the regular teaching
. students of the regular teaching
. students of the articulated teaching
. teachers of the artistic teaching
These are considered to present the learning community more directly and are also
the more representative proÀles in the school. Students from the supplementary
769
770
Also according to Groves et al. (2004, p.70): ““Clustering” is the term used when multiple elements of the
target population are linked to the same single frame element.”
519
regime771, the ones that attend artistic lessons after the regular teaching schedule,
have not been considered to be as representative, because by not attending a whole
day of classes these students have a potentially narrower perspective on space,
arriving straight for a particular class, leading a very driven pathway to get there and
leaving the conservatory afterwards, which deprives them from a wider perspective
on the diversity of collective spaces and foremost of collective activities.
Although neither the staff, nor the parents, have been asked to participate on
focus groups and walkthroughs, they have been accounted for when asking for
their feedback in informal interviews, whose information has been introduced
when considered relevant and their presence has been taken into account on the
observations, when they were remarked to be within the building. Generally, parents
of the students of the regular teaching do not normally have a routine or pathway
within this building, leaving their children outside. Hence, their feedback is more
relevant to report on their children’s experience and learning process and also on
the school’s curricula, but not speciÀcally on their individual experience in space.
There has been the opportunity to ask questions to the staff in each of their
respective workstations on the school space analysed and their activities have all
been identiÀed in the observation matrices, along with all the community perceived
during the time periods observed. Staff has a particular pathway that is speciÀc
of each one and that leads to his/her own workstation, making each report very
individually focused and not collective, or with a wider perspective on the whole
space. Even so, staff has been asked questions whose information has been
translated onto the Àndings, as well as the parents’ feedback on the school space.
In what regards the parents, conversations have occurred with them concerning the
learning process of their children in the school, the external and community assets
of this school in particular, and the curriculum changes introduced in this school,
to which the generality of the contacted parents have responded very positively. It is
very important to highlight that the wide majority of the students in this school are
under-aged, and therefore, contacts had to be made in order to inform the parents
of the context and the activities that each of the students in the focus groups
and walkthroughs was intended to do and their purposes. This naturally triggered
individual conversations with each of the parents whose children have participated
more directly in the last two procedures, concerning the school and their feedback
on the context of this current research, which has also been invaluable772.
Also within this topic, personal information from all participants has been
safeguarded, not only from the children involved but also from the teachers, staff
and parents, according to the indications for individual data protection. This is
most relevant on the focus groups and walkthroughs, whose contents will present
771
From the Portuguese “supletivo”.
772
When considered relevant some of this information may be presented, but naturally that personal e-mails
exchanged with the parents as well as personal or phone conversations are not disclosed, safeguarding the
informality and personal contents of each conversation.
520
the information needed for the purposes of this research along with all the input
brought from individual experience, but without the identiÀcation of the students
involved. This has been a personal and professional commitment taken from the
start, and shared with the School and the Conservatory Directions and also with all
the parents involved. Analogously, all the visual and audio contents are deployed of
personal data and have, therefore, been edited to focus on the activities portrayed
rather than on the individuals who portray them. It is considered relevant that
the activities are reported on photographs and videos, as well as its density and
frequency, but without identifying the students who undertake them.
The materials for this procedure have been gathered from the initial contacts with
the School and Conservatory Directions from the beginning of this research, under
the form of interviews, observations and photographic, audio and video records,
but it has reached the highest peak during the observations, walkthroughs and focus
groups done throughout January and February 2017.
Naturally, Portuguese schools today have high levels of control on their visitors
and the activities that occur within them. So, this methodological approach took
an extensive time in formal and informal contacts with the Directions, teachers,
students, staff and parents, in order to get their approval for undertaking all three
approaches, and particularly in arranging for volunteers for the walkthroughs and
focus groups from different proÀles of users of the school community.
First and foremost, observations, walkthroughs and focus groups have then been
authorised by the Directors of the Music Conservatory - Professor Manuel Rocha
and the Director of Quinta das Flores School - Professor Margarida Marques,
whose invaluable contribution is once more stated at this point of the research.
After these frequent contacts for contextualising the research and for proving
the relevance of the proposed procedures as valuable input for our conclusions,
the approval has been given for entering the building in prearranged schedules
informed to the Directors and also for progressing with the procedures previously
explained in detail. During all the time spent on the school, and besides previous
contacts from the Directions, dialogues with teachers, students and staff have also
facilitated the observations and surveys in a more supportive manner.
Besides, all the school community has been widely open to the procedures, namely
the staff on each of their workplaces in the building, who have been very diligent
in elaborating on their routines on the school. Regular teachers have also been
contacted for volunteering on both the walkthroughs and focus groups, to whom
we have again to thank for their time and contribution. Artistic teachers have been
contacted by the Direction of the Music Conservatory, under its Director at the
time Professor Manuel Rocha and Vice-Director Professor Catarina Peixinho, who
have always been remarkably accessible and attentive towards this research. The
students and parents from the artistic and regular teaching have also volunteered
for the recalled tasks, after acknowledging its context and the relevance of the
children’s participation. The Student Association of the Music Conservatory
has also been contacted, after the approval of the Conservatory Direction and
521
Fig. 208. Observation matrices, 3rd February 2017

(Carolina Coelho)
the parents involved. To them we recognise their consideration in answering this

request, and their motivation in volunteering to participate, and we thank again the
feedback provided and also the photographs that have been kindly shared, depicting
the activities prior to these procedures.
Each of the procedures will be detailed and subsequently critically analysed, but
at this point it is important to note that each one provides speciÀc data under the
form of a particular set of records, drawings and accounts.
Observation matrices aim to depict activities and movements in the time periods
considered to be most noteworthy. This has been done by a team spread around
the whole building in also representative spots considered to be, at front, locations
with the highest amount and variety of users and activities. Findings are reported
on plans where each observer, in each day, for a particular location and time period,
registers the movements and the activities remarked and their density during those
times. These Àndings provide general information on collective uses and locations,
associated users, density of people in each location, the nature of their activities,
the movement in those spaces and in which time periods each activity is more
frequent and whether it differs according to the day of the weekly schedule or along
a regular school day.
Afterwards, from the initial drafts complemented with the Àeld notes that register
the observations on location, results are critically assessed and redrawn in a Ànal plan
of each observed space that congregates all the Àndings. This is particularly relevant
for locations where there is the need to have more than one observer, because of the
amount of activities and the length of the observed spaces. For example: the main
522
Fig. 209. Walkthrough, 3rd February

(Carolina Coelho, Jéssica Barreto)
hall or the long longitudinal corridor on the Àrst Áoor cannot be observed only by
one person because they allocate several activities and users simultaneously, which is
very difÀcult to note and draw on the plans in a detailed manner by only one person,
having to be complemented by a set of more than one observer (Fig. 208). In cases
such as these a Ànal plan gathers all the information from that time period in one
drawing that discloses all the data from the collective of observers on that location.
Subsequently, walkthroughs aim to travel through the building in a route chosen
by the participants, according to the research question for identifying the most
adaptable spaces (Fig. 209). The participants choose which spaces to go through
and justify their choices along the way. Naturally that each separate group of users
may have a different account on the spaces considered to be adaptable, according to
their own experience in space. The reports on this procedure are done by drawing
the routes in a plan and identifying the spaces considered to be adaptable, which are
ranked graphically on that same plan. Finally, a plan can be arranged with the joint
Àndings from all the separate groups that have volunteered for the walkthroughs.
This procedure is also registered by audio, video and photography, and by notes from
the comments made by the participants in the meanwhile, taken by team members.
Finally, focus groups gather more individual information from the participants, by
asking them more personal questions on their activities in space, namely curricular
and non-curricular, artistic and regular, programmed and non-programmed events
and their more frequent locations. They are also asked to identify adaptable spaces
on plans provided to each participant and to point out their normal routine
and movements on a regular school day (Fig. 210). This will provide a more
523
Fig. 210. Focus group, 3rd February

comprehensive outlook on each proÀle of users and the way learning happens in
the school, where and how it occurs: collectively, individually, informally, formally,
programmed or spontaneously… These reports have also been registered by audio,
video and photography, but once again individual details and personal identities
have been edited in order to safeguard personal information.
The references on the state of the art of social research methods considered more
transversal to all of the following three approaches will be analysed in detail prior
to their undertaking. The others, considered to be more speciÀc of each of the
approaches: observations, walkthroughs and focus groups, will be referred and
its relevance analysed in the duly place prior to the procedure, and at the end
when paralleling the conclusions from those studies to the Àndings achieved by
the current establishment of this methodological approach in Quinta das Flores
School’s main building.
The fact that the prior chapter773 does not point out a speciÀc way in which these
procedures will be portrayed for the description of effective events and experience
in the school has been intentional. The contextual framework of each of these three
methods, namely on the number and grouping of the participants, the best time
period in which to undertake them and the interval in which they would be done
and their frequency, has been decided after a thorough understanding of the case
study. This has been done after the previous descriptions of its potential activities
that will be compared to its actual spatial fruition, and also after the earlier visits
773
524
and contacts that have enabled their undertaking. Note that all these procedures
imply a carefully anticipation of the intentions and their exact establishment, in
order to explain them to the Directions of both the Conservatory and the School
when asking for their permission, the acquaintance of the parents and their direct
contact and ofÀcial written authorisation for the children’s participation, and all
management and logistics deeds that have to be cautioned for making it possible,
namely arranging a common schedule for all groups and the spaces for undertaking
these methods. This has only been possible to be achieved after a number of visits,
the contacts with the most different social actors of the school community and
after providing them with detailed explanations of the context of the research and
the exact procedures to be done. But previously, all methods have had to be well
lined up and deÀned in sequential stages, number of volunteers needed and time
schedules, in order to explain them to all the people involved.
By acknowledging that spatial fruition is an essential stage of the methodology here
proposed, the way in which each method would be applied has been constructed
throughout the process. Even though the intention to depict the activities and
movements on the plans of the school had already been recognised, as previously
explained in chapter 3.3., the bibliography informing on the speciÀcity of these
procedures is here explained, closer to their actual undertaking in the case study,
because of its possible diversity in scope, framework and purpose, intended to
more acutely address the speciÀcity of this school.
On the contrary, the entropy analysis has been explained in further detailed
beforehand774 because it followed a very speciÀc approach by Fawcett and aims at
continuing it further on, according to the complexity of this case study.
Additionally, the space syntax approach to the case study is also guided by a very
well-deÀned framework, whose main references are straightforward and lie in
Hillier and his colleagues earlier works from the RIBA Intelligence Unit and, later
on, at the Bartlett.
These latter two methods provide very clear Àndings that will inform the
methodological application onto this building. Social research methods, on the
contrary, as open-ended as they are, have to be considered according to the aims
of the analysis, chosen from a wide array of possible approaches, and its references
are, therefore, presented closer to its establishment, to better frame the contextual
approach of this case study and to critically comment on the results perceived and on
the assets that each technique brings to the overall conclusion on spatial adaptability775.
Hence, it is noteworthy from the start, the relevance of the surveys undertaken
and coordinated by Lynch in Argentina, Australia, Mexico and Poland, supported
by Unesco and published in Growing up in cities: Studies of the spatial environment of

774
775
According to Lynch (1977): “Rather than elaborating the study, we should aim to abbreviate it while still
permitting local elaboration according to interest.” (p.59)
525
adolescence in Cracow, Melbourne, Mexico City, Salta, Toluca, and Warszawa (Lynch, 1977).
This represents a very inÁuential study on the state of the art on the methods to
depict children’s behaviour in space, that also resorted to observations, interviews
and tours, registered both in photos and videos, as well as in sketches and Àeld
notes, for indicating the remarks observed and the imagery of the children. These
methods aimed at examining “the way small groups of young adolescents use
and value their spatial environment” (p.1). This is considered to be of the utmost
relevance for our current research, despite being still rather underdeveloped in 1977:
“Even these few studies bring out poignant indications of the relations
of children to their surroundings. In doing so, they convey the color
and substance of social conditions that are usually summarized in a
more arid and general form. However uncertain the Àndings may yet
be, they reverberate in the mind, and suggest new techniques and new
occasions. Open-ended, naturalistic studies of how people use and
value their spatial surroundings are in an early stage. The values of
children have been particularly neglected.” (Lynch, 1977776, pp.1-2)
Largely, these surveys bear relevance for the methods here proposed for depicting
children’s actual use and perception of space, reÁected upon later on the “revised
guidelines” (pp.81-104) for undertaking them, as well as the graphic supports for
recording and communicating the outcomes. But, from the start, Lynch assumes
that these procedures are crucial for the design, which brings added originality for
this study and convenience for its reference at this point of our study, focusing on
social research, the methods to accomplish it and its relation to the conception of
the built environment: “Planners, designers, and environmental managers will have
to became more concerned with children’s needs. Observation and research should
be a part of the design process.” (Lynch, 1977, p.57).
Lynch also supports that the deÀnition of the procedures should be elaborated
according to its locality, even if general guidelines are presented at the end of the book:
“[…] This determination can only be made on the ground. What we
would hold to is that the study should deal with the way children use
and value their settings and that it may be made via open-ended dialog
and observation, dealing in depth with a small number of children
in a restricted locality, and if possible, producing some experimental
evidence concerning the relevant perceptual clues.” (Lynch, 1977, p.60)
And despite its potential simplicity, it holds relevance for the deÀnition of children’s
environment: “Simple and modest as these studies are, we feel that they will prove
crucial in managing the human environment of the future.” (p.80).
For our current research some of these guidelines will also be set forward, despite
the indoor nature of our case study, which is a school building rather than the city
776
The Àrst part of the book published in 1977, from pp.1-80 is dated from 1975 and signed by Kevin Lynch,
the remaining text is not dated nor signed and the book itself is referred to have been edited by Lynch.
526
surroundings overall, mostly in regard to the “revised guidelines” (ibid.), such as:
the “choice of areas” (p.83) to be most representative, the “selection of subjects”
(pp.84-85) to volunteer for providing signiÀcant input for our study, the search and
study of “background information” (pp.85-86) on this particular case study, and
Ànally the “analysis of children’s spatial behaviour” (p.88).
According to Lynch, these surveys “consist of several actions to be carried out in
this sequence: (1) making an acquaintance with the interviewees, and becoming
familiar with the area and their mode of life; (2) individual interviews; (3) optional
group discussions and guided tours.” (Lynch, 1977, p.88). For this case study, the
relevance of these early studies is taken into high account, but also the understanding
of its differences in spatial and time context, as well as in its scale.
Naturally that the mentioned “acquaintances” will be undertaken, prior to the
observations. Several individual interviews will also be prepared, particularly to the
Director of the Conservatory and to the Director of the School, as an early account
of the school’s ambiance and its physical and pedagogical features, in order to better
introduce the following surveys. Then, interviews to students and teachers will also
be fulÀlled, individually but foremost collectively, in the form of focus groups,
where each group, duly balanced in gender and curriculum options, will explain
in deeper detail the general behaviour perceived in the school and the speciÀcities
of each individual or group of users. The referred “tours” (Lynch, 1977, p.93),
optional as Lynch considered them, will also be carried out in the walkthroughs, as
the deÀned groups will be asked to display the school and explain their behaviour
in space, particularly applied to this current problematics on their thoughts on the
most and least adaptable spaces. “Observations of children’s spatial behaviour”
(p.95) will also be vital for depicting the collective fruition of space777.
So, all in all, the techniques pointed out by the researchers’ teams in 1977 in
different countries, will be put in place, although the sequence for analysing this
case study in particular will be carefully set in the following sequence: observations
for depicting the general behaviour, perceiving groups of users and activities in
space; then walkthroughs will be completed for understanding each group’s
perception of adaptable spaces during an open tour of the building under analysis;
and, Ànally, focus groups will be formed to explain the details on the choices of the
spaces shown on these tours, to clarify the results from the observations and also
to complement this information with certain speciÀcities and with sketches and
diagrams indicating the individual activities and pathways by each volunteer, closer
to Lynch’s approach on the “image of the locality”. It is believed that this sequence,
as established, will gradually provide insightful information on the children’s use of
space and on adaptability.
777
Observations are explained to specify the activities by registering them “on a simple diagram supplemented
with verbal notes and one or more photographs”. (Lynch, 1977, p.95). This will be undertaken in the
observations, where sketches over the plans will be complemented with photos and videos of the activities and
movements in space, as well as Àeld notes that inform more profoundly the experiences observed, routines and
their exceptions.
527
4.2.3.1. Observation matrices B Idiographic analysis
. -ustiÀcation of the observations

The observations derive from the need to assess effective spatial fruition of
the common spaces of the school, with particular emphasis on potential active
learning environments, in which the frequency of movements and users is a priori
considered more representative. The purpose of these observations is to register
the movements, directions and accesses to spaces and to identify the activities
undertaken whether pedagogical, social and/or artistic.
It is noteworthy at this point to state that, even though observations can be a part of
other research approaches such as social sciences, they are also considered amongst
the Àeld of space syntax, previously addressed, in order to “retrieve something
that might be considered as an objective view of human behaviour in the built
environment” and to “observe movement Áows and patterns of space usage in
complex buildings or urban contexts” (Sayed, Turner, Hillier and Iida, 2014, p.39).
This bears representativeness when analysing space use because effective use may
differ from the potential of a building, or from the intentions of the architects.
All in all, observations are used within space syntax to provide information from
the collective patterns of movement and activities, so as to “retrieve something
of the objective properties of the built environment” (Vaughan and Grajewski,
2001, p.2). Foremost observations under this approach lead to collective inputs on
behaviour and Áows, and “generate numerical data on space use and movement”
from which morphological features may be associated, understanding a potential
correlation (Vaughan and Grajewski, 2001, p.17)778.
SpeciÀcally, space syntax resorts to a set of techniques for this purpose such as: the
gate method, static snapshots, people following, directional splits and movement
(Vaughan and Grajewski, 2001). Some of these procedures can aid to establish
some of the principles for our current methodology, assuming its speciÀcity and
the aims for undertaking it. Similarly to static snapshots (Fig. 211), this current
methodology also focuses on “predeÀned areas” where observers map movements
and “static activities” and respective “categories” onto the plans and by the notes
taken during this process, which is repeated throughout the day and intended to
“outline the patterns of space use in an area and spot the locations where more
potential interaction takes place naturally” (Sayed, Turner, Hillier and Iida, 2014,
p.42). This current approach has similarities in the process and its purposes, because
static snapshots are also “especially relevant to recording the use pattern of spaces
within buildings” (Vaughan and Grajewski, 2001, p.7). Besides, the graphic material
that results from it is similar both in the representation of movement and the
778
According to Vaughan and Grajewski (2001): “The most important is between integration and encounters
(observed use and movement). […] This is because integration is an independent measure – it is the integration
value of a space that can produce the people […] but the presence of more people cannot make space more
integrated.” (p.17)
528
Fig. 211. “Movement traces and static activities are drawn on a 1:50 plan of the target area. Notes on
behavioural patterns and special features and conditions are recorded. © Screens in the Wild @UCL.”
(Sayed, Turner, Hillier and Iida, 2014, p.42)
differences amongst activities, added by the commentaries aside.
Likewise, movement traces have also similarities with our procedure, foremost in
its purposes because it “enables tracking and mapping the collective Áow dynamics
through a predeÀned area” (Sayed, Turner, Hillier and Ida, 2014, p.43) and it is
also frequently used with the static snapshots (Vaughan and Grajewski, 2001, p.12).
Overall, these procedures intend to identify movement and “static activities” in
space, but they are chosen according to the aims of the research.
For our current methodology, it is important to acknowledge the speciÀcity of

the case study as a building with a diverse array of users and activities, and the
actual objective of proceeding with the observations which coincides with the
need of an actual and sensitive knowledge on programmed/non-programmed,
social/pedagogical/artistic, informal/formal, individual/collective behaviour and
movement in space, as well as the users and/or visitors who undertake them.
Observations, for the purpose of our current research, are used to complement
previous methods already undertaken, on the physical features of space and their
analytical potential to allocate activities. Observations will then comprehend space’s
effective fruition, identifying patterns of co-presence and natural movement,
realising also the activities taken, the density in Áows, but in a more detailed manner,
than the Àve minutes suggested by the previously referred procedures. So, it can be
detached from space syntax and also be approached to social sciences, with regard
to the interest in getting acquainted with individual reports to space and social
529
interaction. Still, this does not imply the “participant observer” of the ethnographic
observations, usually pursued in social sciences, because it is not intended that
observers move in the space in the same way as the reported users, instead they are
intended to report the effective spatial fruition in a comprehensive way.
The fact that observers stay in the deÀned areas for thirty minutes in each of these
observations, and that this process is repeated throughout the day and in several
days, allows a more in-depth knowledge of the users, a more detailed identiÀcation
of the activities in a Àne-grained analysis, related to an overall experience of space,
in a qualitative and wider sense than the quantitative report on use. Ultimately, due
to this more comprehensive understanding of the reality, it will not only focus on
quantitative information, collective patterns or the highest densities for correlating
them to space. Overall, if a thorough acknowledgement of space is undertaken,
then a critical assessment on the activities and movement is possible, associating
them with the quantitative, but also with the cultural and social dynamics in space,
and correlating those Àndings to each of the observed areas.
Furthermore, in this case, space and experience are thought in a bounded way, in
which space may constrain and/or facilitate people’s movement and behaviour, but
cyclically people are expected to be appropriating space. Ultimately, even the choice
of their activities and respective locations may be a generator of a higher density of
inhabitants and/or visitors in a certain space, as also activities may be considered
a social/pedagogical/artistic aggregator of people, despite their integration or
connectivity in the building. If this is the case, then the adaptability of a space to
different activities may not necessarily be highly correlated to morphology, as to
users’ spatial fruition.
Another state of the art reference on observations is Whyte’s (1980) The Street
Life Project started in 1971 with the analysis of New York city parks. This study is
particularly relevant because of its novelty in observing city spaces:
“At that time, direct observation had long been used for the study of
people in far-off lands. It had not been used to any great extent in the
U.S. city. There was much concern over urban crowding, but most of
the research on the issue was done somewhere other than where it
supposedly occurred.” (Whyte, 1980, p.10)
Even though the study focuses on city spaces and starts with the plazas, it
brings relevant conclusions that could be paralleled with the Àndings from these
observations in matters such as sitting spaces, densities, movement and standing
locations, which will be deepened further on in the conclusions of our approach.
Naturally that cultural and contextual issues will have to be recalled, because of
both the time and location of these studies. Additionally, Gehl’s Àndings (2011779)
“related to the meetings of people in the public spaces” (Gehl, 2011, p.7) will also
779
Consulted edition from 2011, original edition translated to English from 1987.
530
be relevant to analyse in his initial studies in North Europe, which are contemporary
of Whyte’s American cities from 1971780. In fact, on a foreword written in 2006 to
the consulted edition, Gehl (2011) recalls that this continues to be a signiÀcant
topic on the need for environmental quality in regard to public spaces, supporting
the importance of our current research and also the appropriateness of both of
these authors to its state of the art:
“These intervening years have also shown that careful work with the
livability of cities and residential areas continues to be an important
issue. The growing intensity, with which high quality public spaces
are currently used around the world, as well as the increased general
interest in the quality of cities and their public spaces, emphasizes
this point. The character of the life between buildings changes with
changes in the society situation, but the essential principles and quality
criteria to be used when working for human quality in the public realm
have proven to be remarkably constant. (Gehl, 2011, p.7)
Still, an initial connexion to Whyte’s comments may already be assumed,

acknowledging the interest on observations that take in people in space, from which
photographs may be deployed of (Whyte, 1980, p.22). This has also been clearly
anticipated by means of our current research that assumes the relevance of studying
people in space as a means to better and more fully understand how, when and by
whom are the school spaces occupied, concluding at the end of these observations
what Whyte had formerly perceived:
“Whatever they may mean, people’s movements are one of the great
spectacles of a plaza.” (Whyte, 1980, p.22)
. Observation locations and timings

The sampling of spaces for our current approach to observations is also
representative, because the spaces in which to place the observations are the ones
considered to be the most attended spaces from the spatial sample. Thus, the initial
spatial analysis at the beginning of this methodology781 has also contributed for
this choice, considering the spaces where both the artistic and the regular teaching
would meet, the spaces with a wider array of informal and social activities rather
than formal ones, but foremost the spaces that have the potential to gather moving
and staying, formal and informal events, programmed and non-programmed ones,
all with learning potential. This considers that the wider the array of activities the
spaces have, the more representative towards spatial adaptability, as deÀned by this
research782. From this analysis, and also, from prior visits to the school and the
feedback of both the Directors of the Music Conservatory and Quinta das Flores
780
Even though the translation of his book to English happened only in 1987.
781
782
531
School on the school’s living experience, it has been concluded that the spaces in
which to proceed with the observations would be the following, amongst the three
Áoor plans analysed:
. the main corridor of the second Áoor
. the main corridor of the Àrst Áoor
. the main hall of the ground Áoor
. the library on the ground Áoor
. the cafeteria on the ground Áoor
. the canteen on the ground Áoor
These have been identiÀed in the plans, their boundaries speciÀed so that the
observers would understand the spatial perimeters of their areas and the placement
of the observers has been indicated, even if movement is accepted so that it
completes the information observed from these particular spots. Fig. 212 indicates
the observation areas, distinguishing them by colour and pointing out the suggested
observers’ placement by red dots. These red dots will appear in all the plans reported
from each observation.
It is noteworthy, as it has also been emphasised in the initial spatial analysis, that the
corridors have speciÀc niches in which standing activities may occur, which leads
to an a priori possibility that the analysis on these areas might be denser and more
complex, both on the trajectories but also on the activities that these can shelter and
because both corridors have different layouts.
Each observation takes 30 minutes and regards the time intervals that have been
considered to be the busiest, and in which most of the school community attends
these spaces, of which:
. 8.00 a.m. / 8.30 a.m.
. 10.00 a.m. / 10.30 a.m.
. 1.30 p.m. / 2.00 p.m.
. 5.00 p.m. / 5.30 p.m.
Their speciÀcity is justiÀed by the school breaks between classes, when students,
teachers and staff have to move around from classroom to classroom, or to the
teachers’ ofÀces or meeting rooms, or even to a communal space such as the
cafeteria, the canteen, or even to the library.
SpeciÀcally, the Àrst observation intends to register the community arrival at the
school and to identify the Àrst movements and activities in space prior to the classes.
This has particular emphasis on the school’s main entrance and the building’s
accesses to the existing pavilions where other classes are taught, but it also regards
vertical and horizontal circulations within the building that lead to the spaces under
observation, identifying their main chosen accesses and exits.
532
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor
Fig. 212. Indication of the observation location by Áoor

(Carolina Coelho)
The following observation intervals are related to the school’s main breaks, which
occur respectively at 10 a.m., 1.30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Observations will start at the
beginning of the break, they will last the all break and will continue on during an
additional 15 minutes afterwards for accounting for any delays after the break for
students and teachers to arrive at the next class. This implies that activities and
movements may change during this time period.
The Ànal observation later in the afternoon has been considered to register the
arrival at the school of the students from the artistic teaching that do not attend
Quinta das Flores School’s regular teaching. Being a time period later in the
afternoon, some students, teachers and staff may be remarked to leave the school
for the day, regardless of the extensive school day of the conservatory that ranges
from the Àrst class at 8.30 a.m. to the last class at 7.50 p.m.
Generally, observations have been determined by a team of eight people displaced

on the building according to the observation locations as follows: two people in
the main hall, one in the library, one in the canteen, one in the cafeteria, two in the
main corridor of the Àrst Áoor and one in the main corridor of the second Áoor.
The number of observers has been determined by the a priori expected densities
of movement and diversity of uses; the overall area, conÀguration and length of
each location; the general visibility that it enables and that each observer has from
a speciÀc point on that space. SpeciÀcally, areas with more furniture or niches need
more observers, as well as locations with higher densities, that imply more notes
and a more extensive and detailed report on space use.
533
The corridor on the Àrst Áoor has two observers because it has a joint community
of users from all the teachers that go to the teachers’ ofÀces, the conservatory
community and the science labs’ students, teachers and staff. This explains the need
for two people to perceive its spatial fruition. This is also justiÀed by the numerous
niches adjacent to the corridor that need to be accounted for in terms of activities.
On the second Áoor, the density of movement and activities is expected to be less
because students and teachers are generally driven from the vertical accesses to
their respective classrooms, possibility with less spatial experience on the common
spaces to report than on the Àrst Áoor. This justiÀes the indication of only one
observer on this space.
It is signiÀcant to explain that the indication of two observers on the main hall has
been rearranged according to the time schedules for two determining reasons: the
Àrst lies on the fact that two people may sometimes not sufÀce for reporting all
movements and activities that occur there, in particular in high-density time periods,
such as the morning arrival when all the school community enters through the same
access point and uses the main hall to get to each one’s destination, and the mid-
morning and mid-afternoon breaks, used for moving from a particular place to another
in the school for particular tasks like accessing the library, the cafeteria, the toilet, the
staircase, the secretariat,… and for staying activities in that place, which gather a very
signiÀcant amount of teachers, staff and students whose activities, for their diversity
and placement on the whole length of this space, are difÀcult to be perceived by only
two observers. Another reason is that at the morning arrival the library is closed and
on the afternoon break the cafeteria is already closed as well, so, these remaining team
members help observing the main hall’s fruition. At the same time, the canteen is only
open at lunch time, and so the person designated for registering that experience is
dislocated to the main hall on the remaining time schedules.
The time sample is also representative and not skewed because the observation days
do not report any disruptions from the current school days. In fact, in one of the
initially planned observations days there has been a strike and, hence, it was decided
not to include it on the general Àndings because it did not report the actual routine
of space use. Keeping in mind that the Portuguese school year is arranged by three
terms and that each term is organised in months and weeks, the school schedule is
established by weekdays, with possible variances between them. So, the choice for
observing the school space in different week days enables a wider understanding
of the whole functioning of the school and how are its spaces experienced through
the week by the population.
Furthermore, the selection of several time frames amongst the whole observation
day is also justiÀed by the aim to more fully describe the school’s uses and users, that
could be narrower or selective if the observation times would be lesser or speciÀc
of only a part of the day.
In fact, the choice of four observations per day is highly relevant in this school
534
whose functioning differs from the morning, to the afternoon and to the evening,
according to the intensity of uses from the regular, articulated and artistic teaching.
Indeed, the supplementary students of the Conservatory only have classes in the
building at the evening, whereas at that time the regular teaching students have
ended their classes. This fact changes the uses at this time of the day to intensively
more artistic ones, while during the remaining part of the day they are potentially
mixed between all the students from the diverse curricular options of the school.
Therefore, the time sample is intended to be representative, by extensively remarking

the functioning of the school throughout the whole day: from the morning arrival
of all students, teachers and staff; to the mid-morning break where the population
has more time to collectively meet; to the lunch break that is open for all; and Ànally
to the afternoon when the regular teaching students, teachers and staff leave the
school and when the artistic community of students, teachers, staff and parents
gather around more speciÀcally. Furthermore, the fact that observations have been
made in different weekdays, also intends to widely report space use in the different
ways arranged by the school schedule, better depicting experience and effective
events in the school, being representative and providing more robust information
able to be valid and generalised (Bryman, 2008, p.168)783.
SpeciÀcally, the Àrst day of observations, 23rd January 2017, has served as a test for
validation of the procedure to recognise the activities and movements in space, to
represent them onto the plans, to assess whether the plans provided to the observers
were the most adequate, to validate the adequacy of the captions for categorising the
activities, to evaluate the uniformity of the drawings, to corroborate the locations
and the amount of observers and their placements per space and, Ànally, to consider
the representativeness of the time periods chosen for the observations. After the
Àrst full day of observations, it was concluded on its appropriateness towards the
aim of this procedure. Additionally, it was also established that a further and more
detailed account on each observation period in each location could complement the
iconographic representation on the plan, specifying the activities and explaining their
relevance and frequency. This procedure would allow not just the comparison of the
drawings by the representation of the different types of activities and the density
of movement, but could also provide a more detailed depiction on a qualitative
background that would promote the subsequent critical analysis of the Àndings on
all the observation days after its overall realisation.
The Àrst two observation days took place on a regular school week. They occurred
respectively on Monday 23rd January 2017 and on Wednesday 25th January 2017. The
fact that this week relates to a regular school week implies its regular functioning
and the apprehension of the overall habits and routines of its users. Monday also
corresponds to the Àrst day of the week, which might imply a more socially engaged
783
According to Bryman (2008, p.156): “[…] we will want the sample to be as representative as possible in order
to be able to say that the results are not unique to the particular group upon whom the research was conducted;
in other words, we want to be able to generalize the Àndings beyond the cases (for example, the people) that
make up the sample.”
535
day, on meeting the peers and discussing the previous weekend and that week’s
pedagogical and social prospects.
The second observation week happened on an exam week, which was on the mid-
term week, when tests were frequent amongst the students. Despite being a regular
week within the school term, it possibly holds more studying activities, which are
expected within the school year. Still, this differentiation on the weeks will be
analysed in order to assess whether it caused a more speciÀc activity set during the
breaks and if it also changed the nature of the collective engagements and even the
students’ movements. Potentially, this week will imply more pedagogical activities
during the breaks and consequently less spontaneously social ones, as well as more
movements towards the library and activities before classes more keen on studying
or talking about the contents or the tests’ results.
The two days during this week where observations occurred were Tuesday 7th
February 2017 and Thursday 9th February 2017. This complemented the previous
school days. Friday was intentionally left aside, because of the found repetition of the
previous schedules and observations, which a Àfth observation day would potentially
only repeat. Moreover, Friday is a particular school day with fewer classes, particularly
on the afternoons, which would bring little additional information to this study. In
fact, and acknowledging the possible variances between the 4 observation days and
information that each one brings to this research, each with 4 observations per day in
a total of 16 time intervals, pursued in a maximum of 6 locations per interval, in a total
of 76, it is possible to generalise the remarks, concluding on the representativeness
and “meaningfulness” (Levy and Lemeshow, 1999, p.13)784 of the time sample.
Finally, it should also be added that besides the drawings with the iconographic
representation of the activities and movements on the chosen locations, and the
comments added to these drawings, records have also been made for audio, video
and photography recording of the observations, for each observation time and
location, which complement the description of the events and movements and also
add to its critical analysis.
. Initial procedures: gathering a team and attending a preparatory

reunion
A team of eight observers was chosen, from architects to graduate architecture
students785 that are familiar with drawings, understand spatial representations and
can cope with the context of this current research.
The Àrst team reunion took place on 19th January, prior to the Àrst observation day
on Monday the 23rd January 2017, for explaining the representation process and the
observation timings and locations.
784
According to Levy and Lemeshow (1999, p.13): “[...] we develop the foundations of sampling methodology by
Àrst deÀning the components of a population in terms that are meaningful with respect to taking a sample from it.”
785
The team was composed by: Carolina Coelho, Bruno Gil, Micael Soares, Stephanie Torres, Daniela Aires,
Jéssica Barreto, Maria Catré and Juliana Ferreira.
536
Main corridor of the second Áoor
Main corridor of the Àrst Áoor
Main hall on the ground Áoor
Canteen on the ground Áoor Library on the ground Áoor Cafeteria on the ground Áoor
Fig. 213. Detailed plan of the observation locations, in which to register the data, highlighted with
a red boundary and with a dot representing the observers’ positioning
(Carolina Coelho)
The initial meeting aimed at explaining the context of the research and the purposes
of the observations. It also intended to specify a uniform representation manner
and to plan the stages ahead.
Each of the observers were given a general plan of the Áoor in which they will be
working on and a number of plans that zoomed in on the observed area, highlighted
in red, and with the placement of the observer visibly speciÀed (Fig. 213).
. Representations and caption of the activities
Besides the drawings, observers were also given a set of coloured markers and a
caption with the colours’ representations, so that the drawings on the plans could
be identical and report to a uniform activities list that identiÀes the nature of the
activities with the same colours.
From this list, movement is represented in black lines, for pathways, that are thicker
according to the density of the users that move through them. Arrows indicating the
direction of these movements complement the information provided by the black
lines and accesses, marking the beginning and the end of the lines and indicating
the entries and exits according to the direction of the trajectory.
537
ACTIVITIES RECORD
. pathways
Moving BLACK . arrows
(lines) . accesses (entries and exits)
Standing Non-programmed (light colours)
(circles) activities learning LIGHT GREEN
social CYAN
artisitic ORANGE
Programmed (dark colours)
activities learning DARK GREEN
social DARK BLUE
artisitic RED
Standing activities, which imply staying in space for a continuous time period786,
are identiÀed with small circles or dots, that similarly to the lines, are denser and
more frequent in the plan according to the density of people that proceed with
this activity. The colour of these dots indicates the type of activity from: non-
programmed and programmed ones, respectively in light or darker colours. As
explained in chapter 3.3.787: programmed events regard a habit or a routine (Krüger,
1992), whereas non-programmed are spontaneous.
Then, each of these can have activities of the following nature: learning (mostly
related to the regular teaching), social (for all the school community but often
bearing pedagogical potential by peer communication) and artistic (namely by the
artistic community of the school).
The deÀnition of social activities has been set by Gehl (2011) in regard to life in
public spaces as:
“Social activities are all activities that depend on the presence of others
in public spaces. Social activities include children at play, greetings and
conversations, communal activities of various kinds, and Ànally - as the
most widespread social activity – passive contacts, that is, simply seeing
and hearing other people.
Different kinds of social activities occur in many places: in dwellings;
in private outdoor spaces, gardens, and balconies; in public buildings; at
places of work; and so on; but in this context only those activities that
occur in publicly accessible spaces are examined.” (Gehl, 2011, p.12)
786
Gehl analyses the concept of “standing” explaining that: “Standing activities, however, will be examined
thoroughly because they demonstrate very clearly some important behavioral patterns characteristic of a large
number of stationary activities in public spaces. It is important, naturally, to be able to stand in public spaces,
but the key word is staying.” (Gehl, 2011, p.147)
787
538
a)
b)
Fig. 214. a) “Survey of the city square, Ascoli Piceno, Italy”

b) “Survey of pedestrian routes on a square in Copenhagen”
(Gehl, 2011, p.148 and p.138)
According to the above list “Activities Record”, learning activities are to be identiÀed
in green, social ones in blue and artistic in orange/red, respecting the light colours
as non-programmed and the darker colours as programmed events.
Results from these observations are expected to be similar to Gehl’s surveys in regard
to the dots for representing standing activities and the lines for movement (Fig. 214).
Additionally, the researchers teams’ from the studies depicted by Lynch (1977) on
Spatial Environment of Adolescence, have also used drawings for communicating the
children’s “imagine of the locality” (Fig. 215), but foremost their use of sketches for
diagrammatic representation of spaces, routes and activities (Fig. 216), added by Àeld
notes (Fig. 217), are also similar to the graphic approach undertaken for our current
research and whose results are expected to be visually closer to these. Although
Lynch recognised the potential adaptation of these procedures to the locality in
which to applied them, even so they could be transposable to the speciÀcity of our
graphics undertaken on this particular case study under observation:
“The naturalistic, open-ended techniques of dialogue and observation,

which involve the children directly and openly and use graphic languages
as well as verbal ones, must be continuously improved and modiÀed to
Àt each new culture.” (Lynch, 1977, p.80)
539
Fig. 215. “A vivid image of Kleparski market”

(Lynch, 1977, p.41)
Fig. 216. “Diagramming the activity in a public park in Melbourne and the photograph keyed to the diagram”
(Lynch, 1977, pp.68-69)
Fig. 217. “Behavioral diagram from Melbourne”

(Lynch, 1977, pp.110-111)
540
. During the observations

In each of the registration sheets, observers have to indicate their name, time and
day for organisation purposes.
As explained, throughout the 30 minutes observers will report on their drawings:

moving and standing activities, programmed and non-programmed, and of learning,
social and/or artistic core, under the form of lines and dots and according to the
arranged colours.
Besides all the drawings in the plans, observers are asked to list the activities observed
so that on the team meeting these can be discussed and their frequency analysed on
other spaces, as well as their possible categorisation according to the list provided.
Naturally, these observations have to be done in a non-participated manner, so that

they do not constrain, in any way, the natural movement on space. So, even though
some movement by the observers may be accepted in order to better understand
the nature of the activities and to fully disclose all the movements in space, they aim
not to make themselves noticed and to sensibly make the recordings.
. Subsequent procedures to the observations

After each observation and respective registrations, there has always been a team
meeting to report on the movements and activities noted, to compare the data collected
and the densities of those movements and activities and to clear out any doubts that
may occur, namely on the classiÀcation of certain activities observed (Fig. 218).
Subsequently, and acknowledging that during the observations the recordings may
not be completely clear, all the team makes another drawing to systematise the data
gathered and to make it the most uniform with all the others as possible, so that
no individual variables or speciÀcities in the design may constrain the outcomes.
In fact, uniformity in the representations has to be paramount so that all data
is gathered in the same manner and all spaces treated with the same procedure.
Considering that all remaining variables are equal, the changes in movements and
activities are the sole parameters to compare amongst time periods and amongst
the chosen spaces.
These moments of interval between observations also act as moments to better

understand the school’s morphology in situ and to be embedded with the living
experience of this artistic school. Besides, it is also the moment to photographically
register the events and experiences in the school, focusing on the activities rather
than on the individuals that perform them. Finally, these time periods also allow
listing the physical attributes of the observed spaces and whether they diverge from
the adjacent spaces788.
788
The spatial attributes have been focused in the initial stage of the analysis in the spatial sample, but can be
541
Fig. 218. Team meeting after each observation

(Carolina Coelho)
. Expected results
After frequent visits to the school, several interviews to the Directors of both the
Conservatory and the School, and after an in-depth acquaintance of the school’s
curriculum, some results are to be expected, which will be critically analysed at the
end of the observations.
Spaces
The observed spaces are considered to hold different spatial fruition and to enable
different frequency of users and sorts of activities.
Some spaces such as the canteen and the cafeteria have more speciÀc functions and,
hence, the range of activities will potentially lay mostly on social activities, either
programmed like lunch time, or non-programmed like going to the cafeteria during
a class break. It is of high relevance to specify that the canteen has a very rigid
schedule, opening only from 12.00 to 2.00 p.m., so only one observation coincides
with that interval that will portray the activities on the canteen.
Similarly, the library has also a Àxed schedule, between 8.30 a.m. until 4.30 p.m.
with the school’s staff in charge, and from 4.30 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. bestowed to
the conservatory’s staff. It enables to register activities on all of the time intervals
better perceived on site and not just by the detailed drawings of plans and sections.
542
chosen for the observations except on the Àrst. Generally, this space has a more
controlled learning environment, allocating non-programmed activities with learning
potential but also programmed ones determined by students or teachers. Curiously,
as this school does not have a student living room for all, because only the Student
Association uses the one determined for that, the library and the cafeteria act as
informal gathering spaces. The library in particular, at the end of the school day is
considered to be a potential lounging space for socialising and learning, mostly in a
particular niche with seating spaces at the entrance.
The cafeteria also has a determined schedule from 8.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., being
replaced by the auditorium’s cafeteria in the main hall after that time. Considering
this space quite narrow for standing, it is expected that students purchase the
selected items and eat them outside, on the tables in the adjacent exterior courtyard
that also lead to the other pavilions on the school. According to this schedule, only
the last observation is impeded because the cafeteria is already closed and so that
observer goes to the auditorium’s cafeteria for further observations.
The corridors and the main hall are considered to be horizontal circulations,
accessed from the street in the case of the main hall on the ground Áoor, and by the
staircases and lifts on the upper Áoors. These are expected to work as connecting
pathways between classrooms or crossings that lead to other spaces. For example,
the ground Áoor has to be crossed to go from the main entrance of the school to
the other pavilions, traversing the space. The corridor on the Àrst Áoor also leads
to vertical circulations, to the teachers’ hallway that also connects the building to
the remaining pavilions where the regular teaching is mostly taught, and also to the
laboratories area for speciÀc sciences classes.
Floors
A vertical stratiÀcation of the building by Áoor plans veriÀed in the initial analysis of
the spatial sample789 may result on a respective vertical stratiÀcation of the users of
the building, in which the ground Áoor congregates all the school community as it is
the main access to the school, the Àrst Áoor holds all teachers, artistic students and
the regular teaching students with science courses; and the upper Áoor is expected
to only have artistic teachers and students justiÀed by the nature of the activities
that occur there.
Note that even if the Ànal plans indicated spare spaces, the Director of the
Conservatory has stated that all of these rooms are currently occupied with the
artistic teaching of music instruments, which complements the data on effective
fruition, diverging from the architect’s plans and restricting the use of the second
Áoor to this community790.
789
790
For further detail see the end of this chapter regarding Final remarks on spaces’ appropriation and testimonies
from the contact with the Directors.
543
Users
Henceforth, users are also considered to move on different paths on this building,
according to what has already been perceived in the prior visits to the building and
also according the personal testimonies of the Directors.
Teachers usually enter the school, take a vertical circulation to the Àrst Áoor where
they cross the main corridor, leading to the teachers’ ofÀces and their common
living room, from where they take their pathway towards the pavilions.
Regular teaching students simply cross the main hall at the arrival at the school to
reach the exterior spaces or the pavilions.
Staff also crosses the main hall to get to their speciÀc area between the cafeteria and
the library, and from there on each takes the direction of their respective workstation.
Administration staff moves across the main hall towards the administrative area
that works from 9.00 a.m. to 1 p.m. and reopens between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m..
Artistic students and teachers are the ones that are expected to most often use all
the building’s Áoors, namely for classes on the Àrst and second Áoors, either for
music or dance.
Time periods
Remarks from the observations may differ in each of the chosen intervals and
according to each space. The morning arrival at school is estimated to conclude
on a higher frequency of moving activities namely on the main hall accessed by
the street and leading to the Àrst Áoor’s corridor towards the teachers’ ofÀces. The
canteen and the cafeteria will still be closed at that time and there are very few music
classes at 8.30 a.m. on the second Áoor.
The mid-morning interval is also expected to conclude on movement on the

referred areas, but also on the cafeteria for a morning snack. The library may also
be a place to stay. But it is also estimated that standing activities might take place
on both the corridors and the main hall, because students and teachers wait for the
beginning of the class and have some spare time.
The lunch break is when the cafeteria and the canteen are considered to be highly
frequented, standing in line to be attended or having lunch, but possibly also leading
social and/or artistic non-programmed activities.
As the afternoon progresses, and according to the conservatory classes’ schedule,

so does the frequency of use of the artistic classrooms, which may lead to an
increase observation of activities and movement on the upper corridors and overall
programmed and non-programmed activities, on the corridors, near the classroom
doors or on the spaces adjacent to these corridors.
544
This is also the time in each the library acts as an informal space and where the
auditorium’s cafeteria opens, increasing the social and artistic assets of the main hall.
Activities
According to the activities’ categories to be identiÀed during the observations, early

expectations estimate that programmed activities of social nature will occur at the
canteen, as opposed to the cafeteria that will have mostly social non-programmed
activities. The library may shelter programmed and non-programmed learning
activities and even social at the afternoon, but rarely artistic because of the sound
restrictions and controlled environment.
Both corridors might have movement, but may also be a set for social non-
programmed encounters. Finally, the main hall is expected to gather all activities,
programmed and non-programmed, social, artistic and learning, with its potential to
have movement but also to stand: with the cafeteria and its tables on the afternoons;
and with its signiÀcant width and length that support several simultaneous activities
of different sort; besides its accessibility between the street and the other pavilions,
which enables more movement and external events.
Furniture
Furniture can condition the activities that occur in a particular space, because of
its existence, density and disposition, all the apparel existing in a space can justify
the choice of a speciÀc space. For example, the placement of seating spaces can
indicate the location of the students during their breaks and consequently, the
deÀnition of that location for staying rather than for movement.
At the same time, the location of a particular machine, such as a vending machine
or the card machine which the students frequently use for purchasing their meals,
will potentially justify the density of students around them and can even generate
a particular routine and promote a density of natural movement towards their
speciÀc location. Recalling Hertzberger’s words:
“In the organization of a plan, as you design it in terms of groundplans

and sections and also in the principle of installations, you can create
the conditions for a greater sense of responsibility, and consequently
also greater involvement in the arrangement and furnishing of an area.
Thus users become inhabitants.” (Hertzberger, 1991, p.28)
Moreover, assuming that furniture can be relocated, the possibility of changing the
layout of each space can also change the movement and staying activities of their
users, this is expected to be conÀrmed by the observations.
Therefore, by acknowledging the relevance of furniture towards spatial use, the

most relevant furniture in each observation spot has promptly been identiÀed,
in order to subsequently analyse the observation Àndings also according to the
545
a)
b)
c)
Fig. 219. Plans and photos of the observed spaces with furniture and devices’ location:
a) Library on the ground Áoor; b) Main corridor of the second Áoor; c) Main corridor of the Àrst Áoor
(Carolina Coelho)
546
location of a particular set of devices that matter towards life within the school
space: functionally, socially, pedagogically, …
Figs. 219 and 220 depict the placement of the furniture, which has been drawn
previously to the observations. Note that in some cases, furniture has been
considered as important that it has always been drawn henceforth in all observation
plans, because it represents a speciÀc layout that conditions the activities and
movements in that place, differently from an open space.
This is the case of the library, where the shelves, computers and tables hinder the
visibility of the space and its control by the staff and recall pedagogical corners for
different learning activities. Behind the reception area there is a lounging space with
sofas. In the longitudinal north wall there are lockers and wooden shelves. In the
central area there are non-movable shelves and tables with computers, also holding
the ventilation set. On the south wall there is a display for magazines and metallic
shelves placed after the original design. There is also a closet for students to leave
their backpacks at the entrance. All this furniture implies the need for shelving
space and shows its appropriation by students, teachers and staff after the space
has been built. This diversity also proves the diversity of activities and different sets
of users that experience the library, either individually or in groups, either through
computer usage, magazine or book reading or by studying or resting. The adjacent
space to the library also enables its diversity of usages, bestowing the possibility
of gathering larger groups in a more formal space without disturbing the regular
functioning of the library. But naturally, that the more furniture the space holds, the
lesser the visual control over all the students and the increasing need for moving
around to acknowledge the activities that are taking place (Fig. 219a).
The main corridor on the second Áoor has three benches throughout the longitudinal
corridor, potentially to be used while waiting for a teacher or for a class. The walls
are used for displaying contents particularly related to the artistic teaching and
events, which may imply the appropriation of that space. There is one table in each
extremity of the corridor where usually the school staff is located for controlling
the activities in that space. Lockers are also displaced on those extremities of the
corridor, on the largest niches (Fig. 219b).
The main corridor on the Àrst Áoor has also lockers in four out of the Àve niches. It
also has benches, but in this corridor the benches are not only on the corridor itself,
but also on the niches, as well-deÀned spaces for staying. There is even a round table
displaced on the niche near the small auditorium that enables group gatherings. One
niche in front of one of the transversal hallways is occupied by the staff with a table,
chairs and the classes’ schedules. Curiously, on this Áoor there are displays in one
central niche. The diversity of furniture in this corridor and adjacent open spaces
lead to the possibility of diverse uses and different sets of students from different
teaching regimes at different times (Fig. 219c).
547
a)
b)
c)
Fig. 220. Plans and photos of the observed spaces with furniture and devices’ location:
a) Main hall on the ground Áoor; b) Cafeteria on the ground Áoor; c) Canteen on the ground Áoor
(Carolina Coelho)
548
The main hall on the ground Áoor has a wide variety of equipment and furniture,
placed mainly near the longitudinal walls. There are two counters near the entrances
– one that is effectively used and where staff is always located for controlling the
entrances, and another that works mainly during the events concerned with the
auditorium. The counter near the main access is considered to be a very aggregating
location, for greeting the peers and the staff and as a meeting point. Sofas are placed
near the library and near the central staircase. Naturally, these are the Àrst chosen
spots for seating, followed by the benches against the wall. Near the secretariat
entrance there are Àve displays with ofÀcial information for the school community
and another Àve from the cafeteria to the library placed longitudinally in the wall.
Vending machines and card machines are located throughout the main hall and are
a very signiÀcant aggregator of students. Card machines are used by all students to
purchase lunch, snacks or anything they may need. Two of them are placed near the
library. There is another that only relates to the conservatory and is located near the
auditorium’s cafeteria. Vending machines are located near the central staircase and
near the library. Finally, there are tables and chairs both regular and high ones, on
the auditorium’s cafeteria (Fig. 220a).
The cafeteria has Àve square tables with chairs and three high and round tables on
the extremities. It also has machines for snacks and cards (even if the snack machine
was not working at that time), a higher stand for placing the snacks, and the display
with all the snacks behind which the staff works. Even if the cafeteria is provided
with these tables the space can be considered overly narrow for staying (Fig. 220b).
The canteen has large tables for the high amount of students to have lunch, as well as
the display for serving lunch, and also shelves for placing the used dishes (Fig. 220c).
. Critical commentaries on all observations and Àndings
The Àrst approach to the materials gathered from the observations, namely the
drawings on the plans and the Àeld notes taken during these time periods, will be
analysed and critically assessed. Then, after this more speciÀc and detailed approach,
overall conclusions regarding each day, the representativeness of each time schedule,
and the activities and movements concerning each one, will be disclosed.
23rd January, 2017 (Monday, regular week)
The Àrst day represented the time for testing and validation of the methodology,
with regard to the representativeness of the time periods chosen, the locations for
the observations and the description requested and the colour code considered.
All in all, after this Àrst day, the methodology has been considered fruitful for the
sought results on spatial fruition, densities, movements, activities and respective
549
locations. It has also been considered that the Àeld notes added in the plans,
commenting the sketches for each observation were of particular interest for this
research. Therefore, observers were asked to more fully describe and comment
what they were observing and particularly the speciÀcities of each observation, so
as to conclude on potential differences regarding time periods and locations. These
are also a way of complementing the information from the drawings of a more
abstract nature, and to provide commentaries of a more qualitative and cultural
character that complement the conclusions on spatial fruition, as this idiographic
approach intends.
After each observation the drawings made by each member of the observation
team were gathered in a sole drawing regarding each location and also the Àeld
notes taken from each person were discussed in a team meeting and placed in
the same sheet with the plan and the Ànal drawing per time period and location,
as a way of systematising all the information gathered. Even if the observation
was made by only one observer in a particular place, when considered useful, that
drawing would be done again for a more clear and uniform understanding along
with the other ones produced in situ during that schedule.
. 8.00 a.m. / 8.30 a.m.
. the main hall of the ground Áoor (4 observers)

The main hall is the arrival location of all the school community. There are other
entrances for services and for auditorium support during events, and also a particular
one for the auditorium outside school hours. But for the purpose of arriving at
the school, the entrance is one and only, shared by all. This explains its relevance
when observing the space, because during the time period observed all the school’s
users go through that space and eventually stay there while proceeding with any
individual or collective activity until classes start at precisely 8.30 a.m..
The placement of four observers at this time period on this location is justiÀed by
the high density of users and also by the diversity of pathways taken and activities
pursued in this space that could not otherwise be strictly perceived by lesser people.
This situation explains the highest density of users through the exterior access door,
heading mainly towards the left or right staircases that lead to the upper Áoor, or going
straight towards the external area, crossing the main hall transversally to get to the
external pavilions with regular classes. These movements are well-deÀned according
to the speciÀcity of each user: teachers from the regular teaching arrive at the school
and take a staircase in order to reach the teachers’ common living room, which also
explains the movement from the staircases to that transversal wing on the Àrst Áoor.
Artistic students have three different pathways: generally they take the stairs to go
to the room where they can leave their music instruments during the regular school
550
time or either to get to their own lockers to place their instruments until the artistic
classes. Others arrive early at the school for practising in the music classrooms
while they are available and before any of the formal classes scheduled. This is
particularly relevant in the case of students that play voluminous instruments or
very expensive ones that cannot be played at home, or even the ones that wish to
practice in groups.
Dance students are clearly perceived amongst the others, specially the ballet dancers,
with all the apparatus needed for the practice and their path is very well-deÀned from
the entrance to the staircase on the top of the building, closest to the dance studios and
the dressing rooms. All this explains the longitudinal movements across the main hall.
Normally, it is the regular teaching students or the ones that carry a lighter music
instrument that go across the main hall directly to the external courtyards near the
pavilions for their classes.
Staff also arrives at the school from this outdoor access, generally crosses the main hall
towards their common living room and from there each one goes to their own location.
The secretariat staff and the Direction boards of both the Music Conservatory and
Quinta das Flores School move across the main hall towards the transversal wing
that holds their particular ofÀces.
The library only opens later on at 8.30 a.m. even if the library staff arrives early
to manage the space and tidy it up. The cafeteria opens at 8.00 a.m. and so some
movement is noted towards that space, besides the movement towards the toilets
on the main hall near the library.
Another relevant movement noted has been towards the card machines that allow
students to make purchases within the school, as well as towards the snack machines.
These are very relevant aggregators of students, and at the morning arrival and at
the mid-morning break there are particularly extended queues for those devices,
which ultimately can even distort the natural movement of the other users that have
to go around the queue.
The main hall at this time period is also a place to stay. Students usually wait for
their colleagues to arrive and from there they depart for their destinations. It is
also a place for informal conversations and individual use of the phone, listening
to music or reading. The collective gathering of peers on the main hall is most
representative in this observation day. As it was a Monday, students wanted to get
together and discuss their weekend, thoughts and situations.
It is also clear that furniture aggregates users, not only because of the card machines,
but also of the seating arrangements near the library and near the middle staircase,
as well as the longitudinal benches contouring the glass windows between the
551
exterior and the interior of the school, and the tables and seats of the auditorium’s
cafeteria though it is not open at that time. These are all places where students seat
and wait for their colleagues. At a later time, when the benches are all occupied,
students choose to stand next to them, but always near their peers, which lead to
conclude on the importance of the existence and placement of those machines and
the overall furnishing towards the space’s layout and, hence, towards the location of
activities and movements in space.
The sound that indicates the beginning of the classes, at 8.30 a.m., generates a
very sudden movement from the users that are still in this space towards their
destinations. This starts Àfteen minutes prior but intensiÀes itself in the last Àve
minutes before classes.
Fig. 221.a) Main hall
. the cafeteria on the ground Áoor (1 observer)

The cafeteria space is open at 8.00 a.m. but the bar is still closed then, therefore it
does not have many people going through that space at that time. The registered
activities at this time are solely talking amongst the students or using the card machine
to purchase lunch tickets. This is clear in the plan that accentuates the longitudinal
movement towards the machine and very little staying activities in space.
Fig. 221.b) Cafeteria
. the main corridor of the Àrst Áoor (2 observers)

This Áoor congregates diverse users: the regular teachers that pass there towards the
teachers’ common living room and to their ofÀces, the music teachers towards their
552
classrooms and also using the common living room, music students that go to the
speciÀc room for leaving their music instruments and/or to ask for a classroom to
practice in, regular or articulated students to have science classes on the laboratories
and their respective teachers, dance teachers and students, students crossing the
interior corridors towards other pavilions and staff. Therefore, activities and
pathways are very diverse, justifying the two observers in this space.
As seen on the sketched plan, movement during this observation has been
particularly more intense near the dance studio and dressing rooms. It has also
been remarked the intense access from the central staircase towards the teachers’
transversal ofÀces and from there towards the external pavilions, also from the
lateral staircase near the dance studio towards the corridor leading to the exterior
pavilions. Therefore, the remaining staircase on the opposite end of the building
has been less used and the transversal movements are from the vertical accesses
towards these referred directions, according to the users: teachers go to the teachers’
ofÀces, dance students go to the dance studio, regular curriculum students go to the
external corridor, and music students go to the room for leaving their instruments.
Observations made during this time period on this corridor have concluded on the
following activities: groups waiting to have class and talking in the meanwhile, going
to the lockers, and dance students using the dressing rooms for preparation for the
dance lessons.
Fig. 221.c) Main corridor of the Àrst Áoor
. the main corridor of the second Áoor (1 observer)

As easily perceived on the following plan that depicts the activities and movements
noticed on the main corridor of the second Áoor, these are both very diminished
compared to all previous spaces analysed.
The traces drawn in this plan represent very few users or just an individual path.
The observed activities comprise: talking amongst students; students using their
phone, which is a common activity amongst all students during the breaks and done
in all observed spaces throughout and particularly on the corridors; and students
going to their lockers to place their music instruments or related materials. That
explains why only one observer is needed to perceive this space’s fruition, because
the users are less than on the remaining spaces and speciÀcally driven there for
particular purposes, namely artistic ones, since this space is effectively used only for
the artistic teaching.
553
Fig. 221.d) Main corridor of the second Áoor
Fig. 221. Observations 23rd January, 8.00 / 8.30 a.m. _ Ànal drawings
(Carolina Coelho)
. 10.00 a.m. / 10.30 a.m.

At the mid-morning break there have been three members of the team of observers
designated to this area, also because the fourth member present at the morning
arrival is now at the library proceeding with the observations there, which was closed
at the previous observation time. This is also in agreement with the density of people
noted at this time period, for which three people are able to describe, both in Àeld
notes and by drawings, what will afterwards be joint together in a whole Ànal drawing.
From the observations it is concluded that there is a higher density of people in the
main hall during this morning break because the break occurs from 10.00 to 10.15
a.m., implying that activities and movements are quite concentrated in this quarter
of an hour of the morning for getting from a place to another or pursuing some
activity. Hence, students act rather quickly and are located in the same common
spaces that congregate them all at this same time period. This is the case of the card
and snack machines, that have also been noted at the morning arrival, but that are
particularly used during this break. The queue for these machines gets so extensive
that it conditions the natural movements of both students and teachers who move
longitudinally on the main hall.
Interestingly, students also come inside for this space, sitting on the benches or on
the sofas for getting together, which implies that the main hall acts as the common
living room the school lacks.
Besides being a place for standing, it is also a space of multiple crossing of pathways:
from the people that arrive from the outside to the staircases or the exterior
courtyards, from the staircases to the exterior courtyards and vice-versa, from the
exterior to the library and to the cafeteria. SpeciÀcally, the use of the library during
the morning break is particularly relevant and very speciÀc of this schedule, which
introduces further complexity in the occupation of this area for accessing the library
- for entering and leaving. Besides, that area is also a seating space with benches and
it also accesses the staircase, the toilets and the card machines. All of this leads
to a very high density of movement and staying in a rather narrow space for all,
but is also proves that it is a highly morphologically integrated space for getting
554
to another spaces and a relevant part of several and diverse pathways. It is also a
place for actively engaging with the peers and hence, an assumed active learning
environment, either individually and collectively, for staying or in movement.
While this is particularly clear on the west side of the building, from the staircase
in the middle of the main hall to the east side of the main hall, near the auditorium
there is signiÀcantly less density of movement, supported by the fact that the
auditorium’s cafeteria only opens in the afternoon.
There is also a noticeable movement by the teachers from the central staircase to the
secretariat and Directions’ ofÀces and the transversal movement from the exterior
of the school to the external courtyards continues to be highly meaningful to remark.

In a compared analysis with the previous plan from the observation at 8.00 to 8.30
a.m. the density of use has increased signiÀcantly, but the movements perceived
are still very longitudinal and talking and using the card machine are still frequent.
At this time period, students also use the space for having a mid-morning snack,
either purchased at the cafeteria or brought from home. Still, it is concluded that
this is not a very used space for staying and that students spend only the necessary
amount of time there. This could be explained by it narrowness that inhibits the
adequacy or comfort of the students to stay both standing or sitting near the tables
while there is a deep amount for students using the card machine in a queue or near
the display of the cafeteria.
555
. the library on the ground Áoor (1 observer)

The library has rigidly placed furniture, namely the shelves with the books, through
which the ventilation also occurs. This hampers visual control of the students by
the staff that has to move around in order to perceive the activities taking place.
This placement of the shelves also creates niches either for studying, conversing,
using the computer, individually or in groups. The niches provide a more casual
and diversiÀed spatial experience, added by the fact that the school is deployed of
a students’ common living room. The seating area at the front of the library acts as
a lounging space, where periodical exhibitions occur and where users can learn in
small informal groups.
Realising that furniture is paramount for the understating of activities in this

space, it has been drawn in every plan. Clearly, if visual control is diminished,
the observer on this space has to move around very frequently to report the
activities and movements occurring during the observation times. The library
has also a room for pre-arranged activities. The heating and lighting conditions
and its location towards both the street and the external courtyards, and also the
diversity of furniture, shelves, technological devices, sofas, assorted tables and
seating areas, provide the library with a cosy and comfortable ambiance prone for
diverse learning experiences.
The activities reported during this observation have been the following: numerous
demands of information to the library staff near the counter, on the tables there
were small sets of students making some group works, there was also noted
students reading books and doing their homework and also, more informally, group
conversations. Interestingly, the shelf that was more frequently sought was the one
related to the music books, very relevant for the particular student proÀle of the
articulated students.
The initial ten minutes of the observation were clearly more intense in terms of
movement and activities, which correspond to the initial ten minutes of the mid-
morning break, because afterwards students have to head towards their following
classes.
Fig. 222.c) Library
556

The observation done during the mid-morning break recalls not only transversal
movements towards speciÀc places, but it also perceives longitudinal movements
between spaces on that same Áoor. Naturally that the sought directions from
the previous observations at the morning arrival continue to be paramount: the
access to the teachers’ ofÀces, the dance studio, the students’ lockers and the
external pavilions from this Àrst Áoor. There has also been noted informal talking,
occasional stops during these movements with potential information transmission
amongst peers or simply social interaction, and the use of the toilets and dressing
rooms. The niches opened to the corridor start to be more signiÀcantly used for
students to stand and pursue some social or pedagogical activities. This is proven
by the observation of students leaving the classrooms towards those spaces and
standing there for a few moments during the break and only proceeding to the next
classroom afterwards. The following plan shows that situation and points out the
students’ placement and density on those spaces during this observation.
Fig. 222.d) Main corridor of the Àrst Áoor

This observation is consistent with the report from the previous one, in which this
is a less frequented Áoor plan but very speciÀc of the artistic teaching. The activities
remain the same as the ones identiÀed earlier, which are added to the cleaning the
staff undertakes at this time. Locker visits are regular to pick up or place something,
as well as talking amongst students and using their phones.
While during the morning arrival the frequency of use is diminished, at this time it
has increased, because students come from pavilion A through an interior corridor
that links this pavilion with this building, crossing the main hall towards the nearest
staircase, descending to the lower Áoor plans.
The corridor is a place to go to and from somewhere else, and during the morning
period the classes from the artistic teaching occur, but are signiÀcantly less than
during the afternoon period, where the supplementary students are added to the
users of this space.
It is during the morning that students more easily request a room to practice in, but
it is noteworthy that both the music lessons and the music training are individually
done or in small groups, which shortens the amount of users of this Áoor, both
on the corridor and in the classrooms. This also explains the fact that at this time
multiple classrooms were being used, particularly by students without a teacher,
557
who had asked to practice on their music instruments or on their singing. There
has also been noted more students standing on this Áoor, which is explained by this
higher density of uses. The dance studio has had a signiÀcant attendance from both
teachers and students.
Fig. 222.e) Main corridor of the second Áoor
Fig. 222. Observations 23rd January, 10.00 / 10.30 a.m. _ Ànal drawings
(Carolina Coelho)
. 1.30 p.m. / 2.00 p.m.

The observation on the main corridor during this time period has been done by
two observers, because functionally two people can disclose the movement and
activities that occur at this time period, given that they are lesser and also because
the third observed has been dislocated towards the canteen, whose opening time
only coincides with this one observation on this schedule.
Overall there is less frequency of movement of users. Students and teachers leave school
from their diverse locations, coming from the staircases, the secretariat, the Direction
ofÀces or the external courtyard, to the exterior access of the school. For many it is the
lunch break and for others the end of a day that may not have classes in the afternoon.
So, the main movement is towards the exit. There is a very dense movement of
both teachers and students in the following Àve minutes after the end of the last
morning class and there is also the exit of students after lunch.
The remaining students, which are still quite signiÀcant, are located in the canteen
to have their lunch. From there, they exit the space through the cafeteria until the
main hall, going to the external courtyards, the library, the toilets or the upper Áoors.
Anyway, after these Àve minutes, students tend to stay on the main hall between
1.45 and 2.00 p.m. After lunch and similarly to the previous observations, students
get together on the sofas and benches near the library, which is a very signiÀcant
staying spot and group gathering in this school, namely because it crosses very
diverse student paths. Also, there are students that do not have lunch at the canteen
and eat a quick meal or a light snack seating there. Since that the lunch break implies
more free time than the morning break, this is also a time where students choose
to go to the library.
558
Overall on the main hall at this time some pedagogical activities have been noticed,
such as: reading or skimming books, discussing about tests that have been taken or
to be taken in a near future, artistic activities like listening to music, and individual
activities related to the use of technological devices.
It has also been noted that students like to stay in the exterior of the school under
the roof top as a shelter place for bad weather, but which enables them to proceed
with activities not accepted inside school premises like smoking, or simply to have
a sense of higher freedom, informality and less control from the teachers and staff.
The card machines continue to act as aggregators of students that use every break
to charge their cards.
Again, the library side of the main hall is signiÀcantly more used that the auditorium
side, because the Àrst connects to the both staircases, the library, the cafeteria, the
exterior and the external courtyards and the toilets, and the latter to the auditorium
and to the auditorium’s cafeteria that is closed until the mid-afternoon.

This is the time where most students are gathered in the cafeteria, possibility because
it coincides with lunchtime and some have a light snack there rather than a whole
meal in the canteen. This gathering also diminishes drastically after the sound for
returning to class. This is proven by the large queue for the cafeteria noticed in the
Àrst Àfteen minutes of the observation. There has also been noted an extensive line
for the card machine, needed prior to getting lunch in the canteen.
The door that connects the canteen to the cafeteria only opens at 2.00 p.m. so that
students do not cut the line for lunch from the remaining ones that enter from the
outside door to the canteen. The consequence on the cafeteria’s occupation is that
there are some students who walk longitudinally from the cafeteria entrance to its
exit towards the canteen and return back because that door may not be open at the
time they pass.
The time students take to stay in this space has been approximate to the time
registered at the previous observation at the mid-morning break, and hence, higher
than the Àrst observation at the morning arrival.
559
Most of the activities are social ones, speciÀcally students talking to each other
on the line for the cafeteria or the card machine, which is concluded to be a very
aggregating spot.
During all three observations made in this day, it has been noted that between Àve
to six employees or teachers were at this space, even though this is predominantly
to students. From 1.30 p.m. to 2. p.m. there have been two pedagogical, non-
programmed, activities noted here: a teacher explaining something to a student and
two teachers discussing pedagogical contents related to teaching, which contributes
to the notion that informal talking can be a means to bettering education and
knowledge transmission, and that spaces such as the cafeteria, can be gathering
spaces where informal activities can hold pedagogical potential.

The afternoon period was reported to have signiÀcantly more users in the library
than in the morning period, potentially because students do not have so many
classes and, hence, have more free time to pursue their homework, but also because
during the afternoon the library acts more like a lounging space, also because the
school lacks a common living room for the students. So, students go there for both
pedagogical and social activities, either alone or in a group.
As already explained, because the library has a diversiÀed furniture it leads to

different nature spaces: spaces for computer working, for reading books, for
doing research, for consulting magazines, for group work and also for individual
production, besides, the display area for the temporary exhibitions and the sofa for
a more informal knowledge transmission and gathering. That is why the activities
reported in these observations are numerous and varied, namely: group work and
group studying; individual reading and individual studying; research in books or on
the internet; doing the homework; talking; using the computer for research, games
or writing; watching videos; … There is also a location at the front of the library
for placing the students’ bags that is very much used.
560
So, the library is a clear active learning environment that holds formal and informal,
individual and group experiences, for content research, writing, production and
creation. The diversity of furniture and spaces also contributes for that diversity of
learning experiences, either more exposed at the front of the space, or more demure
in the side with smaller tables near the surrounding walls. In fact, the tables nearest
to the counter, where the staff is located, are the ones that are more frequently
occupied, which are also the ones where students that have more immediate help
from the teachers and the staff.
Fig. 223.c) Library
. the canteen on the ground Áoor (1 observer)

According to the time frame previously deÀned for these observations, this is
the sole time period in which there is a coincidence between the opening of the
canteen and the observations undertaken, making it possible to produce one single
observation per day on the canteen, which will have to be compared with the future
ones undertaken on different days of the week. Nevertheless, the functioning of
the space and the well-deÀned structuring of its usage makes its very orderly and
clear to explain. This is also the way to best accomplish the number of meals served
by day to the large amount of students that attend the school both in the regular
and the articulated curricula.
Students enter the canteen by the exterior access and leave their backpack at an
adjacent bench near the glass windows or on the Áoor if there is not enough space
on the bench. Then students go to the line, pay their meals, have the tray with their
lunch and the salad on the side. Then, they choose a seating space to have lunch and
afterwards they leave their trays and exit the space. In order to avoid over-crowding
the space, the door to the cafeteria is open from 2.00 p.m. so that students can exit
that way. According to the staff, it is not open before to avoid students entering that
way and cutting the line for lunch, from the ones that have arrived by the exterior
access.
The least selected seating spaces are the ones near the queue. There are numerous
students that go to get salads and dressings. The highest density of students is
at 1.30 p.m., which disperses from that time on. From the observations done
and according to the orderly functioning of its usage, the sizing of the canteen
561
can be considered adequate for the amount of students there during lunchtime.
Besides eating, students also use their phones, listen to music and have informal
conversations.
Fig. 223.d) Canteen

During this schedule this corridor has again signiÀcant and very frequent transversal
movements from the teachers’ ofÀces towards the central staircase for the lunch
break. Students and teachers from the science classes also proceed to the staircases,
either at their right or left, and there continues to be students from the exterior
access from the pavilions to the staircase and vice-versa.
The use of the dressing rooms for the dance lessons is also constant. Similarly to
the previous break, artistic teachers go to the music classrooms and students also
wait near the classrooms on the nearest open spaces to the corridor. During this
time students play and talk together, sing and practice their music, and also, as a
pedagogical activity, students have been observed reading and using the computer.
Clearly, as the day continues and students are assigned some homework on the
classes, they tend to use their breaks for practice or even to work on the benches,
besides all the natural social interactions common throughout all the observations.
Fig. 223.e) Main corridor of the Àrst Áoor

During the afternoon this Áoor plan is much more used than in the mornings. This
time period coincides with the beginning of the afternoon and so it has registered
a more frequent movement on the corridors and a more intensive use of the
classrooms, proven by the repeated in-and-out movement from each room and by
the fact that almost every classroom on this Áoor has been occupied at this time.
People move around and also stay in the corridor or in the adjacent small spaces
open to the corridor.
562
The access to and from pavilion A is not so relevant as it was in the previous
observation during the morning break. Teachers started to be perceived from this
time on, as opposed to the morning period when mostly students used this space.
This observation has noted that talking happened but not just between students as
it did before, but also between teachers and students, which is consistent with the
concept of active learning environments and the possibility of learning amongst
the corridors or other informal spaces. It is relevant to consider that corridors
hold movement, and during that movement, or before leaving or entering a
class, conversations can be developed providing knowledge to students. Besides
movement, activities have also been remarked that support that learning ambiance,
such as a student studying musical theory on a bench on the corridor before entering
his class.
At this time the niches adjacent to the corridors become more frequented, while
waiting for a classroom or staying during the spare time in a more demure place,
these niches provide a sense of privacy but also of a pedagogical environment
prone for individual or group learning activities, either programmed if they are a
part of the students’ routines, or non-programmed, if they have been spontaneously
decided. These informal experiences can trigger knowledge and its transmission
amongst the peers in the niches, or between educators and students in the corridors,
as perceived by this observation.
Fig. 223.f) Main corridor of the second Áoor
Fig. 223. Observations 23rd January, 1.00 / 1.30 p.m. _ Ànal drawings
(Carolina Coelho)
. 5.00 p.m. / 5.30 p.m.

The experience on the main hall during the afternoon is quite different from
the morning period, because the conservatory classes become more intense and
hence, so does the space allocated to the artistic curriculum. Besides, the artistic
teaching relates not only to the students from the articulated regime, but also to the
supplementary students that arrive at the conservatory after their classes elsewhere.
All this implies that the main hall at this time period becomes highly dense from the
auditorium side, where the cafeteria is already open and where the central staircase
becomes more used.
563
The users of the main hall are clearly artistically related, from the parents that bring
their children to the conservatory classes and wait in the main hall, to the teachers
and parents that use the auditorium’s cafeteria, to all the people that move along
the main hall entering or existing the premises. Regular students, overall, at this
time usually leave the school or just stay on the main hall while waiting for their
educators to pick them up. Similarly, the regular teachers and staff, if they have not
departed the school earlier, also proceed towards the exit.
Even if there are numerous movements, at this time the striking difference is the
less transversal movements, only taken by the students who leave the school who
have not done it before. The remaining pathways are mainly longitudinal, from the
exterior access to the central staircase that links to the upper Áoors for the artistic
classrooms.
Additionally, at this time period the main hall is used throughout, within all its
length, bearing different users and activities – from the conservatory students and
educators, to the teachers that get together in the cafeteria, to the regular students
waiting to leave the school, to the regular teachers that also leave the school at this
time.
Again, four observers are needed at this time period to inform on all activities and
movements on the main hall, because there is the need to place one in each extremity,
since the auditorium’s cafeteria is now functioning, and the west side still presents
a relevant exit/access point to the Àrst Áoor and to the library that also closes later
on, and two other observers are needed to recall the movement on the central area.
In fact, on that extremity substantial movement is reported because there are many
people, either students alone or in groups or with their parents, or simply the parents
alone, that use the library at this time, and so that attests the intense movement near
the access to the library.
Other conclusion to be taken is that, not only are the users mainly related to the
conservatory, their ages also diverge from the morning period, because there are also
younger students that take music and dance lessons and their educators that bring
them to the conservatory. This is clearer because the remaining regular students at
this time are not usually at the school, which makes these students more noticeable.
564

At this time the library continues with the same activities as already stated in
the previous observation at lunchtime. This time there are clearly more parents
studying with their children, as a programmed activity previously arranged or as a
part of an established routine. There are lesser movements amongst the space and
more activities that demand longer presence in the same space rather than moving
around. The students’ ages are generally lower, which implies they stay there until
their parents pick them up, proving that the library is considered a waiting space that
provides the students with pedagogical materials for their spare time after school.
While, probably, the older ones can go home alone in a more independent way.
Curiously, the fact that the library holds the functioning of a common living room
with highly and diversiÀed pedagogical potential, makes the students like going to
this space and use it in very diverse manners. The hide-and-seek game played there
during this observation time, by two small children, as lower as it could be played,
proves its potential as both an informal and formal space, where children like to
spend time, and where knowledge can be introduced and passed on outside the
strictness of the formal classroom and the content provider teacher.
Fig. 224.b) Library

This observation considers more longitudinal movements throughout the whole
corridor, because at this time music students are intensively placed on this Áoor
and on the upper one for their lessons. The movements have been traced from the
vertical accesses towards each one’s classrooms and while waiting for the lessons
the activities in the corridors are diverse. Playing the guitar as an artistic practice
before class, reading as a pedagogical activity, the use of the locker before exiting
the school, or talking amongst the colleagues, are regular activities perceived in this
space.
565

The use of this Áoor plan, particularly noted on the corridor has been increasingly
higher as the day goes by. No programmed activities have been perceived during
the observations, but informal learning has been noticed by individual practising of
music instruments, studying, or by group working, done along the niches adjacent to
the corridors. To this situation the lighting and heating conditions fairly contribute
to the well-being of the students and their choice for being there, considering
them comfortable spaces for learning or socially engaging in small groups. Also,
its location near the classrooms and its dimensions enable the students to consider
them to be adequate and more private spaces for social, pedagogical or artistic
activities. Even if they are open to the corridors and deployed of any strict walls
or boundaries of enclosure, these spaces are a part of the school and specially
integrated as part of the main corridor on that Áoor, which has representativeness
towards spatial fruition and appropriation.
The afternoon period has more remarkable social interactions in the corridor
between teachers, teachers and students, and also the presence and interaction
of the parents who come with their children, who had not been perceived in the
morning, potentially due to the younger age of these supplementary students.
The observed movement has been uniform throughout the all corridor and the
corridor has been perceived as a common living space, as did the niches, enabling
social conversations and stay. The lesser use of the niches in the extremities, which
have been rather used during the morning period, may be due to the fact that the
employee has moved to that space, potentially hindering some activities that may
have moved to the corridor. Therefore, a sense of privacy may condition the choice
of space for students to be, along with a sense of some freedom or less control.
Fig. 224. Observations 23rd January, 5.00 / 5.30 p.m. _ Ànal drawings
(Carolina Coelho)
25th January 2017 (Wednesday, regular week)
After validation of the results observed, the following days of observations have
been used for identifying any potential discrepancies or special activities that
have occurred, more spontaneously or in a programmed, yet not regular, manner.
566
Therefore, the following commentaries on the Àve observations per day aim to
focus on particularities, and also on proving the constancies of activities and their
respective nature, movements and accesses, occurring in each space observed in
every representative time period.
. 8.00 a.m. / 8.30 a.m.

The movements observed at the morning arrival on this Wednesday are particularly
similar to the ones from the previous Monday. Students, teachers and staff all arrive
from the same access door from the street. Students from the regular teaching
usually cross the main hall towards the external courtyards and so do the students
with light weight music instruments. The students from the articulated regime that
have their own music instruments all come into the school carrying them. If they
are voluminous or heavy they choose to go up and leave them in their lockers or in
the room for that purpose on the Àrst Áoor. If they have classes afterwards they go
from the internal corridors placed on the upper Áoors to the external pavilions, or to
the science labs on the Àrst Áoor. If not they can arrange a classroom for practising,
either alone or in small groups, specially if they do not own an instrument and need
to use the conservatory’s.
Teachers also come into the school choosing mainly the central staircase that
goes straight to the teachers’ common living room or to their ofÀces, separated
by scientiÀc areas, and from there to the external pavilions through the internal
corridors that connect this hallway to the remaining pavilions of the school or
the external courtyards. That explains the choice of the central staircase for both
the teachers and the artistic students, because it is the nearest to the transversal
wing with those ofÀces and the room for the music instruments to be kept. Staff
usually goes to their common living room Àrst and then splits up towards each one’s
placement in the school.
Therefore, the arrival is translated onto longitudinal movements towards the

staircases, both central and on the west side of the building, and also transversally
to the exterior, to the staff ’s common living room, to the toilets, to the secretariat
and to the Directions’ ofÀces. Standing activities are often translated into social
ones such as conversing, and pedagogical like studying.
The staircase near the library is also used particularly for the dance students whose
studios are on that side of the building on the upper Áoors – these are easily
perceived as dance students, due to their sporting clothes, the hair due of the ballet
dancers and their bags carrying all the gear.
As in the previous day, students continue to use the card machines, even if on
Monday the usage was signiÀcantly higher – potentially because it represented
567
the beginning of the week. This is the major discrepancy between the previous
observation day.
The seating area on the benches and sofas is quite similar and the intensity of
movement towards the beginning of the classes at 8.30 a.m. is also identical.
Students tend to seat on the benches and from the point were they are all taken,
there is an accumulation of students surrounding the ones that are seated. At some
point the patterns of co-presence are so dense that the natural moment trajectories
have to be contoured because people cannot go in a straight line due to all the
agglomerations of students staying on the main hall.
Under a closer observation the students have routines where they separate themselves
according to their areas of interest (shown by the nature of their conversations
and overall activities), but foremost according to their age group. It is possible to
identify that older students get together near the library and that younger ones
stay on the longitudinal benches more central in the main hall and near the middle
staircase. There are also some students who wait for their friends on the exterior of
the school, while others wait for their colleagues near the entrance to the cafeteria
in smaller groups. The staff ’s counter is also a meeting point because it generates
conversation and interaction between the staff and some students, particularly
younger ones. Some couples wait for one another immediately near the entrance
before departing to their classrooms. All of these stays lead to a high density of
people near the entrance, which is added according to the increasing arrival of all
the school community as the beginning of the classes approaches.
The older students tend to spend their time using their phones, which is a very
signiÀcant activity on the daily life of today’s students, clearly observed during any
break in the school. Even at the time when they are together each one is using
his phone individually or looking at the other one’s. The phone is mostly used for
listening to music, playing and using social media. A few also look into books and
produce some pedagogical activities. The younger students, on the other hand, talk
mostly with each other in a more face-to-face and spontaneous manner.
It is also the younger students who usually arrive earlier, probably because they
are brought by their educators who will then go to work. The older ones, if they
come by their own, usually arrive closer to the start of classes at 8.30 a.m., when
trajectories tend to be quicker and denser amongst this space, in the Àfteen minutes
prior to the beginning of the classes.
Until relatively 8.10 a.m. there is a signiÀcant lower density of people: students,
teachers and staff. Activities are done slower and in smaller groups, and movement
is also quite slower because the arrival at any point is only due to twenty minutes
afterwards.
568
This has all been possible to observe because the weather allowed this dispersion of
people through the exterior and interior spaces. On a rainy day, it is probable that
students will not take the external courtyards and choose to climb the stairs to go
through the internal corridors to the pavilions, and that the students do not wait for
their partners in the exterior of the building.

This observation is quite similar to the previous one on Monday at the same time.
The movement was so slow that it could be easily depicted. This time a group of
students met, Àrst two teenagers were talking to each other on a table, then two
boys and two girls of about the same age joined in. Afterwards a student was alone
on a table when another one joined in and they started to talk. When the bell rang
for the start of classes all students left the space. Six to ten students of about Àfteen
to sixteen years old went to the card machine and then went back out.

It is concluded from this observation that the main movement is from the central
staircase to the teachers’ ofÀces, for teachers and also for the music students that go
towards the room in that direction to leave their music instruments. Students overall
take the staircases for going towards the Àrst Áoor and access the external pavilions.
The topside of the corridor used for dance lessons is very intensively used before
lessons and generates movement, social and artistic practices nearby. These dance
569
students are the most frequent users of the staircase near the library on the ground
Áoor that leads directly to this side.
Hence, there is a clear unbalance of density and use from the centre of the corridor
towards the science labs, the dance studio and the external access that is highly
frequented. The east side of the corridor is more used during the afternoon period
when all music classrooms are occupied, whereas during the morning this side is
more speciÀcally used for accessing the students’ lockers. Naturally, the density of
teachers and students in space increases as the beginning of classes approaches.

Again this observation proves that at this time this Áoor plan has very little use.
During this observation there have been no staff or teachers perceived in this
Áoor. Only students used the space as a pathway and merely two younger girls were
observed to be talking in one of the corridor’s niches. Two classrooms have been
opened by students to place their instruments and other music materials.
Fig. 225. Observations 25th January, 8.00 / 8.30 a.m. _ Ànal drawings
(Carolina Coelho)
. 10.00 a.m. / 10.30 a.m.

There are no signiÀcant differences from the previous observation day at the same
time period in this space. This is one of the breaks used by students to go to the
card machine, which generates long and dense queues near these machines. It is also
a break for students to go to the library for quick matters or clearing any doubts
near the teacher or staff.
Students singing and studying near the auditorium’s cafeteria have also been
identiÀed. As it is a more demure space, further from the highest density of users,
some artistic students come here, even if the cafeteria is not open at this time,
precisely to have more privacy and practice in small groups. Others also come here
570
for studying in a more reserved and quite place, which is provided with seating and
chairs, relevant for this purpose.
At 10.10 a.m. students tend to leave the main hall and head for their classes’ location,
as classes begin again at 10.15 a.m., which diminishes the density of people on the
main hall from that time on. From the moment classes start the main hall is almost
deserted, deployed from the students and teachers in class, and has only the staff
that uses these moments for cleaning and the passing teachers and staff from the
secretariat and the Direction that move through this area.

Similarly to the previous observation day, during this time period there has been a
signiÀcant increase in people in space, mostly by students older than fourteen years old.
The most frequent movements are from the entrance to the card machine and then
to the bar, because the purchases can only be made after passing by the card machine.
Or, more shortly, students come from the entrance door to the card machine and
subsequently leave the space. With a few exceptions of small groups that stay in the
cafeteria to eat and talk, the remaining leave the bar after purchasing their snacks.
Close to the end of the break the cafeteria gets generally empty, this is the time
when a few employees come to have something to eat and the staff cleans the Áoor
and the tables. Unusually, a student still stays there studying after classes restart. If
teachers and staff need to use the cafeteria, they use it before or after the students’
break, avoiding queues and the high density of people in space.
571

This observation has been quite similar to the one on the previous day, for the same
schedule. Henceforth, the main activities undertaken at this time have been the
following: reading newspapers and magazines, book and online research and doing
the homework, which proves that learning activities are supported by diverse media
and also diversiÀed ways of working.
As this schedule coincides with the mid-morning break, the errands done in the
library are of short duration and so, the entrances and exits in and from the space
are frequent, namely for quick searches on computers, books and magazines. The
library space also provides conditions for placing the students’ backpacks and small
group conversations as active, yet informal, learning environments.
There have even been two smaller children that have entered the library only to
pursue a short conversation with the library employee, which also proves the
informality and foremost the well-being feeling provided by the space and the
people and its possible experiences.
The most remarkable evidence reported from this particular observation is that younger
students tend to be placed near the entrance and closer to the library employee, whose
engagement and support makes them feel welcome. Instead, the older students tend
to choose locations further away from the entrance door, where the visual control is
more difÀcult and where a sense of higher freedom could be perceived.
Fig. 226.c) Library

This schedule is much richer in terms of diversity of activities and quantity of users
in this space. Contrarily to the previous observation at the morning arrival, this
time all the corridor is at use on both sides and the movement towards the teachers’
ofÀces gets a more uniform nature in regard to the remaining pathways.
Classrooms that are held on both extremities of the corridor hold students nearby
on the two closest open spaces to the corridor, also with the ones waiting to go in
the small auditorium. On the dance studio side there is an accumulation of dance
students, namely female ones, waiting for their lessons to begin at the entrance of
the studio or near the dressing rooms.
572
Interestingly, the corridor on the transversal hallway of the building where the labs
are located serves as a common living space for the students that wait for their
classes to start and that stay near their following location. The fact they are seen
sitting down on the Áoor or standing up in small groups and socially interacting
proves this situation.
This observation could be divided into separate times: on the Àrst ten minutes of
the break the space is more intensively used from the pavilions to the staircases,
from 10.10 a.m. to 10.15. a.m. it has lower intensity of movement, and from that
time on users go straight to their destinations: classrooms, pavilions, the small
auditorium, the dance studio,…

Similarly to the previous observation day at the same time, there has been an increased
use of the corridor on this morning break, particularly related to the crossing from
pavilion A to the staircase downwards. There was noted the passing of four teachers
and two employees from the staff, and the remaining users were students.
It is also the dance lessons that generate a high density of movement near the
studio and its access is done by the nearest staircase from the Àrst Áoor. Students
of about thirteen to fourteen years old gather around the studio’s entrance and the
toilet nearby. The remaining students on the Áoor are located in small groups and
attend the secondary teaching or the 5th and 6th grades.
(Carolina Coelho)
. 1.30 p.m. / 2.00 p.m.

As seen, this is the time period in which students and teachers leave the school if
they do not have lunch there, again perpetrating the entering and leaving movement
from and towards the staircases, the Direction’s hallway and the external courtyard
to the main access door.
573
This particular observation has noted a gathering of a teacher with students, which
is also due to this common use of the space by all the community, gathering teachers
and students in the same place and potentially generating encounters and even
conversations, which ultimately can have pedagogical potential.
Even so, also the parents wait outside for their children near the entrance, gathering
more people on this access point. As there are no classes from the regular teaching
on Wednesdays afternoon, this exiting movement by students from the school is
even more profound.
Students are perceived waiting to be picked up by their educators and others eating
light snacks at the main hall. While waiting, students also choose to talk amongst
each other, start their homework or contemplate the multiple displays on the hall
with the latest information and news from the school, as it was perceived during
the observations. Younger students continue to be identiÀed as more active and to
endure in more physical activities with their peers, which corresponded to small
races and playing in groups that happened during this observation time, particularly
because the main hall has a long length for those games without bothering the
remaining students.
Anyway, there are less people using this space as a staying area compared to the
morning arrival or the mid-morning break and it is more concentrated in the central
area, on the benches adjacent to the glass windows, that on the remaining spaces.
There is always someone, either students, staff and teachers, near the entrance
counter for socialising or for any information required.
There is still some movement towards the card machines, but quite less noteworthy.
There is some entrance and exiting movement to and from the cafeteria, which also
relates to the cafeteria as being the exit place from the canteen. After lunch some
movement for entering the school by the teachers has also been remarked, for
attending their afternoon meetings.

With regard to the compared observation made at the same time period on the
previous observation day, there has been fewer people using this space. Not many
574
people stay in the cafeteria at the same time and there are no lines to the card
machine nor to the bar, this time. Instead, the number of people that stay there
to actually eat is larger and they use the free chairs to do it. There are less social
activities, also because they do not spend so many times in both lines, where social
interaction usually happens here. Most users of the cafeteria are over fourteen
years old and staff also goes to the cafeteria, particularly after classes start or after
lunch time, also for ensuring that everything is accordingly, for cleaning and for
checking the card machine.
At 2.00 p.m. the door to the canteen opens and the cafeteria is turned into a crossing
space between the canteen and the main hall, heading towards the exterior, the
vertical accesses, the library or the toilets, creating a new pathway.

As explained earlier, the fact that there are no regular classes on Wednesday
afternoon, leads to a all different use of spaces and respective density of movement
and activities. This is proven by a proportionally higher frequency of artistic students
because the regular ones have left school at lunch time. Naturally, this impacts all
the spaces of the school and the consequent reports from the observations.
The students that remain at the library on the afternoons are students from the
artistic teaching, which will have artistic classes later on in the afternoon. The
noticeable activities are very similar the previously observed ones, even though the
students’ proÀle at this time period is very speciÀc. It has been reported that students
use the library at this time for: research, group or individual work, leisure, reading,
book requests, games,… The demand for information is very frequent amongst
the students that attend the library, probably linked to a comforting support felt
towards the library staff.
Again it has also been veriÀed that the tables closer to the entrance and the staff
tend to be occupied by the youngsters, while the ones further back are chosen by
575
the older students. This could also be paralleled to the placement of the students on
the main hall, whose observations have also concluded the speciÀc positioning of
the older vs the younger students. Therefore, habits and routines are very present on
spatial fruition and recall a certain grouping, age, or any kind of connotation from
the students and their peers.
Fig. 227.c) Library

This particular day had the speciÀcity of holding in this space nearly twice as much
children from the ones observed on Monday. This implied that children gathered
around more intensively at the entrance and on the queue. At 2.00 p.m. it started
to get less denser even though the queue was still long, and at that same time the
employee who takes the tickets for lunch closed the entrance door and opened the
exit towards the cafeteria so that students started to spread around near the exit.
Again, besides having lunch, the noted activities were similar from Monday, such as:
talking, using the phone and playing.
The most determining pathways are connected with the order deÀned for the
functioning of the canteen: entering the queue and circling the tables laterally until
delivering the card, getting lunch near the display, and seating in one of the tables,
afterwards the students take their trays to the shelves on the corner and exit the
room. The densest paths are the ones that all students have to take, namely the
entrance to the line, from there each can choose the seating space, spreading around
the canteen.
Fig. 227.d) Canteen
576

Again a disparity in the density of users is noted from the east to the west side
of the Áoor, due to the higher frequency of movements between the teachers’
ofÀces and science labs to the vertical accesses, which is the highest for the Àrst Àve
minutes after classes end.
The niches open to the corridor are now used in a more diversiÀed manner. There
are students singing and playing instruments for practising, when classes are all
occupied, like an harp student sitting on a bench in one of the well-lit niches,
which embed the corridor with a distinctive music ambiance, very speciÀc of
this school. This can be perceived as a programmed activity because the student
has said to be a scheduled activity taken on every Wednesday afternoon at this
time, when a member of the staff helps her to get the harp onto the corridor for
practising.
Pedagogically, there are students doing group work, reading books and taking notes
in pairs. Socially, there are also students talking informally while waiting for the next
classes. When students intend to read, study or practice alone they choose smaller
niches for a more private space and ambiance. Teachers use the path between their
classrooms, the teachers’ ofÀces and the stairs to talk in a quick manner.

During this time there is a signiÀcant amount of movement to and from the
classrooms in this Áoor, by both teachers and students, and most intensely from the
central staircase towards the east side of the corridor.
During this break there was an employee controlling the activities in this corridor,
sat at the desk, but there has been no movement, nor any activity near this
employee. The registered social activities have been the following: in front of the
central staircase a young student using her phone, a mother sat waiting for her
child and leaving the Áoor plan after the child leaves the classroom, four artistic
teachers met in from of the central lift to have an informal conversation and a
student was placed outside the classroom waiting for it to start. These are all
artistically related activities, linked to the classes and which involve students, staff
and even educators/parents, which is particularly relevant in the conservatory
rather than in the school.
577
Fig. 227. Observations 25th January, 1.00 / 1.30 p.m. _ Ànal drawings
(Carolina Coelho)
. 5.00 p.m. / 5.30 p.m.

During the afternoon and between the two observations, the Áoor’s layout has
been submitted to a change in the furniture rearrangement for the purposes of
an exhibition. So, already at this observation, an exhibition was already in display
and the sofas that were placed longitudinally, adjacent to the glass windows, have
been moved towards the centre of the space so that posters could be placed on the
perimeter near the library topside of the main hall. Naturally, that this has changed
the experience in this space, mostly because students now tended to seat in the
same sofas but the way in which they stand to gather themselves has changed.
The sofas were placed in pairs and opposite to one another, so that students could
not be together in a row or in a semi-circle as they did before, but rather in two
sets of two. If that group grew to a bigger set of colleagues, then the ones in the
back of the Àrst had to turn towards the Àrst, which proves it is not the most
comfortable layout for groups but only for pairs of students alone, particularly if
this is a position for stay in for more than the regular break of a quarter of an hour.
This leads to the clear conclusion that furniture plays a very relevant role in the
seating position of the students and implies the way in which people act, live and
talk amongst each other.
Another relevant statement concerning this observation is that there are no regular
classes on Wednesday afternoon, because it is the time for teachers’ regular meetings.
So, if there are fewer students because the regular curriculum students have already
left the building at lunchtime, it is concluded on a signiÀcant lower movement and
density of co-presence than on the previous observations day at the same time.
Therefore, the movement perceived has been caused by the conservatory, and in
the case of this space, it is related to the auditorium’s cafeteria, which normally
already gathers a high density of users.
The auditorium’s cafeteria has predominantly more students but also parents and
teachers, acting as an aggregator of a whole artistic community rather than the
school cafeteria, which is restricted to students. Here students talk, practice, eat and
study, there was even perceived a student studying with his parent; gathering social,
artistic and pedagogical activities overall in an informal space.
578
Overall, movements are mostly longitudinally on the main hall, because students
arrive at the conservatory or leave it, but there are also the ones that seat in the
benches or sofas, alone or in groups, for social or pedagogical experiences, such
as the student perceived studying alone on the bench, even if for this particular
observation the densest space for staying has been the auditorium’s cafeteria.

Having already perceived the regular routine of the library’s usage according to
each time period, this observation has been able to be even more thorough and to
establish that at this time there were about twenty to twenty-Àve students in the
space. This corresponds relatively to half of the students that were on the same
observation on Monday. This is probably due to the fact that regular classes are not
held on Wednesday afternoon, which diminishes the overall users to the ones of
the artistic curriculum.
From the students accounted for in this observation, relatively half are working
formally on their homework or studying, and the remaining half are pursing activities
that tend to be more informally engaged like talking amongst each other. This is
a speciÀc feature provided by this space, its furnishing, its staff and, foremost, its
pedagogical project, that also responds to the lack of a common student room
and the need of an informal learning environment, particularly prone for both the
regular and the artistic curricula.
Even though visual control can be rather difÀcult to perceive all the activities
undertaken in the library, the staff proves to be keen on ensuring the ambiance of
this space, and so, the employee moves around quite often to verify what is being
done by the students.
Fig. 228.b) Library
579

This is the time where there is a higher level of occupation of all the classrooms
on this Áoor. The classrooms are not soundproof towards the corridor which also
embeds this space with a very diversiÀed and enriched artistic ambiance and the
movement along the corridor provides a change in the instruments and music genre
that makes it even more interesting in artistic terms and pedagogically varied in the
curriculum options provided.
Again at this time, teachers, students and parents cross the corridor, while others
wait for their classes by practising on the corridor benches. Interestingly, this has
been the moment when there was noted the least amount of people in space.
This could be potentially explained by the fact that there are no regular classes on
Wednesday afternoon and that teachers are in meetings or have left the building.

During this time period there have been constant entries and exits to and from the
classrooms. There have also always been people standing on the corridor. Socially
the users have done the same activities noted previously, to which this observation
added the following: younger students playing with a ball in a larger niche near
the corridor, leading to the access to pavilion A – this has been noted as a space
chosen for particular younger children to spend time and as already perceived in
other observations, these children have more active games and physically interact
more. Also there were children having a mid-afternoon snack, talking and using
their phones. Talking is recurrent amongst the whole artistic community: between
teachers, teachers and students, between students, and also engaging their parents.
Particularly during this observation there have been an extensive amount of

educators/parents and grandparents on the corridors, waiting for their children to
Ànish or start their classes. These relate to younger, ten year-old children or less.
There were some students who check the information on the display boards on
the walls. There was also an employee controlling the activities on that Áoor sat on
a desk. Nearby this employee there were two children sat on the Áoor producing
some craft materials as a pedagogical activity, curiously undertaken on the Áoor of
an informal space. This could be a personal choice from the students due to the
privacy of this space compared to the main hall, or to the presence of the employee
ensuring their well-being, the adequate lighting conditions, or simply due to the
location of the space near a relevant space for them.
580
Nearly all classroom were being used, which contributed to the highest density
of movement in this space noted so far, and contrarily to the same observation
on Monday, the high-density of people lasted throughout the all thirty-minute
observation.
Fig. 228. Observations 25th January, 5.00 / 5.30 p.m. _ Ànal drawings
(Carolina Coelho)
7th February 2017 (Tuesday, exam week)
After the two previous observation days, the following will serve as validation of the
activities and the movements reported and to depict speciÀcities noticed on these
particular days. The following observations concern a Tuesday and a Thursday,
which differ from the previous Monday and Wednesday chosen. This is relevant
since the school has a weekly routine in which classes are arranged and therefore,
the scheduled classes infer on the use of space, their movements and activities and
the density of people on each of the chosen spaces for observations.
Naturally, the following reports will aim to add further and more detailed
information and to conÀrm or question the previous observations days in regard to
their frequency or repetition.
Besides, the week chosen for these observations has been a week where tests have
been more frequent, which might imply more pedagogical activities all over the
school and undertaken during the students’ breaks or free time. This will be added
to the conclusions. Again, the noticed activities and movements will also be able
to assume if these can be programmed or a part of a repeated routine and not as
spontaneous as it appeared on the Àrst two days – this is, in fact, something only
perceived with repeated observations.
Redundancy in regard to activities and similar description of spatial experience will

be avoided and replaced with the depiction of novel activities and a critical regard
on the observed spatial fruition in relation to the space, its features, location and
overall conditions it holds for hosting the activities perceived.
581
. 8.00 a.m. / 8.30 a.m.

Probably because it is raining there are much more children and teachers climbing
the central staircase than on the remaining days, and from there they take the
interior corridors towards the external pavilions, avoiding to go straightforward by
the exterior courtyards. Also because it is raining, the students that usually wait for
their peers outside the school have been closer to the entrance trying not to get too
wet. It is possible to conclude that the choice of path, when several can be taken to
the same location, may differ if some variable changes. And if in situations when
all variables remain equal people tend to choose the path they usually do, becoming
a routine, if something like the weather changes, then another pathway may be
chosen or an activity may be done differently.
In regard to learning activities this could also be potentially applied. In this case,
being a week where there are more exams, it will be expected that longer and more
frequent pedagogical activities occur, as compared to the previous observation days.
It was also reported that more teachers and staff have entered the secretariat and
Directions’ ofÀces, before going to their classes, compared to the previous days.
Also there are more young children at the main hall than usually, possibly waiting
for their colleagues or waiting for the rain to stop before leading on to class.
Another remark during this particular observation is that the distribution of

movements throughout the main hall seems more balanced than on the remaining
days. It is possible that this may be connected to the fact that there are less older
students there and that younger ones tend to spread around the space. Anyway, the
activities continue to be quite similar to the previously noted ones: using the phone
and talking socially, studying regular curriculum subjects, and studying beats and
rhythms by artistic students.
As it has been noted, the layout of the sofas near the library has changed for a
temporary exhibition. The current placement of the sofas back to back hampers
social encounters and interaction in bigger groups. This could potentially explain
the choice for the tables and chairs on the auditorium’s cafeteria by some groups of
students to seat together and engage socially.
582

This observation proves the routines perceived in the days prior. Students enter the
space for using the card machine, in order to purchase lunch or a snack throughout
the day. Only a student has stood on a table reading and using his phone and two
others stood on a table talking. Clearly, this is a less used space at this time period
which is mainly used for the card machine, that even holds a small queue near the
start of the classes at 8.30 a.m..

This observation day led to establish the recurrence of some activities and
movements. The highest density on this space during this observation occurs
near the start of classes, just before 8.30 a.m., prior to this schedule, students and
teachers either have not arrived to school yet or are in other spaces such as the main
hall before climbing the stairs. In the Àrst ten minutes of the observation some
students have been identiÀed to be there studying, possibly choosing this space for
its quietness during this time of the day, the fact that it has natural light and is well-
lit and due to the existence of furniture that enables seating and working.
The central staircase is the most used vertical access, both by students and teachers,
in which the Àrst head towards this Áoor for using their lockers or the room for
dropping off their music instruments, and the latter towards their ofÀces.
The most socially engaged area of this corridor is the niche near the dressing rooms
that is used for waiting until the dressing rooms are open for preparing for the
dance lessons. Meanwhile, students stand there talking to each other.
583

This is one of the least used spaces at this schedule. During the all half an hour
of this observation it stood practically empty. There has only been movement of
people towards their lockers, which have led them to climb up two sets of stairs,
particularly with heavy or voluminous music instruments they leave in there.
There have only been three female students talking amongst themselves and another
student using his phone, all in the niches open to the corridor. There was also a
student from the secondary level studying there. This observation, as detailed as
this is, is only possible precisely because the number of users during the morning
arrival is very diminished, while on other spaces, even if the number of observers is
higher, it is not possible to make this description, to count the users in this precise
manner, or to perceive so clearly the nature of their activities or age range.
(Carolina Coelho)
. 10.00 a.m. / 10.30 a.m.

During this observation older students have been signiÀcantly more than younger
ones on this space. The snack and card machines are very used and generate queues.
There continues to be a more intense use of the central staircase as compared to the
previous days, and also following the remarks of the early morning observations,
when this situation had already been reported.
Besides, and on the same note as the previous observation, there are more students
seating together at the tables of the auditorium’s cafeteria and on the benches near
the glass windows. This could be explained by the weather that impedes students
to go outside the exterior courtyards to get together, and instead they stay on the
main hall.
So, lacking a common living room, students use the main hall for both directional
movements and also for standing, socially, pedagogically and artistically. Students
spread around in the space and choose a seating space, from a wide variety: the
sofas near the library, the benches near the glass windows near the library and near
the central staircase, and the seating space with tables on the auditorium’s cafeteria.
584
With their scattered location, students tend to be placed in clusters according to

their age groups, teaching curriculum, interests and afÀnities,... Some even choose
to stand instead of seating, and just stay in the middle of the space when the lateral
areas are already too dense. There are also students who rather stand individually
near a wall or on a corner for a more demure placement, and others near the entrance
to the cafeteria or the exterior courtyard, for potential higher social prominence or
for more easily being seen by their friends. At 10.15 a.m. when the classes restart
the staff starts cleaning the space.

There are groups of students joint together near the tables closest to the entrance
door of the cafeteria. Ten minutes after the beginning of the break there is a queue
for the card machine, but on the contrary there is no line at the bar. The space gets
overly loud and rather uncomfortable for staying. It has also been noted that the
students who have used this space are about fourteen to Àfteen years old.
After 10.15 a.m. the cafeteria gets relatively empty because classes have started, the
staff cleans the space and the tables and checks the functioning of the card machine.

From the previous observation there has been a slight change in the furniture
arrangement: a display has been placed where a sofa was before, the lounging area
has a new layout and there are also more sofas near the lockers.
585
There have been students of all ages going to the library during this observation.
In the Àrst Àfteen minutes the movement and the activities in the library have
been quicker and in the last part of the observation the activities have been mostly
related to individual study. As already perceived in the previous observations,
activities there are very diversiÀed, mainly regarding: the delivery or book request,
individual or group study, online research, talking and using the phone and also
some artistic activities related to the study of music sheets, where students sang
lower and rehearsed the rhythm.
Overall, the nature of these activities is proven to be open, where the conservatory
and the school play relevant roles in the kind of activities and also the possibility
of socialising in this space that also embeds it with both a formal and informal
learning character.
Fig. 230.c) Library

During this time period the movement throughout the corridor is extended towards
its whole length and not only transversally connecting some rooms or accesses,
as it did during the morning arrival. In the Àrst part of the observation students
leave their classrooms either from the science labs, the accesses from the external
pavilions or the artistic classrooms and take the staircases, at a later moment students
take the opposite way and come from several rooms from the school towards their
classrooms on that Áoor.
It is during the exiting from the classrooms and the moment before the next classes
start that the corridor has the highest density of users, in the meanwhile students
choose to go to the main hall, to the exterior, or the cafeteria for their few spare
time on this break. After classes restart there are only a few teachers and staff that
pass through the corridor. The highest gathering of students occurs in the corridor,
near the accesses and also on the standing areas on the open niches.
586

Along this observation there has been a wide range of students near the dance
studio, which has already been considered an aggregator of many students, also
because the lessons take on wider groups, opposite to the music lessons that are
individually-led or in small sets.
Between going to the lockers and standing near the classrooms, students take the
time to talk amongst themselves. Cleaning has also been done during this time, in the
corridor and on the classrooms. There have been a signiÀcant amount of students
and teachers going in-and-out from the classrooms. Besides the students, also
teachers have been noticed to stay on the corridors doing some pedagogical activities
connected to their classes, such as consulting documentation and taking notes.
Fig. 230. Observations 7th February, 10.00 / 10.30 a.m. _ Ànal drawings
(Carolina Coelho)
. 1.30 p.m. / 2.00 p.m.

This observation came to prove the noticed activities and paths pointed out before.
There is an intense movement towards the exit after classes Ànish for the lunch
break. The students who choose to stay in the main hall eat, play and talk socially,
but also study by books, which is particularly associated with this test week. They
also use their computers and there are even students singing, which also proves the
highly artistic ambiance this school is embedded in.
Still, this is a space with lesser staying activities on this schedule as compared to the
morning arrival or the mid-morning break. At this time people usually leave school
rather than being at this space in particular, because there are other spaces they
could be in, such as the cafeteria or the canteen.
587

As this is lunchtime it has been noted that some students take light snacks on
the cafeteria tables. At 1.45 p.m. all tables are fully occupied. There are lesser
movements than during the morning break, but more standing activities, explained
by the amount of students that occupy all the seating spaces. There continues to be
a queue for the card machine as it has happened in the previous breaks.
Nevertheless, there has not been such a density of users as there was in the mid-
morning beak. The difference at this time is that during the morning students
purchase the tickets and leave to use them afterwards, and at this time, students
purchase the tickets to use them right away at the bar.
Again by this observation, it is clear that it is the younger students who occupy the
tables near the entrance by the staff employee, contrarily to the older ones that
take up the ones on the middle. The rear end tables are less occupied. There has
been noted a signiÀcant exit movement at 1.45 p.m., and after classes start there
are less entries on the library and a few students who had remained there, studying
or playing, also leave after some time. The perceived activities are similar to the
previous observations.
Fig. 231.c) Library
588

As noticed in the preceding two days of observations, the use of this space is very
strict in order to provide all the meals and retain order and the well-functioning
of such a high-density of users and respective movements. Again, this day proves
the same routine: students enter the queue; leave their backpack on the benches,
the corners near the entrance, or on the Áoor; take a tray and their lunch and head
towards a table. While the Àrst activities are common for all and are taken on the
same spaces, the choice of table may induce different paths according to the place
for having lunch. Afterwards, students leave their trays, pick up their backpacks
and leave the space. Again at 2.00 p.m. a staff member opens the door to the
cafeteria, which was once closed, so that students can more easily exit this heavily
dense space. The most speciÀc remark during this observation has been the largest
amount of students using it, which was signiÀcantly higher than on the previous
observations days. Nevertheless, there is also more staff to aid and therefore the
queue does not increase with this amount of students, even though the line gets to
the exterior of the canteen.
Fig. 231.d) Canteen

During this observation there are no dense Áows of people as there were clearly
deÀned previously and, in general, there was a decrease in the amount of users in
both the corridor and the niches.
Therefore, as it is a time where this space is less busy, students use the space for a
higher production of pedagogical activities in groups, and they choose the benches
adjacent to the corridor to undertake them.
Also throughout the corridor, the lack of soundprooÀng from the music classrooms
carries forward the sound from each class to the corridor, enabling a mixture of
different sounds, instruments and rhythms, also embodying the artistic ambiance
that the conservatory has, that the space provides and that the school inherits from
this sharing of spaces. From 1.45 p.m. onwards there is a decrease in movement
overall, and the passing of users starts to be more sporadically.
589

During this observation more teachers have been noted on the corridors of the
second Áoor. Several music classrooms were being used for practising and teaching
to play music instruments and also a group has left the dance studio after the class.
There has been a deÀnite higher use of the east top side of the building compared
to the west one, which is clear in the intensity of the drawn movements and activities
in the following plan.
The activities perceived have been: using the phone, which is very recurrent throughout
all spaces and students, eating a snack for lunch and talking, and there was a staff
member visually controlling the space and all the activities from her desk.
Fig. 231. Observations 7th February, 1.00 / 1.30 p.m. _ Ànal drawings
(Carolina Coelho)
. 5.00 p.m. / 5.30 p.m.

In this observation, the queue for the card machine near the auditorium was
exceptionally long and there were also two staff members near the auditorium
entrance because the exterior access is open for the programmed activities that had
been occurring in the auditorium related to auditions for an international piano
contest.
So, after the break starts a higher density of people is observed towards the exit,
but a few moments afterwards the highest location of people is placed near the
auditorium, which is explained by the numerous external participants in the contest.
This also highlights the relevance of the conservatory towards the artistic teaching
of an extended area and the prominence of the auditorium as an urban equipment
of higher representativeness, even internationally, as proven by this contest.
This area near the auditorium’s cafeteria also aggregates students of diverse age groups
and students with parents studying together. The benches where students used to seat
during the remaining breaks are now a place to leave their backpacks and go play.
590

On this schedule it was the younger students that were perceived to be most
signiÀcant users of the library, probably waiting to be picked up by their parents
or waiting for their artistic classes, as opposed to the older ones that can more
autonomously leave school.
Several people have been seen going all the way until the end of the space and
returning back, probably seeking for someone. This can induce the possibility that
the library could be a meeting point for a lot of students and also a space where
students usually choose to be during this time of the day. This movement could
also be justiÀed for choosing the table that each ones considers to be better placed
in space, near a speciÀc furniture, shelf, technological device, or someone. So,
by acknowledging the available spots and choosing the one that better suits each
person, according to his preferences, the activities to be done, the routines and
nearby students, this also generates movement.
Despite this reported movements, the stays are more frequent than the movements.
Interestingly, at this time of the day this library acts particularly as a social space
rather than a formal studying environment.
Besides the speciÀcity of the choice in location of the younger vs the older students,
there have also been noticed other differences in spatial fruition and learning
processes. The younger students prefer to use physical supports for learning, such
as books and magazines, while the older ones often research online on their phones
or in the computers. If younger students use the school’s devices, probably because
they do not have their own computer or do not bring it to school, on the contrary,
the older students only resort to the school’s computers to check on the library’s
catalogue of existing books.
The change in furniture display detailed on the previous observation did not
inÁuence the activities observed in that lounging space, compared to the remaining
observations. That can be a noteworthy conclusion as opposed to what could have
been expected, since the previous exhibition had been there for about two weeks
and has been replaced for more two sets of sofas that did not bring any more
people to that area, even though the seating space had been enlarged.
591
Fig. 232.b) Library

At this time there is a different perception of movement from the central staircase
to the west and the east topsides of the corridor. There have been more isolated
movements along the side of the small auditorium, where students and teachers go
individually to each of their classrooms. While the movement towards the dance
studio has been more noticeable towards the exits, the niches and the lockers. Besides,
the dance studio aggregates a signiÀcant amount of students near the entrance, the
dressing rooms and the nearby niches. As previously regarded, the presence of the
parents accompanying their children is more evident during this schedule.
The room conceived as a common living room is strictly used by the students who
belong to the Student Association that has won the vote, therefore, others are left aside
and simply do not enter the space, which has even its doors closed. It demonstrates
clear signs of misappropriation and even some deterioration of the space which
could be perceived as overly dimensioned for only the Student Association. This
is aggravated by the fact that the school distinctively lacks a common living space
for students which from the observations has to be overcome by the heavily use of
corridors, the main hall, the lounging space on the library, the corridor of the science
labs and the small niches open to the corridors on the Àrst and second Áoors,…

This has been the time where this Áoor has had the highest density of use, gathering
students of all ages, both from the articulated and supplementary teaching regimes.
Teachers, students and parents passed by the corridor, there was a frequent
movement of entering and exiting the classrooms, social activities were undertaken
while waiting for classes to start and students also consulted the information on the
displays related to the conservatory teaching.
592
(Carolina Coelho)
9th February 2017 (Thursday, exam week)
The Ànal observations day served to validate the previous reports, to conÀrm the
already noticed activities and movements, and to identify the routines from the
non-programmed experiences in space.
. 8.00 a.m. / 8.30 a.m.

Besides the regular activities already observed, there have been students undertaking
educational activities, namely study for their up-coming classes and/or tests.
Additionally, students have spontaneously engaged some of the teachers passing
by, asking them some questions on those concerns. But, overall, this observation
has proven a similar routine on spatial fruition and it has even become clear that the
same people use the same spaces already identiÀed and move in their frequent paths.
So, the older students who seat near the library on the benches or sofas, continue
to be in this area but stand in a denser and more compact manner. Meanwhile, the
younger students that seat on the benches near the central staircase are placed more
longitudinally along all the sidewall. The overall accumulation of students near the
glass windows can be justiÀed by the lack of benches on the opposite wall and also
because of the visibility towards the exterior of the school.

As seen by the previous observations, this is the time period when the cafeteria
is the least used and mostly only by students that head towards the card machine.
593
During this observation it was able to detail this further and count generally
thirty people going to the cafeteria, including staff and students. At 8.00 a.m. two
students came to seat in the cafeteria for a previously programmed study time,
which might be related to the fact this is a test week and the work overload is
higher for students, implying more time spent on pedagogical activities. This is
very relevant, concluding that the cafeteria, at this time, precisely because it does
not have very much users, can be a place for pedagogical programmed activities
amongst the peers and without teachers, also proving that informal spaces are
also suitable learning environments.

This observation come to validate previous conclusions on regard to the activities,
the density according to the time period observed and the movements, accesses and
direction of teachers, students, parents and staff.
The Àrst ten minutes have no relevant remarks and only detached isolated
movements. The most signiÀcant movement is central in the corridor, and about
half the people using this space move between the central staircase to the central
hallway with the teachers’ ofÀces and the room for leaving the music instruments.
Furthermore, from the overall users of this Áoor about a third are students carrying
large or heavy music instruments and a smaller amount are teachers.
The use of the niches opened to the corridor at this time of the day is generally
for social interaction and encounter. ConÀrming the previous reports, the space
nearest to the dance studio is the one which is more vividly used by a larger set of
students ready to go on to the dance studio before and after preparing themselves
in the dressing rooms.
594

This is conÀrmed to be one of the least occupied spaces at this time of the morning,
proven by the fact that until 8.15 a.m., no one was going through the corridor. It
is also set that the students go there for their lockers and come back down. Only
two classroom have been used, one for a formal class and another for a student
to practice. There is a higher density of people closer to the starting time of the
classes, and speciÀcally from the central stair accessing the external pavilions.

(Carolina Coelho)
. 10.00 a.m. / 10.30 a.m.

During today’s observation there has been slightly less students using the card machine
at this hour. There has been the same similar activities noted: the people who exit the
cafeteria go to the exterior courtyard, to the bench on the centre of the space, or the
lateral staircase near the library. Sofas are preferred compared to the benches.
Still, about half time on the observation there was already noticed an unusual
gathering of people near the auditorium, which is the side of the main hall which is
usually less used at this time of the day and more used during the afternoon. Both
students and teachers were seen there and at the beginning users were displaced
uniformly throughout the space spreading from that topside to the central staircase.
Until the end of this observation people were becoming more and more condensed
on this area, arriving from every access and the groups could not be isolated in
individuals anymore because they were so compact. Then it was perceived that a
programmed educational activity was to be held at the auditorium related to the
Portuguese League Against Cancer. This was aimed at students from the 7th to the
11th grades from both the regular and articulated curricula. Therefore, the classes and
respective teachers already conÀrmed for this display entered the auditorium and then
the main hall started to be more vacant. This proves that the auditorium is effectively
used for pedagogical activities besides artistic ones, and that it has an educational
purpose when placed in a school, enabling the gathering of several classes in a whole
space rather than repeating the same activity on every class individually. Besides, it
also validates the main hall as an adequate space for receiving a large amount of
people in an exceptional occasion, besides its regular functioning by the users staying
or moving there throughout. The following plan demonstrates the large amount of
people reported to be in this space and the unusual path towards the auditorium,
which held a programmed pedagogical activity, but not in a regular basis.
595

During this time tables were almost all full of students eating and talking, even
though the seating spaces are reduced, but the majority went to the cafeteria towards
the card machine. Usually there is a larger group of students at the entrance of the
cafeteria where a small niche is created for accessing the exterior, which then was
closed. The remaining users were displaced along the line for the card machine and
the display of the bar or near the tables.

This observation intended to conclude that the main entrance of the library acts as
an extension of the main hall, as an informal space in the activities and the spatial
fruition, where students talk out loud and engage in dialogues, even though the sofa
area is almost not occupied at this time. It has also been conclude that students use
the library during the break for quicker activities and errands. After classes restart
from the break there are only a few students left in the space.
Fig. 234.c) Library
596

This is the time when this corridor is most attended in terms of movement and
density of people throughout the all space, and also in terms of the variety of uses
and directions taken. Although there are artistic lessons all afternoon in almost every
classroom, to which the students and parents of the supplementary curriculum are
added to the existing users; it is during the morning that teachers and students
from the regular and the articulated teaching, mainly in the science lab area and
the artistic rooms, make this Áoor more attended and frequently used by a diverse
community with distinctive curriculum proÀles.
Again the area near the dance studio and dressing rooms is very used and generates
high density of standing people near the entrance to the dressing rooms and the
dance studio but also with constant entries and exits from both spaces.
Regular students also use this corridor particularly when they have science lessons and
on these occasions students wait for classes outside the classroom doors, on the corridor
itself, or on the entrance to that speciÀc transversal side of the building. The students’
shop is also a place that aggregates students and creates movement towards it. The
artistic rooms, on the other end of the corridor, also generate density of students
nearby, particularly by the “small auditorium” (as the orchestra room is commonly
addressed), as well as the percussion room, whose usage generally implies the
gathering of a group of artistic students rather than the individual lessons occurring
in the central part of that Áoor.
Besides the high density near the rooms where group classes occur for the artistic
teaching at the extremities, and the regular curricula students on the science area,
some small groups of students have also been remarked standing along the corridor.

There is clearly more people using this space than on the previous schedule, mainly
between 10.10 to 10.20 a.m., on the mid-morning break. Besides, the highest
density is perceived near the dance studio. Because at this time a dance lesson for
younger students was starting, who waited near the studio, playing in the meanwhile.
Children ran around from the studio’s entrance to the corridor towards the external
pavilions, the staircase to that same access, from the stairs to the toilets,… taking
very different movements, starting and ending spots.
Students use the classrooms for practice more at this time than in the early
morning, which potentiates music sounds from different instruments throughout
597
the corridor. The staircase on the east side is more frequently used by students to
get to their lockers in that area, nevertheless it is the least used one, when compared
to the central and the west side stairs near the dance studio. Staff is cleaning the
space at this time and the corridor is used by both teachers and students.
Fig. 234. Observations 9th February, 10.00 / 10.30 a.m. _ Ànal drawings
(Carolina Coelho)
. 1.30 p.m. / 2.00 p.m.

This observation has brought the conÀrmation of the informal environment of this
space. Children were playing very actively on the main hall in the side that is usually
the least used at this time, which is the auditorium side. They were literally running
around, whose courses have been drawn in the following plan, validating the hall as
more than a social, pedagogical or artistic environment, but also as a place for the
regular activities of students of the diverse ages this school has. As already mentioned,
it is the younger students that engage in these active games and do it in a very easy
manner, demonstrating a sense of appropriation, well-being and belonging in space.
Curiously, on the other side of the main hall there were artistic students singing,
which comes to conÀrm that informality sense and a notion of cosiness in space.

This observation validates the previous ones, regarding the location of students
standing near the tables, the card machine or the bar display and overall, the high
frequency of movement rather than stay, due to the narrowness of the space and the
limited number of chairs. The dots represent just that – the few people staying, as
opposed to the higher intensity of back lines depicting the movements, particularly
towards the machine and then the bar.
598

As this week is a test week, the tables are almost all occupied at this time, even
though study is paralleled with movement, children running and playing, and some
noise from informal and social activities also undertaken in the same space.
Study is generally done in groups by students of all ages and the time for staying in
the library has increased. Younger students tend to be more frequently in groups,
while older ones can be either in groups or producing individual tasks.
The display of the furniture enables the formation of groups of students bounded
by the shelves surrounding each one. This provides a sense of privacy and a certain
work autonomy, but also hinders the possibility of full control of the activities done in
this space, that in spite of being conceived as an open space, is very partitioned by the
furniture layout. This also leads to a expanded use of the space according to each of the
perceived occupational niches, from group work, to individual study, to phone games,…
Fig. 235.c) Library

Contrarily to the previous observation day, when the canteen had been particularly
full, today has been the day when the canteen was the least occupied. At 1.50 p.m.
there was no longer any queue for lunch. The tables near the display where food is
served are the ones that are most frequently occupied, and the least used spaces are
the ones near the window where the queue passes by.
599
Fig. 235.d) Canteen

Even though there continues to be a more relevant density of people taking the
pathways between the central stairs and the central transversal hallway, during this
time the movements are more uniformly located throughout.
Interestingly, there is a higher attendance of teachers that move around the space,
over students, in which the Àrst represent about two thirds of the users of this
space. The younger students use this corridor at this time to play, to run around and
occupy the small niches more freely, which is remarked in the following plan. At
this time the dressing rooms are not being used and so, the density of occupation
clearly decreases from that side of the corridor.

During this time there is a generally uniform movement throughout the whole
corridor and not a more pronounced direction as opposed to the previous
observations during the morning, because at this particular time there are no dance
lessons and the previously densely occupied space has now only Àve people there.
Besides, opposite to the previous observations in the morning, at this time the
teachers are the ones that more often use this space when compared to students
and children who use this corridor for playing during this time period. Classrooms
are now being occupied for practising and for formal classrooms, which embeds
the corridor with a diversity of sounds from the different classes, and the students
that wait to have lessons are seated on the benches on the corridor.

(Carolina Coelho)
600
. 5.00 p.m. / 5.30 p.m.

As previously reported, at this time the auditorium’s cafeteria brings users to this top
side of the main hall. There are parents studying in the tables with their children or
having a snack with them, there is also a teacher working at a table and people chatting.
This is clearly a place for relaxation but also for artistic and pedagogical display, and
could even be a place for programmed learning experiences if the studying time with
the children is an actual part of the predetermined routine of a family.
From the other side of the main hall students wait to be picked up near the library
on the sofas, and use their phones in their spare time. It is also the time when some
teachers leave school coming directly from the staircases or from the Direction
ofÀces to the exterior exits. Some of the students that remain in school leave their
backpacks on the benches and go play elsewhere or simply nearby in the middle of
the corridor. Parents and children who arrive for the conservatory classes usually
take the central stairs to go to the upper Áoors.

After four observation days the fact that the library holds a more casual but
very frequented environment during the afternoon is now established. There are
numerous groups of students studying, playing on their phones, talking,… and they
are usually younger ones, as it has already been noted in previous observations. At
this time the library is completely full and there have been students complaining to
the staff for not having seating places to study. Activities, yet diverse, continue to
be the same as those remarked before.
Fig. 236.b) Library
601

This time period has a high variety of movements in regard to the previous
observation times, when some paths were quite recurrent. Still, the direction between
the central stair to the teachers’ ofÀces continues to be signiÀcant. But there are
more varied movements and, therefore, they are also less condensed. At this time
the movements are very speciÀc and individual of each user and directed towards
a particular classroom, also because these music classes are generally individual.
During this schedule the movements are higher towards the small auditorium and
the music classroom on that side. Under the lack of a place to wait until classes
start, students stand by the walls near the entrances or seat on the benches on the
corridor.

At this time students move towards their classrooms, often accompanied by their
parents, who take them to the conservatory. There is a signiÀcant engagement
of the parent with the artistic lessons, proven by the fact that they wait for their
children nearby or even inside the classroom, and engage in conversations with
their children and their teachers over their performances.
The fact that there is a high intensity of use of the music classrooms during this
schedule implies that the sounds get through the corridor. At this time it is the
central staircase, as well as the east stairs, that are most frequently used, and not the
west side ones like in the morning period.
(Carolina Coelho)
602
Fig. 237. Students waiting for classes (from left to right: the main hall and the science lab corridor)
(Carolina Coelho)
. General Àndings from the observation matrices

After the description of the observed spatial fruition that became more validated
with each observation and its repetition in four entire observation days, it is possible
to conclude that, generally, the expected results match the observed behaviour
and that the initially reports on space use coincide with a spatial experience that is
connected to routines, patterns of behaviour and also to social variables, proven by
the sketches on the plans that have distinctive similar features for each time period.
The spaces’ fruition differs from space to space and also between the schedules
chosen, which is even more distinctive according to the teaching regime of the
students: either when the space is more used by the regular teaching, or when it is
more intensively used by the conservatory students, or by both.
Overall, and lacking a common living room for the students, all spaces either with
a more speciÀc or more informal use, can be perceived as spaces to stay during the
breaks, more even than it was originally expected. This is the case of the main hall,
the cafeteria or the library, but it does not happen in the canteen because it is closed
after lunchtime. But also spaces to go by are possible to be considered social spaces
or learning environments, where students stay together or individually for studying,
talking, practising,… This is the case of the corridors which are supported by the
small open spaces near the longitudinal areas and both the corridor per se and those
niches can be places for students do be in, as reported by the observations. Even
the corridor on the science labs’ area is used to wait for class, despite its lack of
benches and its narrowness (Fig. 237).
Overall the vertical stratiÀcation of users is conÀrmed, due to the speciÀcity of

the upper Áoors in regard to the artistic teaching. When compared, the ground
Áoor welcomes all the school community, the Àrst Áoor has a teachers’ area, the
science labs and artistic rooms besides common spaces for all students, such as the
students’ shop, but the second Áoor is currently all occupied with artistic lessons.
603
a)
b)
Fig. 238. a) Corridor on the Àrst Áoor; b) Students on the second Áoor
(Carolina Coelho, Maria Catré)
This has also implications on the time periods when these Áoors are more intensively
used. And so, the ground Áoor is used at all times because it holds the exterior
access, even though during the afternoon it also gathers the supplementary students
of the conservatory, displaying a more extended community of users. The Àrst
Áoor is used during the all day, but the school teachers start to leave the building in
the afternoon, which is balanced by the arrival to the conservatory of its teachers
and the supplementary students (Fig. 238a).
The second Áoor is much less used during the morning and has a denser occupation
in the afternoons, with the conservatory classrooms’ full occupancy and also with
their students standing on the benches and niches on their spare time (Fig. 238b).
This has also repercussions on the users of these spaces, because the external
students of the conservatory who arrive after their school classes elsewhere,
sometimes with their parents, are added to the regular and articulated students
and teachers. Usually the parents accompany smaller children on to their classes,
entering the school, something that does not happen during the school day, when
entrances are very controlled. These parents also wait for their children inside the
conservatory, either inside the class, outside on the corridor, on the main hall, on
the auditorium’s cafeteria or even on the library, demonstrating a wide variety of
informal spaces for all the artistic community to be in (Fig. 239a).
604
a)
b) c) d)
Fig. 239. a) Parents with their children: studying for regular classes and going to the music lesson;
b) Main hall in the morning arrival; c) Main hall in the mid-morning break; d) Main hall in the afternoon
(Carolina Coelho)
Spaces
The main hall is the sole entrance to the school and during the morning arrival it
gathers all users. Movement is noted longitudinally towards the Àrst Áoors, namely
by teachers and artistic students taking the staircases, and transversally to the exterior
towards the external pavilions specially by regular teaching students.
As the canteen and the library are closed, the students stay on the main hall
primarily for informal conversations or individual use of the phone, listening to
music or similar uses of other technological devices, which clearly hinder any
group experience. The access to the card and snack machines is also relevant and
gathers a signiÀcant density of students. Some pedagogical activities have also been
perceived, such as studying, talking about the classes and music practising, even if
this is more noticeable during a test week rather than a regular week (Fig. 239b).
But it is during the mid-morning break that the density of occupation of the main hall
is higher, potentially because it is the largest break in the morning and students get the
opportunity to go to the cafeteria, to get together in the hall, or to go to the library, all
at the same time, which enables a high density of people, both moving on the hall to
go to some other space, or standing there individually and with their peers (Fig. 239c).
In the afternoon period, the artistic users are more frequent and more evident,
considering that the regular teachers and students tend to leave the building (Fig.
239d). As noticed, parents bear a considerable position in regard to the density
of people in certain spaces, particularly parents of younger children from the
605
a)
b)
Fig. 240. a) Library; b) Activities in the library

(Carolina Coelho, Jéssica Barreto, Juliana Ferreira)
supplementary teaching regime, who wait for their children to attend the class,
remaining directly on the corridors outside the respective classrooms, on the main
hall wondering around, on the auditorium’s cafeteria, or even on the library.
Overall, the main hall has moving and staying activities and longitudinal and
transversal movements. Activities are individual and collective and bear pedagogical
potential. According to the time period, the frequency of each one differs, and
clearly the afternoon period has more artistic related fruition particularly felt in a
more casual and informal ambiance, from the hall, to the library and the cafeteria.
The library is a controlled environment, even if its furniture, that arranges several
smaller partitions, either for groups or more individual activities, may not easily
allow it (Fig. 240a).
Yet, it can act as either a formal or an informal space, more even than what had been
originally perceived. This is proven by the activities repeated by the observations, some,
outside of a more formal experience and portraying an environment of easiness and
casualty on a learning space with a widespread potential. This is a particularly relevant
place outside the school’s jurisdiction: at 4.30 p.m. the school staff leave the library
and are replaced by the conservatory staff. Then the library acts as a lounging space,
but foremost, a more informal space. It is recurrent, from the observations made, that
parents study there with their children and that children get together to study in small
groups, informally but with a high pedagogical potential (Fig. 240b).
The auditorium’s cafeteria also entices the main hall with an effective spatial experience
606
a) b)
c)
Fig. 241. a) Auditorium’s cafeteria; b) School cafeteria at the mid-morning break;

c) Locker space on the corridor on the second Áoor
(Carolina Coelho, Daniela Aires)
from which the space is deployed during the morning period, particularly in the east
side near the auditorium. From the moment the cafeteria opens at 4.30 p.m. there
is a casual gathering of users, namely of artistically related ones, either: teachers,
students and/or parents, that stay there in the seating spaces and tables provided. This
affords the space with the ability to stay and have group activities, informal knowledge
transmission or even casual conversations, that do not usually occur on that side of
the main hall, more prone to movement and not staying (Fig. 241a).
Contrarily, the school’s cafeteria is not a very intensively used space by the students.
Students go there towards the card machine or for a snack, but often chose another
location to be or to study. The space is narrow for both standing in line for the
bar or the machine, and to stay on the tables, which makes this space more easily
perceived as a corridor. Note that even though this space is open at 8.00 a.m. the
actual bar is not, which explains the early observations made with only a few people
going to the card machine or just staying there, which particularly deployed it of any
aggregating factor at the morning arrival. It is during the mid-morning break that
the cafeteria holds the highest density of occupation (Fig. 241b).
Corridors have usually longitudinal movement. Their access points are the staircases,
mostly the central and the west side ones, even if the east side one is used mainly
in the afternoon for the students who wish to get to the small auditorium or to the
lockers on that side (Fig. 241c).
As an additional systematisation of the observations from the main corridor on
607
Fig. 242. Dance students heading towards the dance studios for classes
(Carolina Coelho, Maria Catré)
the Àrst Áoor concludes that the whole Áoor plan and its usage, both formal and
programmed in the classrooms and informal and spontaneous in movements and
social encounters in the common spaces of the corridor and in its niches. This is
much more dense during the mid-morning break, where it is used as a pathway.
The niches on the corridor are a means to access the lockers or considered as a
possible location while waiting for classes. At the lunch break these have other
usages, informal and social ones, and even artistic displays for practising music
instruments or pedagogical activities such as reading or group working have also
been reported.
During the mid-morning break there is a more dense accumulation of people near
the central staircase due to the diversity of pathways it crosses. The movement near
the staircase closest to the dressing rooms is also intense because they serve both
the dance studio on the Àrst Áoor as well as the effective dance studio on the second
Áoor, which has not been conceived for such purposes and hence is deployed of
dressing rooms on that Áoor. Therefore, students have to do their preparation on
the Àrst Áoor and go to the remaining dance studios for their classes, which leads to
routines and scheduled movements (Fig. 242).
The most speciÀc feature of both corridors, on the Àrst and second Áoors, is
the fact that they are not only bounded by a longitudinal layout, but they have
open spaces to the corridor, of various dimensions and shapes and with different
furniture arrangements. These act as spaces for staying, gathering both moving and
standing in both corridors. This is very relevant in the design of the building but
also in its fruition, because it enables the gathering of smaller groups with a more
private accent to meet, with a different ambiance from the open main hall, the
busy cafeteria or the mixed-use library. This can be paralleled with Hertzberger’s
thoughts on the relevance of smaller spaces that can be considered “spatial units”
for smaller groups to proceed with diverse learning experiences:
608
“A spatial unit could be described as a space that achieves a certain

equilibrium between a sense of seclusion and a sense of community.
Where a learning situation is concerned, this mean fulÀlling the
conditions that enable you to concentrate on your work while at the
same time being aware of others and what they are doing.” (Hertzberger,
2009, p.11)
These niches deploy the main distribution space of its sole nature as a corridor
and can ultimately complement a more formal learning on the morphologically
connected classrooms. These facts lead the niches to be considered as active
learning spaces of smaller dimensions and socially engaging, also with the potential
to convey knowledge amongst the peers. This is again understood by Hertzberger’s
outlook in regard to school corridors and the need to design and perceive them as
effective places for learning as opposed to simple pathways for moving or placing
children’s belongings:
“Those corridors that are dominated everywhere and always by

rucksacks and odd bits of clothing, and by the endless pulling and
shoving, badgering and carping that means they have to be made
extra wide, using up a large proportion of what might otherwise be
inspirational space, while they could instead be ideal places for meeting
others, as well as helping to solve the everlasting problem of cramped
classrooms. Completely eliminating corridors and adding corner areas,
making the space suitable for communal use by diverse groups of
pupils, created greater social cohesion and more places for smaller
groups, while whole-class instruction could continue to take place in
classrooms.” (Hertzberger, 2009, p.9)
The activities observed have been mostly spontaneous, but if studying, working or
music performing in a speciÀc niche near the corridor becomes a routine, it could
ultimately be considered a programmed activity, recurrent in those students’ habits
and a scheduled practice. Also, if students usually arrive early to practice before class,
either in a classroom or in the corridor, this could also be considered as a programmed
activity. So, the continuous observations are the sole means to prove this fact.
During the afternoon the movement is more disperse amongst the whole corridor.
The movements towards the niches are more frequent because students either wait
for some classes nearby or choose those spaces for their spare time, for social
and pedagogical fruition. Reading and practising instruments are the most frequent
pedagogical activities, whereas talking amongst the peers is the most common social
interaction (Fig. 243a).
The most frequent pathways on the corridors in the morning are usually from the
central staircase to the central hallway on the Àrst Áoor. For the teachers this leads
to their common living room. In rainy or particularly cloudy days, regular teaching
students also use that same path to go to the external pavilions through the covered
609
a)
b)
Fig. 243. a) Activities in the corridors’ niches; b) Room for students to leave their instruments and
the room of the music sheets
(Carolina Coelho, Stephanie Torres, Micael Soares)
corridors that link to the pavilions, mainly to the one on the teachers’ hallway. For the
artistic students this leads to the room, in that same hallway, where they leave their
music instruments (Fig. 243b) and ask for a classroom to practice. Likewise, another
noticeable movement is from the staircases to their lockers located on another places
near the corridors, so that each student leaves his music instrument before class.
The dance students usually choose to go through the west side staircase near the
dressing rooms and the dance studios. So, overall, the movement in the corridors
is from the staircases (because the lifts are restricted and not allowed to be used
by students) to the classrooms, to the science labs, to the teachers’ ofÀces, to the
instruments’ rooms, or to the dance studios, according to the proÀle of its many users.
During the afternoon, the corridors usually have students practising music
instruments but also studying or conversing in the small adjacent niches. There
are also students waiting for their classes outside the classrooms or their parents
waiting for the class to end. So, there are more frequent staying activities on the
upper Áoors particularly in the afternoon, as compared to the morning period.
These small niches are used according to their furnishing, where round tables are
prone for group gatherings and benches for individual waiting or music practising.
Even so, these are effectively used by the students and more frequently for music
practising than the main Áoor, because this Áoor is more prone to the artistic
teaching and students share these same experiences in space, rather than on the
lower Áoor where they meet with the regular teaching students (Fig. 244a).
610
a)
b) c)
Fig. 244. a) Activities in the corridors’ niches; b) School cafeteria; c) Canteen at lunch time
(Carolina Coelho, Stephanie Torres, Micael Soares, Daniela Aires)
The school’s cafeteria experience in space is hampered by its narrow width that
makes it difÀcult for students to stand while having a snack. So, students usually
purchase the snack and eat it on the main hall or, when the weather allows it,
on the external courtyard adjacent to the cafeteria. Its signiÀcant longitudinal axis
entices movements rather that staying and this is proven by the low existence of
tables for its few users. The mid-morning break is the time where more movement
has been registered, mostly towards the card machine and to the bar display, after
which students leave the space that becomes overly loud and crowded with a higher
density of people. While at lunch time, there is lesser movement, making students
choosing to stand there on the tables. Overall the cafeteria is a space where students
go for purchasing a snack and leave, and not for staying. Generally, it is mostly
frequented by Àfteen-year-old students rather than younger ones (Fig. 244b).
The canteen, on the other hand, providing meals for both the regular and the
articulated students, is a very dense space during the opening time. Nevertheless,
students are acquainted with its organisational functioning and orderly get their
meals, go to a table and have lunch. For the purposes of not duplicating the entrance
with the exit in the same space, students arrive from an external spot and exit the
canteen near closing time through the cafeteria, accessing the main hall. This proves
once more that the cafeteria is mainly for moving rather than for staying. Again,
furniture also adds to the organisation of the space and its usage and both accesses
and tables are placed in order to avoid the duplication of the queues or any disorder
caused by the high-density of students that use this space (Fig. 244c).
611
Floors
As initially assumed, after the observations it is possible to establish the existence of

a vertical stratiÀcation of users according to the Áoor plans. From the morning to
the afternoon period the users change and become more prone to the conservatory
uses and classes, whereas during the morning there is a higher co-presence of
teachers, staff and students from the regular and articulated teaching regimes. As
the day progresses these tend to leave the school, and spaces such as the library
and the entrance are taken on by the conservatory staff. Besides, when the school’s
cafeteria closes the auditorium’s cafeteria opens, particularly as a gathering space for
the artistic users.
Time periods
The main hall is used by a variety of activities and displays a high density of people
throughout the whole day, even if users may differ as already perceived, according
to the Áuctuations in the habits and schedules of each teaching regime. The
morning arrival gathers all the community that enters at that time, mostly allocated
to the school. The mid-morning break is the time where the highest number of
people is condensed in this same space for a very short time period, either for
crossing it longitudinally or for using it as a space to stay or also for the use of the
card machines. The lunch break presents some of the teachers and students to
leave the building, which continues on during the afternoon. This is balanced by
the continuous arrival of the external students of the conservatory that enter the
building after attending their regular classes elsewhere (Fig. 245a). Still, during the
afternoon there is a lower concentration of people on the main hall at the same
time, because the schedules and breaks differ between teaching regimes.
Simultaneously, as the day progresses the use of the upper Áoors becomes more
intense, because during the morning the students use it mainly as practising spaces
when the classrooms are vacant, while in the afternoon all the classrooms are
occupied with formal classes for practising music instruments.
Users
Having explained this, students during the afternoon are mostly from the teaching
regimes related to the conservatory: the articulated and the supplementary, implying
that external users arrive at this space from other schools for artistic lessons. This
suggests that these students may be the same age as the ones from the articulated
regime, but also older or younger. In this latter case they usually come accompanied
by their parents who wait within this space.
612
a)
b)
Fig. 245. a) Main hall’s fruition (from left to right: morning arrival, mid-morning break and afternoon);
b) Different seating arrangements on the main hall with and without the exhibitions display
(Carolina Coelho)
Furniture / devices
Furniture is a very important variable to be accounted for when discussing the

location of users in space. People also choose the space to stay according to the
furniture that space provides, the possible activities able to be done with that
furniture and the amount of users that furniture enables.
So, although there are numerous seating spaces in the main hall: sofas, benches and
chairs, their positioning near or further away from the entrance, near the library
or the cafeteria, sideways to the space or more in the middle, deÀne the choice in
the location of the students. Also, the fact that there are chairs and tables in the
auditorium’s cafeteria enables group encounters and group work, which is speciÀc
of this area. Whereas the long benches near the glass windows only enable students
to seat next to each other and not face each other, still, its positioning near the
windows provides better visibility towards the exterior and the Àrst perception of
who is arriving at school. Additionally, if in the Àrst observation day these sofas
were aggregators of a group of students, when they were moved back-to-back, that
hindered the possibility of larger groups staying together and only enabled pairing
of friends next to each other (Fig. 245b).
The displays on the main hall and on the main corridor on the upper Áoors,
besides the exhibitions that occurred both in the library and on the main hall, are
aggregators of students who perceive the contents that are being showed, acting as
a standing area.
613
a) b)
Fig. 246. a) Younger children playing; b) Library’s clusters of users
(Carolina Coelho)
Likewise, the choice of the niches to stay on the upper corridors is also a matter
of furniture: the one with a table may be chosen for group working, while the long
benches are more chosen for individual waiting before a class or for practising
the guitar.
Clusters of students have also been perceived, not only because of furniture,
but because of routines or habits that usually gather friends in groups. This also
explains the choice of the benches in the middle of the main hall for younger
students and the sofas near the library for the older ones. Besides their choice
in seating places, also their activities have been observed to be different from
each other. Activities such as using the phones and talking amongst each other
are common for all students, while the older students prefer to engage in more
individual activities like listening to music and even using the benches side-
by-side with their friends, each one using his/her phone individually. Younger
students prefer to engage in more collective experiences, playing games, running
around and overall have more active and social activities, often dismissing any
technological devices. This has been reported in the observations and particularly
when noticing on the main hall and on the corridors children, very naturally,
running around and playing (Fig. 246a).
The library has clusters of activities, in which diverse activities are possible and
students may be pursing them simultaneously each in their space, usually bounded
by the shelves in smaller spaces (Fig. 246b).
Also, the fact that lockers are on the upper Áoors makes the students climb up the
set of stairs towards them and only go to their classes afterwards. That determines
their main pathways.
Another very meaningful device that aggregates a signiÀcant amount of students

is the card machine that is a part of the students’ routines and also inÁuences their
614
Fig. 247. The queues generated by the card machines on the main hall
(Carolina Coelho)
pathways. Students know that before having lunch or going to the bar, they have
to pass by the machine, and that determines their movements, activities and even
their spatial usage. Moreover, the long lines generated by the need to access the card
machines can even inÁuence people’s natural movement in space (Fig. 247).
In his book Buildings and Power, which Markus (1993) claims to be “about the meaning
of buildings” (Markus, 1993, p.xix), he vividly states: “I take the stand that buildings
are not primarily art, technical or investment objects, but social objects.” (ibid.). In
this regard, Markus establishes a possible comparison between the change brought
by technological information to the one from the Industrial Revolution, assuming
that their respective devices and goods have conveyed changing ways in which to
interact in space and the means to do it so:
“There are parallels with today, when asymmetries of power hinge

not on steam power but on systems for handling information.
Those who design the hardware and software stand in the position
of the entrepreneurs and engineers. Mature colonialism generated a
consumption of goods which matches today’s consumption of services
and media generated by multinational capital; it also created similar
political upheavals. All these, both then and now, change patterns
of relations and it is the way relations are established in and through
buildings which is my concern.” (Markus, 1993, p.xx)
So, overall, the devices used in the school, namely the technological ones like the
card machines, have also brought new needs by the users and the respective spatial
requirements to allocate these devices. Primarily, they represent new aggregation
spots, interfaces with the relevance for changing interactions and spatial occupation,
meaningful for the social reproduction of space. Hence, the referred change on the
“patterns of relations”.
615
This explains the higher density of people near the machines remarked during the
observations, that are impelled to be used by all. All in all, it could be argued that
these devices, by altering space, also alter the social relations within space, cyclically
referring to this intrinsic bond between buildings and society, which holds the
foundation of Markus’s (1993) book.
Furthermore, in Markus’s (1987) elaboration on Buildings as classifying devices, it is

stated that machines and objects, besides people, can promote a classiÀcation of
buildings: “There is no building type in which a division of people, objects, and
machines, and their spaces, into classes and categories, as the Àrst step towards their
organised and purposeful interface, is not of primary importance.” (Markus, 1987,
p.468). Consequently, these objects interfere with space and, henceforth, with the
social relations within it.
Additionally, these changing patterns of spatial use related to technological devices

also explain the recurrent usage of the phone, computer or other hardware related
to technological information, which is paramount for today’s social behaviour, both
collective and individual, but foremost in regard to knowledge acquaintance of the
utmost relevance in a school building.
Activities
Programmed activities can occur in all of these spaces providing that these are
previously arranged. For instance, studying with a child, either on the library or on
the cafeteria can be a programmed or a non-programmed activity. It can also be a
frequent or more speciÀc activity, if it is a part of the daily schedule or if it happens
on a spontaneous manner.
Social activities can also happen on more formal spaces like the library, as explained, and
cyclically, formal activities can also occur in informal spaces like corridors, niches, or
the main hall, provided that the space has the physical ability to host those happenings,
like a formal exhibition as the ones observed in the library but also on the main hall.
All in all, educational activities related to homework have been observed on the
library but also elsewhere, in spaces where the students consider feeling well and
comfortable. This might mean different spaces: the Áoor of a corridor’s niche or
a table of the auditorium’s cafeteria. Likewise, informal activities, more related
to leisure and socialisation, can also occur in a priori more formal spaces such as
the library. Therefore, observations led to the conclusion that the location of the
activities noticed and their respective nature is a condition of spatial appropriation
by the students, besides spaces’ features and their schedule and habits (Fig. 248a).
In this case, observations made it clear that the same space is differently perceived
by the students according to their activities and routines. Some might prefer to
616
a)
b)
Fig. 248. a) Educational activities in the niches and social and leisure activities in the library;
b) Main hall’s fruition and location of students
(Carolina Coelho, Juliana Ferreira)
study in a more formal environment with the support of the school’s staff and
teachers, while others might choose to be in the cafeteria early in the morning when
there is less people there.
Additionally, this choice is also paralleled to leisure and social activities that have the
speciÀcity of being possible in this school in a wider variety of spaces, including the
ones potentially more formal like the library. So, if some students prefer to use the
niches for a more private experience, the main hall is openly used by all and where
everyone is seen by the others. Besides, also in the library there are sofas in a small
lounging space still more reserved, than the auditorium’s cafeteria where everyone
gathers around for a collective social meeting of the conservatory’s community.
Therefore, dimension is also to consider, because small spaces provide a sense of

privacy but diminish the possible number of people in a group. Contrarily, overly
large spaces, such as the auditorium, can hamper the comfort of the users namely
for auditions, while the small auditorium, with a smaller but still adequate dimension,
can be used for auditions without such a formal sense projected onto the space.
Furthermore, overly open spaces become very public and so, the placement of
people in the middle of the main hall is less preferred. So, even if this a location
chosen by most students, mostly prefer to be near the sidewalls (Fig. 248b).
The diversity of students’ ages, teaching proÀles and interests also potentiates
this diversity in choices for developing each of the social, pedagogical and artistic
617
activities perceived throughout the observations in several spaces. This makes the
school very particular both in terms of its users and curriculum, but foremost in
terms of the uniqueness of its spaces, its possible appropriation by its widespread
community of users, and overall the spatial adaptability to several activities of
different nature, proving that educational activities effectively occur in spaces with
diverse physical features and conceived for diverse purposes.
The condition on whether appropriation occurs, why and by what means, has
already been put forward by Hertzberger:
“We are not concerned with a visual appearance as a shell around the
object, but with form in the sense of accommodating capacity and
potential barer of meaning. Form can be vested with meaning, but can
also be divested of it by the use to which the form is put and by the
values that are attributed and added to it, or indeed removed from it - all
depending on the way in which users and form interact.
What we want to state is that it is this capacity to absorb and communicate
meaning that determines the effect form can have on users, and,
conversely, the effect of users on form. For the central issue here is the
interaction between form and users, what they do to each other, and
how they appropriate each other.” (Hertzberger, 1991, p.150)
In this case, students provide meaning to each of the spaces that differs widely
from student to student, or according to groups of students and their habits. The
wide-ranging manner of experiencing space, both individual and collectively, has
also been established by Hertzberger, to which he adds the possible change on
experiencing space in an on-going manner through time:
“[...] the reciprocity of form and usage, in the sense that form not
only determines both usage and experience, but that it is itself equally
determined by them in so far as it is interpretable and can therefore be
inÁuenced. In so far as something is designed for everyone, that is a
collective starting-point, we must concern ourselves with all conceivable
individual interpretations therefore - and not only at a speciÀc moment
in time, but also as they change in time.” (Hertzberger, 1991, p.92)
The meaning of being on the corridor’s Áoor for doing the homework (Fig. 248a),
despite the lack in tables or chairs, is a conscious choice taken due to other assets
the students have perceived this space had, like the staff employee nearby for their
comfort and well-care, or the privacy generated by this space against others, more open
and accessible. Contrarily, the preference in staying on the main hall is also supported
by the signiÀcance of its accessibility and visibility by all, acting as a meeting point.
Even though in spaces with this openness and width, like the main hall, the canteen or
even the library, students have preferences on their placement and clusters of students
618
a)
b)
Fig. 249. a) Main hall on the mid-morning break before the display on the auditorium
b) Students studying (from left to right: external courtyard, auditorium’s cafeteria)
have been remarked, also revealing group appropriation of space, differently done by
each group. This diversity can also be a condition of the groups’ activities and the way
in which they are undertaken, the way space engages each one and the interaction that
each space, its devices, furniture, dimension and partitioning promotes.
All in all, having acknowledged that in all the observed spaces students engaged in
learning activities, these observations validate that educational experiences in this
school occur throughout the whole school and during all the days of the observations,
provided they can be programmed/non-programmed and informal/formal.
In fact, the week days did not generally affect the results from the observations, expect
on Wednesday afternoon because there are no regular curriculum classes. Then,
another exception has been the observations during the auditorium’s exceptional
use for an educational activity that gathered multiples classes. This has led to an
extraordinary gathering of students and teachers on the main hall (Fig. 249a).
But, as expected, during the Ànal week of observations, which was a speciÀc exams
week, students were more often observed studying when compared to the Àrst
week, which has been perceived in all observed spaces: the main hall during the
breaks or the morning arrival, the niches on the corridors upstairs or even the
corridor benches by the classrooms, the school’s cafeteria in the morning, or even
the auditorium’s cafeteria when it is not still functioning during the mornings for a
more quite study or even in the afternoon in small groups (Fig. 249b).
619
Fig. 250. Artistic practice in one of the corridors’ niches

(Carolina Coelho)
Likewise, the artistic display has also been perceived amongst the whole school and
even if students prefer to perform more in the classrooms or on the corridors, the
more easy-going are able to practice on the ground Áoor either music instruments
and singing, surrounded by their peers and by all the school community that enters
the school. It is noteworthy that programmed artistic practice also happens in the
corridors’ niches, as proven by the observation of artistic students which have
reported it to be a scheduled procedure, which interestingly does not solely occurs
inside formal classrooms (Fig. 250).
In fact, music practice is particularly relevant for the students whose instruments
are overly costly, voluminous or heavy to be carried outside the school, which
implies the conservatory to have both the instruments and the space for students
to practice, besides the general need for formal classrooms, for formal individual
and group teaching, evaluation and large public displays.
. Critical interpretation of the general Àndings from the observations
Overall, in this school it can be concluded that users are very mixed in space, even
though each group can have its preferences on which space to be, or where to stand
amongst a more general one such as the main hall, the library or the canteen. This
has actually been noticed in the observations, where younger and older students
showed different locations on those spaces. Besides, also teachers, staff and even
parents are gathered on the main hall, corridors and even on the library or the
auditorium’s cafeteria, where all have been observed.
It has been perceived that, within those spaces considered to be highly sociable,
the diverse users are placed both individually and/or in groups and their location
can be accorded to routines and habits that each group has already established in
620
the building. As remarked earlier, the location of the younger vs the older students
has been considered recurrent, as well as the possible identiÀcation of spaces more
prone to the artistic or the regular teaching community.
But at the same time, it has also been observed that individuals also consider
the corridors and the main hall as spaces to stand and not only to pass by, even
though their location may differ amongst the groups and be demarked mostly near
the bounding walls of the main hall, near doorways while waiting for something
or someone, or simply in one of the seating areas, separated from collective
gatherings791. This situation can be paralleled to Whyte’s (1980) conclusion on New
York plazas, that despite its cultural and contextual differences in time and space, its
“sociable spaces”, public and outside, can be associated to the common spaces like
the main hall that acts both as a staying and a moving space. Whyte has concluded
that the places where socialisation happens with higher intensity gathers groups
of people in many forms but it does not obliterate individuals that also use these
spaces more than the less sociable ones:
“The best-used plazas are sociable places, with a higher proportion of

couples than you Ànd in less-used places, more people in groups, more
people meeting people, or exchanging goodbyes. At Àve of the most-
used plazas in New York, the proportion of people in groups runs about
45 percent; in Àve of the least used, 32 percent. A high proportion of
people in groups is an index of selectivity. When people go to a place
in twos or threes or rendezvous there, it is most often because they
have decided to. Nor are these sociable places less congenial to the
individual. In absolute numbers, they attract more individuals than do
less-used spaces. If you are alone, a lively place can be the best place to
be.” (Whyte, 1980, pp.17-18)
Another conclusion taken from Whyte’s study is that “What attracts people most,
it would appear, is other people.” (Whyte, 1980, p.19). This seems to be the case
from the observation in the main hall, particularly during the morning arrival. The
fact that students wait here for their peers, entices the space towards an increasingly
higher density of people that continue to arrive until the Àrst classes start. If
students stay there waiting for their colleagues, on their arrival the space will be
more and more densely occupied. Furthermore, the fact that students stay there
may suggest it as a popular meeting point, particularly relevant at these age groups.
Another inference taken from the observations is that this school also aggregates
movement and standing activities, as reported, mostly on the corridors on all
791
Whyte has also reached that conclusion pointing out that: “Standing patterns are similar. When people stop
to talk on a plaza, they usually do so in the middle of the trafÀc stream. They also show an inclination to station
themselves near objects, such as a Áagpole or a statue. They like well-deÀned places, such as steps, or the border
of a pool.” (Whyte, 1980, p.21)
621
Áoors, associating pathways with dialogues with pedagogical potential that occur
amongst students but also amongst students and teachers, parents and teachers and
colleagues. Recognising that this knowledge transmission on pathways has been
remarked during the observation, it has also been formerly perceived by Whyte by
means of “time-lapse cameras overlooking several key street corners” that noted
that conversations occurred on those same pathways:
“People didn’t move out of the main pedestrian Áow. They stayed in it
or moved into it, and the great bulk of the conversations were smack
in the center of the Áow-the 100 percent location, to use the real-estate
term. The same gravitation characterized “traveling conversations”-
the kind in which two men move about, alternating the roles of straight
man and principal talker. There is a lot of apparent motion. But if you
plot the orbits, you will Ànd they are usually centered around the 100
percent spot.” (Whyte, 1980, p.21)
Interestingly, Whyte cannot arrive to an explanation on this happening, even if he

argues that: “It is understandable that conversations should originate within the
main Áow. Conversations are incident to pedestrian journeys; where there are the
most people, the likelihood of a meeting or a leave-taking is highest.” (ibid.). Whyte
does not infer an explanation on why people continue on that same Áow. The sole
assumption pointed out is that: “This does not seem to be a matter of inertia but
of choice-instinctive, perhaps, but by no means illogical.” (ibid.).
Nevertheless, this bears great relevance for our current study, proving that
dialogues start on the corridors but may still continue on there, where people meet,
ultimately considering them not only containers of movements, but also and more
importantly, educational vessels for socialisation and knowledge transmission, which
enhances their potential as learning environments and containers of pedagogical
and social activities. Naturally, that the fact that the main hall holds a higher density
of users and has additional width, enables even further the possibility of staying
and moving in the same place without disturbing the natural movement.
In regard to furniture, seating spaces are considered to highly weigh on the choices
of people to stand. Whyte also points out the relevance of both “physical comfort”
and “social comfort” (Whyte, 1980, p.28)792, which has also been acknowledged by
these observations, as students seat in their established spots near their friends and
often in groups according to their ages or interests.
Additionally, Gehl highlights that: “Only when opportunities for sitting exist can
there be stays of any duration.” (Gehl, 2011, p.155). Accordingly, for the design it
792
“Ideally, sitting should be physically comfortable - benches with backrests, wellcontoured chairs. It’s more
important, however, that it be socially comfortable. This means choice: sitting up front, in back, to the side, in
the sun, in the shade, in groups, off alone.
Choice should be built into the basic design. Even though benches and chairs can be added, the best course is
to maximize the sittability of inherent features.” (Whyte, 1980, p.28)
622
would be relevant to consider seating areas and previously arranged benches (ibid.),
as comfortable as they may be, in order to provide for the need to create social
areas, but it is also by appropriating space that students deÀne their location on
those same areas. Generally, the niches adjacent to the upper corridors, which hold
seating spaces in various layout options, are often used, but in what regards the
wider choice in seating spaces in the main hall, this is frequently established by
students as a habit that is already a part of their daily routine.
Finally, following the statement by Whyte: “Choice should be built into the basic
design.” (p.28), it is concluded that furniture can aggregate activities and people in
space, and the more it is considered early on and the more diverse it might be, the
wider the array of activities the space can cope with and, ultimately, the higher the
potential choice for effectively using that space in particular.
Niches like the ones on the upper corridors, and overall the existing corners on open
spaces, have also been observed to be highly occupied by groups, which is also recurrent
from Whyte’s observations, due to their prospect for “face-to-face sitting” that
induces groups towards those spaces (p.32), as perceived by the frequent observations
undertaken, specially on the main corridors of the Àrst and second Áoors.
Lastly, Whyte recalls the preference for people to be in denser spaces as a way to be
a part on the lived space:
“As we have seen, people have a nice sense of the number that is right
for a place, and it is they who determine how many is too many. They
do not, furthermore, seek to get away from it all. If they did, they
would go to the lonely empty places where there are few people. But
they do not. They go to the lively places where there are many people.
And they go there by choice-not to escape the city, but to partake of
it.” (Whyte, 1980, p.100)
This could clearly be related with the high density of users in some spaces of the
building, precisely on the main hall as a meeting point for all, as opposed to the
minor number of people using other spaces such as the cafeteria, which is proven
by all the previously presented observation matrices. Furthermore, Whyte also
defends “small urban spaces” as the preferred spaces for people to be in:
“It is wonderfully encouraging that places people like best of all, Ànd
least crowded, and most restful are small spaces marked by a high
density of people and a very efÀcient use of space.
I end, then, in praise of small spaces.” (Whyte, 1980, p.100)
This holds representativeness in a school because it can be associated with

Hertzberger’s concept of small spaces as “spatial units” (Hertzberger, 2009, p.11),
previously deÀned and its relevance explained.
623
All in all, and despite assuming the differences between New York plazas and the
study on contemporary Portuguese schools, some of the remarks by Whyte have
the potential to be comparable with this case study, considered to still be up-to-date
and supportive of the Àndings on groupings and their locations, particularly applied
to the spaces that have been considered to shelter “the social life of small spaces”
(from Whyte’s title), although not “urban” but predominantly pedagogical, like the
main hall, assuming that socialisation is a turning point on the reference to learning
environments today.
The multiplicity of moving spaces, standing areas and clusters of educational, social
and artistic activities for learning may be considered active learning spaces for a
whole variety of activities and teaching curricula, used by students of diverse age
groups, not only from the school but also from the articulated regime and the
supplementary one, which adds extensive diversity to the space users.
Gehl (2011) explores the concept of “integration” for plotting people and activities
simultaneously in a space793: “Integration implies that various activities and
categories of people are permitted to function together or side by side.” (Gehl,
2011, p.101). This has been remarked through the observations undertaken. In fact,
the need to use different colour markers to explain the nature of the activities and
the results brought by the observation matrices indicate an activity assembly and
also a high density of people in the same spaces observed. This fact may imply that
the spaces promote the integration of activities and people. Contrarily, Gehl agrees
on “the rejection of monofunctional areas” (p.107), which for our current Thesis,
implies less adaptable areas and areas with low entropy levels, because due to their
monofunctionality there is a certainty on the activities they hold.
But Gehl highlights the relevance on gathering activities and people in order for
them to stay and not only to go by, therefore, the activities that spaces can shelter
are crucial as an enhancer of their staying time:
“That people and events are assembled in time and space is a prerequisite
for anything at all to occur, but of more importance is which activities
are allowed to develop. It is not enough merely to create spaces that
enable people to come and go. Favorable conditions for moving about
in and lingering in the spaces must also exist, as well as those for
participating in a wide range of social and recreational activities.
In this context the quality of the individual segments of the outdoor
environment plays a crucial part. Design of individual spaces and of
the details, down to the smallest component, are determining factors.”
(Gehl, 2011, p.129)
793
Even if his approach is to public spaces.
624
Fig. 251. Artistic students in the library experiencing both leisure and educational activities, while
using the computers, playing on their phones and listening to music
(Juliana Ferreira)
This can be transposable for the design of the school space, by understanding that
the activities should hold pedagogical potential and hence promote a staying time
in that space that contributes for the students’ learning process.
Generally, this diversity of activities and users, and the gathering of movement
and standing, social/artistic/curricular experiences in general, in all the observed
spaces, provides this school with a very enriched ambiance, where learning can
occur throughout, despite the dimension and initial nature of the spaces, and where
the community is very prone to both knowledge transmission and acquisition. Space
is paramount for this gathering, for mixing users that share common pathways and
for enabling that diverse learning activities happen in all spaces, even if not initially
conceived for such purposes, such as: the library for informal experience, the niches
for formal artistic practice, or the auditorium’s cafeteria for the joining of all artistic
community with a daily frequency and not only when the auditorium is open for
performances (Fig. 251).
This brings extra-complexity to this school space which needs a diverse range
of spaces for the diversity of learning activities that currently bear educational
potential, in a balance between the wide choice of spaces for students to choose
from, the wide variety of ways to learn, the cost/beneÀt of all these spaces, or its
potential redundancy or excessive spatial offer, and the sought cohesion of the
building as a whole. This has been systematised by Hertzberger:
“[…] it [the school] is a place where pupils are more demanding and
learning has to be more than just absorbing basic knowledge. In the
relatively afÁuent countries with their increasing dependence on
knowledge, the claims on space are getting greater too. Indeed, in the
knowledge society differentiation is on the increase and with it comes
625
the need for smaller working groups. […]

And as the interest in more individual-based education continues to
increase, so does the spatial complexity of school buildings. Working
alone or in groups requires more and more workplaces, though without
endangering the view of the whole. This overall view is necessary as a
support to the teaching staff, but also for helping pupils to Ànd their
bearings in the welter of options open to them.” (Hertzberg, 2008, p.8)
Naturally, that management has to be considered an enabler of this spatial usage, for
providing the conditions for the space to be experienced in such a widespread manner,
the parents to be allowed inside and share their children’s learning experiences,
and primarily for largely understanding that informality and socialisation can also
convey knowledge and a sense of belonging in space, facilitating the welcoming of
educational contents within a broader learning experience, by the students and the
overall community.
Finally, when stating a direct correlation between the frequency of encounters and
the activities, Gehl (2011) is again recalled, indicating that people meeting in space
enables other sorts of activity occurrences, namely of social nature. This holds
relevance for the design of space that, by enabling interaction and encounters, also
provides for a wider range of activities to occur later on794.
Gehl elaborates on “life between buildings” and its relation to space, buildings
and city planning that “inÁuence patterns of activities, to create better or worse
conditions for outdoor events, and to create lively or lifeless cities” (Gehl, 2011,
p.31). Further on, the assumption of this dichotomy is openly stated:
“The physical framework itself can be designed so that the desired

contact forms are impeded or even made impossible. Architecture
literally can stand in the way of desired activity patterns.
Conversely, the physical framework can also be designed to give a
broader spectrum of available possibilities, so that processes and
building projects are permitted to support one another. It is in this
context that work with public spaces and life between buildings must
be seen. Possibilities can be impeded - or they can be facilitated.” (Gehl,
2011, pp.54-55)
This is much in tune with our own belief on the relation between space and the
living experience795. The diagram presented by Gehl demonstrates the relation between
794
“This connection is important in relation to physical planning. Although the physical framework does not
have a direct inÁuence on the quality, content, and intensity of social contacts, architects and planners can
affect the possibilities for meeting, seeing, and hearing people - possibilities that both take on a quality of their
own and become important as background and starting point for other forms of contact.” (Gehl, 2011, p.13)
795
626
Fig. 252. “Physical arrangement can promote or prevent visual

and auditory contact in at least Àve different ways.”
(Gehl, 2011, p.62)
space’s conÀguration and the contact that it enhances or hampers, also graphically
supporting his previous statements (Fig. 252). This acknowledgement clariÀes how
interaction is most likely to occur and which spatial conditions enhance it, ultimately
informing the design796.
This assumption also complements our previous approach on the need to correlate
the potential of a space to hold activities - resolved by means of maximising the
entropy of that space, and its effective use - perceived through observations,
walkthroughs and focus groups.
All in all, the understanding that the conceived design by the architect may imply
the possibility of activities to occur in a speciÀc place, is paramount for our current
Thesis, but also the acknowledgement that even if a space is provided with the
features to cater for a particular activity, ultimately it is the inhabitant(s) that will
have the choice on its effective use. It is the current spatial fruition that this last
approach intends to perceive: the life made possible by the design and the choice of
its inhabitants on how to experience and appropriate it.
796
Regarding “life between buildings”, Gehl states that: “The connection demonstrated between street life, the
number of people and events, and the time spent outdoors provides one of the most crucial keys to the way in
which conditions for life between buildings can be improved in existing and new residential areas - namely by
improving conditions for outdoor stays.” (Gehl, 2011, p.79)
627
4.2.3.2. Walkthroughs B Idiographic analysis
Walkthroughs, as previously explained, consist on tours to the school, with a

speciÀc focus related to the research question, led by the participants of each of
the chosen groups, considered to represent the members of the school community
who experience that space.
This methodology has been dealt in detail by Duarte, Veloso, Marques and Sebastimo
(2014) considering it as “site-speciÀc focus groups”, in which the interaction between
the participants occurred in their own environment, hence its title: “site-speciÀc”,
implying a visit of the building with a previous and subsequent focus group:
“The focus groups encouraged high levels of interaction among the

groups of pupils and teachers, allowing the analysis of their views of
the renovated spaces when visiting them, enabling the development of
discussions between the researchers, pupils and teachers in situ. Focus
groups took place before, during and after the visit to the schools’
spaces. This is what is meant by the term ‘site-speciÀc focus group’.”
(Duarte, Veloso, Marques and Sebastimo, 2014, p.2)
Furthermore, in our own procedure and similarly to the referred “site-speciÀc

focus groups”797, there has also been an initial moment for contextualisation of
the subsequent “participant-led tour of the school” (Duarte, Veloso, Marques and
Sebastimo, 2014, p.15) and to enable some discussion on the possible routes chosen
by the participants, and there has also been a conclusive moment for additional
comments on the tour. Moreover, it has also been guided by a “script” previously
composed for that purpose (p.7). So, having been thought as a sequential procedure,
that in our research complements observations, both on our own study as in the
previously referred paper, these focus groups have been anchored in a generated
interaction between representative “social actors” with distinctive purposes, as
observations merely state the general interaction and movement (p.6)798.
Besides this paper’s relevance on the state of the art for the speciÀcity of these
focus groups, in which participants walk through their spatial reality, the fact that
it reports to its implementation onto Portuguese schools which have had a recent
intervention by the School Modernisation Programme, provides it with deeper
signiÀcance for our current research, whose case study is in fact a school also
under this Programme799. And even though this paper lies under “a study about the
impact of the renovation of learning spaces on pedagogical practices as part of the
797
“The focus groups took place in the schools, before, during and after the tour to the schools.” (Duarte,
Veloso, Marques and Sebastimo, 2014, p.7)
798
“[...] it enables the creation of an intentional situation of interaction, one that is guided by clear goals that are
understood by the social actors – which cannot be said of observational methods.” (Duarte, Veloso, Marques
and Sebastimo, 2014, p.6)
799
See chapter 4.1. Presentation and justiÀcation of the chosen case study.
628
secondary school modernisation programme (SSMP) launched by the Portuguese

government in 2007” (ibid.), it is also considered of greater relevance for identifying
and assessing adaptability in the building on the behalf of this Programme. So, this
procedure is sustained to bring appropriate information, particularly under a context
in which it has already been put in place, and where it has reported signiÀcant
Àndings, also in regard to people’s relation to space:
“The focus groups in this format were particularly important for the
research since they facilitated a dynamic of social interaction and the
expression of views and opinions among groups of pupils and teachers
about the impact of the renovations on education practices. They also
highlighted some of the speciÀc aspects of the interaction between the
appropriation processes and the object of the intervention, which was
in itself object of contradictory interpretations. Further, this technique
enables the attainment of a triangulation strategy, central to the study.”
(Duarte, Veloso, Marques and Sebastimo, 2014, p.1)
As for the composition of each of these focus groups, they have been separate, as
in our own research, under teachers and students: “those social actors most affected
by the education-learning process (pupils and teachers)” (p.3). Nonetheless, due
to the complexity of the school’s curriculum, for our study, these have been even
more detached into students and teachers from both the articulated teaching and
from the regular teaching, assuming four focus groups with their speciÀcities and
potential differences when implementing this procedure.
Similarly to our study, these “site-speciÀc focus groups” also imply the understanding
of people’s relation to space, which in our research aimed at understanding how
social actors structure their daily routines in space and which activities are held in
the built spaces, to ultimately discuss and understand spaces’ effective fruition as
perceived by each focus group:
“In research on learning spaces, the establishment of site-speciÀc focus

groups represents an important instrument for demonstrating how
pupils and teachers give meaning to, make use of and appropriate the
renovated spaces.” (Duarte, Veloso, Marques and Sebastimo, 2014, p.7)
Finally, the referred study has reported having reached its goals:
“Using this technique, it was possible to achieve various objectives of

the study, namely: (1) identiÀcation of the more negative and positive
aspects of the spaces that were not considered in previous phases of the
research; (2) exploration of the different ways the pupils and teachers
view the spaces by interaction with one another and with the space;
(3) understanding the different ways of appropriating the spaces that
had previously been impossible to detect; and (4) priorities attributed
629
to some spaces in detriment to others and the underlying reasons for

this.” (Duarte, Veloso, Marques and Sebastimo, 2014, p.8)
Analogously, the procedure applied to our own research is also intended to identify
the social dynamics on space, to analyse how social actors report to space, and
to understand the routes taken by each group on their similarities and possible
discrepancies, as our investigation aims to understand effective spatial fruition in
regard to the activities held in each space and the potential social and educational
interactions that might occur:
“The mobilisation of the site-speciÀc focus group technique enables an

analysis of how the users engage in dialogue, view, use and appropriate
the created or renovate spaces: a reality that is difÀcult to capture using
other techniques.” (Duarte, Veloso, Marques and Sebastimo, 2014, p.8)
This is stated to have brought “very rich, additional and diverse information, often
reinforcing the data collected by methodological instruments used previously”
(p.15), as expected from the establishment under this context.
The paper’s Ànal remark appeals to the establishment of original methodological

procedures on learning environments as a core problematics, which is also one of
the expected contributions of our research – under the architectural scope, to think
about contemporary learning environments and be informed by them and their
ability to cope with up-coming requirements and events:
“Research on learning environments requires new thinking and the

necessity of testing innovative research methods incorporating the
space as a central element of the question. This is what we have
attempted. It is important to pursue this reÁection from the perspective
of methodological optimisation and integration. (Duarte, Veloso,
Marques and Sebastimo, 2014, p.16)
Under the support of literature references and the proven relevance of its
implementation, walkthroughs have been established and adapted to our own
research question and to the context of our architectural research.
Four focus group have then been arranged considered to represent the students and
educators of different teaching regimes and hence, portraying different teaching-
learning experiences in the school, with a particular regard on the potential adaptable
spaces identiÀed. These were the following:
. teachers of the regular teaching
. students of the regular teaching
. students of the articulated teaching
. teachers of the artistic teaching
630
The Àrst three have occurred on 3rd February 2017, followed sequentially.
As this procedure had to be previously arranged with all the participants, according
to their availability, the initial focus group has been done with the teachers of the
regular teaching, because it was a suitable schedule for the four participants.
The focus groups with the students have also been formerly scheduled and
previously authorised by their parents, who were given instructions on when to
bring and retrieve their children according to the schedule of each walkthrough.
As focus groups and walkthroughs have been gathered according to the same set of
four different groups of users of the school and relevant members of the school
community, the procedures were undertaken on the same day, following one another,
as it was considered the most efÀcient way of gathering a wide set of people and
proÀting from their participation without a second arranged reunion that would
separate focus groups and walkthroughs in different days. In fact, the preparation
of this procedure in two different days for the same group of participants could
hinder their engagement for participating, because it would imply: the arrangement
of two sets of dates and the possibility of all participants to be present, their
parents’ availability for bringing and retrieving them, and the team’s presence for
recording the procedures. The chance of all to be simultaneously available a second
time would be very small, since it has already proven to be challenging for only one
day. So, both walkthroughs and focus groups happened respectively in:
. teachers of the regular teaching – Friday, 3rd February 2017
. students of the regular teaching – Friday, 3rd February 2017
. students of the articulated teaching – Friday, 3rd February 2017
. teachers of the artistic teaching – Thursday, 9th February 2017
It is noteworthy that on the 3rd February 2017 there has been a staff strike which
prevented classes to happen because the school was closed, namely for its students.
Therefore, as this was a day in which students already assumed to be in school,
they have accepted to be there on that day with their parents’ authorisation, and
the school and the conservatory have also allowed the establishment of these
procedures, even with the staff strike. The fact that the school was not in a regular
day and classes were not happening, allowed for the group to stay on the spaces
normally used by these participants and to comment freely on them, with more
time and without distractions.
As explained initially, teachers of the artistic teaching have been contacted by the
Direction of the Music Conservatory to participate in these procedures according
to their availability on a day that was considered to be possible for all: 9th February.
This day has also coincided with an observation day, which diminished the number
of authorisations for all our team for entering the school – which had all to be
631
previously arranged with the Directions and the staff in everyday we entered
the building – and this walkthrough was possible to be set in place between the
scheduled observations on the afternoon of that day.
Both focus groups and walkthroughs tried to have a similar number of participants,
balanced both in gender and curriculum or scientiÀc areas of interest. These have
started to be composed by four people in all groups but it was enlarged to seven in the
artistic students’ focus group and walkthrough, where all volunteers showed to be very
eager to participate and to demonstrate their feelings towards the school space. This
also demonstrates the artistic students’ sense of belonging in the school and has also
provided further information both during the focus groups and in the walkthroughs,
because the group was very diverse in age, instruments played and spatial uses.
The volunteers for the focus groups were the same as for the walkthroughs,
avoiding further authorisations, logistics and schedule arrangements and coinciding
the comments on spaces provided during the walkthrough on the building and the
descriptions on each of the considered most relevant adaptable spaces during the
focus groups.
Having tried that all focus groups and walkthroughs took relatively the same time, on
an average of one hour, some of the groups were more talkative and meticulous than
others. This implied a balanced moderation between listening carefully to all volunteers’
remarks and also do it during a similar time schedule for all four walkthroughs,
so that the detail on each justiÀcation might resemble itself and the main aim was
accomplished, leaving out possible deviations from the purpose of these tours and
avoiding superÁuous remarks on the school spaces that might not be of relevance
for the acknowledgement of the adaptable spaces from the volunteers’ point of view.
SpeciÀcally, in regard to walkthroughs, participants were asked to conduct a tour

on the main building under study for this current research, whose aim was strictly
to display the school’s most adaptable spaces according to each of the groups.
Walkthroughs had been previously prepared in order to provide information on
questions regarding this subject, for further justiÀcation of the pathways chosen
and the spaces identiÀed. Thus, participants were asked to identify the spaces with
the larger number and diversity of activities and people in the main building and
to arrange a tour around them. Also, they were asked to focus on which people
used the spaces, what activities occurred there, their social, pedagogical and/or
artistic nature, and their potential different uses between teachers and students, and
between the artistic and the regular teaching.
The tour around the building is especially relevant to be analysed from the point
of view of the pathway chosen by each of the groups, which may or may not
mimic the groups’ more frequently used pathways in a regular school day. Another
consideration to be critically reÁected upon will be the spaces identiÀed as the most
adaptable and its reasoning. Assuming that each group will focus particularly on
the spaces that it has a more profound relation with, spaces more often used by
632
each group and naturally more related to each groups’ more speciÀc activities, i.e.
music spaces will potentially be regarded in a more profound manner by the artistic
community rather than the regular teaching community that does not use them as
much. This will be one of the outcomes for future debate. Another consideration
is concerned with the choice of the spaces to go by and their potential differences
or resemblances amongst the groups, the reasons for indicating them in particular
as opposed to others considered least adaptable.
Subsequently, each walkthrough will be individually commented on, according to

the sequential procedure in which they have been undertaken, followed by a general
conclusion on potential similarities and/or discrepancies amongst the four and a
critical assessment on these Àndings.
The team for accompanying the walkthroughs was composed by myself as team
leader and moderator of the way the tour was fulÀlling its goals, while leaving the
paths open to the groups’ choice and balancing the discussion between a focused
eye on adaptability and spaces more prone for diverse activities and the uses
each space effectively allocated, and the more personal remarks on use or critical
commentaries on space that participants might have.
Besides, the team was also composed by other members that contributed to best
record the procedure with the following roles: taking all the Àeld notes from the
remarks made by the participants and their quotes on the matter; audio recording;
video recording; taking photographs of all the stages of the event; and Ànally
another person on the team whose function was to draw over the building’s plans
the pathways by which the tour was led and the spaces where stops were made and
the adaptability rank according to the group’s explanations.
Colours were assigned to all focus groups when drawing their pathways onto a
general plan, in order to overlap the results in the end of the four walkthroughs and
understanding possible differences or parallels.
Overall, the all team for this procedure involved Àve people that were arranged to
better fulÀl all the functional needs and that did not participate or got involved in
any way in the behaviour and comments of the participants.
The results of each walkthrough will now be depicted in detail. In order to safeguard
volunteers’ identity, particularly from the students that have participated, who are
still minor, volunteers will not be addressed by their name800. It is considered that it
is not the identity of the person who does the action, which is relevant to indicate,
but his/her outlook and the fact that he/she is doing it. Overall, it is the activities
and the spaces that are under research that matter, rather than the identity of the
participants’ involved does not add information for these Àndings.
800
As it was previously accorded with the parents and the Directions of the School and the Conservatory, for
their authorisations.
633
. Walkthrough with teachers of the regular teaching - Friday, 3rd

February 2017
This group is composed of four teachers of the regular teaching regime, three from
the mathematics department and one of history of the culture and the arts, who
have also participated in the focus group. This tour started in the teachers’ hallway,
as it was the meeting point arranged, and proceeded towards the ground Áoor.
As already explained in general, the brief for all four focus groups was that the
participants showed the main building of the school focusing on the spaces that
they considered to be the ones that effectively allocated more activities and people.
For that purpose each group would independently decide what route to take and
where to stop, justifying each of the chosen spaces.
This group’s route started on the Àrst Áoor on the teachers’ ofÀces, in which it was
assumed the signiÀcance of the teachers’ common living room as a gathering space
for this group in particular.
Then, the walkthrough progressed within the main corridor on the Àrst Áoor, Àrst
towards the east side of the building to the small auditorium. When arrived at that
extremity, the group returned and went towards the science labs’ hallway, since it
is also used by the regular teaching and, hence, teachers have a closer connection
with that area. Meanwhile, while passing throughout the corridor, the niches were
also indicated as spaces the students choose to spend time in. Then, the west
staircase, closer to the science labs, was chosen to come down to the ground
Áoor, because regular teachers do not use the upper Áoor that is dedicated to the
artistic teaching of the conservatory. On the ground Áoor and from that staircase,
the tour stopped near to the library, which was highly appraised, and then ended
on the main hall. Interestingly, the main hall was considered, by the teachers, as
separate parts and not as a whole area, pointing out the area near the library, the
central area closer to the central staircase and the auditorium’s cafeteria on the
main hall, all as adaptable spaces of intense usage by the school community. A
plan was sketched reporting the path taken and the spaces identiÀed by that group
from their initial brief (Fig. 253).
A closer outlook on the spaces identiÀed is now possible, to critical analyse them
and their report to this group in particular and the activities undertaken there. The
teachers’ living room is a very wide space with their own cafeteria, which is more
often used as a leisure and socialisation space but that has also the ability to have
workstations, even though work is not usually done there. Teachers also say that it
is the room where the Union meetings occur, possibly due to its dimensions that
enables a collective gathering speciÀcally for the teachers as their audience.
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a) b)
Fig. 253. Walkthrough with teachers of the regular teaching: a) plans; b) photos
The niches on the main corridor have been referred as spaces for gathering small
groups of students with a very frequent use. The small auditorium was assumed to
be used only for small lectures for about 100 students. It was considered to be a less
integrated space that is used for collective gatherings when there is no need to use
the main auditorium. Still, it was indicated as the most used space on the Àrst Áoor
for the regular teaching, because the remaining formal ones are more predisposed
to the artistic teaching. At this time teachers recognised the effective sharing of the
spaces by both teaching proÀles and the auditorium as an example of that. On the
contrary, the dance studio on the other extremity of that Áoor plan was seen as
less adaptable and much more exclusive, and it was even stated that the adaptability
decreases as we progressed towards the dance studio, because the rooms become
increasingly more speciÀc of a particular usage or teaching. Still, the niche closer to
the studio is widely socially used by the students while waiting for classes to start.
Coming down the stairs the group stopped near the library for explaining its
relevance as a space for all: “it is not just a space for the students, it is space for the
students and the teachers and for other activities…”801 In fact, there are activities
promoted by the library such as book readings that enable student aggregation.
The cafeteria was recognised to have high “limitations” because students as soon as
801
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese, as these procedures have all been done in Portuguese:
“Nmo é apenas um espaço de alunos, é um espaço de alunos, professores, outras actividades...”
635
they eat, have to leave for providing space for others, and ultimately, these teachers
concluded that “it is not adaptable”802. When passing by the main auditorium
teachers said “it is permanently in use”, “it is special” and that it was even “open
to the city”803.
Finally, it was reÁected upon the relevance of the main hall as an adaptable space.
Teachers recall that whenever there are activities outside the classrooms they occur
in the main hall, such as events with external guests. Exhibitions are also shown
there, as well as video displays on a variety of subject matters. The possibility of
considering the main hall in parts is curious, but it also enables critical reÁection
because, from the previous observations, even though the space is wide open, it
is used in distinct areas by the students, as some will seat near the central stairs
and others near the library. This is added to the fact that the auditorium’s cafeteria
places chairs and tables in the main hall, which also creates an explicit area with a
speciÀc seating arrangement. This has been asked to the group, that conÀrmed the
most frequent usage of the benches near the auditorium for the parents and the
artistic community, as opposed to the regular teaching students that usually stand
near the library or in the centre.
So, all in all, the spaces considered to be most adaptable were the main hall in
possible separate areas, the library, the niches on the corridor of the Àrst Áoor,
the small auditorium and, for this group in particular, the teachers’ common living
room (Fig. 253a).
. Walkthrough with students of the regular teaching - Friday, 3rd

February 2017
This group was composed by three female students and one male student, whose
ages ranged from 15 to 17 and who attended the 10th to 12th grade. The walkthrough
started on the main hall and progressed upwards. The students pointed out the main
hall as the most adaptable space (according to the deÀnition given prior to the tour
so they could arranged it accordingly) and then the library, although less adaptable
than the main hall. Near the library students chose to go up by the closest staircase.
On the Àrst Áoor the group immediately went towards the science lab hallway,
because on the opposite direction there was the dance studio they do not use. The
tour continued on to the science labs, the area where they effectively have classes
on this building. The visit ended on the teachers’ hallway, the next transversal wing
of the building, where students also informed they use this corridor to get to the
external pavilions. In this Áoor only the niche between the two transversal areas was
802
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Adaptável nmo é.”
803
Free translation of the original quotes in Portuguese: “está permanentemente a ser usado”, “é especial”,
“está aberto à cidade”.
636
a) b)
Fig. 254. Walkthrough with students of the regular teaching: a) plans; b) photos
recognised a possible space for diverse socialising doings and to cater for diverse
activities (Fig. 254).
When passing by the cafeteria, the students said they use the entrance area and the
vending machine more often or simply purchase snacks and leave towards the main
hall or the adjacent exterior space. As observed previously, these students conÀrm
to frequently stand on the benches near the central staircase, more frequently during
the morning arrival. Even during the breaks they prefer to stand on the main hall
than on the Àrst Áoor. In regard to the library, these students use it more for its
computers or for doing group works.
The Àrst Áoor’s accesses to the exterior are particularly used by them when it is bad
weather. The access from the laboratories is mostly used when students have classes
there and choose to go straight outside, and the access through the teachers’ ofÀces
is the most used of them all.
The regular teaching community does not portray a connection to the main building
as deep as the artistic teaching community. This is conÀrmed by the fact that they
only use two of the Áoor plans, and even marginally some of them. From the
walkthrough, the main hall has been the space considered to gather the most users
and different activities, followed by the library on the ground Áoor. One niche
adjacent to the corridor is often used by the regular teaching students as a space for
informal and social activities while waiting for classes to start (Fig. 254a).
637
. Walkthrough with students of the articulated teaching - Friday, 3rd

February 2017
This particular walkthrough was composed by seven students, due to their eagerness
in participating and bringing colleagues with them, ranging from 12 to 18 years old
and attending the 7th to the 12th grade. These students play the cello, the piano, the
harp, the bevel Áute and one specialised in singing, which is overall a very diverse
group in terms of music preferences and hence of spatial uses, because, as formerly
indicated, the classrooms are located according to the nature of the instruments
played, which indicates these students use different classrooms for their individual
lessons on different parts and Áoor plans of the building. Also the age difference
amongst the participants provided different testimonies on spatial experience
according to the classes taken by each student and their schedules, but also their
personality or will, either socialise or to be alone.
This has been, in fact, a very signiÀcant tour of the school, as it provided additional
information on behalf of the students who are the ones that most acutely use all
spaces of this building and whose appropriation is more evident. The fact that it
was made through the three Áoor plans and with constant remarks near the spaces,
demonstrated the interest and also the critical commentaries students have on a
space where they spend so much time, in both formal and informal experiences,
collectively and individually.
Although it might be argued that the fact that this group was composed by seven
participants, as opposed to the remaining ones with four, could unbalance the
answers from this procedure, the Ànal conclusion was that it enriched the debate on
the school spaces and the diversity of their potential uses. Each of the participants
had a very active voice on their school and had also a very broad perspective of
each and every space and on the building overall, as opposed to the regular teaching
community that had a more restricted outlook on the building’s spaces. Moreover,
this also showed a diversity of effective fruition in this building, even informal and
spontaneous as it might be, contrasting with the remaining walkthroughs whose
perspective on adaptable spaces and frequent routes and uses on this building were
quite similar amongst each of the group participants.
All in all, the tour started on the main hall and progressed upwards, ending on
the second Áoor that had not yet been addressed by the previous groups. Artistic
students referred to the main hall and speciÀcally to the auditorium’s cafeteria as a
potential space for a diversity of uses, but then continued on to the main hall area
near the library that they found even more prone for a wide range of activities.
At this point they also mentioned the library as a relevant space, although less
signiÀcant on this behalf than the two previously addressed spaces (Fig. 255).
The tour continued by the central staircase, which was preferred by the students. On
the Àrst Áoor, students progressed towards the east side to the small auditorium’s
638
a) b)
Fig. 255. Walkthrough with students of the articulated teaching _ debating on the potential adaptable
spaces: a) plans; b) photos
topside. They have immediately overlooked the opposite side leading to the
dance studio, because this group does not have any dance student amongst the
participants and the top side of the dance studio is effectively very speciÀc of that
brief. So, throughout the tour, students frequently stopped on the niches adjacent
to the corridor to explain their use while waiting for classes and to established
them as potential adaptable spaces for several experiences. Then, near the small
auditorium, students chose to go to the second Áoor by the closest staircase and
went through the main corridor on the second Áoor, elaborating on how they used
the space and the fact they used the niches on the corridor’s extremities as well as
the benches amongst the corridor itself, which could both be considered adaptable
and frequently used in several different ways for: artistic practice, social talking or
even hastier studying times.
It is relevant again to underline that a simpliÀed concept of adaptable spaces was

previously explained to every group. Generally, the spaces with more people were
considered to be also the spaces that allowed more activities and that, in the end,
639
could have simultaneous experiences happening, all leading to potential adaptability.

But even though there is a possible correlation, still to be concluded from these
procedures, the groups were asked to focus on adaptability and not only on density
of people in space. The tour ended near the opposite staircase on the west side of
the second Áoor (Fig. 255a).
After the depiction of the general tour in its sequential stages, we will proceed with
a more detailed outlook on each space and on the comments from the students on
that matter. Starting on the auditorium’s cafeteria, students claim that parents are
avid users of this space while waiting for their children. It is also occasionally used
when there are events on the auditorium and not necessarily on regular school days
or school hours.
In what concerns the general cafeteria, there is the consistent opinion that students
use it for as little time as possible, for purchasing whatever they might need and
leave, which was already sustained by the regular teaching students.
The main and the small auditoriums have also been mentioned as being “rather
good”. The small auditorium is most frequently used for auditions with parents and
friends because of its size adequacy.
The library is frequently used as social space by these students: “it is very used, but it
is more for talking than for just standing”804. As for the corridors’ appropriation and
the previously observed artistic informal displays, artistic students conÀrm that the
colleagues who mostly played on the corridors were the ones whose instruments
allowed it, such as guitar and harp players, and that the remaining students with
voluminous instruments, that were difÀcult to displace from the classrooms to the
corridors, did not do it as much. They also feel that “playing in public is an habit”805
and that, in the end, they could even create a much more vibrant environment than
what they do. Students have even pointed out that sometimes there are complaints
on the noise they are alleged to make, but that they lack on alternatives for spaces
for them to be in and to practice: “They complain everywhere from the noise but
they don’t provides us with any space” 806.
Students conÀrm to use the central staircase more often with the purpose of going
to the room for leaving the music instruments and where the music sheets are kept,
which they say: “it is where everyone stops”807. This had already been recognised by
the observations and will also be sustained by the artistic teachers that conÀrm to
often go to that room prior to their classes.
804
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “é muito usada, mas é mais para conversar do que para estar.”
805
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “tocar em público é um hábito.”
806
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Queixam-se em todo o lado do barulho mas também
nmo nos arranjam nenhum sítio.”
807
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A sala das partituras é onde toda a gente pára.”
640
In what regards the niches on the corridors, these students claim to use them as a
staying space, most often when they go to their lockers and decide to stay there, but
they also conÀrm that artistic training also occurs there, as well as pedagogical activities,
namely younger children doing their homework with their parents before classes start.
And so, the proximity to the locker area is also a reason for choosing that niche in
particular, proven by quotes such as this: “I use it very much because of my locker”808.
Students have also sustained that the use of these spaces also depended on the
spatial features and the environmental comfort it provided, as well as the furniture
it had for catering for speciÀc activities. In this sense, the niche closer to the small
auditorium is one of the preferred spaces by these students because: “it’s warmer, it
has more sun and a table”, on the contrary, a niche that previously had a table and
a bench and now it does not, currently deprives the students of going there. They
state: “When it had a table and a bench I used it more”809.
It is relevant to recall that the fact that the corridors on the Àrst and second Áoors
differ in conÀguration, implies a different positioning and morphological conditions
for the niches, and therefore a potential difference in use. Not only do the niches
have different sets of furniture, like tables, benches and lockers, as they also have
different light conditions and, foremost, those on the Àrst Áoor are spread around
the whole building’s length, and those on the second Áoor are more segregated on
the extremities, potentially inducing a lesser usage due to its morphological depth.
Still, the fact that these are further away from the most integrated spaces may lead
to a cosier atmosphere and a sense of easiness that explains some of these students’
preference for being on the second Áoor rather than on other, more exposed and
denser spaces. This remark from the students is important to be critically analysed,
because it may imply that integration is a deviating factor for individual activities, and
those activities that involve students to feel at ease and comfortable, like practising
as opposed to public displays. Yet, this may change according to the person who
undertakes this practice, because during observations students have also been
seen singing in the middle of the main hall. So, this idiographic approach also
concludes on a degree of subjectivity on the choice of spaces to play in, provided
by the subjectivity of the people who are engaged in these spaces. This leads to
the assumption that spatial fruition is also a product of personality and individual
choice, besides social and cultural contextual constraints, and that spaces are not
only chosen according to physical or morphological features.
Overall, the practice on the corridors themselves, near the classes or on the niches,
display the already referred artistic ambiance very relevant for motivation, critical
thinking and peer interaction: “here we feel the artistic environment, and that is
808
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “utilizo muito por causa do cacifo”.
809
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “quando tinha a mesa e banco usava mais.”
641
Fig. 256. Walkthrough with students of the articulated teaching _ moving through the school
very important”810. The collective gathering of the students is also paramount for
their learning and also for their social life, they even say they often get together on
a speciÀc niche during a break and then split up towards each one’s classrooms, as
they explained during the walkthrough (Fig. 256).
. Walkthrough with teachers of the artistic teaching - Thursday, 9th

February 2017
This group is composed by four teachers of the conservatory: two of them who
teach the transverse Áute, one the clarinet and another one the trumpet. The
walkthrough started on the main hall that teachers considered to be a highly
representative space according to the initial brief of this research, explained to
them beforehand. SpeciÀcally, they focused on the fact that the artistic teachers stay
together more in the auditorium’s cafeteria, where there are also parents helping
their children with their homework, which introduces in this space educational and
both programmed and non-programmed activities. The library, according to them,
holds more articulated students rather than supplementary or regular ones.
These teachers have also sustained that the central staircase is more used and it was
through there that the tour progressed towards the Àrst Áoor. Then, and similarly
to the artistic students’ walkthrough, these music teachers went immediately on
towards the small auditorium and did not consider going on the opposite direction
to the dance studio. Naturally that these routes demonstrate the speciÀc uses and the
groups’ perspective on space, also according to their experience and inherently, their
curriculum and routines in the school associated to the spaces that allocate them.
The teachers have also highlighted that situation and conÀrmed that it was more the
dance students and teachers that used the staircase near the dance studios (Fig. 257).
810
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “aqui sente-se o ambiente artístico e isso é muito importante.”
642
Fig. 257. Walkthrough with teachers of the artistic teaching _ plans

(Carolina Coelho, Micael Soares)
During the tour on the corridor, the teachers explained the relevance of the
niches, as spaces for students to say for a little while. They have also identiÀed the
composition room as a signiÀcant space, where students have collective classes,
aggregators of a wide range of students. But their focus was mainly on the small
auditorium, highly regarded for a very diverse set of uses, regular and artistic,
formal and informal, public and private. Teachers have also explained that the main
auditorium also holds frequent events for the regular teaching community.
In what regards the niches, teachers also share the opinion that the placement of
furniture, such as tables, promotes its usage in more diverse ways, like collective
gatherings and pedagogical activities.
Going up those stairs to the second Áoor, teachers again pointed out the niches
for similar reasons as those on the lower Áoor, and explained the location of their
classrooms, which were all on that Áoor according to the nature of the instrument
they taught. Interestingly, as the sense of belonging is very vivid in these teachers,
643
Fig. 258. Walkthrough with teachers of the artistic teaching

they made sure their classrooms were open so we could go inside during our tour,
because these represented the spaces where they spent most of their time in the
conservatory (Fig. 258). The walkthrough ended on the opposite end of that Áoor
plan, on the dance studio, where we did not enter because of the need for special
dance shoes, concluding on its high speciÀcity.
. Critical interpretation of the general Àndings from the walkthroughs
After all four walkthroughs it is possible to overlap the routes taken in all tours and
to superimpose the groups’ choices for the most adaptable spaces.
As for the routes, only the artistic teaching, both with its teachers and students,
have chosen to go to the second Áoor, as the regular teaching community does not
have a close connection with this Áoor plan and hence, does not have a say in what
regards potential adaptable spaces on that Áoor. That justiÀes the fact that those
walkthroughs with the regular teaching did not go there at all.
Another difference in the routes is the fact that the regular teachers and students
have chosen to go through the science labs, as opposed to the artistic community,
which did not. This naturally demonstrates that the tour also conÀrms the spaces
to which every group has a deeper connection with, and those which make part of
their daily routine. It is from these spaces and the activities each one usually does
in them that they could have an opinion about, and not on the remaining spaces.
This also explains the broadness of the tour by the artistic students and their most
frequent stops on both formal and informal spaces; the stops made from the artistic
teachers, mostly on formal spaces since their socialisation in the building is more
circumscribed; and the fact that the regular community has taken shorter routes amongst
the spaces used by them, which are only a part of the building overall (Fig. 259).
644
Fig. 259. Walkthrough with all groups _ plans

Teachers from the regular and also from the artistic teaching have similar pathways
in the school amongst themselves, but differently in each group. That is due to
the reality they know in the building and that they have explained during the
walkthroughs, which conditions the way in which they use space.
The artistic teachers have depicted a rather conditioned use of the space, with little
social interaction, set only in their area of acquaintance with their students and
nearby teachers, frequently teaching similar nature instruments. Social sets may be
the teachers’ common living room or the auditorium’s cafeteria, which has already
been conÀrmed as highly frequented during the afternoons particularly by the
artistic community at large. Still, the fact that breaks are short may impede longer
pathways and, as these teachers’ classrooms are located on the second Áoor, all
in all, they state the most frequently gathering spot is, in fact, the main corridor,
where students wait for class, where sometimes parents of younger children wait
with them and where teachers come for a small break. So, the corridor is here
understood and experienced as a moving pathway to get to class but also, and very
645
signiÀcantly, a space to stand, to practice music instruments before class, to do

homework while waiting, and to socialise.
The teachers from the regular teaching have also conÀrmed a similar route within
the school, but regarded socialisation as a very relevant and frequent happening for
both their personal lives and their professional work. This explains the need for such
a large teachers’ common living room provided with seating areas, workstations and
a cafeteria, but also ofÀces for teachers according to their scientiÀc area in particular,
implying the frequent meetings and the need to work collectively. Naturally, they
have indicated during their walkthrough their living room as an adaptable space,
which relates only to them, but that has been explained to hold socialisation,
individual or collective work, and even programmed events and meetings also from
external entities from the school. This is a speciÀc remark from this group, which
adds complementary information to the communal school spaces.
The regular teaching students have also demonstrated a very pragmatic use of this
building in regard to the choice in pathways, which is most considered for getting
to a destination rather than for socialising per se. This might explain their lower
sense of appropriating space or feeling free to stay in diverse locations and enjoying
social, leisure or pedagogical activities with their peers. These particular students
consider the main hall and the library as relevant communal spaces where they meet
socially at the morning arrival, and where most of their social experiences in the
building occur outside classes.
It was the group with the articulated teaching students that has shown the most
informed conception of the whole building and the broadest consideration on
potential uses and a higher sense of belonging and appropriating space. Particularly,
their creative proÀle leads them to enjoy common spaces in informal activities, most
often spontaneously, but also to easily undertake activities of social, educational
and artistic nature in the main hall, the corridors, the niches, the library,… all spaces
not initially conceived for such purposes, more for moving or for formal fruition,
respectively.
All groups have considered the main hall has a highly adaptable space for a diverse
sort of activities, gathering all the school community. It has even been considered by
some groups as a space potentially understood in several different spatial areas, due
to the adjacency to different spaces, such as the auditorium, the Directions’ ofÀces,
the cafeteria and the library; with different seating arrangements throughout; and
also which held different students according to their usual location there, which had
already been perceived during the observations. In this sense, the regular teaching
community assumed its preference for the space near the library and the artistic one
indicated the auditorium’s cafeteria as a potentially more prone space for this group,
but they also sustained their frequent use of the informal spaces on the upper
corridor, both the corridors themselves and the niches for them to be in.
646
The niches on the upper corridors have also been appraised as relevant spaces,
particularly for all the artistic community, as socially and artistically relevant and
with the speciÀcity of a higher sense of comfort for them to stay, due to the smaller
dimension of these spaces, the physical comfort it provided and the connectivity
with the classrooms in which they have classes. On the contrary, the regular
community does not have such an intensive use of these spaces and it uses the
corridors mostly as moving pathways or just when waiting for science lessons.
Besides the niches, and also proven by the previous observations, the corridors
themselves, despite being deprived of a very large width, are spaces of effective
stay, both for regular and artistic study or for social gathering. This is mostly due to
their direct connectivity to the classrooms and also their morphological integration,
gathering the users of that Áoor plan and the students from the previous and the
forthcoming lessons.
The library, as it also holds social activities besides the most formal ones, is also a
space to be referred to according to this brief. It is a space that can cater for all the
school community in programmed events such as book readings, formal exhibitions,
or informal talking, besides group and individual work with colleagues or with the
parents. It is overall, a space that enables, through the space and also through its
management, a diverse fruition. The main auditorium is very signiÀcant community
asset, whereas the small auditorium is used for both the regular and the artistic
communities and it holds a greater sense of intimacy. Finally, the artistic community
has also referred the small auditorium and the composition room, where collective
classrooms happen, also as adaptable spaces. This has been highly stressed by the
teachers, which innately are more acquainted with formal events, and the students
have referred this space along with the remaining, more informal ones.
4.2.3.3. Focus groups B Idiographic analysis
Focus groups have the speciÀcity of assembling a group of contributors and to

assess a precise problematics:
“The focus group method is a form of group interview in which: there

are several participants (in addition to the moderator/facilitator); there
is an emphasis in the questioning on a particular fairly tightly deÀned
topic; and the accent is upon interaction within the group and the joint
construction of meaning.” (Bryman, 2008, p.474)
SpeciÀcally, this process aims at gathering information through participants’

interaction for explaining a certain subject matter, which is set by the researcher
(Morgan, 1988, p.6). For our current research, it is used under this sequence of
methods because it is intended to provide data that might explain, rather than just
647
depict the perceived social interactions, which justiÀes its subsequent use after
observations and walkthroughs, but in a conjoint manner for the overall Àndings811.
According to Morgan (1988):
“The strength of relying on the researcher’s focus is the ability to produce

concentrated amounts of data on precisely the topic of interest. This
strength was clear in comparison to participant observation because
focus groups not only give access to reports on a wide range of topics
that may not be observable but also ensure that the data will be directly
targeted to the researcher’s interests.” (Morgan, 1988, p.13)
In this case in particular, focus groups have been formed and asked to comment
on a more speciÀc manner, each ones’ routines, movements in the school building,
activities within that building and a potential justiÀcation of the remarked
behaviour during the observations. These have been formed in order to provide a
better acquaintance of the school’s community, to understand in a more detailed
explanation the choices made from the walkthroughs and also the frequent uses
perceived in the observations, and foremost to elaborate on the adaptability issue
in regard to the building by generating interaction within the contributors in their
own environment:
“Focus group research is less artiÀcial than many other methods,

because, in emphasizing group interaction, which is a normal part of
social life, it does not suffer from the problem of gleaning information
in an unnatural situation.” (Bryman, 2008, p.487)
As already explained on the walkthroughs description, the focus groups and

walkthroughs went hand in hand in completion date and for all the same four
different groups of volunteers. Also according to Bryman: “[…] the general point
is that increasingly focus group practitioners try to discern patterns of variation by
putting together groups with particular attributes or clusters of attributes.” (Bryman,
2008, p.482). So, the four groups previously arranged for the walkthroughs have
also been the same that have participated in these focus groups, because these
are considered the ones who bring detailed data for this research and may have
different perspectives on space812.
The focus groups have been undertaken in the following days:
. teachers of the regular teaching – Friday, 3rd February 2017

. students of the regular teaching – Friday, 3rd February 2017
811
“In combination with other methods, focus groups can provide preliminary research on speciÀc issues in a
larger project or follow up research to clarify Àndings from another method.” (Morgan, 1988, p.17)
812
“Focus groups take a long time to arrange, and it takes a long time to transcribe the recordings that are
made. […] Make sure you are able to justify the number of groups you have chosen and why your data are still
signiÀcant.” (Bryman, 2008, p.479)
648
. students of the articulated teaching – Friday, 3rd February 2017

. teachers of the artistic teaching – Thursday, 9rd February 2017
This stage aimed at deepening the information related to spatial use and personal
data that might inform and clear out some of the most generalised Àndings from
the observations of collective patterns of co-presence and natural movement,
to the tour guided by the groups on the walkthroughs. So, at this time the focus
groups, intended a closer approach to each person as a representative of a group
but assuming each ones’ spatial fruition and perspective of the space according to
their age, curriculum and interests. Note that even from the previous observations,
it has been remarked that students laid in space according to their age groups, from
the younger to the older ones, and even according to social denominators guided by
common interests in the school and/or in the conservatory.
The time for the focus groups, similarly to the walkthroughs, was intended to be
analogous so that every volunteer had the opportunity to provide information for the
purposes of our current research but, in a well-adjusted way, without deviations from
the purpose on the subject of adaptability, which might have proven to be difÀcult.
Still, as this process intends a closer and more individual outlook on people’s relation
to space, the time taken for each focus group naturally depends on the proÀle of the
interviewees and their more or less active participation on this procedure.
Each group was gathered and it was explained to the participants the context of this
research so that they could understand, in a simple yet precise manner, in what way
could they contribute and what was the intention of their contribution, leading the
conversation to that subject and attempting to deviate it from further distractions.
Naturally that the concept of adaptability might prove difÀcult for them, so that
after explaining the context of the research, this concept has been described and
clearly explained in a simple way for all to understand it.
Then, a dialogue was started for getting acquainted with the individuals on their
personal proÀle regarding age and also pedagogically, regarding their curriculum,
which might all bear relevance for their spatial fruition according to the classes they
attend and their respective location. Then, discussions were led towards spatial usage,
access from the exterior and most used pathways, that would explain and potentially
provide correlations with the users from the observed movements in the building
and also the activities undertaken by the participants, on their nature and location.
Afterwards, participants were asked to individually reÁect upon the building’s spaces
and to provide their outlook on the spaces that, according to their perspectives,
would better represent the spaces where the widest range of activities actually
occurred and that gathered the most diverse array of people. Focus groups had
been previously prepared to answer speciÀc questions on spatial adaptability in the
building, foremost which were the spaces each group considered more adaptable
649
and why, locating them in the plan and explaining the activities that occurred
there and the people who actually used it. The “script” included question such as:
Can participants rank the spaces according to their adaptability? From the most
adaptable spaces, which ones are more related to social, pedagogical and artistic
activities and which can congregate them all? Which hold formal and/or informal
activities and which hold programmed and/or non-programmed events? Are the
corridors considered spaces of relevance for knowledge transmission or just for
movement? If so, in what ways and by whom? What is the main route taken by each
person and each focus group, and which spaces does each focus group consider
to be the most frequented by them and which activities do they undertake in those
referred spaces? Are there any spaces lacking in the school that would be relevant
for their learning and socialisation?
Overall, focus groups took about one hour, enclosing the presentation of the context
of the research to the actual sketching on the building’s plans by the contributors,
even if this may differ from group to group according to the active participation
of the volunteers.
Also, similarly to the walkthroughs, each focus group required a team of people to
best record it, intended to be neutral and not participant in the process. So, it was
composed by myself as the team leader, for moderating the debate according to the
research objective, and the remaining team members with the following functions:
registering the audio; registering the video; photographing the experience; writing
Àeld notes on what was happening, the sequence of events and the most relevant
quotes from the volunteers; and providing the plans and markers for the participants
to sketch, in a total of 5 people involved on the team.
From all focus groups, accounts were made on audio and video records of the full
experience; Àeld notes were taken; photographs documented the event, either on
a general space and on individual participation; and Ànally, sketches done by the
participants on the plans were produced by all volunteers, regarding their most used
pathways and their perspective on the most adaptable spaces.
Each focus group will be analysed in its speciÀcity and then general remarks
will be concluded on potential similarities and/or discrepancies amongst the
four. Although the materials gathered have been extensive, commentaries will be
provided on all of them, crossing the distinctive Àndings, even if only some of the
sketches and photographs will be placed here at this point, as a representation of
a broader extension, which to reÁect upon. Again on this analysis, the identities of
the volunteers will not be disclosed, but rather the accounts on their participation,
their outlooks on space and their respective fruition. The focus groups will be
analysed in the order in which they have taken place.
650
Fig. 260. Focus groups with teachers of the regular teaching _ drawing by one participant
(Teacher A)
. Focus group with teachers of the regular teaching - Friday, 3rd

February 2017
This focus groups is comprised of the same four teachers of the regular teaching
regime that went on the walkthrough. When asked about their regular routes on the
school, the answer was similar to all the participants in this group: teachers arrive at
the school, choose the central staircase to go to the Àrst Áoor and then go to their
transversal hallway, either to the teachers’ common living room or to their scientiÀc
group ofÀce. From there teachers go through the access on that extremity towards
the external pavilions. The Áoor plan on the second Áoor has not been used to
sketch their usual paths, since it is not used by the regular teaching community.
So, it might be concluded that these teachers do not use the spaces in this building
so much, exceptions made for the Direction hallway on the ground Áoor, the science
labs area, and naturally the area of the teachers’ ofÀces on the Àrst Áoor in particular.
In what concerns spatial adaptability, teachers were able to speciÀcally indicate them
in the plans they were provided with, pointing out the ground Áoor as the Áoor with
most spaces on that regard, particularly: the library, the main auditorium and the
main hall. Interestingly, the main hall has been indicated as being most adaptable
near the library and near the central staircase, leaving out the area more speciÀc of
the artistic community near the auditorium. On the Àrst Áoor, teachers have also
pointed out the small auditorium, which they stated to be also used by the regular
teaching for smaller gatherings of some classes, and particularly on their behalf,
651
Fig. 261. Focus groups with teachers of the regular teaching

the teacher’s ofÀces and their common living room. After the analysis on all four
sets of sketches, these are all very similar in both the routes used and the adaptable
spaces considered (Fig. 260).
Nonetheless, regular teachers have also pointed out the lack of a common living
room for students that they missed from the school, as it was before: “the great loss
we had with the new school was the loss of a polyvalent space. […] Now there is the
ground Áoor and they use the exterior spaces but it is not the same.”813. This quote
bears an extreme high signiÀcance, already conÀrmed by the observations made
earlier on the lack of a common living room for students to be, to talk, to play table
football (formerly very appraised), … Teachers have even assumed to have tried to
sort that out with the possibility of opening the canteen outside lunch hours, which
seemed to be very difÀcult to put into practice, stating that: “it was not viable”.
In regard to the whole space, teachers sustained: “It is very good to be here”814.
It complements the pedagogical project of the school, it has enhanced their work
conditions and their relation to the students. Even for the teachers’ socialisation
they conÀrm its adequacy on the teachers’ common living room but also on the
each scientiÀc group ofÀce.
But appraisals were also made to the new school space that has “a higher external
presence for the city” and particularly to the changed and plural curricula that has
brought “another life to the school”. Teachers even argue that: “our school started
by being the school of the poor people, the quality of the work here changed
that status, but the conservatory came to give a hand… it was the cherry on top
813
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A grande perda que tivemos com a nova escola foi a
perda de um espaço polivalente. [....] Agora há o piso 0 e eles utilizam os espaços exteriores mas nmo é a mesma
coisa.”
814
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “É muito bom estar aqui.”
652
Fig. 262. Focus groups with students of the regular teaching _ brieÀng on the aim of the procedure
of the cake”815. Even though teachers are clear in stating that it was not the space
that brought this, that “the activity and energy already existed before”816, they also
conÀrm the aggregation of a “more educated and informed society”817 that uses
these spaces from the outside, like the library that welcomes outside people to make
their works there.
Overall, this focus group helped clearing out the relation between space and the
pedagogical project, understanding the enriching ambiance and also its cultural
environment and even the educated people it brought for the conservatory but also
for the space in general (Fig. 261). It also conÀrmed, for that regard, the plurality of
uses and the spatial, pedagogical and community assets it has conveyed.
. Focus group with students of the regular teaching - Friday, 3rd

February 2017
As previously indicated, the participants on the focus groups have been the same
from the walkthrough, as a group of four students whose ages ranged from 15 to
17. After brieÀng them on the context of this research (Fig. 262), students discussed
space and their particular outlook on the uses for the regular teaching and the ones
that aggregated a wider variety of events.
The usual route taken by these students seems to coincide amongst the four, in
which students enter through the sole exterior access towards the main hall and
815
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A nossa escola era a escola dos pobres, a qualidade do
trabalho que nós desenvolvemos mudou esse status, mas o conservatório veio dar uma pequena ajuda.... foi a
cereja em cima do bolo. ”
816
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Nmo foi o bloco que trouxe a atividade e energia, ela
já exista antes”.
817
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Uma sociedade mais culta e erudita.”
653
then take the central staircase to the upper Áoor, reaching the transversal access
towards the teachers’ ofÀces. There, these students use most frequently the corridor
placed on the Ànal end on this hallway towards the external pavilions where regular
classes occur. This leaves off the second Áoor, which is not indicated by these
students as a Áoor plan they actually occupy and that has nothing sketched on the
plans provided.
Students have also mentioned that another path was possible, when they did not
go to the upper Áoor and simply went straight from the entrance of building to the
exterior access towards the external pavilions, on the ground Áoor. Nevertheless,
this was considered a secondary option, only when weather conditions were
favourable.
But even though students have pointed out this route as a moving pathway, they
have also indicated it as a space for dialogue and peer interaction throughout the
day, but particularly in the mid-morning break. It has also coincided with their
answer on which space they preferred to be in their spare time, to which they
answered the external space adjacent to the cafeteria, for leisure and eating.
Regular teaching students conÀrm that they use the main hall and the main corridor
on the Àrst Áoor as spaces to stay. In the main hall, in particular, students have
indicated to often use the benches near the central staircase before going up, as
well as the benches and the chairs near the auditorium’s cafeteria, for socialising
and having a snack. On the upper Áoor, when students have science classes on its
respective transversal hallway on the west side of the building, they often use the
main corridor benches or its adjacent spaces – the small niches, where staying and
socialising is also possible, while waiting for science classes to start. Naturally, that
the use of the toilets near the main corridor on the upper Áoor is also a space that
engages students during this time, as represented in the plans where the students
have been asked to sketch on.
Only one student has conÀrmed his use of the library and the remaining have
assumed a low use of this space and the urge to produce group works at home
rather than in the school. This might indicate a lesser sense of belonging in space
than the students from the articulated teaching, who remain there longer, for their
artistic classes besides the regular ones.
As for the canteen, students have conÀrmed they used it for having lunch, but they
did not enjoy its entrance straight from the exterior, deployed of some environmental
comfort, particularly on bad weather days. Also related to this space, students Ànd
it to be over-crowded and even if could be amenable of other activities after lunch,
which they would prefer to continue doing there, such as talking amongst each
other, it is not possible due to its high frequency of use and spatial need of tables
that induces them to leave there straight after lunch.
654
Fig. 263. Focus groups with students of the regular teaching _ drawing by one participant
(Student A)
The cafeteria is not at all a space where regular students like to be, which coincides
with the observations matrices previously undertaken. These students say they
even avoid going there simply for picking up some snacks, and often preferred the
vending machines on the main hall than going to the cafeteria to buy them straight
from the bar.
During the breaks throughout the regular school day, students conÀrm their
preference for staying in the pavilions, specially when the weather is not favourable
to come outside, because they feel these pavilions can also accommodate them
during the intervals between classes, rather than coming to the main hall or even to
the main building overall (Fig. 263).
After discussing their spatial preferences, main routes and most frequented spaces,
students were provided with plans of the main building in which to sketch their
main pathways, as already justiÀed, but also to point out the spaces they considered
to be more adaptable to more activities and more people (Fig. 264). Although these
students did not exactly point out the spaces in the plans according to their potential
adaptability rank from their outlook, that was considered possibly too complex for
them, they were able to explain in their own words and from their experience in
the school where they considered that most activities usually occurred for them.
These spaces have actually been identiÀed in the plans, although not designated as
adaptable, but after a careful analysis from the records taken and the sketches from
the students, the spaces indicated by the students are the ones they have a deeper
connection with and the most representative in terms of their time in the school.
655
Fig. 264. Focus groups with students of the regular teaching

The main hall has been clearly indicated by the regular teaching students as the space
where non-curriculum activities usually happened, i.e. activities such as exhibitions,
demonstrations from external associations and performances. They have not
mentioned neither the main auditorium nor the small one on the upper Áoor.
. Focus group with students of the articulated teaching - Friday, 3rd

February 2017
Similarly to the previous focus groups, this one has also been established with the
same participants of the walkthrough for the students of the articulated teaching,
previously detailed in its wide-ranging composition, which has proven to be highly
informative and aware of the space and its assets. Again students were explained
the context of the research and its purpose so they could participate in the most
explanatory manner towards the speciÀcity of this study, to which they were very
detailed. As these students are enrolled both in the conservatory and in the school,
they are more aware of the spaces in the main building as compared to the regular
teaching students. Furthermore, and as already explained on the analysis of this
group’s walkthrough, the fact that all these students have diverse ages and having
different music instrument classes, provides them a diverse outlook on the building,
according to the location of the speciÀc classroom they attend.
In what concerns these students’ main routes in the building, they often use the main
staircase in the building towards the Àrst Áoor and the east topside staircase towards
the second Áoor. This could be explained due to the location of their lockers near
that staircase on the second Áoor. As opposed, the central staircase to the second
Áoor does not lead to any speciÀc common space, and the east one leads to an open
space adjacent to the corridors that has an adequate dimension for socialising after
placing their instruments on the lockers. So, the plans from this focus group involve
the second Áoor, contrarily to the ones from the regular teaching students (Fig. 265).
656
Fig. 265. Focus groups with students of the articulated teaching _ drawing by one participant
(Student B)
Still, the diversity of the students’ instruments is correlated with their paths on the
building, which is proven by the plans they have sketched, indicating their most
frequented spaces and movements. This speciÀes that students can have different
habits when moving in space, according to their classrooms’ locations and their
lockers. So, if diversity has been acknowledged from the analysis of the sketches
done by the students, there are also similarities amongst each other and with the
regular teaching students’ pathways. These are: the common use of the accesses on
the ground Áoor to the exterior, and on the Àrst Áoor through the teachers’ ofÀces’
hallway towards the external pavilions; on the contrary, the access from the science
labs to the exterior is the least used by all students.
So, for the morning entrance, artistic students generally place their instruments on
their lockers or on the room provided for that purpose in the teachers’ hallway and
depart for their classes. The students whose instruments are kept in school, such as
the piano or the harp, do not have to do this detour.
657
Fig. 266. Focus groups with students of the articulated teaching

(Carolina Coelho)
Not all artistic students claim to go straight to class after arriving at school, and
some explain they stay on the main hall for a while, near the central staircase’s
benches or on the benches near the library, while waiting for their friends. These
have already been perceived as highly preferred spaces by the students overall and
hence, highly dense at the morning arrival, proven by the observations matrices
previously analysed. Throughout the day, these students have diverse movements
according to their places of interest and their curriculum.
As already informed, the classrooms for the music teaching are connected according
to the nature of the instrument taught there, and so, the wider the variety of
instruments, the further the students are displaced on the Àrst and second Áoor
plans of the building for their classes. Naturally that the lack of students from the
dance course overlooks the most frequent use of the west wing of the building,
where the dance studios are placed and their respective lockers. So, if the music
students frequently use the small auditorium for their auditions or performances,
the dance students also use the studios on the opposite side of the building for
those purposes, both with collective potential either for practice, classes and display.
Interestingly, the main auditorium can be used for all, mostly in public and pre-
arranged events of higher public representativeness.
The spaces established by this focus group as their favourite for staying, leisure and
socialising differ according to their age group (Fig. 266). Older students claim to
prefer to stay in the main building throughout the main hall, preferably seating in the
auditorium’s cafeteria, which is felt as a place of belonging. The younger ones prefer
to stay outside, near the external pavilions where they have most of the regular
classes, avoiding coming to the main building speciÀcally for their breaks, unless they
intend to pursue speciÀc uses such as having lunch, a snack or going to the library.
The library is recognised as an important space for this group, as opposed to the
658
regular teaching’s previous answers. They state their relevance either for studying
and undertaking pedagogical activities and also as a space for informal fruition and
socialisation, eventually felt as an extension of the main hall. This may be due to the
lack of a common living room for students and it is also in tune with the diversity
of activities perceived in the library during all the observations.
Similarly to the regular teaching students, the external space adjacent to the cafeteria
is also a very favoured space for these students who use it particularly when the
weather conditions are favourable. Again, the cafeteria shows to be one of the least
used common spaces, as also proven by the observations, and even if some students
state their preference for the vending machines, as the regular teaching students
had already expressed, the ones who actually go there, often stay for a limited time
only for the purchase of snacks. The canteen is also used for these students to
have lunch and leave straight afterwards, as also mentioned by the regular teaching
students and remarked by the observations.
Naturally that these students refer to the niches near the corridors on the upper
Áoors as spaces to stay, more so than the previous focus group, because of its
morphological connectivity to the classrooms and also because they fell rather
comfortable in smaller spaces, which they consider to be cosy and physically
adequate for socialising and even for artistic informal displays.
In what regards these artistic displays, students claim that they often practice
inside classrooms that are vacant, particularly in the early morning or lunch breaks.
Still, some may practice on those niches. The harp student, for instance, has said
that she would use one of those niches in a frequent way for practising when
the classrooms were all being used. This also demonstrates a sense of physical
and social comfort for playing an instrument in a common space of the school.
However, the cello student states her struggle in playing outside a classroom
because this instrument implies to be seated on a chair that is lacking in all of
these spaces and that ultimately deprives her from practising outside and compels
her to the schedules of the vacant classrooms.
All in all, the practice of music instruments is constrained by the physical features
of the spaces and naturally by the ones who play them. In this sense, if there are
students who easily play their instrument on the corridors, others conÀrm their
lack of comfort when playing outside. But overall, if during the observations some
students have been perceived playing music instruments on the ground Áoor, the
students of the focus group have conÀrmed their preference for playing on the
upper corridors, where they feel more at ease and more amongst their peers. This
coincides with the observations that have perceived to have more artistic students
in these spaces in regard to a wider general community that uses the main hall. Even
though, the piano that is usually placed on the main hall is often used by students
to practice or to enjoy themselves, informally, either alone or with their colleagues.
659
Fig. 267. Moment of spontaneous artistic display during the focus group
with students of the articulated teaching
During the focus group, some particularities have been told, like the singing students
that, generally, Ànd it interesting to sing in the staircases, for acoustics testing on a
most improbable space, conceived for vertical circulation and not for artistic, yet
informal and non-programmed, training. These testimonies, overall, demonstrate
that this building is subject of appropriation particularly by the articulated teaching
students, who Ànd amongst the diversity of spaces, the ones where they prefer
to spend time in and to practice their instruments. It also shows that the music
ambiance is displaced throughout the whole building and that the proÀle of these
students in particular is rather spontaneous and enriching of the spaces’ potential
from its early conception (Fig. 267).
Remarkably, students have conÀrmed that during the Music Day, the conservatory
encourages students to be in the common areas of the building playing their
instruments and promoting an inspirational music environment.
The proÀle of these students implies frequent gatherings for practising and discussing
music and for learning. This is also proven by the regular meetings on Saturdays
only for watching the orchestra in the auditorium or for the collective rehearsals
that occur there also on Saturdays. This implies the need for individual learning
spaces but also spaces of different dimensions for smaller and larger groups, such
as the small auditorium and the main auditorium respectively. Also, public displays
are frequent for these students, which usually occur in both the small and the main
auditoriums. Besides, students also recognise that some activities with their parents
also take place in the library in a more informal manner.
Even though the building lacks an effective students’ common living room, since
some of the students who have participated in the focus groups belong to the
Student Association, they in fact use that room for their particular appropriation.
660
Even so, students point out that the most adaptable spaces for them are the
spaces used by most of the school community, namely the main hall, where most
activities are possible to be done, considering it to be a highly innovative space
while comparing them to other conservatory buildings they know, specially the
prior space of the conservatory that the older students had also known.
. Focus group with teachers of the artistic teaching - Thursday, 9th

February 2017
Again, this focus group has also been done with the same participants of the
walkthrough, which implies that their spatial use concerns the location of their
classrooms and so their closeness to one another is accorded to the afÀnities on
the nature of the instruments they teach818. The fact that there are two transverse
Áute teachers, who have naturally near classrooms for teaching, as opposed to
the trumpet and clarinet teachers that have their classrooms nearby one another,
potentially implies different spatial routines.
One of the explicit Àndings of this focus group is the very speciÀc use of space
that teachers claim to have, very different from the wide-ranging outlook provided
by their artistic students. Teachers, on the other hand, sustain that they reach the
school and go straight to their classrooms using the central staircase, or go Àrst to
the room where instruments and music sheets are kept and then to the classrooms.
Some of the teachers conÀrm occasionally going to the teachers’ living room for
a quick coffee break, either at the arrival at school or in the midst of their lessons.
In this way, they do not have a very broad fruition of the remaining spaces. As
they conÀrmed: “Our culture as music teachers is more individualistic, we use the
classrooms for very long and isolate ourselves there.”819.
Despite the fact that each teacher uses his/her classroom in particular, and so their
routes in the school are to and from that space, the artistic teachers all report a similar
spatial use and also a similar perspective on the spatial adaptability of the building,
realising that the comments all coincide (Fig. 268). Besides the occasional break on
the teachers’ living room, their communal time is spent near their classroom on the
corridors, socialising with the teachers near them and hence, the ones that teach
similar nature instruments: “the corridor ends up by being the meeting point for
the teachers”820. They insist that the building is too long for going to the teachers’
common living room that is shared with the regular teaching teachers, or even
818
Note that each teacher is accorded with a speciÀc classroom and that music classrooms are arranged by the
nature of the instruments.
819
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A nossa cultura como professores de música é mais
individualista, ocupamos as salas durante muito tempo e isolamo-nos nas salas.”
820
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “O corredor acaba por ser o ponto de encontro dos
professores.”
661
further away to the auditorium’s cafeteria on the ground Áoor, because they do not
have time in their small breaks for going there.
They reveal a critical stand on the large dimension of a building such as this, that
may hinder the social contact and family sense they felt in previous buildings, smaller
and with less teachers: “the problem with these large buildings is the lack of contact
with the others that is missed [that did not happened in the previous conservatory
spaces], as even the students, I think, suffer from that” 821. This might show a more
evident criticism and a higher difÀculty for adapting to a new environment that
implies changing habits and routines, as compared to the students who did not
mention these remarks and seem to have learnt how to use the building and to make
the spaces Àt for their needs.
The main auditorium and the small auditorium are considered adaptable spaces, in
which the small auditorium has mainly artistic activities, even though some activities
from the regular teaching might occasionally occur there, and the main auditorium
has also artistic activities and others of very diverse sort, mainly programmed
ones, but also external ones enlarging its inÁuence on the city. Even so, its large
dimension may cause some uneasiness from the students and players and so, the
small auditorium is often used for pedagogical purposes and also for cost reductions
or avoidance of the use of excessive space for a reduced audience. The main hall
has also been clearly stated as an adaptable space, even more prone to informal
activities besides the possible formal activities that occur there.
The niches on the Àrst Áoor have been conÀrmed to hold students while waiting
for classes, as opposed to the second Áoor niches. This could be explained because
the niches on the second Áoor are placed on the extremities and it is actually on the
benches that students stay near their classrooms, according to these teachers. The
fact that students practice both on the niches and on the corridors has also been
conÀrmed by these teachers, as did the previous focus groups and the observations
prior to that, and teachers even say that it sometimes bothers the classes inside.
Another relevant remark made from these teachers, and that had already been
conÀrmed by the artistic students, is the use of formal classrooms for practice,
when those rooms are vacant from formal lessons. One of the teachers of the
artistic teaching has said: “My classroom sometimes is completely disorganised
as if someone has been there, perhaps a quartet or so ,…”822 This might imply
that music classrooms can hold both formal and informal activities of artistic and
pedagogical potential, possibly due to its adequate smaller dimension and a sense
821
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “O problema destes mega pavilhões multidisciplinares
é que perdemos um bocadinho o contacto com os outros, mesmo os alunos, penso, que sofrem um bocadinho
nesse aspecto.” Even though students have shown they use all the building and did not, in any time, made this
critic to the fact its dimension might obstruct their socialisation.
822
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A minha sala às vezes está completamente desorganizada
como se estivesse lá estado um quarteto ou assim...”
662
Fig. 268. Focus groups with teachers of the artistic teaching _ drawing by one participant
(Teacher B)
of easiness to play and practice, either alone or in small groups. But to note also
how deeply rooted the sense of belonging is from the teachers, claiming for their
classrooms, because of the time they spend in the same space and the fact that the
association of an instrument to a space makes them use that same space and not
any other, hampering their fruition of the whole school building.
Generally these teachers support the main hall as a space that gathers all the community
and that, in some time periods such as the mid-morning break, it is completely full
and highly dense, which has also been perceived by the previous observations. But
also in the afternoon they conÀrm students to be on the benches, more sporadically
in the middle of the corridor and more frequently near the auditorium’s cafeteria
for socialising, but also for studying and for practising, by both the articulated and
supplementary students that come to the conservatory in the afternoon.
Overall, the artistic teachers share the common indication of the main hall to be
very aggregating of people, but also point out the main and the small auditoriums
for their frequent use and ability to cater for several different artistic activities. Some
663
Fig. 269. Focus groups with teachers of the artistic teaching

criticism has been made to the building, regarded to a comparison with the previous
spaces where the conservatory has been before. Similarly to the regular teachers,
these teachers’ routes and routines are near, but there is a higher sense of ownership
of the classroom where they teach, due to the long time they spend there, and a
lower sense of socialisation amongst the all artistic community, let alone the regular
teaching, said to be due to the space’s over dimension that does not allow them to
go to the common spaces in a short period of time (Fig. 269).
. Critical interpretation of the general Àndings from the focus groups
Teachers have similar routes on the building, differently according to their artistic
or regular classes. It is the students who have a more diversiÀed use of the spaces
and, most profoundly, it is the artistic students who spend a very long time there,
who most perceive and appropriate space as their own.
Routes on the building also differ according to the Ànal destination of the people
involved. The lockers are a very important space for the students to place their
instruments, but the room for placing the instruments and where the music sheets
are kept is also a common space used by all the artistic community on their arrival.
On the other hand, regular teaching students aim at reaching the external pavilions
for their classes, either by the ground Áoor or through the corridor on the Àrst
Áoor, which is used by the teachers, whose ofÀces are placed in that hallway.
The cafeteria is a space not highly appraised by the students, to which some prefer
using the vending machines. Instead, the exterior space near the cafeteria is very
favoured by all students as a pleasant space to be in good weather. The canteen is a
space that only caters for having lunch and, due to its over-crowding, students claim
to eat and promptly leave afterwards.
664
The library is conÀrmed to be used both formally and informally for studying and
socialising, as the observations had already conÀrmed, particularly for the artistic
students who spend more time in the school and use the main building more widely,
than the regular teaching students whose time schedule for using it is also balanced
with the time spent on the external pavilions.
It is also the artistic students who mostly use the auditorium’s cafeteria, being in
school at the time it is opened and using all the Áoor plans of the building. The
teachers also conÀrm its use, but their speciÀc spatial fruition in a regular day is
narrowed to the area closer to their classroom.
Corridors are considered to be relevant meeting points for all interviewees, for
socialisation and even for artistic practice. Regular teaching students conÀrm the
use of the benches and niches on the Àrst Áoor, mostly near the science labs; while
artistic students enlarge their relevance and sustain their use, both on the Àrst and
on the second Áoors, near their classrooms, on the corridors themselves, or on the
niches, for talking or even for practising. This practice of music instruments is very
widespread and can be accommodated in more formal music rooms or in the most
informal spaces, depending on the people who do it and on the requirements they
might have for playing that instrument in particular.
So, artistic activities can be formal and informal. Formal activities are often
displayed in the more formal spaces from the music rooms, to the small and the
main auditoriums. Still, some formal activities or informal but programmed ones,
like the jazz gatherings on all Monday afternoons on the main hall, or the playing
of instruments on the Music Day on the corridors by formal directive, can be
implemented elsewhere in more informal spaces.
Social activities have also been conÀrmed to occur on the main hall, the cafeteria,
the canteen and also on the library, which has been particularly conveyed by the
artistic students and previously conÀrmed by the observations.
The wide-range of spaces that take on artistic practices may be so because of a

potential lack of practising spaces for all the students attending the conservatory, but
also the spreading of social activities on all the school building may result from the
lack of a common living room, which the main hall is often considered to be.
Not only that, but the main hall also holds formal activities, public displays and
formal events of pedagogical potential, which broadens its scope and potential
even wider. The main and the small auditoriums are directly pointed out by the
artistic community as very relevant spaces for practice and performances. And even
if the main auditorium has the ability to accommodate smaller groups, the small
auditorium is often preferred due to its more adequate scale size for practising and
smaller gatherings.
665
The speciÀc Àndings from the artistic teachers’ focus group in regard to the
identiÀcation of both auditoriums – the small and the main one – as adaptable
spaces, might have been expected from this focus group because the teachers are
naturally more related to formal activities, performances, auditions and enlarged
public displays, naturally related to the artistic realm. This can be justiÀed because
both auditoriums are spaces where artistic daily activities occur, and because these
teachers are much acquainted with these happenings, as opposed to the regular
teachers, for instance. Unsurprisingly, for the artistic teachers, the perception of the
auditoriums as adaptable spaces can be noticed as natural, as these are spaces they
often use and that are enrolled on their daily routines and teaching practices.
The most informative focus group regarding the space use of the building has
been naturally composed by the artistic students, because of their broader use that
reaches all spaces of the building, individually and collectively, for informal and
formal activities, for pedagogical and artistic practices. It is also the group who
has openly depicted its use in diverse ways on each space particularly focused on
informal and spontaneous activities, often not initially conceived for those common
spaces, such as corridors, niches and the main hall.
Regular teachers have identiÀed the lack of a common living room for students to
be highly signiÀcant and a “loss”, has they stated, from the previous school. The
artistic teachers have not mentioned this need, perhaps because socialisation for
the artistic students may occur in many different places, as spontaneous in their
choice as they are in their activities. The main hall does not only comprise informal
socialisation, but also pedagogical and artistic displays and, as it is a space used by all
and the space that welcomes the community straight from the outside. It is not only
for the students, it is for all. It is the place that holds formal and programmed events
outside the classroom, and so, because it comprises a wide array of happenings of
diverse nature and also a wide range of people and not only students, the students
lack a space only for them. As already perceived from the observations, students
lack a common living room to be, to socialise, bounded by its walls in a sense of
belonging, cosiness and appropriation. The main hall helps fulÀlling this lack, and
other spaces as well, such as the mentioned exterior spaces namely the one adjacent
to the cafeteria that is highly used when the weather is favourable, the auditorium’s
cafeteria and the library that also permits informal activities and socialisation. This
may justify the main hall to be considered by all as highly adaptable to multiple
activities and different experiences, from the wide-ranging curriculum of the
students and their diverse formal and informal needs. The canteen, on the other
hand, is only used for having lunch and leaving because of its dense use and the
cafeteria is less used because of its low width.
All in all, the main hall’s fruition is a common denominator in all answers, as it is
a meeting spot and the common entrance for all the community, regular and/or
artistic, which testiÀes its the diversity of activities. From the jazz happenings that
666
occur in an informal yet programmed manner on Mondays by the students, to all

the informal activities, and also the formal activities mainly referred by the regular
teachers and students, such as the exhibitions and other pedagogical events, the
main hall is generally considered an adaptable space. The regular students have
even said that most of the pedagogical formal activities that did not took place in
the classroom would occur in the main hall, demonstrating its clear and already
establishment as a functional space for programmed activities and pedagogical
activities outside the classrooms. So, although the uses and routines in space may
differ, all focus groups have been unanimous in identifying the main hall as the most
adaptable space, the space that holds most activities outside the formal classrooms;
formal exhibitions, displays and performances; but also socialisation during
the breaks, spaces for artistic informal practice and even pedagogical moments;
throughout all of its area and during the all school day.
. Final remarks on spaces’ appropriation and testimonies from the

contact with the Directors
After the nomothetic approach on this case study and how it has been conceived
by the architect from an initial stage of the methodology here proposed, the
Àrst approach to the idiographic procedure put forward has been a serious of
interviews, Àrst informal and then semi-structured, with the Directors of both
the Music Conservatory, Professor Manuel Rocha, and the Director of Quinta das
Flores School, Professor Ana Margarida Marques823, whose contacts have been
established since the beginning of this current Thesis until its Ànalisation. These
have had the greatest impact on the possibility of performing the observations,
the focus groups and the walkthroughs, with their logistic support, professional
openness to this process and also the mobilisation and sensitivity of the school
community towards it.
Besides, also their input on the building and how the regular and the articulated
teaching communities perceive and use it has also been paramount to inform on its
effective spatial fruition. Additionally, it is also by management decisions that this
school demonstrates a very particular aggregation of both formal and informal
activities together, by understanding the nature of their students and the speciÀcity
of their wide curriculum, and also the need for socialisation and informal practice
for knowledge transmission. This may justify the openness to the community and
also the acknowledgement of the artistic practice and socialisation on initially more
formally prone spaces such as the library, or circulation spaces likes the corridors
near the classrooms.
823
The openness and support provided by both Direction boards, represented by their respective Directors
at this time, has been paramount for the realisation of this following surveys, and also their personal and
professional acknowledgement of “life within this school”.
667
a) b)
Fig. 270. a) Project “Há Baixa” with students from the Department of Architecture of the University of
Coimbra, explaining their project and displaying a movie projection about their work, 14th February 2017;
b) Students entering a session on the auditorium, gathering a set of several classes
from different years. 9th February 2017, 10.30 a.m
(Carolina Coelho)
Precisely, in what regards effective spatial fruition, Professor Manuel Rocha has
informed us on the current usage of some of the school spaces. The previously
entitled “spare spaces” on the Ànal plans, and which have been noted to be more
frequently on the second Áoor plan presented on the 4.2.1824 of this methodology, are
currently used as music classrooms for individual teaching and/or training of music
instruments. This is due to the high increase in students and respective spatial needs
of the Music Conservatory, keeping all the second Áoor for the artistic teaching, as
opposed to what had been a conclusion from the 4.2.1 stage of the methodology,
when focusing on the Ànal plans per se, in which spare spaces were determined to
have the potential to allocate a more mixed teaching and even to address the regular
teaching for a mixed use of this Áoor plan, which currently does not occur.
When questioned about the activities occurring in the auditorium, Professor Manuel
Rocha pointed out the multiple potential activities of different nature that can occur
there, some even by external entities to the school, to which the conservatory lends the
facilities (Fig. 270a), which was also mentioned by the walkthroughs and focus groups.
Even pedagogically, this is the gathering place of joint reunions for the regular
teaching, broadening its scope beyond the artist performances, both by the its
students but also externally, to other artistic associations, to collective happenings
like the French Film Festival, or academic formal classes for a large group of
students from the school, namely a joint class, as it occurred in the last observation
day (Fig. 270b). Anyway, the auditorium is considered a formal space and even if it
could be sometimes considered over-dimensioned, some activities occupy the stage
and not the audience, in a more cosy and smaller environment.
824
668
Fig. 271. Exhibition on the main hall, 25th January (left) and 7th February (right)
(Carolina Coelho)
Another space that answers these spatial requirements is the orchestra room that
is used as a small auditorium, particularly for student auditions or for smaller
happenings, but sometimes also of an external nature, even if its location on
the Àrst Áoor might hinder its usage. Note that this small auditorium, as the
community entitles it, is often chosen against the main auditorium that has a direct
access to the street. Anyway, and despite its lower accessibility, its dimension is
considered adequate for smaller groups and makes it a very frequented space
not only for the conservatory but also for the school. This might imply that
dimension is a very relevant physical attribute in choosing to allocate activities,
in which an excessive dimension may cause some discomfort for undertaking
certain activities and so, external accessibility is not a decisive factor when
determining activity allocation.
Also the main hall holds frequent and very diverse activities. Jazz concerts by
students usually happen on Mondays; fairs of very different kinds, such as books or
minerals, also take place in the main hall; as well as different scientiÀc exhibitions
and projects that are displayed there. This is also proven by the exhibition that was
showed there longitudinally along the hall and that gained added materials along
the course of the observation days (Fig. 271). By making these displays in the main
hall - in a space that welcomes all the community into the building and that also
acts as a staying and moving space - it is also a way to make students get acquainted
with diverse scientiÀc contents, that could even be outside their own curriculum
options, to pass on knowledge amongst all the community and to make them feel
they appropriate space for their own interests and activities.
As the main hall has a long depth, near the library, where some seating spaces
are placed, there was also another exhibition displayed that was organised during
the observations days. This implied the relocation of the seating layout, proving
669
Fig. 272. Exhibition displayed on the main hall 25th January (right) and its previously layout 23rd (left)
(Carolina Coelho)
their possible rearrangements and the effective appropriation of the space whose
changes were made for academic purposes (Fig. 272).
The library had also an exhibition displayed on the Àrst observation day that has
been taken down afterwards, also showing this space as appropriated by the school
community, as a pedagogical facilitator and a learning environment, still with a
rather informal layout, particularly on that speciÀc exhibition area with sofas for
gathering small groups (Fig. 273a).
Also due to its wide area, the main hall has the auditorium’s cafeteria within, that
is open after the closing of the regular cafeteria near the canteen. This acts mostly
as the cafeteria of the conservatory because it is mostly used by its students and
teachers, but even by the parents while waiting for their children to have artistic
classes. So, from 4.30 p.m. it represents a resting and social place, mostly for the
artistic community, enhancing the living experience and collective gatherings on the
main hall from that time period onwards (Fig. 273b).
Interestingly, from 4.30 p.m. the regular classes are lesser and lesser and the
conservatory takes the lead in the spatial fruition of the building. This is also
proven in the library, where the staff from the school leave and the staff from the
conservatory is in charge of this space, allowing higher informality and enabling it
as a social student room the school lacks. The seats at the entrance are now almost
like a lounging space for students to wait for their parents or to get together. Parents
study with their children, both in a scheduled or non-scheduled routine.
The lack of a common students’ living room takes us to the Student Association
space. It has also been remarked that the students’ room is only used by the Student
Association and not by the entire student community, which is deprived of a space
for gathering and social activities. This is a sore point amongst all the community,
670
a) b)
Fig. 273. a) Exhibition displayed on the library, 23rd January;
b) Auditorium’s cafeteria on the main hall, 23rd January
(Carolina Coelho)
leading to indicate the main hall as the space appropriated as a “learning street”,
as a students’ space in which to study, play, rest, individually or socially engaging
in activities and conversations. When questioned about this situation the students
in the referred room answer that it was open to all, but it was rather a decision of
the remaining students not to attend the space, even if the situation lies in the fact
that these students use the room as their own and the students that have competed
against them to the Student Association do not use this space (Fig. 274).
Another situation that has been noted by the Music Conservatory is the increasing
need for four dance studios. Recalling the Ànal plans presented in chapter 4.2.1825
there was only one dance studio conceived and located on the Àrst Áoor. Currently,
the studio immediately on the upper Áoor is also accorded for the dance practice,
leaving the choir room, which was previously conceived by the architect, to another
room in the pre-existing school pavilions, which have also been rehabilitated.
According to the conservatory Director, two supplementary dance studios would be
needed to fulÀl the dance teaching requirements, which has led to the mobilisation
of the architect in conceiving a project of a dance pavilion with four studios,
according to these requirements, whose development is still undisclosed.
All in all, this current spatial changes and appropriation that has been occurring in
the building from the increasing needs of the conservatory, leads to a spatial mix.
Furthermore, it assembles all the school community, teachers, students and staff
from both institutions in a whole space, beyond the borders of the new building,
but also immersing in the pavilions, bestowing on them both a regular teaching
nature but also an artistic one, and spreading an artistic ambiance on the whole
school and its students. Recalling Bernstein’s (1971) analogy of the school as a
825
671
Fig. 274. Student Association room. 7th February

(Carolina Coelho)
parallel for society, it would be possible to conclude on the acceptance of different

proÀles and interests of the users and the synergies that this spatial and curricula
mix could provide towards a social and cultural enrichment of the community.
The schedule of the music and dance classes and the occupation of the respective
classrooms allocated to the conservatory has been provided by the Director of the
Music Conservatory. It is concluded that during the afternoon period all classrooms
are occupied and in the morning period, even if some classes also occur, the
remaining classrooms are occupied with the music training of the students that
request a speciÀc room with the music instrument they play in order to practice,
often individually, but also with a piano player and even in small groups. This
bears an increased relevance when addressing the teaching of voluminous or quite
expensive music instruments that are not possible to be acquired directly by the
students, who have to play with the existing ones in the school, namely the harp,
the pianos or the percussion instruments. When asked about this situation, students
conÀrm that the morning period and also the lunch break, when music classrooms
are not formally occupied with classes, are the time periods they use for practising
and that they represent a very important part of their training. Eventually, this
has also been conÀrmed by the artistic teachers during the focus groups, which
leads to the conclusion that the music classrooms have both formal lessons and
informal practising moments, individually or collectively, in programmed or more
spontaneous arrangements.
Another relevant information from the analysis of effective spatial fruition is the
music playing of instruments on the small niches in the corridors, particularly on
the upper Áoors, more prone to the artistic teaching. This occurs with smaller
instruments, being the most frequent the guitars, in a more spontaneous manner,
often when waiting for the classes to start. But it also occurs with instruments
672
taken from classrooms, which are needed spaces, and brought to the corridors for
practising in programmed scheduled times with the students, teachers or staff, as
students have informed us. This information holds a high relevance because, in this
case, it conÀrms the conclusions on the academic potential for the music teaching
of these informal spaces of the school, linked to the main corridors but without a
closed boundary.
Moreover, although the music classrooms have similar physical attributes and
therefore similar potential to allocate the teaching of different music instruments,
another input provided in regard to effective spatial fruition is that, by appropriation,
the classrooms are separate according to the nature of the instruments decided to be
played there: stringed, wind, percussion and keyboard instruments, singing, dancing
and music sciences. This association is translated onto the schedule of each teacher
that lectures in a particular classroom and is associated with the placement of the
music instruments according to their category. This spatially originates a separation
from the artistic students and teachers according to the instruments played,
enhancing more frequent gatherings amongst their direct peers, rather than a joint
assembly of different interests. Anyway, as the curriculum implies group classes,
and also because informally students often practice in groups, this is overcome by
social interaction and effective and intentional collective spatial fruition from the
artistic community.
Conclusively, despite the similarity in the physical attributes addressed in chapter

4.2.1826, appropriation, habits and routines, deploy the space’s potential to allocate
any instrument and instead present a sense of belonging of both the teachers and
the students to a particular classroom, which leads to a potential narrowing of
the overall potential of each space addressed in 4.2.2827, to social and effective
constraints brought along by the actual usage in time.
Recalling Lynch (1977), the sense of belonging by students can be associated with
spatial appropriation, maintenance and fruition, and the fact that the space has
suffered some alteration by the curriculum needs and by social appropriation is also
a reÁection of a sense of belonging and also of its ability to cope with changing
needs and wants by all the community:
“The children should be living in places that have a clear social and
spatial identity, places they can understand and take pride in. They
should have a role to play in community maintenance and community
celebration – particular functions to perform, particular places for
which they are at least in part responsible. ” (Lynch, 1977, p.57)
826
827
See chapter 4.2.2. Description of all possible activity allocations to educational environments
673
Second Áoor plan
First Áoor plan
Ground Áoor plan 0 10 20

m
1 main hall 11 storage 21 kitchen (small auditorium) 36 study room 46 parent council room
2 access–corridor 12 indeterminate 22 kitchen storage 30 music studio 37 dance studio 47 auditorium supportive
3 vertical access–stairs supportive space 23 staff room 31 music instrument 38 science lab spaces
4 vertical access–elevator 13 spare space 24 teachers’ room training room 39 generic classroom 48 psychologist’s ofÀce
5 entrance–outdoor 14 vault 25 students’ room (individual or for small 40 common living space 49 technical area
access 15 archive 26 secretariat groups) 41 teachers’ ofÀce 50 music instrument
6 reception desk 16 auditorium 27 administration ofÀces 32 choir room 42 teachers’ meeting room storage
7 ticket ofÀce 17 auditorium’s cafeteria regular teaching 33 singing studio 43 teachers’ ofÀce for 51 maintenance room
8 bathroom–toilet–sink 18 library 28 administration ofÀces 34 song writing studio meeting students 52 music sheet room
9 dressing room 19 cafeteria artistic teaching 35 speciÀc music training 44 students’ shop 53 special education ofÀce
10 locker room 20 canteen 29 orchestra room room 45 photocopy room
Fig. 275. Plans with the effective spatial usage of the school
674
The plan (Fig. 275) displays the changes in program from the initial brief set in
the Ànal plans and already analysed at the beginning of this overall methodological
application in this school828 and the changes the building has suffered in regard to
alterations on the use of each of its spaces. This can be justiÀed by the increasing
needs mainly perceived by the conservatory for more music training rooms that have
occupied all previous spare spaces, but also changes in other spaces as it is displayed in
the plans and subject of a following critical analysis. It also demonstrates the effective
use of the space deÀned by the school and the conservatory management that have
altered the architect’s brief, possibility because the initial brief did not met the actual
spatial needs or because those needs have changed in time. So, if appropriation, in
a more informal manner, has already been analysed by the idiographic approach, it
is also relevant to acknowledge the formal changes the spaces can have, and which
enable the changing in their functions throughout the building’s lifecycle.
As perceived by the plans and duly highlighted in red, the most remarkable change
regards the spare spaces and teachers’ meeting rooms that are being used as music
teaching rooms, due to the increasing need for more spaces on this behalf as
Professor Manuel Rocha as explained us. Even if this leaves out the option of
more diverse uses on the second Áoor not speciÀcally related to the conservatory.
Additionally, the need for more dance studios has guided the change of the choir
room for a dance studio on the second Áoor, which led to the possible conclusion of
an understated spatial need for formal spaces for both the music and dance teaching
that has not been met in the building, or an increasing need that has led to these
changes. The latter may be proven by the increase in students from the conservatory
from 706 in the school year of 2010/2011 (the Àrst year of the conservatory on
this space) to the current Àgure of 1027 students in the school year of 2016/2017,
according to the data then provided by the Director Professor Manuel Rocha. It
is noteworthy that this number resembles the number of students of the Quinta
das Flores School, which has a total of 1153 students on this current school year,
provided also by its Director Professor Ana Margarida Marques. This could indicate
a high rise in spatial needs to cope with the demanding increase in students of the
conservatory and its speciÀcities in regard to spaces with soundprooÀng features,
for both individual and collective teaching and also for practising, which is quite
representative in this school, besides its need to cope with the regular teaching as
well, signiÀcantly representative829.
Moreover, in what concerns the lack of more dance studios, the architect José Paulo
dos Santos830 (2017) on an interview conducted for the purposes of this Doctoral
828
829
Note that the students from the articulated regime are accounted for as conservatory and school students
because they are enrolled in the two. Supplementary students are only students of the conservatory and the
regular teaching students are only students of the school.
830
We kindly acknowledge architect José Paulo dos Santos for receiving us in his ofÀce and for his availability
for the interview, for reviewing its transcription and also for authorising its publication for the purposes of
this Doctoral Research. Nevertheless, it has been decided not to include all the interview as an appendix,
675
Thesis, explains that the brief for this project with the Conservatory and Quinta
das Flores School with an articulated teaching regime, only comprised one, even
though the initial project for a separate conservatory had more dance studios831.
It has also been identiÀed the use of the students’ living room only for the Student
Association and prompting a major spatial lack in regard to a students’ space for all
with the ability to cope with informal activities of social, pedagogical and artistic
nature. As already explained and perceived through all this process, this leads to a
more informal use of other more formal spaces a priori, such as the library; or the
auditorium’s cafeteria, open regularly on weekday’s afternoons; and the main hall
for allocating these activities that are scattered all over the building and even on the
exterior spaces when possible.
Another change of high impact is the location of a space that has been frequently
mentioned by the artistic community as a meeting point for all at the morning
arrival, which is the music instrument storage at the beginning of the teachers’
ofÀces’ hallway. This is the space where students go to place their voluminous
music instruments before going to the regular classes, that explains the large
number of cellos and similar instruments. Adjacent to that area there is the music
sheet room where students and teachers said to go before classes to pick up the
sheet for practice or for the lesson itself. As perceived by the observations this is a
very frequented space, a true aggregator of the artistic community, proven also by
the repeated entrances and exits from this space.
Other spaces have also suffered some changes on their function, potentially of
minor relevance. The students’ shop and the photocopy room were placed in one
space, leaving the previous students’ shop as a teachers’ meeting room. There is also
the special education room located in that area and the parent council room as well.
This could be perceived as rearrangements of the spaces according to the regular
teaching needs and dimensions. The ground Áoor has not acknowledged formal
changes, also because the appropriation has a more informal nature and the spaces
could still be regarded as their names indicate: cafeteria, library and main hall, which
can still comprise numerous functions, even sometimes outside the most common
expected uses, such as informal activities.
On the other hand, the second Áoor that had the potential of gathering other
functions and teaching purposes, due to its numerous spare spaces, has seen
even though it has all been transcribed and reviewed by the architect, because it has been done in Portuguese
and hence would not be perceived by non-Portuguese speakers. So, the quotes will be enclosed on the Thesis
according to their representativeness towards the contents explained and for paralleling effective use with the
initial brief and the design. This will be further developed on the following chapter regarding the building’s
adaptability retrieval.
831
According to the architect: “In the initial project of the conservatory of Vale das Flores much more complete
dance spaces were foreseen and which enable another occupancy.” (Santos, 2017)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “No projecto inicial do
conservatório do Vale das Flores já estavam previstos espaços de dança bastante mais completos e permitia
outra ocupaçmo.” (Santos, 2017)
676
them all transformed into music rooms and so, its effective spatial fruition has
become monofunctional, or at least speciÀc of the conservatory, rather than the
all community832. This explains that the focus groups’ plans and the tours done by
the regular teaching students and teachers did not comprise that Áoor, because they
do not effectively use it. The most relevant changes are perceived in the Àrst Áoor,
also because of the increasing need for music rooms and speciÀc spaces and for a
rearrangement of the regular teaching ofÀces.
The need for a dance studio shows the numerous students enrolled in this
curriculum option and has displaced the choir room outside the main building. The
plans also display information on the arrangement of the instruments per nature:
music science, strings, dance, percussion, wind and singing, as already perceived
by the focus groups and walkthroughs, and which is formally established on the
doors of the classrooms. Finally, the so-called orchestra room is now entitled by
all as the “small auditorium”, which is sustained to be used by the school and the
conservatory for multiple activities, showing the wide possibilities of this space
outside the speciÀc formal displays that the previous name might imply.
These changes demonstrate the building’s ability to cope with these needs and a clear
increase in spatial requirements by the conservatory, most likely due to the growth
in the number of its students. This also demonstrates the formal changes, even if
informal appropriation may also convey the displacement of the active learning
environments to places where this actual community Ànds it more suitable at that
time. And if the plans convey the formal decisions taken by management, it is the
observations, walkthroughs and focus groups that have gradually demonstrated its
effective and progressively more individually outlook on people in this place, their
learning, and generally their life within this building.
On the life this building accommodates, a Ànal remark can be noticed on its artistic
ambiance, because after this extensive procedure that has been done in situ, it has
conÀrmed its effective artistic occupancy, which was an initial requirement from the
design. The architect’s aim for music spatial fruition spread around the building justiÀes
the fact that “the cells are isolated amongst themselves, but there is a sound dispersion
towards the corridors”, this is actually reached what was originally intended: “some
sound permeability for the public spaces, to feel they have life.”833 (Santos, 2017).
832
According to the architect José Paulo dos Santos (2017) on the referred interview, these spaces’ coating materials
differ from the initially conceived as music rooms because the Àrst lack on soundprooÀng facilities that the music
rooms require. As a solution for “cutting costs”, these do not have these acoustics requirements. The architect
clariÀed this spaces’ function: “The term ‘reserve’ [from the Portuguese ‘reserva’ and translated to English as spare
space] indicates that it does not have the soundprooÀng conditioning of the rest, which could be used as a space
for instrument storage or study. [...] at any time students and teachers may use them.” (Santos, 2017)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “O termo ‘reserva’ indica
que nmo tem o acondicionamento acústico dos outros, que poderia ser utilizado como espaço de guarda de
instrumento ou de estudo. […] a qualquer momento podem alunos e docentes usá-los” (ibid.)
833
Free translation of the original quotes in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “No conservatório, as
células smo isoladas entre si, mas há alguma dispersmo do som para os corredores.”; “[...] decidimos que deveria
haver alguma permeabilidade de som para os espaços públicos, para se sentir que trm vida.” (Santos, 2017)
677
. Overall conclusion from the idiographic approach on effective spatial

fruition
After describing the spatial sample and its potential to allocate activities, space has
also been perceived in regard to the living experience it shelters, embodying Hill’s
words: “[…] architecture is not just a building. It is, primarily, a particular relation
between a subject and an object [...]” (Hill, 1998, p.7).
Observations derive from the need to assess effective spatial fruition, aiming at
registering movement: pathways and directions, and standing activities in coloured
dots according to the type of activity considered. Density has been indicated by the
thickness of both the lines and the dots.
The spaces observed have been selected from the initial spatial analysis, as the ones
with blended activities, namely: the main corridors of the second and Àrst Áoor,
the main hall, the library, the cafeteria and the canteen. Isovists have also led to
the positioning of the observers for higher visibility. Each observation took 30
minutes, 8 observers and included the classes’ most signiÀcant breaks for attending
the common spaces: the morning arrival, the morning break, the lunch break and
the afternoon school exit.
The niches on the main corridors are effectively used for standing while waiting
for a class, socialising or taking up other learning activities, but also for practising
on music instruments. This has been recently published in Domus magazine: “It is
rewarding to see students and tutors rehearsing all over […]”. (Domus, 2016, p.66)
Paths diverge according to the users: teachers often go straight to the teachers’
ofÀces on the Àrst Áoor, while regular teaching students usually cross the main hall
towards regular teaching pavilions, whereas artistic students and teachers are the
ones that use all the building’s Áoors.
A vertical stratiÀcation of the users has also been veriÀed, from the ground Áoor that
congregates all the school community, to the second Áoor that is only frequented
by the artistic community.
Observations differ according to each chosen interval. The morning arrival at school
holds a high frequency of moving activities. The mid-morning interval has the
highest density of movement through all the Áoors in order to reach spaces such as
the cafeteria or the library. It is also the densest interval for standing activities while
awaiting the following class. The lunch break is when the canteen is open, aggregating
a large group of students. As the afternoon progresses, the frequency of use of the
artistic classrooms increases, along with moving and standing on the corridors.
Programmed activities of social nature may very exceptionally occur at the canteen,
as opposed to the cafeteria that has mostly social non-programmed activities. The
678
library allocates programmed and non-programmed learning activities and even

social and more spontaneous events at the afternoon, but rarely artistic. The main
hall gathers all activities, programmed and non-programmed, social, artistic and
learning, supported by its signiÀcant width and length, besides its accessibility
between the street and the other pavilions, acting as a “communal living-room” of
the school (Hertzberger, 1991, p.62).
Finally, rather than observing natural movement (Hillier et al., 1993) in a non-
participated manner, walkthroughs sustain an effective understanding of spatial
adaptability from the users’ perspective, complementing the entropy approach and
the observations.
For this methodology, the selected groups were: teachers of the regular teaching,
students of the regular teaching, students of the articulated teaching, and teachers
of the artistic teaching, all very diverse. Each group has been asked to conduct a
separate interpretative visit to the central building of the school, commenting on
the spaces’ adaptability and justifying it according to the types of activities that
usually each of them undertook. Interestingly, from the diversity of individual
proÀles, there is a similarity in pointing out the main hall, as the most adaptable
space, even if the activities that each group performs may differ.
Students have pointed out the corridors on the upper Áoors as being central to their
life in the school, for moving but also for waiting for classes, socialising and for
pedagogical activities. Unsurprisingly, the second Áoor, which is used particularly
for the artistic teaching, is considered the students’ own space, justifying its higher
frequency on spontaneous artistic activities. Both students’ focus groups identiÀed
the niches on the corridors as being very frequented spaces by all. This is due
to the high connectivity that these spaces have with the classrooms and to their
global integration as a meeting point for all. But also, this is similarly justiÀed by the
proportion of these spaces that bestows a sense of intimacy that does not occur
on the main hall, gathering smaller groups for socialisation and for spontaneous
pedagogical or artistic happenings. Natural lighting conditions, temperature and
furniture also determine the choice of spaces by students, regardless of their
similarity in coating materials or dimensions, which implies that the choice on
physical features of the space early in the design impact on their adaptability
potential further on its use.
679
. Extensive list of materials gathered for this speciÀc approach
The Àgures presented during the methodology application are only a part of a more
extensive lot of information, drawings, questionnaires, surveys and procedures that
have enabled the gathering of the conclusions presented.
Naturally, that this chapter could not hold all the graphic materials gathered and,
hence, it has been decided to introduce the most relevant ones, or the ones that held
a more comprehensive analysis of the gathered results.
Anyway, all these materials have been a part of these procedures and represent
stages of development and application of the methodology in the real case study.
For that purpose, the following list indicates all the materials produced prior to the
application of the methodology, the records of its application in situ in real time
and the intermediate graphic materials produced during all these procedures, that
enabled all the Ànal ones that have been already included in the body of this Thesis.
These have been identiÀed according to the procedures under which each one has
been done:
. Space Syntax Analysis
. Observation Matrices
. Walkthroughs
. Focus Groups
680
. Space Syntax Analysis

. R3 . Second Floor
. Axial line map . Choice . Rn
. Ground Áoor . Connectivity . Choice
. Rn . Integration HH . Connectivity
. Choice . Line Length . Integration HH
. Connectivity . Mean Depth . Line Length
. Integration HH . Node Count . Mean Depth
. Line Length . Attribute Summary . Node Count
. Mean Depth . Intelligibility . Attribute Summary
. Node Count . Intelligibility
. Attribute Summary . Convex map . R3
. Intelligibility . Ground Áoor . Choice
. R3 . Rn . Connectivity
. Choice . Choice . Integration HH
. Connectivity . Connectivity . Line Length
. Integration HH . Integration HH . Mean Depth
. Line Length . Line Length . Node Count
. Mean Depth . Mean Depth . Attribute Summary
. Node Count . Node Count . Intelligibility
. Attribute Summary . Attribute Summary
. Intelligibility . Intelligibility . VGA analysis
. First Áoor . R3 . Ground Áoor
. Rn . Choice . Rn
. Choice . Connectivity . Connectivity
. Connectivity . Integration HH . Visual control
. Integration HH . Line Length . Visual integration HH
. Line Length . Mean Depth . Visual mean depth
. Mean Depth . Node Count . Visual node count
. Node Count . Attribute Summary . Attribute summary
. Attribute Summary . Intelligibility
. First Áoor
. Intelligibility . First Áoor . Rn
. R3 . Rn . Connectivity
. Choice . Choice . Visual control
. Connectivity . Connectivity . Visual integration HH
. Integration HH . Integration HH . Visual mean depth
. Line Length . Line Length . Visual node count
. Mean Depth . Mean Depth . Attribute summary
. Node Count . Node Count
. Attribute Summary . Attribute Summary . Second Floor
. Intelligibility . Intelligibility . Rn
. R3 . Connectivity
. Second Floor . Visual control
. Rn . Choice
. Connectivity . Visual integration HH
. Choice . Visual mean depth
. Connectivity . Integration HH
. Line Length . Visual node count
. Integration HH . Attribute summary
. Line Length . Mean Depth
. Mean Depth . Node Count
. Attribute Summary . Isovists
. Node Count
. Attribute Summary . Intelligibility
. Intelligibility
681
. Observation Matrices . the library on the ground Áoor

(1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
. Formal email addressed to the Directors of (1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
the Music Conservatory and Quinta das Flores . the main corridor of the Àrst Áoor
School, formally explaining the purpose, context (2 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
and methodological procedure . the main corridor of the second Áoor
. Captions provided to all team members,
standardising all graphic representations . 5.00 p.m. / 5.30 p.m.
. All the drawings done by the team of 8 (4 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
collaborators during all the time periods and on . the library on the ground Áoor
the days already indicated:
(2 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
. Furniture on the locations observed
. the main corridor of the second Áoor
. the library on the ground Áoor . 25th January 2017 (Wednesday, regular week)
. the main corridor of the Àrst Áoor . 8.00 a.m. / 8.30 a.m.
. the main corridor of the second Áoor . the main hall of the ground Áoor
(4 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
. Indication of the artistic classrooms . the cafeteria on the ground Áoor
. 23rd January 2017 (Monday, regular week) . the main corridor of the Àrst Áoor
. 8.00 a.m. / 8.30 a.m. (2 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
. the main hall of the ground Áoor . the main corridor of the second Áoor
(4 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing) (1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
(1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing) . 10.00 a.m. / 10.30 a.m.
. the main corridor of the Àrst Áoor . the main hall of the ground Áoor
(2 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing) (3 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
. the main corridor of the second Áoor . the cafeteria on the ground Áoor
(1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing) (1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
. 10.00 a.m. / 10.30 a.m. (1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
. the main hall of the ground Áoor . the main corridor of the Àrst Áoor
. the cafeteria on the ground Áoor . the main corridor of the second Áoor
(1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing) . 1.30 p.m. / 2.00 p.m.
. 1.30 p.m. / 2.00 p.m. (1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
. the main hall of the ground Áoor . the canteen on the ground Áoor
. the cafeteria on the ground Áoor . the main corridor of the Àrst Áoor
(1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing) (2 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
682
. the main corridor of the second Áoor . the library on the ground Áoor
. 5.00 p.m. / 5.30 p.m. (2 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
(1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing) 9th February 2017 (Thursday, exam week)
. the main corridor of the Àrst Áoor . 8.00 a.m. / 8.30 a.m.
(2 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing) . the main hall of the ground Áoor
. the main corridor of the second Áoor (4 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
(1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing) . the cafeteria on the ground Áoor
. 7th February 2017 (Tuesday, exam week) . the main corridor of the Àrst Áoor
. 8.00 a.m. / 8.30 a.m. (2 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
(1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing) . 10.00 a.m. / 10.30 a.m.
. 10.00 a.m. / 10.30 a.m. (1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
. the main hall of the ground Áoor . the main corridor of the Àrst Áoor
. the cafeteria on the ground Áoor . the main corridor of the second Áoor
. 1.30 p.m. / 2.00 p.m. (1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
. the main hall of the ground Áoor . the canteen on the ground Áoor
. the cafeteria on the ground Áoor . the main corridor of the Àrst Áoor
(1 observation in draft with notes Ànal drawing) (2 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
. the library on the ground Áoor . the main corridor of the second Áoor
. the main corridor of the second Áoor . the library on the ground Áoor
. 5.00 p.m. / 5.30 p.m. (2 observations in draft with notes Ànal drawing)
683
. Walkthroughs Besides all this material, extensive notes have

been collected in notebooks and plans and also
. Formal email addressed to the Directors sound, video and photographs have been taken,
of the Music Conservatory and Quinta das recording these proceedings in-depth. Besides
Flores School, formally explaining the purpose, the hours of sound and video recorded, we can
context and methodological procedure of both account for the following personal photographs:
the walkthroughs and focus groups.
. 44 photographs of the school taken on
. Formal email addressed to the parents asking the 25th November 2011
their authorisation so the under-aged students . 776 photographs of the school taken on
could take part in the procedure, added by a the 29th August 2013
letter explaining the purpose and context of
the research and the procedures of both the . 626 photographs taken from the
walkthroughs and focus groups. observations on the 23rd January 2017
. 1623 photographs taken from the
. Authorisations signed by the guardians of observations on the 25th January 2017
each student, proving the acquaintance on the
situation and their approval for their children to . 162 photographs taken from the
participate. observations on the 7th February 2017
. Drawings that represent the pathways chosen observations on the 9th February 2017
by each group and the spaces considered the
most adaptable.
walkthroughs and focus groups on the 3rd
February 2017
. Students from the articulated teaching
regime (3rd February 2017) . 123 photographs taken from the
walkthroughs and focus groups on the 9th
. Students from the regular teaching regime
February 2017
(3rd February 2017)
. Teachers that lecture regular teaching
subjects (3rd February 2017)
. Artistic teachers (9th February 2017)
. Joint plan with all the results
. Focus Groups
. Drawings done by every participant according

to their respective group
. Students from the articulated teaching
regime (3rd February 2017)
. Students from the regular teaching regime
(3rd February 2017)
. Teachers that lecture regular teaching
subjects (3rd February 2017)
. Artistic teachers (9th February 2017)
684
Systematisation of the results
4.3. Systematisation of the results:

Description of the potential correlations and retrieval of the
school’s adaptability
“Society must be described in terms of its intrinsic spatiality; space must be described
in terms of its intrinsic sociality.” (Hillier and Hanson, 1984, p.26)
The current educational paradigm suggests a wide scope of activities with

pedagogical potential held in different active learning environments, which impact
student achievement834. Adaptability as the physical ability of a building to cope
with changing activities and requirements, is paramount when regarding artistic
schools, lecturing the regular and the music and dance courses.
This research has focused on the relevance of adaptability to educational spaces,

which are requested to answer the current spatial needs and reciprocally to enhance
the possibility of learning amongst the whole system and individually in each space,
most reÁecting Hillier and Hanson’s quote above.
Therefore, its aim has been to present an original methodological approach on

assessing the adaptability of contemporary artistic schools, as a speciÀc and
complex case study on both the activities and spaces to consider. Its purpose is to
assess the schools’ ability to cope with the pedagogical and social evolving needs
and to conclude on the design attributes that potentially enhance adaptability, for
a more lasting and effective building performance (Fig. 276). For achieving it, it
has introduced procedures from different epistemological provinces, for a more
supported retrieval of its adaptability, sequentially as follows:
1. Description of the spatial sample, functional and morphological, informs on
how it supports activity allocation. A space syntax analysis regarding convex
spaces and axial lines, as places and pathways for learning, will provide a thorough
understanding of the sample’s morphology and conclude on the relevance of
global and local syntactic measures towards activity allocation, spatial cognition
and the overall “social logic of space” (Hillier and Hanson, 1984).
2. Description of all possible activity allocations informs on the pedagogical
potential of each educational environment, matching all possible activities to
834
685

. Activities
. Attributes
I.II SPACE SYNTAX

. Axial lines
. Isovists


III.II WALKTHROUGHS
Fig. 276. Description of the methodology and identiÀcation of the current milestone IV.
(Carolina Coelho)
686
the spaces in a feasibility matrix. It considers maximising entropy, informing

on the uncertainty of an activity allocation to both convex spaces and axial
lines (Coelho and Krüger, 2015).
3. Description of effective events informs on behaviour and appropriation,
holding higher relevance in this artistic ambiance. This stage corresponds
to an idiographic approach on singularities, while the latter to a nomothetic
approach on regularities (Windelband, 1894).
4. Description of the potential correlations amongst each stage, enables the
retrieval of the school’s adaptability, understanding a potential correspondence
between integration, entropy and behaviour.
This methodological framework was expected to be a contribution to knowledge

advancement, identifying adaptability in this particular contemporary context and
combining distinctive study Àelds835. Also, for the practice, the acknowledgement
of the spatial conÀgurations with higher representativeness towards adaptability
could be informative to future designs.
As explained from the beginning, the methodology was applied to Quinta das
Flores School that went through an adaptive-reuse process by the Portuguese
School Building Modernisation Programme and whose spatial rehabilitation went
along with a curricular transformation, in which the Music Conservatory has been
added to the Basic and Secondary School.
Pedagogically, it now has an “articulated teaching regime” in which students attend

both the artistic and regular classes, besides the regular students and the external
students that only attend the music and dance classes at the conservatory. Therefore,
the students’ and teachers’ proÀles are diverse, holding a wide array of activities.
Spatially, this signiÀes spaces with assorted spatial features and the sharing of common
areas and services, which favours group dynamics, social cohesion and a transmission
of competences from each teaching regime. SpeciÀcally, the methodology will be
applied to the central building that represents the school’s entrance and where the
835
The Àrst results correlating space syntax to entropy were presented in the 10th International Space Syntax
Symposium, in 13-17 July 2015, London. These have also been published in the Conference’s proceedings as:
Coelho, C.; Krüger, M. J. (2015). Towards a methodology to assess adaptability in educational spaces: An
Besides, an initial explanation of the adaptability methodology developed in this Thesis has been explained in
the 3rd International Symposium Formal Methods in Architecture, in 30 November - 2 December 2016, with further
publishing of the paper on which the communicational was based. It will be published as: Coelho, C. (in
publication). A Gathered Methodology Towards Enhancing Adaptable Learning Spaces. In D. Viana, F. Morais,
J. Vaz (Eds.). Formal Methods in Architecture and Urbanism. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Afterwards, a subsequent study comprising all stages of the methodology, has been presented in the 11th
International Space Syntax Symposium, in 3-7 July 2017, Lisbon. It has also been published in the Conference’s
proceedings as: Coelho, C.; Heitor, T. (2017). Adaptability Retrieval In Artistic Learning Environments. In
T. Heitor; M. Serra; J. Silva; M. Bacharel; L. Silva (Eds.). Proceedings of the 11th International Space Syntax
Symposium. (pp. 7: 1-19).
All presentations and publications validate these contents and the methodological application by the academia,
which have been developed amongst this current Thesis and whose correlations will be presented in this chapter.
687
Fig. 277. Different ways of experiencing the artistic school spaces (from left to right: the
auditorium’s cafeteria, the dance studio, the main hall, open space onto the corridor)
(Carolina Coelho)
Second Áoor plan
First Áoor plan
Ground Áoor plan
Fig. 278. Quinta das Flores School _ Spaces and Activities

688
social and pedagogical blend is signiÀcantly higher (Fig. 277).
This initial milestone comprised a description of the spatial sample, informing on its
ability towards activity allocation. Primarily, it analysed the spatial sample according
to its spaces, activities and attributes, functionally describing how and by what means
does the space allocate learning activities. Subsequently, and still under the Àrst
milestone, a morpho-syntactic analysis provided an in-depth understanding by the
analysis on convex spaces, axial lines and visibility.
The initial step consisted on identifying the existing spaces and assigning them
with coloured hatches for a graphic interpretation on the positioning and density
of active/supportive learning environments, informal/formal spaces, moving/
standing areas, spaces assigned to each teaching regime,….
The coloured schemes presented (Fig. 278) displayed a general colour mix that
indicates a respective combination of teaching proÀles, formality and informality,
circulation and standing, already providing an insight on the adaptability potential
of these “multi-option spaces” (Ader, 1975a).
The analysis focused on the school’s spaces and its initial provision, during the
design, in order to hold an extensive assortment of learning activities required by
this school’s mixed curriculum. This overlapping between a wide set of spatially
demanding activities and the spaces to cope with them, could only be accomplished
accordingly if the spaces were provided with intrinsic attributes that enable them
to accommodate the very diverse activities that occur in the school, but also, to
possibly accommodate future changes on those same activities in each of the spaces
identiÀed from the sample.
After analysing Quinta das Flores School under a morpho-syntactic approach, it was
concluded that, the most integrated space on the ground Áoor is the main hall, which
welcomes all the users, enabling spontaneous encounters and which also promotes
social gatherings and pedagogical events for an enlarged school community (Fig. 279).
Whereas on the upper Áoors, the main corridors are also the most integrated spaces,
but as they are narrower these enable mostly circulation rather than static activities.
The analysis of syntactic integration indicates that, besides the speciÀcity of the
second Áoor’s layout with the main corridor holding an extremely high integration
that differs from all the rest, the ground Áoor’s axial map holds a higher value of
integration rather than the analysis of the same Áoor done by means of a convex
map that inherently shows the highest values in mean depth. Therefore, the axial
line that gathers all the longitudinal spaces is more representative of the whole
system than the corridor alone as a convex space.
Afterwards, intelligibility scattergrams, as a second order measure, can be achieved

by correlating integration and connectivity and understanding which Áoor’s layout
689
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor a) b)
Fig. 279. Axial line (a) and convex space map (b) for integration
(Carolina Coelho)
is best comprehended and less “labyrinthian” (Hillier, 2007836, p.94). In this case
and again besides the straightforward layout of the double-loaded corridor of the
second Áoor, it is the ground Áoor’s axial line map provides also very high levels
of intelligibility proven by the scattergram’s regression line and determination
coefÀcient. This is fairly signiÀcant since this is actually the Áoor used by all users,
as an interface between inhabitants and visitors in circulation pathways towards
each one’s destination and purpose in the system.
So, if the Àrst milestone identiÀed the spatial sample, the spaces comprised and the
activities that were meant to occur in this school in particular, in order to acknowledge
how these could correspond, the second milestone considered the precise allocation
of the activities to the spaces, in order to fully understand the space’s potential to
shelter the extensive list of site-speciÀc activities that occur on this school. It was
considered that the more detailed the list of spaces and activities, the closer it would
depict this case study and context in particular, which explains the complexity of the
analysis and the wide list of variables regarding the spaces and the activities.
After all the explained procedures under the entropy calculations, conclusions can
be drawn regarding not those just results per se, which have already been subject
of reÁection on that chapter, but on the potential correlations between milestones
one and two, meaning the space’s description on a morphological approach and
its respective physical potential to allocate the activities that occur in this school,
ultimately, to understand a potential overlapping between entropy and integration.
836
690
. Critical interpretation from the correlations between the

morphological approach by Space Syntax and the nomothetic
analysis by Entropy calculations
The methodology for assessing adaptability engaged space syntax and entropy and
considered both convex spaces and axial lines from the Àrst and second milestones
of the overall procedure. The data gathered from this research, provides information
on both the correlation between convex spaces and axial lines per approach and the
potential correlation between the two approaches. This adds further input on a
space where both moving and standing, as well as formal and informal activities,
are possibilities to learning and actively trigger moments of information exchange
amongst all inhabitants.
Hence, the results from their correlation aim to provide a more complete outlook on
educational spaces and the possibility to triangulate partial results, in order to reach
a more supported overall conclusion on the potential relation between space syntax
and entropy, and ultimately how this potentially affects adaptability in schools.
To reach the entropy results, activities and feasibility matrices were produced that
traced the allocation potential of each space to a range of activities. The matrix
acknowledged the learning process under the current paradigm, considering non-
programmed activities also with the potential to be curricular. It regarded a wide
range of activities according the school’s pedagogical speciÀcities and it additionally
added relevance towards a wide community and the locality, which naturally support
external use and performative activities, either programmed and non-programmed.
When applying the entropy formulation for convex spaces, it was possible to rank
them according to the Ànal results encountered, pointing out the ones with higher
and lower entropy values. Two different distributions were considered, concluding
that the most disaggregated one provided higher levels of entropy, although the
hierarchy between spaces was fairly similar between them both.
For the case study, the spaces with the highest entropy are spaces that hold several
features that provide them with the potential to shelter both programmed and non-
programmed activities, group and individual practices, of external and internal uses,
such as: the library and the main hall; artistic spaces like: the music studio, the auditorium,
the orchestra room and the choir room; and generic spaces like: the common living
spaces. On the contrary, the spaces ranked with the lowest values of entropy are strictly
monofunctional and generally support effective learning spaces (Fig. 280).
Another signiÀcant conclusion, while comparing both distributions, was the

tendency for the entropy stabilisation after about 20 activity allocations to a space,
which considers that the level of entropy varies very little for spaces with a potential
691
VALUES RANK
ENTROPY CALCULATIONS
Domain III Domain IV

space value space value Library
18 library 1,746 18 library 2,720
30 music studio 1,745 30 music studio 2,696
13 spare space 1,732 16 auditorium 2,681
16 auditorium 1,729 29 orchestra room 2,681
29 orchestra room 1,729 32 choir room 2,681
32 choir room 1,729 40 common living space 2,661
43 teachers’ of¿ce for meeting students 1,705 1 main hall 2,647
38 science lab 1,684 13 spare space 2,643
39 generic classroom 1,615 17 auditorium’s cafeteria 2,478
37 dance studio 1,611 19 cafeteria 2,476
40 common living space 1,6 20 canteen 2,475
1 main hall 1,578 43 teachers’ of¿ce for meeting students 2,398
25 students’ room 1,386 39 generic classroom 2,287 Orchestra room

35 speci¿c music training room 1,381 37 dance studio 2,228
17 auditorium’s cafeteria 1,379 35 speci¿c music training room 2,213
19 cafeteria 1,378 31 music instrument training room 2,098
20 canteen 1,376 33 singing studio 2,098
31 music instrument training room 1,373 34 song writing studio 2,098
33 singing studio 1,373 36 study room 2,098
34 song writing studio 1,373 38 science lab 2,095
36 study room 1,373 25 students’ room 2,079
24 teachers’ room 1,33 24 teachers’ room 2,023
41 teachers’ of¿ce 1,33 41 teachers’ of¿ce 2,023
42 teachers’ meeting room 1,33 42 teachers’ meeting room 2,023
48 psychologist’s of¿ce 1,055 2 access - corridor 1,735
23 staff room 3 vertical access - stairs

0,693 1,735
Music studio
27 administration of¿ces - regular teaching 0,693 4 vertical access - elevator 1,735
28 administration of¿ces - artistic teaching 0,693 5 entrance / outdoor access 1,735
44 students’ shop 0,693 48 psychologist’s of¿ce 1,609
45 photocopy room 0,693 26 secretariat 1,551
26 secretariat 0,69 23 staff room 1,386
2 access - corridor 0,637 44 students’ shop 1,386
3 vertical access - stairs 0,637 45 photocopy room 1,386
4 vertical access - elevator 0,637 6 reception desk 1,099
5 entrance / outdoor access 0,637 7 ticket of¿ce 1,099
6 reception desk 0 8 bathroom-toilet-sink 1,099
7 ticket of¿ce 0 47 auditorium supportive spaces 1,099
8 bathroom-toilet-sink 0 9 dressing room 0,693
9 dressing room 0 10 locker room 0,693

Main hall
10 locker room 0 11 storage 0,693
11 storage 0 12 indeterminate supportive space 0,693
12 indeterminate supportive space 0 14 vault 0,693
14 vault 0 15 archive 0,693
15 archive 0 21 kitchen 0,693
21 kitchen 0 22 kitchen storage 0,693
22 kitchen storage 0 27 administration of¿ces - regular teaching 0,693
46 parent council room 0 28 administration of¿ces - artistic teaching 0,693
47 auditorium supportive spaces 0 46 parent council room 0,693

49 technical area 0 49 technical area 0,693
Fig. 280. Entropy rank of convex spaces

(Carolina Coelho)
692
to allocate more than those activities. This information can be introduced in future
designs as operative input for the architect, while pondering between the cost and
beneÀt of the design solutions.
By establishing a correlation between integration and entropy for both convex

spaces and axial lines it is possible to conclude upon their compared results837.
Within this procedure, and in order to compare the convex and axial results on both
their integration and also on their entropy, the concepts of “axial line entropy” and
“average axial line entropy” were also introduced as a novelty, specifying entropy
results to axial lines.
For the study of the correlation between integration and entropy for convex spaces,
the entropy values encountered by the calculations were cross-referenced with the
integration HH values provided by the software for r n, because it is a global measure
that is considered to best describe the system overall and that has already been
detailed in the chapter regarding space syntax and compared to the local measures.
Spaces for speciÀc activities, whose uncertainty degree in activity allocation is very low
and hence with the lowest entropy, were recognised as fairly integrated and connected,
mainly on the ground Áoor. This can be explained by their functional utility, because
although spaces such as the entrance, ticket ofÀce, reception desk, restroom and
vertical accesses are supportive spaces, their proximity is required so that the main
active learning environments can be productive. Particularly in this school, spaces that
support external events need to be integrated and intelligible for the external user.
SpeciÀc spaces with recognisable values of entropy also represent some of the most
integrated and connected ones and the most signiÀcant for users when experiencing
space, such as the library and the main hall, respectively spaces with high entropy and
high integration. This supports a potential correlation between activity allocation,
integration and appropriation, and ultimately towards adaptability.
Conversely, corridors are a particular case study where the correlation between
integration and entropy is not high. Especially on the upper Áoors, corridors are
very integrated convex spaces that are connected to much other spaces on the
system. However, when analysed alone, they do not have high levels of entropy,
considered the restriction of activity allocations in a pathway that does not have
the most suitable features to cope with extra-curricular activities or simply standing
for doing some of those activities. Only when the axial lines, placed on those same
corridors, intersect other spaces connected to them, with high entropy, does the
correlation increase. This could immediately indicate that axial lines’ integration has
837
The correlation between space syntax parameters and entropy has already been presented in the 10th
International Space Syntax Symposium (Coelho and Krüger, 2015), in which the full explanation of this complex
and extensive procedure is explained in detail. Besides proving the correlation between convex integration and
entropy for adaptability, that paper has also established the concepts of “axial line entropy” and “average axial
line”, within ‘An entropy approach to space syntax’.
693
a higher correlation to entropy because it involves several spaces and not only the
activity allocation possible in one single space, that could be central to the system,
but could also be more signiÀcant for circulation and leading towards the high
entropy spaces than their possible allocation per se.
This is not the case of the ground Áoor, because there the main corridor, identiÀed
as main hall, can be both a moving pathway and also a place for standing. This space
has even the utmost asset of being long and wide and also be very accessible from the
exterior, which increases its activity allocation in regard to the potential to cope with
extra-curricular activities, curricular activities such as external displays and also external
activities overall, besides both programmed events and non-programmed happenings.
So, as a convex space of high integration it also corresponds to a high entropy space.
Moreover, if axial lines’ entropy are examined that intersect not only this space but
also spaces connected to it, the correlation increases because several of those spaces
are also common use spaces for all the school’s users and that can accommodate a
very wide array of activities, namely curricular and extra-curricular but for all teaching
types, such as the library and the auditorium also with very high entropy.
For all the following scattergrams explaining “how the variables x and y are related”
(Hayslett, 1981838, p.132), correlations have been studied based also on both their
determination coefÀcients (R2) and respective regression lines, as well as their
probability values (p values839), which indicate respectively how the dependent
variable is correlated with the independent variable, and also how statistically
signiÀcant is the hypothesis set forward by each correlation. Understandably, the
higher the determination coefÀcient in each scattergram, the stronger the correlation
between both variables. In this sense, the data from the dependent variable are more
accurately explained according to the independent variable. Furthermore, the p value
is also meaningful, as evidence on the “hypothesis-testing” (Hayslett, 1981, p.100),
that proves the statistical signiÀcance of the outcomes achieved and speciÀcally,
that the alternative hypothesis (H1) set by the correlation is not achieved by random
data or pure chance, as the null hypothesis (H0) might argue840. Indeed, if the p value
is recognised to be low, which is customarily deÀned by default below 0,05, this will
enable to robustly reject the null hypothesis, and it will also demonstrate that the
alternative hypotheses set by the correlations are statistically signiÀcant, conÀrming
the positive and valid relationships between the correlated variables.
The correlation between integration and entropy for convex spaces is scattered
and the regression line not signiÀcant, but according to the same conclusion for
838
839
According to the APA style used in this Doctoral Thesis, “p value” is orthographically written like so.
840
Hayslett (1981, p.102) explains the difference between these hypotheses: “More generally, the hypothesis
that is being tested is called the null hypothesis, and is denoted by H0. The hypothesis that the experimenter
is willing to accept if he does not accept the null hypothesis is called the alternative hypothesis, and is usually
denoted by H1.”
694
CONVEX SPACES INTEGRATION, ENTROPY CORRELATION

all convex spaces
R = 0,08164 p value = 0,0000007

R = 0,05598 p value = 0,0000429

ENTROPY

INTEGRATION
a)
all convex spaces (dismissing outliers)

R = 0,20759 p value = 3,220E-16

ENTROPY

R = 0,17598 p value = 9,560E-14

INTEGRATION
b)
Fig. 281. Convex spaces correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy

All convex spaces (a) with all values, (b) dismissing outliers
(Carolina Coelho)
the entropy approach, the domain IV’s distribution presents a higher correlation
than domain III’s , with a determination coefÀcient (R2) of R2 = 0,08164 and R2 =
0,05598 respectively (Fig. 281a).
After an examination of the correlation between all convex spaces and their
correlation to entropy, the scattergram did not established a signiÀcant link from
the regression line. So, it was considered to dismiss the outliers that held three
very divergent values of integration, to assess whether the correlation could be
enhanced (Fig. 281b). After this procedure, the determination coefÀcients raised to
R2 = 0,20759 and R2 = 0,17598.
The fact that the correlation for convex spaces is not straightforward occurs because
it links spaces identiÀed by function with spaces identiÀed by their position in an
overall system. Hence, spaces identiÀed in the entropy approach as restroom, generic
classroom, or storage (in e.g.), which are frequent and placed differently in the building,
will present diverse values of integration. This leads to an equivalence of the same
entropy to multiple integration values that justiÀes a more vertical dispersion.
If the correlation is made with just a binary match between the highest value of
integration HH rn of each convex space from each Áoor plan, then this reduces the
number of values to correlate and the scattergram in a less complex set of variables.
Doing this implies that the highest integration space is chosen to represent all the
remaining ones with the same caption: e.g. convex spaces have been labelled as toilets
on the ground Áoor which naturally are placed on different locations within the system
695

convex spaces with higher integration (all floors)

R = 0,02222 p value = 0,24359

ENTROPY

R = 0,00601 p value = 0,54589

INTEGRATION
a)
convex spaces with higher integration (all floors)
(dismissing outliers)

R = 0,19956 p value = 0,00031

ENTROPY

R = 0,168 p value = 0,00104

INTEGRATION
b)
All convex spaces with higher integration (a) with all values, (b) dismissing outliers
(Carolina Coelho)
and hold different integrations. All of them have been considered for the previous
scattergram. In this following scattergram, the toilet with the highest integration
from each Áoor has been chosen to represent the remaining ones, dismissing the
others for a sharper analysis of the correlation (Fig. 282a). Even so, the correlations
are signiÀcantly lower, particularly for domain III’s distribution, with determination
coefÀcients of R2 = 0,02222 and R2 = 0,00601 respectively for domain IV and III.
So, it was also considered the possibility of dismissing the outliers (Fig. 282b) so
that a more detailed analysis can be perceived from a less disperse distribution. This
procedures has increased the determination coefÀcients to R2 = 0,19956 and R2 =
0,168, respectively for domain IV and III, in which domain IV continues to hold
higher values of integration and also of correlation.
All in all, even after all these procedures and respective critical analysis, the highest
correlation is between all convex spaces identiÀed from the space syntax approach,
dismissing the three outliers that hindered the increase of the determination
coefÀcient. The scattergram that only comprised the highest values of integration
to each convex space identiÀed with a number from the sample list did not establish
a clear correlation and even after removing the outliers the determination coefÀcient
on both domains were similar but still lower when compared to the Àrst scattergram
with all convex spaces.
This fact leads to the conclusion that the correlation is higher when different values of
integration are enclosed in the distribution, potentially because this last distribution
696
allocated the highest integration encountered for that space to its entropy. In some
cases, that might make the correlation less clear because supportive spaces, such as
toilets or storage rooms, may be shallow in the system and be connected to high
entropy spaces, but still have a single function. So, when choosing, for example, the
toilet with the dressing rooms with the highest integration and allocating it to its
naturally low entropy, then the correlation is not meaningful. On the contrary, on
this case, if a lower value of integration was chosen, then potentially the correlation
could be more accurate on the low centrality of the space towards a small activity
allocation potential. The widespread distribution reveals that there are spaces that
are frequently placed on different locations of the building, having diverse values
of integration, that could also be higher if supporting a high entropy space that
holds several different activities, which justiÀes its potentially high integration.
Therefore, it is concluded that a distribution with all convex spaces is more accurate
in describing the system and it is also concluded that it is the most correlated
distribution as well, so far.
It is now possible to detail the convex integration and entropy correlation between
Áoor plans, locating the spaces according to the Áoor in which they are placed and
according to their convex integration from the space syntax analysis. This will provide
an in-depth knowledge on the more and less correlated distributions regarding
Áoor plans and disaggregation, from domain III and IV. At that point, conclusion
can be drawn on whether spatial conÀguration inÁuences this correlation because,
as already examined in the Àrst milestone of this methodology, the three Áoor
plans analysed have very different conÀgurations, vertically from a more to a less
scattered layout. Besides, the locations of the spaces within that same conÀguration
may also impact the correlation, which can also be considered as a conclusion of
this detailed analysis by Áoor plan (Fig. 283).
After the analysis of the scattergram by Áoor plans, it is concluded once more
what the previous overall scattergram already suggested: the fact that the convex
integration and entropy is not straightforward and the determination coefÀcients
are not signiÀcant. That conclusion has already been achieved by the previous
correlation that enclosed all convex spaces within the spatial sample. After the
study on the separate scattergrams by Áoor plan these provide input towards that
conclusion, particularly on this school because the Áoors are conÀgurationally very
different amongst each other and so, conclusion can be drawn on the application
of the methodology and the correlation of its results on different spatial layouts.
As proven by the scattergrams, all three Áoor plans have led to different correlations.
A conclusion can be taken at this point which regards a generally higher correlation
between domain IV’s distribution rather than domain III’s for the same Áoor
and overall when all spaces are comprised in the same distribution. This again
697

second floor

R = 0,01808 p value = 0,30998

ENTROPY

R = 0,01893 p value = 0,29876

INTEGRATION
a)
first floor

R = 0,00556 p value = 0,43048

ENTROPY

R = 7,1E-05 p value = 0,92909

INTEGRATION
b)
ground floor
R = 0,21196 p value = 0,0000001

ENTROPY

R = 0,18981 p value = 0,0000007

INTEGRATION
c)

By Áoor plans (a) second Áoor, (b) Àrst Áoor, (c) ground Áoor
(Carolina Coelho)
acknowledges that the most disaggregated distribution is the one that better depicts
space and better corresponds entropy to integration.
When analysing the distributions by Áoor plan, they are indeed very signiÀcant. The
ground Áoor holds the most signiÀcant correlation with determination coefÀcients
already of a certain relevance: R2 = 0,21196 and R2 = 0,18981, respectively for domain
IV and domain III. These results change completely when separately analysing the
Àrst and the second Áoor’s distributions with the highest determination coefÀcient of
R2 = 0,00556 and R2 = 0,01808 respectively, which are very low and non-meaningful
for establishing a potential correlation. As these latter results are very low it could be
argued that they also decrease the overall correlation when all spaces are analysed,
because the ground Áoor when analysed separately holds a higher correlation than
the overall spaces in the system with the highest R2 = 0,08164.
From this analysis it can be better understood the source of the outliers earlier
698
dismissed from the correlation to all convex spaces. So, after dismissing the outliers,
which are all from the upper Áoors, for a more in-depth study of the closer variables,
the correlation for all convex spaces increases signiÀcantly for R2 = 0,20759 and R2
= 0,17598, respectively for domain IV and III (Fig. 281b), even if the overall higher
correlation remains equal because the outliers are not from the ground Áoor.
After a separate detailed analysis and through a comparison of results, the ground Áoor’s
signiÀcant correlation over the remaining Áoor plans distributions can be explained by
its conÀguration, which vastly differs from the upper Áoors, and that best associates
high entropy to high integration spaces in the system. SpeciÀcally, the ground Áoor has
a more scattered development, with three very intricate transversal hallways with an
extensive set of spaces, whereas the second Áoor holds a more cohesive conÀguration
that is strictly established by a main corridor with spaces on opposite sides.
The building’s design has been explained by the architect José Paulo dos Santos
(2017) that claimed his preference for “single-loaded corridors” that were not
possible to be accomplished on this brief, which have led to the Ànal design of the
main corridor with rooms on both sides and the largest rooms on the ends:
“In schools I like what the English call ‘single-loaded corridors’, which
is a corridor with only one-sided classrooms. I do not appreciate the
hallway in the middle. In the project of the conservatory of the Vale
das Flores841 we had music rooms for classes in simple corridors and
the rooms for instruments with a corridor in the middle (double-
loaded corridor). In Quinta das Flores the program was deÀned with
the instrument rooms with a corridor in the middle and since there was
no hypothesis, in this linear development, to conceive such corridors as
simple, we had in the east and west tops of the Conservatory’s building
the program that required a larger surface.”842 (Santos, 2017)
So, the built space is a product of the design and the brief and naturally inÁuences
the actual building’s use and adaptability potential. In this case the choice for locating
the larger spaces on the extremities of the Áoor plan increase the axial entropy
in regard to the convex entropy and provided a higher correlation between the
entropy and integration when the building is analysed by axial lines. Furthermore,
the option for “double-loaded corridors” provided similar integration values to
different entropy ones, because not only are the instrument classes together but
841
The architect is referring to the Àrst project for the Conservatory separate from the school.
842
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “Nas escolas eu gosto do
que os ingleses chamam de ‘single-loaded corridors’ que é um corredor com salas de aula só de um lado. Eu
nmo aprecio corredor ao meio. No projecto do conservatório do Vale das Flores tínhamos salas de conjunto
em corredores simples e as salas de instrumento com corredor ao meio (double-loaded corridor). Na quinta das
Flores o programa foi deÀnido com as salas de instrumentos com corredor no meio e como nmo havia hipótese,
neste desenvolvimento linear, de colocar os tais corredores simples, dispusemos nos topos nascente e poente
do corpo do Conservatório o programa que requeria maior superfície.” (Santos, 2017).
699
also supportive spaces and other space with different, more separate activities843.
Besides, the additional hallways transversal to the longitudinal development have

also been explained by the architect as a solution for spaces with different structural
and modular dimension:
“The conservatory brief was developed to north and near the street,
with the main brief of the classrooms established on the Àrst and
second Áoors (above the street level); adjacent, and to the south, it
had the Auditorium for hundreds of people. Initially the area for the
administration / faculty, and the cafeteria / labs were separated from
this hallway of music. Parque Escolar has asked to join these areas to
the linear development of the building. Conceptually I preferred to
have only the body of the auditorium joint together, but later we joint
these two bodies that needed a different metric.”844 (Santos, 2017)
Naturally, that the joining of the two transversal hallways establish a more scattered
distribution of the spaces for the ground and Àrst Áoors, especially when these
have spaces for more speciÀc functions as the architect explains and, hence,
speciÀc allocation potential. The analysis by axial lines may, therefore, provide a
more in-depth examination of the space as a whole and not of separate spaces
per se, analysing in a more aggregated manner spaces such as the main corridor
to the extremities, or the longitudinal body of the building and its transversal
developments, as environments and not individually bounded spaces.
843
The richness of the spatial solutions is a subject matter that the architect claims to be interested in and
that may have inÁuenced this design from the symmetries and asymmetries of the ‘Hôtel Particulier’ that the
architect claims to have inÁuenced him very much, to Adolf Loos’s interior richness of the circuits and Louis
Kahn’s volumetric control.
According to the architect José Paulo dos Santos full quote from the interview: “There are recurrent
compositional aspects that come from the ‘Hôtel Particulier’ and its axes of symmetry and asymmetry. [...] I
have visited many works and I have really only been moved with some, for example with many of Kahn’s works.
With Corbusier it’s a more mental thing, with Kahn it is not.
With Kahn I am affected by the control of the volumetry and with Loos it impresses me the inner richness
of the rigidity. He created very rich interior spaces. In Loos, the skin does not affect me much, but this inner
richness and the circuits do. I like that part of the concept. [...] I interpret Loos as having condensed all of the
time from the Muthesian houses that he visited around the Raumplam.” (Santos, 2017)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “Há aspectos compositivos
recorrentes que provrm do ‘Hôtel Particulier’e dos seus eixos de simetria e assimetria. [...] Visitei muitas obras
e verdadeiramente só me emocionei com algumas, por exemplo com muitas obras do Kahn. Com Corbusier é
uma coisa mais mental, com Kahn nmo.
Com Kahn afecta-me o controlo da volumetria e com Loos impressiona-me a riqueza interior da rigidez. Ele
criou espaços interiores muito ricos. Em Loos, a pele nmo me afecta muito, mas sim essa riqueza interior e os
circuitos, gosto dessa parte do conceito. [...] eu interpreto o Loos como tendo condensado o tempo todo das
casas Muthesianas que visitou à volta do Raumplam.” (Santos, 2017)
844
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “O programa do
conservatório desenvolveu-se a norte e junto ao arruamento, com o programa principal de salas de aula
desenvolvidos nos pisos 1 e 2 (superiores ao nível da rua); adossado, e a sul, tinha o Auditório para centenas
de pessoas. Inicialmente a ala da administraçmo/corpo docente, e do refeitório/laboratórios estavam separadas
desta ala de música. A Parque Escolar pediu- para adossar estes corpos ao corpo linear. Conceptualmente
preferia só ter o corpo do auditório adossado, mas depois adossámos estes dois corpos com necessidade de
uma métrica diferente.” (Santos, 2017)
700
The following analysis will focus on the correlation between integration and entropy
for axial lines, once more applied for both distributions corresponding to domains
III and IV. Following the previous demonstration shown on how to calculate the
axial line entropy and the average axial line entropy, this has been applied to all axial
lines recognised by Depthmap;, through the identiÀcation of the convex spaces
each axial line intersected, identifying the entropy of each separate space, and then
estimating their axial entropy for each axial line.
This has been done by the identiÀcation of all the axial lines used from the previous
space syntax analysis845, by the reference number, and then associating their axial
integration. After the identiÀcation on the integration map, then it was possible to
superimpose it onto the Ànal plans and on the plan that deÀned the convex spaces
also considered from the space syntax analysis, in a three layer drawing that enable
to associate the line and its location on the plans and to list the convex spaces
intersected. As explained, for the axial line entropy calculation the spaces used are
those considered from the convex analysis and already analysed in their speciÀcities in
the space syntax approach. They are not the spaces from the captions because some
of them are not convex, particularly in the case of a conservatory where the layout
of the music spaces cannot be convex due to the acoustics performance. Besides,
the analysis identiÀed the axial lines from the space syntax previous procedure, so
it was considered more valid to identify the spaces intersected by those same lines
listed from Depthmap;, as well as the convex spaces used under the same approach.
Again, and similarly to the procedure for estimating axial line entropy and average
axial line entropy for all axial lines identiÀed by Depthmap;, from the previous
entropy approach, another future development could be the creation of a software
that layered the axial lines with the convex spaces and that enabled to introduce the
convex entropy, so that the axial entropy could be estimated, automatising this time
consuming process.
Then, a chart and scattergrams were produced plotting the axial line entropy
against integration, to study their possible correlations (Fig. 284). This calculation
established that these values changed according to the sequence of spaces and their
respective individual entropy.
Some spaces with high entropy values are not necessarily the most integrated in the
system per se, but when analysed within an axial line, that correlation is meaningful.
Overall these values can reasonably be higher than spaces alone if the axial lines
intersect relevant entropy spaces. This is the case of spaces that are placed on the
extremities of the upper Áoors’ longitudinal development that hold signiÀcant values
845
For the correlation to be most accurate the axial lines and convex spaces have to be exactly the ones
considered from the previous space syntax analysis in order to associate the previously recalled convex and axial
integration with their convex and axial entropy.
701
AXIAL LINE INTEGRATION, AXIAL LINE ENTROPY CORRELATION

all axial lines

ENTROPY

p value = 0,43036

p value = 0,39083

INTEGRATION
a)
all axial lines (dismissing outliers)

p value = 3,901E-17

ENTROPY

p value = 0,0000027

INTEGRATION
b)
Fig. 284. Axial line correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy
Distributions according to Áoor plans and domains (a) all data, (b) no outliers
(Carolina Coelho)
of entropy, namely the orchestra room and the music studio, and are intersected by
some of the most integrated axial lines for that Áoor, therefore presenting a strong
correlation between syntactic integration and entropy.
The correlation between all axial lines’ integration and entropy is not meaningful
from the start because it has an extremely far-reaching outlier that hampers the
correlation, which relates to the axial line integration from the second Áoor846 (Fig.
284a). Note that this value has already been considered an outlier from the previous
space syntax analysis and so it can be for this correlation. Therefore, another
scattergram that holds all axial lines’ except this one, considered to be an outlier,
presents a correlation in which the determination coefÀcient is evidently higher for
domain IV than for domain III’s distribution, as it was for the convex correlation
(Fig. 284b), respectively with R2 = 0,21059 and R2 = 0,07092.
While comparing these values with the previous convex correlation that hold
determination coefÀcients of respectively R2 = 0,20759 and R2 = 0,17598 for
domain IV and for domain III’s distribution, also after dismissing the outliers,
despite the latter’s closeness between domains, there is a higher correlation between
integration and entropy for axial lines rather than for convex spaces, proven by
the regression lines and respective determination coefÀcients of both graphs for
domain IV. Pedagogically this is crucial, because it supports the fact that this school
846
Outliers from the space syntax analysis had already been dismissed for a more in-depth analysis in the remaining
distribution of values when pursuing that analysis. See chapter 4.2.1.2. Space Syntax _ Morphological analysis.
702

second floor

ENTROPY

p value = 0,00339

p value = 0,01806

INTEGRATION
a)
second floor (dismissing outliers)

ENTROPY
p value = 0,75137

p value = 0,61380

INTEGRATION
b)
By Áoor plans: (a) second Áoor with all data; b) second Áoor with no outliers
(Carolina Coelho)
considers not only formal learning spaces, but also spatial sequences as potential
moments and environments for active learning.
At this point, separate scattergrams can be made for each individual Áoor plan, for
acknowledging whether its conÀgurational display can impact the correlation (Figs.
285 and 286). The fact that the three Áoor plans analysed are different amongst
themselves, from a conÀgurational perspective, is relevant because separate
scattergrams can provide data on the highest and lowest correlation according to the
conÀguration. Naturally, this plays a relevant role because space syntax focuses on
the spaces’ morphology and therefore the results from convex and axial integration
between Áoor plans may also differ.
From a closer examination on the separate scattergram per Áoor plan and per domain,
the highest axial correlation is between the ground Áoor, with a very representative
determination coefÀcient: R2 = 0,34104 for domain IV and R2 = 0,26214 for domain
III’s distribution, far more signiÀcant than the remaining correlations (Fig. 286b). The
Àrst Áoor holds R2 = 0,15154 and R2 = 0,00774 for domain IV and III respectively,
which is lower than the ground Áoor. Finally, the second Áoor does not have
meaningful determination coefÀcients to support a correlation with R2 = 0,00275
and R2 = 0,00695, again for domain IV and III, even after dismissing the outliers.
It could be concluded that it is the second Áoor’s distribution that is hampering a

stronger correlation overall between all axial lines, because the ground Áoor analysed
703

first floor

p value = 0,0000121

ENTROPY

p value = 0,3414210

INTEGRATION
a)
ground floor

p value = 1,259E-14

ENTROPY

p value = 4,639E-11

b) INTEGRATION

By Áoor plans: a) Àrst Áoor; b) ground Áoor
(Carolina Coelho)
separately holds a higher correlation than the scattergram that plots all axial lines
from all Áoor plans with R2 = 0,21059, which is signiÀcantly lower than the ground
Áoor’s individual correlation with R2 = 0,34104 for domain IV.
The second Áoor has a very clear distribution of axial lines that are transversal to the
building’s longitudinal development and that cross it from a space on the north to
a space on the south side, intersecting the corridor. So, those axial lines’ entropy is
generally calculated with three values: the entropy of both opposite side spaces and
the entropy of the corridor that connects them. Therefore, their axial line entropy
relates to the entropy of the spaces that are crossed by that line, so if the entropy
between them varies signiÀcantly, then their Ànal results on axial line entropy will
describe that difference. This will also bear signiÀcance for the average axial line
entropy, because it divides the values of the axial line entropy by the number of
spaces accounted for in the calculation, and so their Ànal result will also vary to an
average number between both values of the entropy of those spaces individually
assessed. Consequently, if one of the spaces is a supportive space, it will decrease the
end results for both the axial line and the average axial line entropy, and contrarily if
it crosses a space of high entropy per se, then it will increase the Ànal results.
The average axial line entropy is less related to the integration than the axial line
entropy, because many of the spaces analysed have zero or non-meaningful values
of entropy, which diminishes the average axial line entropy, but there is also a
higher correlation on the ground Áoor than on the upper Áoor and for the entropy
704
AXIAL LINE INTEGRATION, AVERAGE AXIAL LINE ENTROPY CORRELATION

all axial lines

p value = 0,55110

ENTROPY

p value = 0,72251

INTEGRATION
a)
all axial lines (dismissing outliers)

p value = 0,0000379

ENTROPY

p value = 0,4132513

INTEGRATION
b)
Fig. 287. Average axial line correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy
Distributions according to Áoor plans and domains (a) all data, (b) no outliers
(Carolina Coelho)
distribution for domain IV rather than for domain III.
Naturally that according to the calculations of the axial line entropy, the results
are high if spaces of high entropy are enclosed in the same axial line. If that axial
line has also high integration in the system, then the correlation is logically higher,
which is more frequent on the ground Áoor than on the upper Áoors, because, as
it has already been explained, the most integrated convex spaces are generally the
main corridors that connect to the other spaces, and their entropy alone is located
relatively in the middle of the rank, for either entropy results of both domain’s
distributions or for the feasibly matrix’s activity allocation.
Another inÁuential variable on these calculations is the number of convex spaces

intersected, which implies that spaces with higher entropy increase their axial line
entropy, but also if an axial line intersects several spaces then its Ànal value is
potentially higher because it is incremented by several different plots of values. So,
the average axial line is a measure that can balance these results according to the
number of convex spaces intersected by that axial line.
Thus, the average axial line entropy has been plotted against the axial integration to
critically analyse the compared results to the axial line entropy per se (Fig. 287). When
estimating the correlation with all axial lines it does not prove to be relevant, as it
occurred with the previous axial line entropy, due to the outlier. So, the correlation
can be estimated if the outlier is dismissed, which holds R2 = 0,05509 and R2 =
705

second floor

p value = 0,25593

ENTROPY

p value = 0,12894

INTEGRATION
a)
second floor (dismissing outliers)

p value = 0,23470

ENTROPY

p value = 0,33178

INTEGRATION
b)
By Áoor plans: (a) second Áoor with all data; b) second Áoor with no outliers
(Carolina Coelho)
0,00223. These values are lower than the axial entropy that had R2 = 0,21059 and R2
= 0,07092 for domain IV and III. This is, in fact, the lowest correlation that plots
all variables, even compared to the convex correlation.
It is also possible to analyse the scattergrams per Áoor plan and per domain in order
to conclude on whether these prove to have similar distributions when compared to
the axial entropy or not (Figs. 288 and 289).
Like it happened for the previous analysis, it is also the ground Áoor’s average
axial entropy distribution for domain IV that holds the highest correlation for this
measure with R2 = 0,27218, followed by the same Áoor’s domain III’s distribution
with R2 = 0,18353. This can be perceived as reasonably high, particularly when
compared to the remaining values, but it is still lower than the R2 = 0,34104 and R2
= 0,26214 for domain IV and III’s distribution for the axial entropy.
Both the Àrst and the second Áoor do not prove to have correlations between their
average axial entropy and their axial integration. For the Àrst Áoor the correlation
with the average axial entropy is signiÀcantly lower than with the axial entropy that
reached R2= 0,15154 for domain IV and, in this case, the regression line is almost
Áat, not reporting a correlation. The second Áoor has non-meaningful determination
coefÀcients for either distribution on regard of its average axial entropy, even after
dismissing the outliers.
Then, scattergrams were produced that correlated syntactic integration with entropy
706

first floor

p value = 0,91670

ENTROPY

p value = 0,01854

INTEGRATION
a)
ground floor

p value = 1,711E-11

ENTROPY

p value = 7,635E-08

INTEGRATION
b)
By Áoor plans: a) Àrst Áoor; b) ground Áoor
(Carolina Coelho)
calculations for both convex spaces and axial lines, overlaying all six distributions by
Áoor and by domain for each of these possible correlations, which lead to distinct
results (Figs. 290, 291 and 292).
From the distributions that hold all variables, the highest correlation belongs to
the axial line entropy when plotted against axial line integration for domain IV.
Although it is fairly lower for the same distribution when estimated for domain III,
it also displays a high correlation when convex spaces are concerned. Nevertheless,
the average axial line entropy is the one that demonstrates the lowest correlation
when all axial lines are comprised after dismissing the outliers. So, overall the most
accurate association is between axial lines and their entropy, rather than individual
convex spaces, even though the correlation can also be signiÀcant.
Generally, correlations are higher for domain IV than for domain III’s when analysed
for the same distributions, similarly between convex and axial correlations. This
informs that a more in-depth distribution is best associated with the entropy of
that particular space or axial line, which is potentially more accurate and detailed in
activities, leading to a closer depiction of the actual case study in terms of activities
when plotted against its effective integration.
An analysis by Áoor plan is possible and required because all three describe different
conÀgurations, vertically from a scattered to a more cohesive conÀguration where
no transversal hallways have been designed. This clear impacts the results because
707

per floors (dismissing outliers)

R = 0,21196 p value = 0,0000001

R = 0,03182 p value = 0,18031

ENTROPY
R = 0,02785 p value = 0,08003

R = 0,18981 p value = 0,0000007

R = 0,00799 p value = 0,50461
R = 0,00909 p value = 0,31956

INTEGRATION

Distributions according to Áoor plans and domains, dismissing outliers
(Carolina Coelho)
INTEGRATION, AXIAL LINE ENTROPY CORRELATION


R = 0,34104 p value = 1,259E-14

R = 0,15154 p value = 0,0000121
ENTROPY

"

R = 0,26214 p value = 4,639E-11
R = 0,00275 p value = 0,75137

R = 0,00774 p value = 0,3414210
R = 0,00695 p value = 0,61380

! " #
INTEGRATION

(Carolina Coelho)
INTEGRATION, AVERAGE AXIAL LINE ENTROPY CORRELATION


R = 0,27218 p value = 1,711E-11

ENTROPY
R = 9,3E-05 p value = 0,91670
R = 0,03795 p value = 0,23470 R = 0,18353 p value = 7,635E-08

R = 0,02547 p value = 0,33178

R = 0,04647 p value = 0,01854

! " #
INTEGRATION

(Carolina Coelho)
708
the ground Áoor has fairly more signiÀcant correlations than the upper Áoors for
all measures under comparison. The correlation slightly tends to decrease vertically
towards the second Áoor, with low correlation amongst all measures.
From the higher ground Áoor correlation it can also be remarked that for similar
values of integration there were corresponding values of entropy, which implies
that the ground Áoor spaces with analogous functional purposes are placed in
analogous positions on the school’s layout, than they are on the upper Áoors, with
lower correlation between integration and entropy.
Due to their conÀguration, the Àrst and second Áoors have common values of
integration for different spaces that have different values of entropy because they
are related to very different functionalities. As their main conÀguration lies within
a main corridor that connects to the spaces on both sides, then different function
spaces, and hence different entropy spaces, have similar values of integration
regarding the system’s morphology. This explains the more visible vertical tendency
of the distribution for the second Áoor, because for the same integration values
correspond different entropy levels, associated with different allocation potential.
This translates into a lack of hierarchy of the spaces according to their entropy and a
similar centrality in the system for spaces with more or less active learning purposes.
From the analysis of the scattergrams there are two linear trendlines that can be
perceived: an oblique and a vertical one. This could be understood from a more
immediate interpretation as a potential stabilisation of the integration. But it is not
the situation that this trendline describes. Actually, from a closer observation of the
integration of the system and from its overall conÀguration, there are several spaces
with different spatial features and also with different activity allocation potential
that are located in similar topological positions on the system. Nevertheless, this is
due to the fact that same values of entropy are associated with different syntactic
integration values, which occurs because spaces have been identiÀed from the
captions over the Ànal plans and so, according to their main function on the building.
Still, if some of the spaces are site-speciÀc such as the auditorium, the library, the
choir room or the orchestra room, others are not, and are very frequent on the
whole building. This implies that the same space considered for the same function,
such as the music studio, the science laboratories, or even supportive spaces such as
toilets or stage rooms, occur more than once and hence, have different integration
values on the system regarding their different locations. So, this connection may not
be univocal for spaces that have more than one integration.
This is very clear on the second Áoor, where the immediate conÀguration of the
system with a main central corridor that connects to the adjacent spaces, with
different functions closer to one another. On the remaining Áoor plans, namely on
the ground Áoor, that is more scattered, there is a more diverse range of syntactic
integration values and their binary matching to an entropy value is more distinct. So
709
the vertical trendline is clearer on the Áoors that are morphologically more cohesive
and less noticeable on more scattered morphological conÀgurations.
As seen, for equal values of integration there are variable values of entropy. This
implies that topologically, equal spaces in the system have different allocational
potential. Therefore, there is not a hierarchical disposition of the spaces as far
as its adaptability is considered, because that would imply the least amount of
topological steps for more adaptable spaces, and in this case there are supportive
and monofunctional spaces very integrated in the system.
This fact can be justiÀed by the need of supportive spaces connected to high entropy
spaces with wide spatial and functional requirements, which is particular relevant
for the artistic activities. For example, performances in the auditorium need lockers
rooms, dressing rooms and bathrooms connected to it. So, if the auditorium holds
a relatively elevated integration on the system to be easily accessed from the outside
and to be central in the building, then its supportive spaces close-by will naturally
also have reasonably high integration values. More so, if the analysis is made by
axial lines than by convex spaces, because those axial lines may intersect other high
integrated spaces besides the auditorium itself.
This is also the case of toilets that have low values of entropy but that have a very
frequent use by all and imply a relatively high frequency of locations and also some
need to have high integration, to be effortlessly accessed by all, despite the users’
original location.
Consequently, high entropy spaces often hold high syntactic integration like: the
main hall, the library and common living spaces, because they are both central to
the system, morphologically and functionally. Other high entropy spaces are not so
integrated as convex spaces because the architect has chosen to place them on the
extremities of the upper Áoors, such as the music studios, the orchestra and the
choir rooms. Nevertheless, when analysed by axial lines, that integration is higher
because they are often intersected by the most integrated axial lines, like it happens
with the auditorium, the choir and the orchestra rooms. The contrary to this is not
always the case, because high integration spaces, do not always have high entropy,
which has already been explained by the need of supportive well-connected spaces
to others more relevant towards learning.
Furthermore, the existence of outliers adds to this vertical trendlines, because when
there is an outlier of extremely high integration, such as it occurs on the axial
integration of the second Áoor with 113,294, very different from the remaining
ones, then the distribution of the other variables is closer together and perceived as
more vertical in regard to a further value of 113,294.
So, if the integration values are less disperse amongst each other and outliers are
710

ground floor

p value = 1,259E-14

ENTROPY

INTEGRATION
Fig. 293. Scattergram of the most representative correlation:

Correlation between axial line integration and axial line entropy for the ground Áoor’s domain IV
(Carolina Coelho)
considered, then the correlation between those values and their entropy is more
vertical. The most vertical distributions are logically the second Áoor’s, because it is
where more spaces and axial lines have the same integration values when compared
to different entropy levels, due to this Áoor’s conÀguration, where a corridor accesses
most spaces on opposite sides. Contrarily, the less vertical distribution is the ground
Áoor’s because the integration is more speciÀcally related to a value of entropy
and there is not such a wide range of spaces with the same or very similar levels
of integration. This is due to the more scattered conÀguration of this Áoor plan.
Under the possible correlation by means of convexity, it is therefore concluded
that it is also the ground Áoor plan, with a more scattered conÀguration and more
diverse values of integration from the analysis that holds the higher correlation,
fairly different from the remaining Áoor plans.
All things considered, the highest correlation between integration and entropy was
found on the axial line map for the ground Áoor, with the most signiÀcant R2=0,34,
fairly distant from any of the other values (Fig. 293). This implies that integration,
as the independent variable, explains in 34% the entropy values in the y axis. This
is also the distribution with the highest syntactic intelligibility, besides the speciÀcity
of the second Áoor’s double-loaded corridor layout. Hence, the ground Áoor is
a more representative interface for interaction and learning, by acknowledging
more adaptable spaces, with higher entropy and which also has more syntactic
representativeness in terms of axial lines.
With regard to the level of signiÀcance of the correlations, it might be concluded that
for most of the studied ones, the p value supports them to be statistically valid. Similarly
to the determination coefÀcient, also the p value has shown Áuctuations amongst the
correlations between the observed variables, to be subsequently discussed.
When convex spaces integration is plotted against entropy for all convex spaces, the
p value is near zero (p value = 0,0000007 for domain IV’s and p value = 0,0000429
for domain III’s distribution, respectively). The situation is added when the outliers
711
are dismissed, generating p values speciÀed by scientiÀc notation near zero. This
concludes that the correlation between the variables is statistically valid and has a
high level of signiÀcance.
When analysed in deeper detail, by Áoor plan, the p value does not provide such
strong evidence towards the proposition on the correlations. Thus, it might be
argued that all the entities observed together as a whole are very strong in suggesting
a valid hypothesis, while this is not as robust when the correlation is scattered in
smaller samples by Áoor plans. Still, the ground Áoor’s correlation between convex
spaces integration and entropy is indeed very strong, respectively with p value =
0,0000001 for domain IV and p value = 0,0000007 for domain III’s distribution,
assuming their high statistical signiÀcance.
As for the scattergrams that correlate axial line integration and axial line entropy
the p values prove the strength of the evidence for assuming the hypothesis of their
effective correlation and vividly reject the null hypothesis that the results might have
been subject of fair chance. In fact, when dismissing the outliers for the scattergram
between axial line integration and axial line entropy, p value = 3,901E-17 and p value
= 0,0000027, respectively for domain IV’s and domain III’s distributions. As these
values are near zero, this indisputably concludes on the strength of this correlation.
Correspondingly to the latter correlation between convex spaces integration and

entropy, also when the axial line integration and entropy correlation is detached by
Áoor plans, the p values computed are not as meaningful. But analogously to the
previous correlation for convex spaces integration, the ground Áoor also speciÀes,
respectively, p value = 1,259E-14 for domain IV’s and p value = 4,639E-11 for
domain III’s distribution. This again proves the correlation to be statistically valid
and signiÀcant. Furthermore, this correlation is even more robust, since p values are
also low, for the second Áoor without dismissing the outliers and also for the Àrst
Áoor domain IV’s distribution.
Finally, the correlation between axial line integration and average axial line entropy,
for all axial lines when dismissing the outliers is also meaningful to be discussed, since
p value = 0,0000379 for domain IV’s distribution, despite the low determination
coefÀcient. Even so, this is particularly more relevant when the correlation is
detached by Áoor plans, where the ground Áoor is proved to be quite signiÀcant in
terms of both R2 and p value.
Generally, it might be concluded that the correlations are proven to largely be valid
and statistically signiÀcant, reaching p values near zero and even some of the times
speciÀed in scientiÀc notation, which is paramount for concluding on the validity
and signiÀcance of the hypotheses brought by these correlations. Besides, it is the
ground Áoor that transversally holds the strongest values when compared to the
other Áoor plans.
712
All things considered, it is paramount to acknowledge the most signiÀcant correlation,

associating a very low p value that assesses the strength of the hypothesis of the
correlation to be statistically highly signiÀcant; along with the highest determination
coefÀcient, supporting that the correlation between the variables is strong. This
occurs in the correlation between the axial line integration and the axial line entropy
for the ground Áoor, when analysed for domain IV, whose determination coefÀcient
is the highest and that holds a very low p value, near zero (p value = 1,259E-14),
rejecting the null hypothesis (H0) of this correlation to happen fairly by chance.
Conversely, because the null hypothesis does not describe the obtained results that
reveal a non-arbitrary distribution, it leads to an alternative hypothesis (H1). In fact,
by rejecting the null hypothesis, it provides evidence in favour of a counter one.
Hence, this correlation sets the alternative hypothesis that the syntactic integration
and the entropy are more strongly correlated by their axial lines on the entropy’s
most disaggregated distribution, and this is particularly strong for case study’s
ground Áoor. Thus, this constitutes speciÀc strong evidence that this correlation,
here examined in detail, is “statistically highly signiÀcant” 847 (Buchan, 2017) and that
the hypothesis set, assuming that both variables are effectively correlated, is robust.
Therefore, according to the p values achieved from all the correlations, and especially
from this most signiÀcant one, strong evidence against the null hypothesis is
presented, concluding that the correlation between the variables is statistically valid
and has a high level of signiÀcance.
Conclusively, having explained the methodology and its application, the choice in
the case study and having produced a critical analysis of the data gathered, on
the individual approaches and on their potential correspondence; spaces and axial
lines with the highest values on both entropy and integration were identiÀed and
subsequently the correlations on the distributions. Although for this school the
results have been somehow scattered, one distribution has proven most signiÀcant.
This implies a deeper bond between morphology and activities on the ground Áoor
and when analysed with respect to the teaching regimes, which values this school’s
relevance towards external use, artistic and regular teaching. Having also proven a
higher correspondence to axial lines than convex spaces, this also bears signiÀcance
at a pedagogical perspective because the spaces are more representative for this
analysis when considered as a whole, which associates adaptability with the concept
of active learning environments, rather than individual spaces. In fact, the overall
data gathered and the conclusions support the impact of the school space on the
teaching methodology as well as the learning processes as it happens in the overall
spatial system (Hilllier and Hanson, 1984).
847
According to (Buchan, 2017): “Most authors refer to statistically signiÀcant as P 0.05 and statistically
highly signiÀcant as P 0.001 (less than one in a thousand chance of being wrong).”
713
. Critical interpretation from the correlations between the idiographic

analysis and the remaining approaches
“Educational space needs are designed primarily around patterns of

human interaction rather than the needs of particular subjects or
technologies.” (Worthington, 2007, p.17)
This idiographic approach, divided into three procedures, intends to relate the
school space with the effective use it holds. Thus, it resorts to the people, who use
it to better report how the learning process occurs throughout the whole school
building. Besides, all of these procedures have also been accomplished by people,
non-participant observers, that recorded in several manners all of the events that
inform the overall Àndings. So, recalling Neuman words: “Social research is for,
about, and conducted by people.” (Neuman, 1996, p.16). Nevertheless, these
methods taken from social sciences research aim to provide that information, as a
qualitative approach to spatial fruition, used to provide operative and complementary
data for an architectural research on space and its ability to allocate activities, both
formally and informally. This acknowledges the procedures’ disciplinary scope
under architecture because, ultimately, it will inform architectural research.
Furthermore, at this stage of the methodological application into the case study, it is
concluded on the relevance of each of these three procedures and also on the high
signiÀcance of its sequential establishment, in a triangulation approach that aims to
integrate the contribution of several methods848 (Bryman, 2008, p.379). Assuming that
each procedure will bring additional contributions towards the conclusion, a conjoint
methodological approach will potential be more extensive in the acquaintance and
explanation of the reality in regard to the learning processes in space:
“Each method, thus, reveals slightly different facets of the same symbolic
reality. Every method is a different line of sight directed towards the same
point, observing social and symbolic reality. By combining several lines
of sight, researchers obtain a better, more substantive picture of reality;
a richer, more complete array of symbols and theoretical concepts; and
a means of verifying many of these elements. The use of multiple lines
of sight is frequently called triangulation.” (Berg, 2004, p.5)849
Observations enabled a more thorough understanding of the patterns of co-

presence and natural movement in space, the highest and lowest density spaces and
the activities that produced that density. Having provided this general outlook on a
collective use, after frequent observations on the same spaces and schedules, a more
detailed description on space use was able to be depicted, namely on the nature
848
“Triangulation entails using more than one method or source of data in the study of social phenomena.”
(Bryman, 2008, p.379)
849
Italics from the original quote. Consulted edition from 2004, original edition from 1988.
714
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor
Fig. 294. Observation matrices _ Morning of a regular school day
(Carolina Coelho)
of the activities done and on the people who did them on that space and time
periods. After a critical analysis from the drawings and by plotting the dots and lines
representing people standing and moving, along with the Àeld notes on similarities
and exceptions from each of the observations, to which it has also been added the
video and photograph recordings; it was possible to establish some conclusions
on the effective spatial use, on the densities of that use in each space according to
the time intervals of the observations, and potentially correlating them to classes’
schedule and the week overall timetable of both the school and the conservatory
communities and lastly to spatial features (Fig. 294).
The walkthroughs and focus groups, separated into four, each with a speciÀc
curriculum afÀnity, provided a very speciÀc outlook on space from each particular
group. This has been studied and analysed, assuming a diversity of outlooks on
spatial adaptability according to the groups interviewed but also some similarities
amongst the four.
715
PATHWAYS FOR THE WALKTHROUGHS

teachers of the regular teaching
teachers of the artistic teaching
students of the regular teaching
students of the articulated teaching
Indication of the most adaptable spaces

(bigger size shape according to bigger adaptability)
Second Áoor
First Áoor
Ground Áoor
9 dressing room 18 library regular teaching 33 singing studio 42 teachers’ meeting room
1 main hall 10 locker room 19 cafeteria 28 administration ofÀces 34 song writing studio 43 teachers’ ofÀce for
2 access–corridor 11 storage 20 canteen artistic teaching 35 speciÀc music training meeting students
3 vertical access–stairs 12 indeterminate 21 kitchen 29 orchestra room room 44 students’ shop
4 vertical access–elevator supportive space 22 kitchen storage 30 music studio 36 study room 45 photocopy room
5 entrance–outdoor 13 spare space 23 staff room 31 music instrument 37 dance studio 46 parent council room
access 14 vault 24 teachers’ room training room 38 science lab 47 auditorium supportive
6 reception desk 15 archive 25 students’ room (individual or for small 39 generic classroom spaces
7 ticket ofÀce 16 auditorium 26 secretariat groups) 40 common living space 48 psychologist’s ofÀce
8 bathroom–toilet–sink 17 auditorium’s cafeteria 27 administration ofÀces 32 choir room 41 teachers’ ofÀce 49 technical area
Fig. 295. Walkthroughs _ Photos and plans with the most adaptable spaces identiÀed
(Carolina Coelho)
716
These have conÀrmed the previous conclusion from the observations in a more
general fruition, but they have also enabled some clariÀcation and justiÀcations of
those happenings850, and speciÀcally they have also provided a Àne-grained portrait
of spatial usage and life within this space as a whole, in regard to: how each group
perceives space, how and why they use it in such a way, and specially what activities
do they undertake in the building and, from there, which can be associated with the
same space for considering it an adaptable one.
Primarily, the lack of a speciÀc students’ common living room enables dispersion
of the informal and social activities throughout the whole school, which has been
conÀrmed by the three procedures, and which demonstrates the building’s ability
to hold those activities elsewhere in other spaces, but also the students’ adaptation
to those constraints. This has been overcome by the artistic students that are keen
on spontaneous happenings in diverse spaces, even the least expected ones, but not
so much for the regular teaching students that use the school in a more formal and
previously arranged manner, demonstrating a lesser sense of appropriation and
belonging to the building.
This Ànal overall conclusion does not aim to repeat itself from the previous
intermediate ones, process-speciÀc and more detailed. On the other hand, it aims
to acknowledge this process overall as an holistic approach to space that provides
information from a more general to a more detailed account on spatial fruition on
this case study in particular. Naturally that the individuals’ accounts from space
have to be perceived amongst an holistic approach to the building and the general
community that lives within it, but it also reports a cultural and social context which
is paramount in this building for justifying the speciÀcities and even the unexpected
outlooks remarked during these procedures. So, the more speciÀc the outlook from
each of the contributors, the less it represents an overall perception of space use,
but this does not deploy it from relevance, since it helps portraying a community on
its informal and social activities, and correlates them to the spaces where they are
in fact undertaken, which is the aim of our current research and which would not
have been understood and brought for the Àndings if a methodological approach
on effective spatial fruition and appropriation had not been accounted for.
And if some conclusions have been reached in regard to the identiÀcation by all the
community of the main hall as a space that gathers all of the school users and also
a very wide range of activities, others may also be disclosed and their correlation
to the previous Àndings from the former milestone can also be analysed (Fig. 295).
Observations have remarked, and focus groups have conÀrmed, the fact that artistic
students practice in very different shaped spaces, from formal classrooms when
850
“[…] the main goal of focus groups is not to gather opinions, representations or perceptions about any
particular theme, but rather to understand the processes that lead to these opinions” (Duarte, Veloso, Marques
and Sebastimo, 2014, p.4)
717
vacant, to the small niches on the corridors, which is very relevant because it is a
speciÀcity that does not occur in the regular teaching classrooms – students do not
go to the classrooms to study in an informal or non-programmed manner, as they
do in the artistic teaching. Artistic teachers on the focus group have even conÀrmed
that students would gather themselves in groups and went to a vacant classroom to
exchange ideas, knowledge on instrument playing and to play together as a group.
Not only that but, it has also been assumed by the artistic teachers that students
also get together in these music classrooms for sharing ideas and discussing some
music works they have individually seen before online and wanted to show to their
colleagues on an online streaming, using the wi-À network of the school, and then
discussing its artistic value all together.
This proves again that socialisation is also a way for information transmission, in
this case, for the students to present to their colleagues what they have seen, but also
for debating, critical thinking and ultimately knowledge creation, very meaningful
for the artistic teaching. It indicates their will to learn from each other and to create
knowledge and artistic displays by themselves, and not only to have information
strictly passed on by their teachers. This is a very speciÀc feature of these students
in which creativity, motivation, willpower and critical thinking is most relevant for
their proÀle and for their curricular path on the conservatory.
The difference on activity allocation on this matter is particularly relevant and

subject of critical analysis. Since both regular and artistic classrooms are prepared
for both informal and formal teaching, the fact that their actual use differs and
that only on the artistic teaching do students use their classrooms for informal
study, may be accorded to the physical dimension of these rooms which are quite
smaller and enabler of a sense of belonging and comfort than a larger room may
not convey. But it can also be conditioned not just by spaces’ ability to cope with
those activities, or by management decisions, but by personal options on practising
there rather than elsewhere. So, social and individual preferences, namely under
the proÀle of the artistic students – rather spontaneous and expressive, is keen on
making the choices on activity allocation.
Ultimately, effective appropriation is a product of the physical features of space

and the building’s morphology, but also from the people’s proÀle, individual and
collective, who appropriate it, either by changing the space to provide for their
needs, or by using it in ways not initially conceived in the design. The fact that
regular students do not appropriate space as far as artistic students do, and that
artistic students may engage in artistic and informal displays in numerous common
spaces deployed of the best physical features for music performance, induces
the fact that their social proÀle makes them take those creative and spontaneous
decisions on space use, differently from their regular teaching colleagues.
So, it might be argued that adaptability is correlated with the community that uses the
718
space and their cultural and social context, who chooses on how to use the school
space and where to learn more informally and in non-programmed manners. But it
is also correlated with a sense of belonging in space and, if that occurs, students will
use all the spaces of the school as potential active learning environments, because
in all of them people may learn by observing, by practising, by discussing with their
peers and with their teachers. In a school such as this, where formal and informal,
individually and collective spaces are integrated and closely connected, and where
corridors and common spaces are used by all and act as conjoint spaces, this is an
environment prone to learning, in the most varied ways as it might be.
The comments from the artistic students’ focus groups in regard to adaptable spaces,
also demonstrate that each space has a high potential for coping with activities as it
has been previously conceived, because these students understand its potential from
even the most unlikely spaces, or even spaces lacking physical features that would
better account for music display. So, all in all, by appropriating space, some activities
may be done in spaces deprived of the best physical potential for it. This may lead
to an under-development of these activities, but that does not immediately avoid
it from being used. From this Ànding, the entropy approach that uses a feasibility
matrix for allocating spaces to activities potentially leaves out spaces that, in fact,
hold actual pedagogical, artistic and social activities. Singing in the stairs, as some
artistic students have mentioned doing in the informative discussion during this
focus group, is an example of an activity which is not expected to be done in this
space deprived of the best physical conditions for it.
That is why the input from the approach depicting effective spatial fruition
complements the previous ones, informing how the spaces are actually used from
all possible activity allocations from the former entropy approach. All in all, if
students start practising singing in the staircases, or playing music in the corridors,
these can be considered active learning environments, even informal and for non-
programmed events, but prone on pedagogical potential.
The fact that the main hall is identiÀed from these Àndings as an adaptable space,
correlates its high effective fruition to high integration, realised from the previous
morphological analysis by space syntax. Nonetheless, students from the articulated
teaching have also explained their preference for using the upper Áoors precisely
because of the lower densities these hold and their more speciÀc users related to
the conservatory. This might imply that spaces with higher mean depth and lower
integration, as they hold lower density of people in space, can be preferred to
proceed with social and informal activities, mainly accorded to the artistic practice,
precisely anchored in a sense of cosiness and social comfort. Even so, the fact that
the main corridors are favoured as staying places when compared to the niches,
particularly on the second Áoor, where the niches are located at the extremities
of the building and so, with higher mean depth and lower integration, makes
them frequent spaces to be in, even if they are not the most suitable places to be
719
in a collective manner. In this case, the high connectivity of the corridor to the
classrooms weighs more in choosing the space to be in.
On the interview conducted with the architect José Paulo dos Santos (2017),
when asked about a common living room and the diverse use of the main hall,
the architect conÀrms that “the school (faculty and students) uses these spaces in
a diverse manner”851 (Santos, 2017), and that the whole space comprising the main
hall and the transversal corridor towards the canteen, were used as a living space
and no speciÀc room was provided for that purpose:
“As far as I could tell, either the main hall on the ground Áoor or
the corridor leading to the canteen, which passes through a cafeteria
including the canteen (this one to be used outside mealtimes), this T
was used as living room.”852 (Santos, 2017)
This is also possible due to high connectivity of the main hall towards several
other spaces such as: the auditorium and the auditorium supportive spaces, the
administration hallway, the cafeteria and the canteen and the library. But the architect,
when asked about the main hall’s representativeness as a potential learning street
and the high density of its use, highlights its connectivity not only to the interior
spaces but also the exterior courtyards, which in fact coincides with the observations
undertaken that have remarked the high frequency of movement between the main
hall and the outside spaces853.
This enables the establishment of a parallel between the design and the effective
space use that can be depicted by observations, focus groups and walkthroughs.
Even if the canteen is not used outside of the lunch schedule as it was initially
perceived854, the area from the canteen transversally towards the main hall and the
main hall’s longitudinal development are used to cope with the need of a common
living space with both curricular and extra-curricular activities of diverse nature, as
the architect acknowledges.
851
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “A escola (docentes e
discentes) utilizam estes espaços de forma diversa.” (Santos, 2017)
852
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “Tanto quanto me dei
conta, quer o vestíbulo do piso zero, quer o corredor de acesso ao refeitório, que passa por um bar incluindo
o refeitório (este para ser utilizado fora das horas de serviço de refeições), esse T, era usado como sala de
convívio.” (Santos, 2017)
853
According to the architect regarding the main hall: “[…] is not only the vestibule that gives access to the
auditorium’s dressing rooms, to the auditorium, to the administrative area and the secretariat, to the canteen and
to the library, but it also gives access to the outer courtyards to the south. The courtyards to the south are like
interstices that there were always present in Quinta das Flores between the pavilions.”
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “nmo é só o vestíbulo que
dá acesso às zonas de vestiário do auditório, ao auditório, à zona da administraçmo e da secretaria, ao refeitório
e à biblioteca, mas dá também acesso para os pátios exteriores a sul. Os pátios a sul smo como interstícios que
sempre houve na Quinta das Flores entre os pavilhões.” (ibid.)
854
According to the architect: “The canteen should always be able to be used outside meal schedules.”
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “O refeitório deveria sempre
poder ser utilizado fora dos tempos de refeiçmo.” (ibid.)
720
Therefore, spatial fruition and morphology are correlated, as proven by the high-
density spaces which are also the most integrated ones, both for standing and
for moving towards a speciÀc direction. Even so, from the focus groups and
walkthroughs it has been perceived that this was particularly recurrent for the
regular teaching community rather than for the artistic users. Artistic students, in
particular, use the whole building: the spaces for the school, for the conservatory
and the shared spaces, and therefore are better acquainted with all the spaces
provided. In this manner they are able to choose from a wider variety, the ones they
feel more at ease to be in, according to the activities. They also convey a sense of
spontaneity and creativity that enables informal activities to happen everywhere,
even if individually done and not by larger groups. In this sense the spontaneous, and
sometimes unexpected activities, in informal spaces can be an urge of the moment
or even a repeated happening but do not represent a whole community. What does,
in fact, represent the whole community are the higher patterns perceived in the
observations. Nonetheless, the understanding of the speciÀcity of this community,
bounded by informality and creativity, bears signiÀcance for their choice in spaces
and so for activity allocation.
Therefore, if analytical assessments have proven their relevance from the initial
stages of this methodology and are correlated to the patterns for staying and moving
taken from the observations and also from the focus groups and walkthroughs;
these latter enable a Àne-grained acknowledgement of the spatial usage that might
explain some of the exceptions observed on the Àrst procedure or even complement
additional uses from spaces initially not understood for such purposes:
“[…] focus groups give voice to individuals, with the added value that
they take place within social contexts in which the social relationship
framework is focused by the researcher’s choices.” (Duarte, Veloso,
Marques and Sebastimo, 2014, p.6)
Even so, if informality bears great relevance for the current learning experience, for
the artistic students it bears even more, because the artistic practice implies it and
also because the artistic proÀle of the students also bestows that. So, this reÁects
upon the choice of spaces to be in and, overall, into activity allocation to spaces,
considering spaces that were previously disregarded from this analysis as active
learning environments for this particular community, in this particular building.
As remarked by these latest plans regarding effective use855, the conceived use by
the design differs from the effective use on some of the spaces, implying that the
building had to cope with upcoming requirements, but with these changes it is still
able to answer all the pedagogical and social needs.
The entropy approach that provided an analytical allocation of activities to spaces
855
721
has been widened to the allocation of those same activities to spaces deprived of the
best physical features, but that convey others, perhaps more socially and individually
related, considered to be more signiÀcant for some of the users. Therefore, the
spatial fruition approach did not narrow the allocation of activities to spaces from
all of the possible ones to the ones that effectively held those activities, as it might
have been expected, but it ultimately enlarged it because of the high informality of
this building’s ambiance and curriculum, which allocates learning activities to spaces
that were not initially considered potential active learning environments.
Having already established a correlation between space and people, and ultimately
students and learning spaces, at this point this is recalled: if the building conveys
how the learning process occurs, it is also the people within it that determine how
the learning process is perceived and where does it take place, mostly in informal
situations. This has been proven to be particularly relevant for artistic schools and
even more for those whose curriculum options convey multiple choices, uses and
activities. Thus, adaptability, as shown by individual accounts, but also by frequent
observations of informal uses of the space, is also a reÁection of the community
in space and their sense of appropriation, informality and creativity in associating
activities to learning environments.
. Retrieval of an artistic school’s adaptability B Final considerations
“This process would depend on the mechanism of description retrieval discussed

earlier, that is the ability of human being to retrieve an abstract description of
spatiotemporal events and use it as a template for further action.” (Hillier and Netto,
2001, p.13)
After proceeding with the overall methodology it is concluded that all procedures
bear relevant signiÀcance for assessing adaptability and their sequential application
provides data on different aspects that weigh on the adaptability potential,
comprising Schön’s (1993) “reÁection in action”.
From the analysis of the building’s technical drawings and particularly of the more
detailed ones, the choice of the materials can be generally described as plaster board
for technical acoustics performance, Áoating oak Áooring or epoxy on the Áoors,
concrete wall Ànishes or hard maple for the walls. The architect José Paulo dos
Santos (2017) explains these options in regard of the choice of the materials:
“Almost the whole school has epoxy applied to the pavements. In the
music area, the acoustics technician had suggested me to use solid
wood because he likes the sound with a certain quality. Here we use
the Áoating oak Áoor [...] in the instrument rooms. In the auditorium,
722
by contrast, it is ‘hard maple’ wood. The liner had to have a certain

acoustic characteristic and at that time, in Lisbon, the acoustics
technician Commins had suggested to me the ‘hard maple’ as one of
the most acoustically suitable woods ...
I’ve always liked hard maple. In Northern Europe it is used with
regularity, not being used so much here [...]. I found it opportune to line
the auditorium with hard maple, from the Áoor to the various plates /
acoustic linings of the skirting boards and ceilings.”856 (Santos, 2017)
Naturally, these spatial features are related to the end results on adaptability
because they enable activity allocation, which has been analytically supported by
the entropy approach, associating activities to spaces according to their physical
potential. Nevertheless, the effective use of space is also determined by individual
or collective preferences or routines that can overlap the potential of spaces with
similar physical features. This is why each of the focus groups has particular
movements and activities in speciÀc spaces, as demonstrated by the observations
and walkthroughs.
On a more critical analysis of the results, entropy calculations informed which

activities the spatial sample depicted from the Àrst milestone can allocate from
an extensive list regarding this case study’s curricular speciÀcities. It established
which spaces have a wider or lower allocation potential for either the regular and
the artistic teaching regimes, as well as external uses, curricular and extra-curricular,
programmed and non-programmed activities.
The results identify the spaces with the highest results as the ones that hold the
largest range of possible activities and furthermore, the most widespread allocational
potential amongst the different domains. The library is ranked at the top as a space
that can cater for most users and curricular and extra-curricular activities in the
school. It is followed by the music studio, which is a medium size space that can
allocate activities not only for the artistic teaching but also for the regular teaching.
The auditorium, the orchestra and the choir rooms are large size spaces that have
also the potential to gather smaller groups, and similarly to the music studio, that are
provided with soundprooÀng requirements for the conservatory classes but that can
also cope with the less spatially demanding regular classes. It is concluded that over-
provision increases the adaptability potential of the spaces, which can be compared
856
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “Quase toda a escola tem
aplicada monomassa nos pavimentos. Na ala da música, o acústico tinha-me sugerido usar a madeira maciça,
porque ele gosta do som com determinada qualidade. Aqui usamos o soalho Áutuante de carvalho (...) nas
salas de instrumento. No auditório, pelo contrário, é madeira de ‘hard maple’. O forro tinha de ter uma certa
característica acústica e na altura, em Lisboa, o acústico Commins tinha-me sugerido o ‘hard maple’ como uma
das madeiras mais adequadas acusticamente...
Eu sempre gostei do hard maple. No norte da Europa usa-se com regularidade, nmo se usando tanto aqui (...).
Achei oportuno forrar o auditório com hard maple, desde o soalho às diversas placas/forros acústicos dos
lambrins e tectos.” (Santos, 2017)
723
to its effective use. During the focus groups and walkthroughs contributors have
conÀrmed that large overly-dimensioned spaces were avoided for smaller events,
for cost-efÀciency purposes and also for a sense of cosiness and easiness of use. So,
in these cases, when the entropy results are overlapped to the effective fruition, the
over-provided spaces narrow down its effective use to the most adequate situations
in which their speciÀc requirements can cope with. For others, less demanding,
other spaces are often chosen as compared to these. This explains, for example,
the more frequent choice of the orchestra room as opposed to the auditorium for
performative events and/or external displays with smaller audiences.
Additionally, other spaces like the main hall and the common living spaces have also
been identiÀed with high entropy values. This is due to its openness in accommodating
very different activities, curricular and extra-curricular, programmed and non-
programmed. These spaces’ results can actually be correlated with effective spatial
fruition, that from all three procedures undertaken have pointed out these niches
adjacent to the main corridors as highly used for a variety of different activities and
by different people, and especially the main hall as the space that holds the widest
array of different events, formal and informal, individual activities and group
gatherings, curricular and programmed as well as extra-curricular spontaneous or
non-programmed activities. This is, in fact, the space that has been more clearly
pointed out from the effective spatial fruition procedures as the most adaptable and
that also holds a high entropy result.
From the space syntax analysis, the convex spaces with the highest integration
are the main hall and the main corridors, which coincide with the effective spatial
fruition from the observations, as the spaces used by all. When paralleled with
the entropy results for individual spaces, the corridors have average entropy from
the overall rank, because their activity allocation potential is narrowed down to
interaction and circulation. Nevertheless, when comparing the main hall’s results
from all three analyses, it is a space with high entropy that is very used by all the
community and that holds a very high syntactic integration.
There are also other spaces to be considered as integrated spaces such as the
library, which is the space with the highest entropy, and also the cafeteria and the
auditorium’s cafeteria that are also placed on the entropy’s rank on a high position.
From the information gathered from the effective spatial fruition, the library is a
space that, in fact, accommodates a very wide range of activities from curricular to
extra-curricular events, programmed and non-programmed activities, from group
gatherings to individual study for the artistic as well as for the regular teaching
curricula, and also from social interaction to small lectures. So, the correlation
between the three approaches is conÀrmed.
On the upper Áoors that overlapping has to be careful analysed because the
724
main corridors are also conÀrmed as being highly used and highly integrated, but
particularly for the second Áoor, there is a similarity on the integration of several
spaces with different allocational potential and hence, with different entropy. This
occurs on the Àrst Áoor for the students’ room, the music studio, the speciÀc music
training room, the study room, the teachers’ meeting room, the students’ shop, the
photocopy room, the parent council room, the psychologist’s ofÀce, spare spaces
and dressing room. The cohesive conÀguration of the second Áoor better describes
this situation, in which the music studio, spare spaces, the music instrument training
room, the singing studio, the song writing studio and the speciÀc music instrument
training room, all have similar integration levels. This is due to their adjacency and
the fact that the Áoor’s conÀguration is based on a highly integrated main corridor
that distributes the spaces for the two opposite sides.
Consequently, this conÀguration infers that the correlation between integration and
entropy is consistent for some of these spaces such as: the music studio that holds
the second highest entropy overall, also for the common living spaces that even hold
higher integration than these spaces, besides the spare spaces. Still, in some cases
the entropy is lower and the correlation is less meaningful. This can be explained by
the conÀguration of the Áoor plan that does add a signiÀcant centrality to the active
learning spaces as opposed to the supportive ones, and also by the fact that some
active learning spaces imply supportive spaces to be one topological step away.
Furthermore, the choice for placing the supportive spaces on the Àrst Áoor such
as the teachers’ meeting room, the students’ shop, the photocopy room, the parent
council room, the psychologist’s ofÀce, especially accessed from the main corridor,
also decreases this correlation because this Áoor allocates, in quite similar syntactic
circumstances, curricular and extra-curricular activities and especially active and
supportive learning environments, from artistic formal learning spaces to informal
rooms’ for the students.
This explains the higher correlation between syntactic integration and entropy for
the ground Áoor as identiÀed and reÁected upon earlier, even if some spaces on
the upper Áoors also describe this correlation. Furthermore and as already studied
in detail, there is even a higher correlation when the integration is analysed by axial
lines rather than by convex spaces because the Àrst may comprise spaces that were
former deep spaces placed on the building’s extremities, and when analysed by axial
lines they are intersected together with some of the most integrated ones.
The spaces that coincide with the highest values and that from the observations,
focus groups and walkthroughs have also been identiÀed as being highly used and,
ultimately more adaptable, then these are the ones that are considered more adaptable
overall, according to the proposed methodology. This is the case of the spaces
already mentioned such as the library, for its possibility of gathering very diverse
activities in a formal and informal environment and also its large dimension and
725
adjacent spaces that enable the simultaneity of different nature activities. Besides,
its high network connectivity and all the technological devices it holds as well as the
pedagogical materials like books and magazines make this space an aggregator of
users. The diverse placement of tables for individual and group gatherings, near the
bookshelves or closer to the computers, also provide users with different possible
uses. It is also a very accessible space from the outside, which enables parents with
a more easy access for studying with their children, as it has been perceived from
the observations, but during the week day it is also a space for both prolonged
and short stays, because students rapidly access the library for a doubt, for staying
on the sofas, for using the computer, for spending time in general after school, or
for a more speciÀc task. As far as environmental conditions are concerned, it is a
space that is comfortable, well lit and with adequate insulation, it is also exposed
to the exterior courtyards of the school as well as towards the exterior and so, with
generally high visibility towards other spaces which may enhance encounters and
interfaces with the peers.
The general cafeteria and the auditorium’s cafeteria are spaces that hold high
integration and entropy, but differ in regard to their physical features that provide
different spatial appropriation situations. The auditorium’s cafeteria is placed on
the main hall, as the inside space that welcomes all users and this makes it very
accessible to all the community, that is also welcome to use this space, as an interface
for teachers, students and parents. It is also a space where artistic students were
perceived to be practising in groups, but in more quite moments of the day such as
the time before the classes start in the morning. It is also a space considered by the
students for individual study and also for peer interaction, but socially that can also
lead to information transmission and learning amongst peers. Contrarily, the general
cafeteria is not a space where most students like to stay, because it is overly narrow
and too long, so its proportion resembles a corridor more than a space for standing.
This has been acknowledged by the observations that have concluded that most
students purchase the items and often proceed to the outside spaces or go indoors
towards the main hall, leaving the space for their peers also to purchase their items.
Students seldom use the cafeteria as a space for study or extra-curricular activities
connected to learning because of the overcrowding of the space on the breaks and
its narrowness that hinders group gatherings, and also because of its dimension that
could be considered small, particularly for the most important breaks, hindering a
more extended stay. So, even if accessibility is considered on this space, its dimension
and conÀguration impede a more adaptable effective use, as it has been perceived in
the observations and more speciÀcally described in the focus groups.
It has also been perceived that artistic teaching spaces have the potential to hold
other users and situations, like the regular teaching that is less spatially demanding.
This explains the high entropy of conservatory’s formal curricular spaces such
as the speciÀc music training room, the music instrument training room, the
726
singing studio, the song writing studio, but foremost the music studio that has an
average size and can accommodate smaller classes for the regular teaching besides
the individual and group classes and programmed or non-programmed study
practice of the conservatory’s students. It can also be used as a formal class for
external use lectures or occasional external displays for a smaller audience or an
additional single-time class. From the effective spatial fruition approach, it has been
perceived that these spaces are in fact used in extra-curricular situations and very
frequently for both programmed and non-programmed artistic practice, either in
groups or individually. This has been supported by the focus groups information.
Nevertheless, appropriation bears relevance for these spaces’ effective fruition and
the regular teaching students and teachers do not perceive these spaces as their
own or the possibility of their use. So, the artistic students use these spaces in very
diverse manners and often in very spontaneous activities, as well as all the upper
Áoors’ spaces, because they are mostly allocated to the conservatory, as they are
acknowledged by these students as spaces that enable their spontaneous uses and
informal appropriation. On the contrary, these are not used for formal nor informal
regular events and activities, and it is the main hall that is mostly perceived by the
regular students as a space for potential appropriation and study practice.
Similarly, the auditorium is a space that is very signiÀcant from a pedagogical

perspective for the school and for the conservatory, but also for external uses and
overall for the community and the city. It is a space that is in fact used in a very broad
way, for diverse activities and not just artistic ones, but that holds great relevance as
a music hall for international performances as well as a space for curricular displays.
This has been stated by all the focus groups and also noticed from the observations.
It is also an integrated space and with high entropy.
This is a space that is provided for speciÀc performances, public displays and events
with a large audience. Besides its acoustics and environmental comfort, it is also a
large space in regard to its dimension that enables an audience and a stage from
a conÀgurational perspective. Its hard maple coating is very speciÀc for acoustic
purposes and it is also a very accessible space for the school community and also
from the exterior, connected to the main hall and also with a speciÀc entrance on
performance days. This has also been noticed during the observations, when an
international piano contest was taking place in the auditorium and international
contenders were using it for practising and for performing, entering on the building
by its speciÀc entrance that is only opened in such situations.
From the focus groups and walkthroughs, contributors have stated the relevance of
the auditorium for large displays. But for cost constraints and foremost for a more
comfortable environment, either for the audience and also for the performer, the
orchestra room on the upper Áoor was more frequently used than the auditorium
if its intrinsic attributes allowed the allocation of the activities, according to the
size of the audience and the spatial requirements of the events. Students and
727
E
C
N
IE
R
PE
EX
ENTROPY
INTEGRATION
High Entropy High Convex Integration Observations: moving and standing
Fig. 296. Analysis of the correlations between

Integration, Entropy and Experience from the methodology
(Carolina Coelho)
teachers conÀrmed their preference in using the orchestra room, which they entitle
more commonly as “small auditorium”, to gather a class for a speciÀc lecture,
for welcoming an external guest, for smaller music displays and even for music
evaluations and performances according to the size of the participants and the
nature of the activity.
So, even if the entropy proves the auditorium to be highly adaptable, the effective
use also considers the orchestra room to be of particular relevance as an adaptable
space. In this case, the methodology has proven consistent in which the last
approach, regarding effective use, has led to more speciÀc and qualitative conclusion
in the quantitative higher adaptability of the auditorium when compared to the
orchestra room. So, in terms of adaptability, the two comprise high entropy and
axial integration which is most correlated to entropy, but in terms of affective usage
the last approach of the methodology has proven that the auditorium is in fact
very representative and often used, but its ability to allocate smaller groups is not
accomplished and instead these are accommodated, for cost and comfort reason, in
a smaller space, also provided with soundprooÀng requirements.
All in all, the Àndings on every approach coincide with the choice of the main hall
as the space with the highest diversity of activities and the main aggregator of
users, considering it to be the most adaptable space, due to its physical attributes
and to the high entropy results (Fig. 296).
It is a space with an adequate conÀguration for allocating activities and also as a

circulation, in which students have been perceived to be moving from the exterior
access to all spaces in the school but also longitudinally between indoor spaces.
But it is also large in width and length to enable standing on benches and also
around small tables for diverse activities, acting both as a high integrated convex
728
space and comprising some of the most integrated axial lines. Besides, from the
analysis of its attributes it is also a space that is very integrated in the system, whose
accessibly from the exterior is immediate and also highly connected to high entropy
spaces such as the library, the auditorium and the cafeteria, which are spaces of
common use, both formal and informal. It has network connectivity that enables
the extensive use of technological devices, as noted during the observations and it
also provides comfortable environmental conditions for standing there. So, all in all,
the choice of intrinsic attributes provides it with an extensive allocational potential
that is described in the feasibility matrix. Overall, its open conÀguration and also its
width enable students to use it effectively as a common living space from which the
school is deprived. Moreover, due to its accessibility it is also the space that is most
used for external curricular displays and extra-curricular as well. The same reason
justiÀes it as an interface and a meeting point for the students to engage in social
interaction. Besides, the fact that it acts as a main circulation increases its effective
use and thus, its potential as an interface and a space for knowledge transmission.
All these attributes are consistent with an extensive list of possible activities that
this space may accommodate, and therefore, its uncertainty in which activities
may be occurring there, determines its higher entropy in regard to other spaces,
where there is more certainty on the activities’ occupation and that, inherently, are
more speciÀc. Likewise, conclusions from the effective use’s approach have also
established overall the main hall to be the most adaptable to a wide assortment of
activities for all the school community.
After a review on the most adaptable spaces from the building, as the ones that hold
higher results when correlating integration, entropy and effective use, the focus will
be on the main corridors and also the common living spaces and some spare spaces,
for further development. Besides the main hall, the main corridors are also the most
integrated even if their convex entropy is low. Still, these have high axial entropy,
which is the measure with the highest correlation to integration. As previously
concluded, and not intending to replicate prior remarks, axial lines are paramount
for identifying and assessing adaptability because students move in pathways that
can be comprised not solely by the corridors but also by very adaptable spaces, when
both the pathways and standing spaces are gathered, either as a space that enable
both, such as the main hall, or in axial lines that intersect the two. In these cases,
the correlation between integration and entropy is higher, and so is the possibility
of allocating more activities and users, and hence, the higher adaptability. That
explains the high values of the main hall for all approaches and also its validation
as an adaptable space from an effective use perspective, and also the axial lines’
higher correlation when compared to individual spaces. This also concurs with the
concept of active learning environment as a whole, that enables learning through
an assortment of activities that are possible by separate spaces with that higher
potential but also when those spaces are connected. When that connection is more
729
disaggregated, enclosing active learning in a formal and informal manner, through

curricular and extra-curricular activities, programmed and non-programmed and
for all teaching regimes, for moving and for standing, then the entropy of that axial
line/environment overall is higher, and so is its adaptability in coping with activities
of different nature where learning is the common denominator.
This is the case of the main corridors on the upper Áoors that are very integrated
and, thus, that are central in the system. So, these are used for all as a pathway to
reach speciÀc spaces according to the users. Because these spaces are connected
to common living spaces, as niches open onto the corridors that enable informal
activities, non-programmed study, social interaction and also artistic practice, when
the corridors are analysed as a whole with their niches, then their adaptability rises
because together they represent a very integrated active learning environment that
holds a large potential for allocating a wide array of activities. This frequent and
diverse effective use coincides with the expected used from the design, because
when the architect José Paulo dos Santos (2017) was asked whether the school
brief could acknowledge the assets of active learning environments outside the
formal classrooms and the possibility of learning on the corridors, the architect has
conÀrmed it for its design of this school building, stating that:
“I think this is recurring since ever. Students have always met outside
the classroom, on the corridors, or in ‘niches’. [...] In these spaces /
rooms that come out of the corridors on Àrst and second Áoors of the
Conservatory hallway, the intention was for them to be used. Though
on the ground Áoor the space is a passageway / of distribution and also
of usufruct, of encounter.”857 (Santos, 2017)
This is quite relevant because it overlaps design and use, expected and effective
spatial fruition, and it also demonstrates that active learning environments were
assumed from the design as spaces that are possible to be considered externally
to the classrooms and, cyclically, that learning activities were supposed to be
undertaken on these spaces. Additionally, these spaces have a functional purpose, as
the architect considers these niches as “spaces of release and that allow natural light
and cross ventilation” 858 (ibid.), but they also complement with potentially standing
spaces, the longitudinal conÀguration of the main corridors for its single function
as a long moving pathway.
Moreover, because the conÀguration of these upper Áoors has a main corridor that
857
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “Eu acho que isso é
recorrente desde sempre. Desde sempre que os alunos se encontram fora da sala de aula, nos corredores, ou
em ‘nichos’. [...] Nestes espaços/salas que saem fora dos corredores nos pisos 1 e 2 da ala do Conservatório a
intençmo era que fossem usados. Conquanto no piso zero, o espaço é de passagem/distribuiçmo e também de
usufruto, de encontro.” (Santos, 2017).
858
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “Os nichos no corredor
smo espaços de desafogo e que permitem luz natural e ventilaçmo cruzada.” (ibid.)
730
connects to most spaces, then the more formal and programmed events are also
connected to this more informal and social environment. So, the consideration of
the environment as a whole, with the niches as common living spaces as well as the
formal music studios near-by, enhances the simultaneity of learning activities, and
broadens their nature and the array of users, ultimately increasing the adaptability of
the school.
Overall, the high integration of both formal and informal spaces for multiple activities
and their connectivity are essential to acknowledge the learning environments
of a school with activities of different nature that all contribute to the learning
process. This is particularly relevant in the artistic teaching because practising is
very demanding and frequent and so, students resort to a wide array of possible
spaces in the school building for studying, which can also be done individually or
in groups. Music instrument practice can be located in more formal spaces such
as formal music studios, which are very adaptable because they accommodate
practice, lecture and evaluation, individually and in small classes. But it can also be
undertaken in more spontaneous and non-programmed activities in the common
living spaces near the corridors, particularly when these are highly integrated and
hold a high visibility. If this is the case, students choose those spaces because they
are interfaces for encountering their peers, ultimately potentiating group study and
knowledge transmission or artistic improvisation and experimentation. But the fact
that these are highly integrated also increases their adaptability, because students
can practice near the classroom where their programmed classes occur, and so,
practice and lecture, formal and informal, programmed and non-programmed and
also individual and group activities can all be related, and spatially connected, as a
whole learning environment. Therefore, it is concluded that the environment that
gathers all activities is potentially more adaptable.
Besides, the more disaggregated the activities from an extensive list and the more
diverse they are – in users, time frequency and in nature - the more adaptable
the space that can allocate them. Even more so, if that space is considered as a
whole gathering of several individual spaces, all with different learning potential
and allocational purposes, because from the gathering of different nature spaces
the more adaptable the learning environments to a wider assortment of learning
activities. Their integration and connectivity overall enables that the spaces can
be considered as a whole, for high local connectivity between them and higher
global integration. From the effective fruition approach this has been identiÀed as
an argument that supports effective use, because students tend to use spaces with
higher integration, where encounters and interface are possible, and they also tend
to stay in spaces where interaction is possible and knowledge transmission can
occur in between formal activities and therefore, these spaces are preferred when
they are connected to formal classrooms and music studios.
Individually, the library and the main hall may act as active learning environments
731
per se, because of their large size, adequate conÀguration and proportion between
length and width that allow moving and standing, but they also enable formal and
informal activities, programmed and more spontaneous events, and because of
their integration are very accessible and central spaces in the system.
Space syntax is paramount to support the understanding of these results, because it

identiÀes the space’s morphology that can be associated with the users’ choices for
activity allocation and the patterns of co-presence and natural movement in space.
Actually, similarly to the surveys, the morpho-syntactic analysis has also identiÀed
the main hall, along with the main corridors as highly integrated, besides the library,
the auditorium and the cafeteria.
General integration is therefore a determining factor for the gathering of a broader

community, proven by the main hall as both a convex space but also by all the axial
lines it comprises. Besides, its intensive effective use also validates it to be a space
that caters for different activities with pedagogical potential and also a highly dense
pathway for vertically accessing other Áoor plans, and longitudinally other spaces of
the school, as well as transversally towards exterior spaces outside the central building.
Furthermore, the axial line results have proven to be more comprehensive for this
particular brief, for comprising a set of convex spaces as a whole active learning
environment. Hence, this process concludes that spaces with the ability to have both
moving and standing activities, considered highly integrated convex spaces but also
with high axial integration, are the most signiÀcant as active learning environments,
as spaces of informal knowledge transmission amongst peers. This is particularly
frequent in the corridors’ openings that hold small staying spaces, highly connected
with formal classrooms.
This leads to the conclusion that informal spaces bear higher pedagogical potential
when connected with more formal ones, whose mean depth is smaller, because
students lay in a more inclusive space, embedded with formal and informal,
programmed and non-programmed activities, pedagogically facilitating their
learning in several different situations and spaces, under the current learning
approach. Naturally that spaces with higher mean depth only aggregate a smaller
fringe of students that move there for more speciÀc purposes, and are hence less
aggregators of a more general student community.
Additionally, for this case study, appropriation enhances these conclusions, because
the main hall is considered the most adequate space for holding extra-curricular
activities such as external displays and also programmed and non-programmed
events to showcase all the students’ work in their many forms and from the diverse
curricular options. The library, on the other side, also enhances informal activities
and also social interaction more than a formal library comprises, which is understood
by the conservatory’s management, which also increases its adaptability in regard to
732
informal and non-programmed activities. On the lack of a common living room,

both spaces play a relevant role either for formal activities and informal and social
interaction, but all with learning potential, as diverse as it can be.
Naturally, that if the two are considered together, because of their high integration
and connectivity, then it can be concluded that the ground Áoor is an active learning
environment of high adaptability potential and that has been actually effectively
proven by its effective spatial fruition and ultimately the appropriation of space by
the school community that considers it their own and changes it for different events
and situations. When this happens the school environments can be paralleled to the
social construction of society recalling Bernstein’s studies (1971, 1973, 1975, 1990).
Finally, this case study is considered to have adaptable spaces and foremost adaptable
environments, which lead to its consideration overall as being adaptable to the
very assorted activities that its extensive curricular options imply. For this school it
implies the ability to change and to continue to cope with the changing requirements,
which has been conÀrmed by the architect as being an initial account, in the recent
interview conducted: “Teaching today is very rigid and normative, and in the future
it may be less normative.”859 (Santos, 20017). Besides, the detailed conclusions
achieved by the sequential procedures to assess adaptability coincide with the formal
documents on the school regarding the main hall860 and the library861 as favourable
spaces for effectively accommodating a variety of events from both teaching regimes
that the rehabilitation of the school pedagogically implied, also agreeing with the
architects’ intentions and the original brief862. This associates design process and
space use, possible activity allocation and effective spatial fruition, all as moments of
the building’s lifecycle for acknowledging and providing for adaptability.
859
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese from the architect’s interview: “O ensino hoje é rígido e
normativo podendo ser que num futuro venha a ser menos normativo.” (Santos, 2017)
860
“There is a great dynamism in organising scientiÀc, sporting and cultural events, followed by exhibitions,
musical demonstrations, dissemination of activities from the different courses and from the Student
Association, among other initiatives, within the School hall.” (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-
Geral da Educaçmo, 2011, p.8)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “Existe um grande dinamismo na organizaçmo de eventos
de natureza cientíÀca, desportiva e cultural, sucedendo-se exposições, demonstrações musicais, divulgaçmo das
actividades dos diferentes cursos e da Associaçmo de Estudantes, entre outras iniciativas, no átrio da Escola.”
(Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da Inspecçmo-Geral da Educaçmo, 2011, p.8).
861
“The library is a large space, endowed with important material resources, and with a diversiÀed interventions’
project. The activities that it promotes, support curriculum development in the Àeld of information literacy and
in an extra-curricular scope, make it sought and valued by students and teachers.” (ibid, p.9)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A biblioteca constitui um espaço amplo, dotado de
importantes recursos materiais, e com um projecto de intervençmo diversiÀcado. As actividades que promove,
de apoio ao desenvolvimento curricular, no campo da literacia da informaçmo e de âmbito extra-curricular,
fazem com que seja procurada e valorizada por alunos e professores.” (Delegaçmo Regional do Centro da
862
Full quote in English: “The brief proposed by Parque Escolar aims at providing Quinta das Flores Secondary
School with functioning and comfort conditions compatible with the present and future times, as well as the
integration of the music teaching within its campus.” (Santos, 2008)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “O projecto proposto pela Parque Escolar visa dotar a
Escola Secundária da Quinta das Flores de condições de funcionamento e conforto compatíveis com os tempos
presentes e futuros, bem como a integraçmo no seu campus do ensino da música.” (Santos, 2008)
733
5. CONCLUSION
Revision of the concept of adaptability for contemporary school buildings
5.1. Revision of the concept of adaptability for contemporary school

buildings
“It is necessary to be constantly aware of what needs to be done before we can guide
the changing pattern of training, and the task of research is increasingly to expand
the scope of our understanding. […]
What I am suggesting is that education should be directed towards a more concrete
end. That end should not be an abstraction, such as the ideal conception of the
architect, but the general problem of seeing the overlapping needs of living as a
whole and opening up, whenever we can, new possibilities and choices for the future.
That is an objective in which all architects should feel themselves vitally involved.”
(Martin, 1968, p.361)
This conclusion aims to recall the research question placed at the beginning of this
Thesis and to reÁect upon the study undertaken, in order to critically review the concept
of adaptability and the possibility of its assessment under the proposed methodology.
This research proposes a methodology to identify and assess adaptability,

particularly applied to artistic learning environments as the case study, for which it
is particularly relevant. Krüger deÀned adaptability as: “the ability of the built form
to maintain compatibility between activities and spaces, as those vary” (Krüger,
1981a, p.1169). Overall, this deÀnition of adaptability is conÀrmed to be current
and the concept of adaptability has been considered to better report this condition
on contemporary artistic schools, by the increasing diversity of activities and spaces,
technical requirements, variety and sizing, conforming with the need for spatial
adaptability in regard to activity allocation.
Recognising that adaptability’s literature recalls several authors, as it was noted on

chapter 2.1.863, and that it also carries adjacent concepts whose approach may differ
or Áuctuate between each one, this research considers Krüger’s (1981a) deÀnition as a
current and adequate one in regard to the school brief and the contemporary context.
In fact, the Secondary School Modernisation Programme undertaken on Portuguese

contemporary schools had the ability to rehabilitate the existing physical built spaces
and provide them with an adaptive reuse process for coping with the learning
863
737
Conclusion
practices as they are perceived today. The case study of Quinta das Flores School,
presented and justiÀed in chapter 1.5.864, has been physically and pedagogically
rethought under the scope of this process, by the rehabilitation of the existing
pavilions, as well as by the construction of a new building. This has been the case
study in which the proposed methodology has been Àrstly applied, because it holds
the common spaces shared by all the school community, it also accommodates
formal and informal spaces for curricular and extra-curricular activities, either
programmed or non-programmed, all bearing with pedagogical potential.
The choice of this case study is, hence, justiÀed by its adaptive reuse process that
recognises it as a contemporary school building with a pedagogically enriched
curriculum that is also a reÁection of a contemporary paradigm implying spatial
requirements, which the rehabilitated school had to comply with under this
modernisation process865.
Therefore, adaptability is recognised as a very signiÀcant spatial feature, not only

for contemporary school buildings, but particularly for this school that involves a
wide array of possible subjects and curricular options, but also of extra-curricular
activities. These comprise not only an extensive set of different student’ proÀles
but also of ways in which to proceed with the curricular and formal classes and
lectures and also with the study practices, external displays and non-programmed
events this school has been noted to hold, as active learning activities that can be
accommodated in several different spaces of this building.
Additionally, not only is the learning paradigm not foreseeable in the future, with
such a variety of subjects and curricular proÀles, but also how can it be undertaken
and in which spaces. Thus, the need for considering adaptability is paramount to
provide this school with the ability to still continue to cope with the upcoming
social, pedagogical and physical needs, as unforeseeable as change can be. Therefore,
adaptability as it has been understood, is considered as the suitable concept and its
deÀnition is acknowledged as contemporary and adequate, considering the high
cultural, economic, environmentally sustainable, urban and pedagogical needs of
the recently rehabilitated school building to still be compatible with future learning
activities, in the ways these could be undertaken and recognising these may change
in a not foreseeable manner, without future physical changes of large magnitude.
This ultimately also resorts to another deÀnition of adaptability from the 1970s by
OECD (1976) that coincides with the Àrst and that can be understood under its
application onto this case study:
“ […] the quality of a building which facilitates adaptation; adaptation

may require relocation, replacement, removal or addition in respect of
either the constructional elements, services or the Ànishes of the building
- essentially large magnitude/low frequency change.” (OECD, 1976, p.10)

864
865
For the relation between the school building and the learning process see chapter 2.3. Adaptability for
contemporary learning practices and environments.
738
Assessment and validation of the methodology
5.2. Assessment and validation of the methodology

After a critical revision on the concept of adaptability in regard to the school brief
and its representativeness towards the case study, the methodology to assess it can
be validated.
As established from the beginning of this Thesis866, it aims to identify and assess
adaptability in school buildings and not to evaluate Quinta das Flores School per se.
The aim of the application of the methodology has been to test it and to validate
it when applying it to a school building, assessing the results provided between
each approach and the potential correlations amongst them all. Therefore, after
the application of the methodology to the case study in the former chapter867, the
conclusion of this Thesis will lie on the methodological approach between the
early intentions and the end results. So, the conclusion will address the validation
of the proposed methodology and its approaches on how to assess adaptability,
particularly when applied to contemporary school buildings.
As seen on chapter 3.2868, the state of the art on assessing adaptability particularly
leads back to the 1970s. Then, models took a relevant role for adaptability, providing
straightforward results for abstractly portraying a reality by the relationship of
its variables. Echenique (1972) bears particular relevance for the state of the art
on models in architecture, by “[trying] to establish some deÀnitions to facilitate
the building of a framework or model that will make the observation-description
process useful and partial studies possible.” (Echenique, 1972, p.164).
Considering models as a man-made construction they could be regarded as an

“artiÀce” from Simon’s (1996869) The sciences of the artiÀcial. ArtiÀcial systems resort
to techniques to reduce error and uncertainty in decision-making and to simplify the
complexities of the external environment and the internal structure of the system.
These are capable of simulation, namely through the simpliÀcation or abstraction
of components and functions, or the simulation of the external environment in
which they will enter and establish the interface, using models.
In the case of architecture, techniques for simpliÀcation are also ways to represent
the existing and the solution, but especially they act as tools for thought and design.
The architect must therefore know the internal structure of the building, but also
the constraints and parameters of the external environment and the constraints and
requirements of the brief.
The split into components in the architectural design process is also a way of
inferring information from speciÀc studies under a particular scale, that will have
a more signiÀcant value as part of a whole, which is the building. Nevertheless,
866
867
868
869
739
Conclusion
changes of scale raise questions on the design process and the sequential reference
to all ideas that make it a coherent whole.
Fawcett’s (1978) Doctoral Thesis, supervised by Lionel March, is a very signiÀcant

contribution on literature’s state of the art for a methodological approach for
modelling adaptability, that responds to a “mathematical elaboration” (Fawcett,
1978, p.i.) on the probability of allocating activities to spaces and, ultimately, relating
adaptability to a “quantiÀed measurement” (p.54).
The approach to analytical frameworks represents a very relevant line of thought

for architectural research mostly present in the 1970s. The forthright identiÀcation
of the variables and the accuracy of the conclusions were goals when modelling
the problems, which intended to surpass what was still considered previous
“empirical” approaches on research questions. Therefore, assuming the speciÀcity
of this topic, it is signiÀcant to mention the previous studies undertaken on this
matter, that were particular predominant in the 1970s, but also to review them on
their potential contemporaneity or the way in which they could be transposable to
the second decade of the 21st century. Even though these models were intended
to act as a “working tool” (Fawcett, 1978, p.220), it is also relevant to conclude
on the results sought at the time, and their signiÀcance and outcomes for today’s
learning spaces and learning process or, ultimately, for the architectural design as
it is now perceived.
For our current Thesis, the context plays an important part in addressing and
deÀning the patterns of activities and spaces. And if in the 1970s Fawcett reaches
a “general theory of adaptability” (Fawcett, 1978, p.54) that is studied throughout
his Doctoral Thesis in school buildings, because of the interchangeability of the
spaces and activities in the timetable, today this research when applied to schools
gains an even higher complexity and pedagogical relevance, as it has been justiÀed
earlier870. Although the British Ministry of Education had already recognised in
1957 the growing range of subjects and the consequent need for adaptable spaces
in post-war schools (Ministry of Education, 1957, p.15), today the wide educational
provision and the diverse curricular options for the students, introduce a deeper
need for accommodating a wider array of activity states in the same physical and
static spaces. Besides, not only have the subjects multiplied, but also the teaching
procedures have been widened in the form of informal moments of knowledge
creation and acquisition, in an also widened range of learning spaces in the schools.
So, the pairing of activities and spaces has increased in terms of more spaces and
spaces with different spatial features, and also more activities and a higher spatial
demand from those activities.
Besides, the changing rate on activities, spaces, but also on the pedagogical curricula,
boosts the changes in spatial requirements from people for whom the building has
to answer through time.
870
See chapter 1.5. The case study, and 2.3. Adaptability for contemporary learning practices and environments.
740
Information technology plays a relevant role in this change, because it inÁuences the
decentralisation of the learning process from the teacher and from the classroom,
the alteration on the supports and methods of knowledge attainment, and also the
spatial requirements for sheltering pedagogical activities.
So, besides introducing complexity in potential models of adaptability, the contextual

variables regarding each case study on the schools’ curricula, spatial features and
community, will also constrain the approaches to this question. In fact, the scope
of activities and spaces will have to be considered accordingly, recognising that
each school has its own framework. Moreover, the dichotomy between formal
and informal activities and spaces also introduces a determining factor which the
methodology to assess adaptability today will have to enclose.
Furthermore, not only does the learning process take place outside the formal
classroom, but it also can be accomplished outside the Àxed spaces. “Learning
in lines” and in “learning streets”, most acclaimed by Hertzberger, has become a
general assumption and a possibility of pedagogical potential.
Foremost, the wide possibilities of learning enhanced by a wider educational

provision and learning moments, in which movement and informality are enclosed,
carry subjectivity for the learning process, but generally for spatial fruition. Thus,
individual speciÀcities, besides general patterns of grouping populations will have
to be accounted for.
This will identify adaptability not just as an abstract measure, but rather a closer
one to the context, that potentiates encounters, movements and a broader spatial
fruition, subject to quantitative and qualitative interpretation.
Lionel March (1998), in the Environment and Planning B Anniversary Issue, reviews the
contributors and the contents of the previously published papers, whose inputs to
knowledge advancement have been extensive in distinct areas of research. Inherently,
Krüger871 (1979a, 1979b, 1980, 1981b, 1981c) and his summarised remarks from
his Doctoral Thesis at Cambridge, Fawcett872 (1977, 1979a, 1979b) and his papers
on activity schedules, Hillier’s widespread works on space syntax (Hillier, Leaman,
Stansall and Bedford, 1976) and Benedikt’s (1979) studies on isovists, are mentioned
for their work, along with different research subjects and approaches such as those of
Stiny and Gips, Steadman, Cooke, Knight, among many others. March even admits
his “bias” towards some to Ànally underline the relevance of all valid contributions:
“From a scholarly viewpoint that imbalance is to be regretted. There

is too little serious work being undertaken in architectural and design
scholarship to be partisan.” (March, 1998, p.12)
871
“Mário Krüger brought together space syntax ideas and entropy maximizing in his study of built form and
the urban system.” (March, 1998, p.14)
872
“The same issue contained a paper by William Fawcett on activity systems in schools, in which lattice theory
was used to represent the problem. Fawcett also teaches at Cambridge and is a founder member of Cambridge
Architectural Research, a consultancy which provides technical and computing support to some of the leading
UK architectural Àrms.” (March, 1998, p.12)
741
Conclusion
This assists to demonstrate that knowledge may advance before diverse inputs and
study Àelds and, ultimately, that different research cultures may be reconcilable
towards a common purpose which ultimately lies within architectural research.
On the paper The man-environment paradigm and its paradoxes Hillier and Leaman (1973)
identify different theories and perspectives on the relation between “organism”
and “environment”, assuming their divergences. Yet, addressing that “the man-
environment paradigm” cannot be understood in separate parts or “piecemeal”
perspectives and implies the recognition of the whole, because organisms and
environments are not “mutually exclusive” 873:
“There is no reason why the assumptions of man-environment

mechanism should necessarily be taken over piecemeal as the
conceptual apparatus of the subject, although this appears to be what
has happened.” (Hillier and Leaman, 1973, p.509)
For this current research on adaptability this is very representative and a clear
support to the Thesis that has been constructed along all the previous chapters.
Acknowledging adaptability involves introducing it in the brief, providing for it
in the design and its fulÀlment along the building’s lifecycle. According to the
methodology here proposed, it comprises the description of the built space, the
description of its allocational potential and the description of effective spatial fruition.
These are thus, different approaches that encompass different methodologies and
procedures, whose gathering is intended to inform, in a comprehensive manner, the
adaptability of that building and to demonstrate that adaptability is a feature that is
impacted by different approaches from the design, to the activities bounded by the
pedagogical curriculum of the school, by its management and by the community
that appropriates space. All of these involve diverse methods to assess them but,
when acknowledged in an overall methodology, the Ànal results are potentially
more informed and supported, depicting “the ability of the built form to maintain
compatibility between activities and spaces, as those vary” (Krüger, 1981a, p.1169),
in an extensive description of the building’s physical ability, the list of activities and
the possibility of change.
The gathering of different approaches to a common subject matter and to approach

the same problematics is considered to be very signiÀcant and a relevant conclusion
of this Thesis, which considers adaptability to be a common denominator for both
analytical models and surveys on spatial fruition.
Recalling again March (1998, p.16), he states that analytical models can inform on
the distribution of all possible patterns of movement and that those may differ from
observations. He exempliÀes this with the choice of route to go from a departure
to a destination point, and explains that “an a priori distribution of trips” holds all
possibilities that may be wider than the observed ones.
873
“The fault is in the underlying paradigmatic notion of a division into a mutually exclusive world of subjects
and objects, organisms an environments.” (Hillier and Leaman, 1973, p.508)
742
Therefore, on the Ànal conclusion of this Thesis, it is established that if the two
approaches provide different outputs, namely of distinctive nature, such as Àgures
and qualitative information, then its critical analysis and comparison is relevant to
conclude on informed and comprehensive results that are supported by both. In
the case of March’s example, from all possible routes, an analysis on behaviour
may inform on which routes are more frequent, and conclusions for space can be
established regarding the overlapping of the partial results. This is what is intended
with the space syntax, the entropy and the following effective spatial fruition analysis
on the Ànal systematisation of the results.
The proposed methodology has been supported by the identiÀcation of space

use assessment methodologies and the speciÀcity of adaptability assessment
methodologies on the prior chapters874 and reÁected upon their contemporaneity
and relevance for adaptability and for the speciÀcity of this case study. Then, chapter
3.3.875 explains in detail the construction of the proposed methodology in order to
apply it in chapter 4.876 to the case study. As the critical results of this application
will be dealt in the following part of the conclusion, at this point the proposed
methodology from chapter 3.3. will be crucially reviewed and validated.
By and large, recognising that the adaptability of a school building regards the
community’s uses on a more regular and collective basis and also on individual
dynamics and appropriation, the methodology to assess has to acknowledge both. So,
the concepts of nomothetic and idiographic used by Windelband in his Rectorial Address
(1894) are here interpreted for identifying both the invariables of space use and the
unique and context-deÀned events, which are considered to have been operative for
the deÀnition of the sequential approaches and to each one’s individual assessment.
So, this methodology comprehends the nomologic approach to all uses that the spatial
sample may enable under the scope of all possible activities that can occur in each
space, to the effective spatial fruition that was expected to be closer to reality and to
better depict the actual activities the space accommodates, on a idiographic approach
to the assessment of adaptability.
In general, the proposed methodology embraces four milestones in a sequential

application of the procedures each one involves, as such:
I. Description of the school space and how it supports activity allocation
II. Description of all possible activity allocations to educational environments
III. Description of effective events and experience in the school
IV. Description of the potential correlations and retrieval of the school’s adaptability
874
See chapters 3.1. Space use assessment methodologies, and 3.2. Adaptability assessment methodologies:
reviewing previous approaches.
875
See chapter 3.3. The methodology for identifying and assessing adaptability in learning environments.
876
743
Conclusion
The Àrst milestone intends to describe the school space so that conclusions can
be achieved on its functional and morphological description. For that purpose it
describes the spaces according to their primary function and expected use as social
and informal, formal and curricular and with the potential to be both. Then, it
also describes the activities, as programmed and non-programmed and concerning
circulation. Both analyses regard informal and spontaneous activities to bear
learning potential and active learning environments potentially outside the formal
classrooms. The attributes that have been provided in the design are also described
focusing on: dimension, conÀguration, coating, networks, environmental conditions
and accessibility, because they will weigh on the allocational potential assessed on
the succeeding milestone. These partial results will impact the following approach
on all possible activity allocations of that space prior described, to the activities
listed in a feasibility matrix.
Next, under the same approach on the description of the school space, a space
syntax analysis is undertaken, for convex spaces, axial lines and visibility, and for
global and local measures, in order to provide results on its morphology, which can
impact the patterns of movement and standing and also encounters and, ultimately,
enhance or hinder space’s use, either potential and effective.
The second milestone aims to describe all possible activities that can be allocated to
space and resorts to the concept of entropy as a Ànal result for this approach that
can be paralleled to adaptability, as Fawcett establishes:
“The pursuit of adaptability can be seen as maximising the looseness
of the Àt of the known activity schedule into the Àrst-build physical
schedule […] Thus the concept of entropy seems likely to be a very
helpful tool.” (Fawcett, 1976b, p.7)
This procedure comprises a series of stages that can be separately assessed but
that Ànally reach the entropy calculations for all spaces considered. This involves
a spatial analysis and a list of spaces and their main attributes conveyed from the
initial milestone, but whose information is signiÀcant for the following stage. Then,
an extensive activities sample is listed acknowledging the activities that can occur
on those spaces. These activities are associated to spaces according to their capacity
constraints, presenting a feasibility matrix that establishes the activity allocation
potential of each space.
This also relates to Krüger’s studies on maximising adaptability that accounts it to
a combinatorial process of associating the activities and spaces with the highest
number of possible matches on the feasibility matrix (Krüger, 1981a, pp.1171-1172).
These results can be interpreted per se, but further calculations lead to the entropy of
each space, which encompass the construction of an allocation and a distribution
matrix according to the degree of aggregation intended. Finally, the entropy
formulation can be applied from the last matrix, in order to reach the Ànal results
on the spaces’ entropy, which can be horizontally compared amongst each other
and also vertically compared to other Àgures and data from previous or succeeding
approaches of this methodology.
744
So, this approach ultimately relates adaptability to a “numerical value” (Fawcett, 1978,
p.55) that could be subject of future correlation to other Àgures from prior milestones,
but also of spatial qualitative interpretation from a precise and forthright outcome. This
Àgure reports to the “absence of information or the degree of uncertainty”877 (Krüger,
1984, p.1700) of an activity allocation to a space from the previous combinatorial
process, which Fawcett entitles of “loose-Àt” (Fawcett, 1978, p.27):
“An adaptable design is one which allows the activities to take up a variety
of states and which is minimally speciÀc to a particular activity state.
In this context the term activity state refers to a state of allocation, and
the variety, or number, of ways of allocating the activities to spaces of
a building can be considered as a measure of its loose-Àt adaptability.”
(Fawcett, 1978, p.166)
This assumption, which is also taken to this current proposed methodology,
approaches entropy to adaptability, as the uncertainty in the activity allocation
to a space. Based on Krüger’s and Fawcett’s previously examined studies, these
are considered to still be adequate for the consideration of adaptability in a
contemporary context and also for applying it to the school brief.
As the previous space syntax analysis considers axial lines and convex spaces, so do
the entropy calculations. Thus, after its calculation to individual spaces, the “axial
line entropy” and the “average axial line entropy” have been originally studied, as an
unprecedented form of approaching entropy to space syntax, which is particularly
relevant in school buildings that, surpassing the concept of formal spaces or spaces
circumscribed by their physical boundaries, consider learning environments where
knowledge acquisition occurs. So, the introduction of these concepts and their
respective formulae enable to calculate the entropy of each axial line previously
identiÀed and assessed by the space syntax analysis and to reach conclusions on the
higher and lower values in regard to the individual spaces’ entropy.
All approaches can be examined from a more general scale on the activities and
spaces, to a more speciÀc association of both. In fact, space syntax, the entropy
analysis and the effective spatial fruition surveys range from a broader and more
general analysis to a more detailed one that, in each procedure, aims at providing a
more in-depth report on the adaptability of that particular case study.
877
This embraces a more wide-ranging combinatorial process using macro and microstates that has been
simpliÀed for the purposes of the current Doctoral research in architecture that is already considered to hold
mathematical procedures qualitatively interpreted, under the scope of architecture, for reaching signiÀcant
results on this subject.
The full quote is here provided in English: “The determination of the most probable macrostate described in
terms of the number of microstates associated to it is expressed, in statistical mechanics, by entropy, the absence
of information or the degree of uncertainty. Thus, the most likely macrostate is the one with maximum entropy.
Hence we can say that maximising the entropy of a system to estimate the most probable macrostate is the same as
estimating it as a function of the maximisation of the number of microstates it contains.” (Krüger, 1984, p.1700)
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A determinaçmo do mais provável macrostado descrito em
termos do número de microestados que lhe estmo associados é expresso, em mecânica estatística, por entropia,
ausrncia de informaçmo ou grau de incerteza. Deste modo, o mais provável macrostado é o que apresenta
entropia máxima. Daí podermos dizer que maximizar a entropia de um sistema para estimar o macrostado
mais provável é idrntico a estimar este em funçmo da maximizaçmo do número de microestados que o mesmo
contém.” (Krüger, 1984, p.1700)
745
Conclusion

. Activities
. Attributes
I.II SPACE SYNTAX

. Axial lines
. Isovists


III.II WALKTHROUGHS
Fig. 297. Synthesis of the methodology

(Carolina Coelho)
746
The entropy approach involves the construction of a feasibility matrix that has
several domains in a tree-shaped scheme (Figs. 134 and 199), which introduces more
detail in each one from the former. As this feasibility matrix associates the list of
existing spaces from the sample to the possible activities that each one can shelter,
the more exhaustive the list of possible activities, the more speciÀc the analysis on the
space and the depiction of its possible activity allocation. Furthermore, maximising
the entropy of each space involves a further calculation using domains. It has also
been determined that the choice for the scale of the distribution also impacts the
results, because the more disaggregated the distribution, the more extensive the
calculations, but also the closer these report to the actual feasibility of each space on
that particular context.
Thirdly, from all possible activities that can be accommodated on that space informed
by the functional and conÀgurational analysis of the Àrst milestone and associated to
the feasibility matrix from the second milestone, the succeeding milestone describes
what are actually the effective activities that occur in each space and overall in that
school building. This approach also comprises a wider description of the results to
a more speciÀc understanding of the actual experience in the school. This entails
this proposed methodology to range from the qualitative recognition of the uses
and the most noticeable patterns of movement and encounters in space, to a more
Àne-grained analysis on single fruition and the variability these can have. If both are
assessed, then the description of effective space use is more profound and closer to
the actual context, critically reviewing the quantitative results previously obtained.
This milestone introduces three procedures that inform on general uses to more
group-speciÀc or individual fruition. Observation matrices on several spaces
of the building describe general patterns of natural movement and the most
frequent activities and associate them to spaces and time schedules, for the more
representative time periods and during a meaningful number of days. Walkthroughs
and focus groups describe more detailed and speciÀc information on space use and
provide feedback on adaptability according to the users within the groups, that are
considered to be more signiÀcant to the school.
Lastly, a critical interpretation on the prior results is undertaken and correlations are
made in this last milestone in order to compare partial results, to infer data on the
overlapping of the higher and lower results and their association with the spaces,
and to acknowledge correlations between the methodological approaches (Fig.297).
For this purpose, comparing both axial lines and convex spaces’ results of both space
syntax analysis and entropy calculations enables a straightforward identiÀcation of
the higher and lower correlations and suggests a critical reÁection upon the Ànal
results regarding spaces’ conÀguration878 and physical provision for activity allocation.
878
According to Hillier and Penn (1991) conÀguration is deÀned as such: “ConÀguration is deÀned as being
more than mere relations, since a complete account of relations can be given in terms of a series of dyadic
relations between pairs of spaces. ConÀguration, however, is deÀned as, at least, the relations between two
spaces taking into account a third and, at most, the relation between all spaces in a complex taking into account
all others. In other words, conÀgurational analysis must take account of many relations at once and express
747
Conclusion
Furthermore, if the latter provides quantitative information that can be followed by

a critical qualitative assessment, the surveys for effective spatial fruition can also be
paralleled to general behaviour, to prior information on the school conÀguration, or
on the activity allocation, in order to achieve more general and comprehensive results.
This sequential process introduces Hillier and Hanson’s (1984) “description retrieval”
mechanism into two slip component: the description of the space and the activities
in more abstract procedures, and the retrieval of the adaptability that their relation
provides when applied to the case study as a “complex reality”. This represents
a subsequent process informed by the Àrst but that can cyclically embody more
abstract information to future developments (Hillier and Hanson, 1984, p.204)879.
After reviewing the concept of adaptability and applying the methodology for
which it has been proposed, then conclusions can be taken from the adaptability
assessment and what does it comprise:
The acknowledgement of adaptability ranges from design to use,

throughout all the building’s lifecycle. It involves an expected use from the
architect and the actual spatial fruition from the built space, because it has to be
considered from the design when providing the intrinsic attributes of the space
to accommodate the future expected activities, under the expectation of a more
extensive and lasting space use.
Besides, adaptability’s actual assessment also ranges from the design to

its use. The Àrst intends to describe those attributes and evaluate their capacity
constraints towards activity allocation and the latter to evaluate whether they
impact these initial design choices or whether they enhance the spaces’ adaptability.
According to the deÀnition of adaptability considered, it relates activities

to spaces, in regard to which activities can be allocated in each space, either in
the present or in the future when change alters the expected or actual spatial
use, and which ones effectively can or cannot.
The assessment of adaptability engages abstract models of the reality

that describe a relation between variables, in this case all possible activities
and all spaces comprised in the sample. The more detailed the model, the closer
this relation will be described and the more speciÀc the results on the case
study’s assessment.
them in numbers. It is conÀguration that space syntax analysis seeks to express in numerical and model form.”
(Hillier and Penn, 1991, p.30).
879
“Description retrieval is a process by which abstract laws are derived from real space-time events and are
subsequently embedded into further actions.” (Psarra, 2003 p.2)
748
Adaptability is approached to entropy in the sense that its acknowledgement

provides an outlook on the uncertainty of an activity allocation to a space:
the higher the entropy, the higher the uncertainty, and ultimately, the higher
the adaptability of that space. Because if a space has a wide range of possible
activities to allocate, then the assumption on what activity is taking place is
lower and, therefore, the more adaptable it is to multiple and diverse activities.
Adaptability also relates to effective spatial fruition because from all possible
activities that each individual space can accommodate, their actual allocation
can be either narrowed down or enlarged by users when appropriating space,
both collectively or individually. This implies that adaptability is socially and
culturally constrained according to the fruition that each community endorses
to the space and can differ between communities and individuals for similar
physical attributes and allocational potential.
Providing for adaptability is providing for change and the ability to

accommodate that change, which is still unforeseeable. From the deÀnition of
adaptability, a highly adaptable space can cope with changing requirements and
activities, which may differ from the expected use perceived in the brief and
accounted for by the design.
Adaptability assessment ranges from broader approaches to more speciÀc

ones and within each approach it can also be addressed from a more collective
perspective to a more in-depth scenario. The more detailed the outlook the
closer it will be to the actual case study.
This methodology considers adaptability assessment as a sequential

procedure, with different outlooks on space provided by study Àelds prone on
approaches of distinctive nature, that can be triangulated for a whole, extensive
and comprehensive information on possible and effective activity allocation
to spaces and overall, on spatial adaptability. Also, the broader the approaches
and its gathering, the more supported the results. Likewise, the more developed
each stage, the more informed the Ànal outcome on adaptability and the more
extensive the possible correlations between partial results.
The proposed methodology for assessing adaptability acknowledges a

triangle with three different approaches for describing the relation between
activities and spaces, in order to Ànally retrieve the space’s adaptability.
The methodology comprises the following milestones: I) Description of the
school space, II) Description of all possible activity allocations, III) Description of
effective events and experience. IV) The correlation between the approaches also
demonstrates how do the former have weighed on the following, and generally
impact the Ànal outcome on adaptability as an overall outlook on the three.
749
Conclusion
5.3. Critical analysis of the results and potential future developments
For the practical application of this methodology, it was applied to a case study with a
wider range of spaces and users, due to its innovative curriculum and deeper need for
the space to be adaptable to the current diverse activity schedules and to the potential
future changes the curriculum might have. Moreover, the fact that it had recently
undergone a process of adaptive reuse may also add further data to this research.
Nevertheless, the results encountered from each previous procedure, as well as the
conclusions from the subsequent correlations, correspond to the application of the
proposed methodology on the case study, and may possibly differ when applied to
other schools with different morphology and curricular and extra-curricular activities.
Hence, the correlation between integration, entropy and effective fruition may vary
in buildings with different results on one or all of these approaches.
The end results relating to the actual spaces of the school have already been
examined in detail in the previous chapter880 and for the purposes of this Thesis
and at this point, the conclusion will focus again on the methodological approach to
adaptability, in order to conclude in a more holistic manner according to the initial
objectives laid for this research.
Krüger (1992) suggests that two criteria should be considered for the building
performance evaluation of complex buildings881: the study on cost/quality of
adaptability regarding construction and maintenance, and an estimate on the
circulations regarding the Áows of people that these create. This estimate, when
associated with spatial integration, might inform on non-programmed activities
and the interface between peers and all users for knowledge acquisition (Krüger,
1992, p.10).
In fact, the proposed methodology in this current Doctoral Thesis takes up these two
criteria, when assessing the spaces’ morphology and ultimately spatial integration,
and likewise identiÀes over-provision as a potentially enhancer of adaptability, but
it also considers effective spatial fruition to conclude on its effective use and hence
on the cost/beneÀt of introducing some physical features.
It has been recognised that the intrinsic attributes of spaces regarding dimension,
conÀguration, coating, networks, environmental conditions and accessibility provide
for speciÀc activity allocations which lead to their individual entropy. Nevertheless,
it has also been concluded from the entropy approach that after the allocation of
around twenty possible activities to each space, its entropy tended to stabilise and so,
the cost/beneÀt of introducing further attributes in order to maximise the entropy
of a space was not signiÀcant as it was for the initial feasible activities on that space.
880
881
In this case particularly applied to higher education buildings.
750
Critical analysis of the results and potential future developments
The study on integration describes how the spaces are related and therefore, how
is the allocation potential spatially displayed on the building and, Ànally, the study
of effective fruition describes why and by what means are the spaces used. If a
different assortment of intrinsic attributes describes different “thresholds of
feasibility” (Fawcett, 1978, p.63), the gathering of different spaces as a whole -
either by axial lines that comprise movement and standing, or as an environment882
overall that can comprise learning activities of different nature - acts as general
aggregator of activities and users and is hence, more adaptable to a wider range of
activities with learning potential.
The outcomes achieved imply that there is, in fact, a correlation between all three
procedures – the description of the school space, the description of all possible
activity allocations and the description of effective events and experience - because
the results sequentially complement themselves and also meet on the spaces with
higher results from all approaches, conclusively considered to be the most adaptable.
These inputs have proven to be relevant for the adaptability assessment of space
because the description of the spatial sample and its morphological features impact
activity allocation and entropy. Additionally, effective spatial fruition acknowledges
whether those intrinsic attributes cope with the actual spatial requirements and in
what way and how far is the spaces’ allocational potential effective.
The sequence of approaches has also been supported by the procedures, because it
is only after describing the sample that its potential towards activity allocation can be
perceived, when plotting the spaces’ features to the activities’ requirements. Besides,
axial line entropy and average axial line entropy can only be calculated after the
identiÀcation of the axial lines on the space syntax initial approach. Finally, effective
spatial fruition identiÀes the spaces’ potential uses from the entropy results to their
effective appropriation that can be subsequent subject to comparison.
Furthermore, correlations have also been conÀrmed from an analytical manner

with a critical reÁection upon the results and also from a cultural, social and
pedagogical point of view, supported by the literature’s authors of reference, the
speciÀc knowledge on this case study and its effective acknowledgement from its
actual living experience within space.
Analytical correlations were possible to be established upon compared values

provided by individual results, from space syntax’s morphological analysis and the
integration (as the syntactic measure that best describes the space on that regard),
with entropy results from the application of the entropy formulation.
882
Hillier and Leaman (1973) deÀne environment as follows: “Like most scientiÀc terms the concept
environment does not exist in isolation. It is part of a complex of ideas. Its most immediate neighbour is
the concept of the ‘organism’. Together they constitute the paradigmatic notion that realities involving living
structures could best be looked at in terms of the relations between ‘organism and environment’.” (Hillier and
Leaman, 1973, p.507)
751
Conclusion
As possible future developments on this methodology, other values could also be

compared, such as local measures of space syntax as connectivity and mean depth,
to the entropy of each space and possibly also for axial lines. Besides, intelligibility,
assessed from the space syntax analysis and which informs how easily is the system
perceived by the users, can also be correlated to entropy and critically reviewed
when related to the input from the walkthroughs on the path chosen by each group.
Naturally, other variables from each milestone of the methodology that have even
been assessed in separate approaches, could be critically analysed in regard to the
remaining milestones of the methodology.
However, the aim of these correlations has always been to assess space’s
adaptability, identify potential differences amongst Áoor plans and critically review
them. Furthermore, these correlations are also intended to test the methodology
and to analyse whether the approaches can be compared or if they add additional
information regarding the space’s adaptability. So, they have always been done with
those very deÀned purposes and although other comparisons could be made, these
are considered to resort to the most representative measures within each approach
as the most straightforward manner to compare and validate the methodology and
the separate results of its application onto the case study.
The correlation that has proven to be stronger is for the most scattered Áoor plan’s
layout, which is the ground Áoor, that has high individual values of integration, when
correlated to entropy. When compared to the remaining Áoor plans, particularly with
a more cohesive spatial distribution, the correlation is less signiÀcant and projects a
more vertical distribution trend, which implies that similar values of integration of
similarly located spaces on the system have different values of entropy, due to their
speciÀc functional purposes.
The correlation is also stronger for axial lines rather than for spaces individually
assessed, because axial lines join together several spaces that become acknowledged
as a whole. Hence, axial lines have been conÀrmed to hold particular signiÀcance
for the school brief, because the building is interpreted as a whole system and this
highlights the importance of the adjacency of the environments. In this case, the
activities that occur on those spaces also bear relevance for the school building as
a whole active learning system. As axial lines cross several spaces, their analysis
brings further data to this research, because it refers to several potential activities
in sequential natural movement for a time unit, thus gathering formal and informal
activities and analysing them as a spatial and pedagogical whole. Besides, axial lines
also provide data on “shapeless”, informal and indeterminate spaces, rather than
the formal and deÀned classrooms, that also hold pedagogical potential not to be
neglected, but whose adaptability analysis was not in other ways as deepen.
Consequently, in terms of relating integration with adaptability, it is possible to

conclude on the potential of learning in lines rather than in circumscribed spaces,
much remembering Hertzberger “learning street”:
752
“There are school buildings where learning and instruction are not
conÀned to the classroom, where there is as much going on outside the
classrooms as inside […]” (Hertzberger, 2008, p.113).
This is in tune with the concept of active learning environments and reaches the
highest correlation when the axial lines intersect spaces with different activity
allocation possibilities in a more disaggregated array of activities from different
domains of the distribution, associating formal and informal activities, all with
pedagogical potential. Ultimately, these results value the school overall as an active
learning environment, whose morphology and sequential layout play a relevant role
towards adaptability and ultimate learning in the diverse ways considered today.
Thus, the gathering of both analyses – entropy and space syntax, in both approaches
– convex spaces and axial lines – provides a triangulation of results that individually
adds data to a general conclusion on a potential corresponding between entropy,
integration and ultimately adaptability.
Additionally, this idiographic approach using observations, walkthroughs and focus

groups has complemented the analytical approaches previously undertaken, in a
whole, informed and more detailed acknowledgement of the school space, the
living experience and, largely, the learning environments. This identiÀed the actual
occupancy of each space from a wide range of possible activity allocations listed
in the previous entropy approach. This is the case of over-provided spaces that
despite their physical ability to cater for diverse activities, when they are extremely
over-dimensioned they are not actually chosen for accommodate them on behalf
of cost-efÀciency, but also of physical and emotional comfort. This concludes
that high entropy can be associated with lower spatial feasibility by individual
appropriation and management.
However, spatial fruition has also enlarged the allocation potential of some spaces
from the prior results because, by appropriating space, users may change its
expected use. This has actually been remarked in this school, particularly for the
more spontaneous and creative students of the artistic teaching proÀle, often for
informal music instrument practice that may occur in several different spaces of the
school, according to each students’ preferences and routines.
Additionally, physical provision regarding furniture itself and its arrangement,

devices, environmental comfort and lighting conditions are also spatial features
that condition spatial allocation bounded by individual preferences on the choice of
space to be in regard to others, associating design options to effective use, namely
for informal and non-programmed activities.
Therefore, spatial fruition and appropriation have proven to add further information
on the building and its adaptability to accommodate learning activities, as diverse as
they can be considered. Another conclusion taken from this reported situation is
753
Conclusion
that adaptability is socially and individually constrained and not only a product of
the building’s physical provision.
So, the individuals, the groups and also the management, in a more formal and
ofÀcial manner, may condition the activities allocated for a space or, on the other
hand, enlarge the spaces’ possibilities in regard to spatial happenings. This is
particularly relevant for informal and non-programmed events that are currently
part of the pedagogical curriculum and a relevant part of the learning process on
contemporary schools, particularly in artistic ones, as perceived, because these kind
of uses have been more openly expressed by the artistic students rather than the
regular ones.
Two remarks may therefore be taken from this: the fact that the proÀle of the
community that uses the space determines the frequency of informal activities,
their density and their allocation, which could be more or less expectable. Secondly,
according to this community’s choices, activity allocation may not be related to better
spatial provision or morphological integration, but also be subject of individual
judgments and personality preferences, which might weigh more in the decision-
making process of choosing a space to practice or to engage socially.
High connectivity to formal spaces and high axial and visual integration in the
system are potential triggers of encounters and assets that also weigh on the
choice of space to stand, either in groups or individually, for programmed and
non-programmed activities. Furthermore, from the observations, the spaces
perceived as the densest for natural movement and informal standing are also the
most integrated spaces in the system. Ultimately, this correlates space syntax and
integration to spatial fruition and experience, and can even provide more detailed
information of speciÀc uses or speciÀc users’ rapport to space from the more
general observations to the more distinctive comments from each focus group
and walkthrough.
The connections between these three approaches have also been understood
socially and pedagogically, because the third one of the procedure does not involve
quantitative data possible to be compared analytically. It provided conclusions based
on the drawings, sketches and recordings of spatial effective use and users’ feedback
on space that can only be assessed in a qualitative manner and then compared to
the quantitative outlooks from the previous stages. Still, and as already explained,
it has achieved similar results regarding the main hall as the space considered to be
most adaptable to different situations and activities, but also other spaces with high
entropy have been identiÀed such as the library, amongst others.
The stronger correlation with a more disaggregated and speciÀc distribution for
the entropy milestone of the methodology can also be paralleled to the effective
spatial fruition procedures that start with observations regarding the most frequent
754
movements and activities, to a Àne-grained analysis of behaviour in space by

resorting to walkthroughs and focus groups. This sequence of procedures involves
a sequentially more in-depth detail on the activities that the space can accommodate
and that the space effectively holds, that can Ànally reach more speciÀc conclusions,
such as the ones regarding differences by Áoor plans, different uses according to
the contributors on the focus groups, and foremost the activities not immediately
associated to spaces, but that by appropriating space occur within them.
After the correlation of the results from the three approaches, it has been found that
the most disaggregated distribution from the entropy calculations provided higher
correlation to integration. This is very signiÀcant because this is the distribution
that involves an enlarged detail on the activities and so, the one which better depicts
the actual case study in a less abstract way.
So, for the purposes of future developments on this methodological approach

to adaptability, the feasibility matrix could also be speciÀcally approached in its
following applications. The fact that correlations between entropy and integration
are generally stronger for a more disaggregated distribution, as was the case of
domain IV’s when compared to domain III’s distributions, leads to the conclusion
that the more extensive the activities sample on the speciÀcity of the activities listed
and the more widespread the domains for calculating entropy, the closer it describes
the actual case study, but also the higher the complexity of the calculations of both
the entropy and the following correlations.
Therefore, revising the feasibility matrix and the degree of disaggregation of the
distribution for the entropy approach could also be considered in regard to possible
future developments of this methodology and the case study in which it will be
applied or the main purposes of that application.
So, future developments lie naturally on the application of this methodology to

other case studies. That could be established for the purpose of assessing another
artistic school individually, or compare it to this current case study that, as it has
been noticed, is very singular on the curricular options it conveys. Others could also
be assessed in order to understand their spatial differences and uses when compared
to an articulated teaching regime school such as Coimbra’s, where the regular and
the artistic curricula communities share the common spaces of the building. This
school, as already recognised, implies a more adaptable requirement of the spaces
that need to cope with both teaching regimes’ spatial needs and which are speciÀc
of either one, in regard to formal but also to informal activities.
This school has also proven to have an intense appropriation of informal spaces
prone on non-programme social or extra-curricular activities, as a frequent routine
that is embedded with learning potential. Not only do the corridors bear the
representativeness of an interface for the gathering of the peers or all the users,
755
Conclusion
but so do the niches open onto those corridors, which functionally enable cross-
ventilation and lighting, as the architect (Santos, 2017) has explained, but that
also act as convex spaces for standing, complementing the corridors’ circulation
and enlarging their learning potential. Both corridors and niches, when thought
together represent active learning environments for moving and standing that are
very signiÀcant for the students’ social interaction and even study practice, as it has
been observed. Furthermore, the fact that these are very integrated in the system,
as the space syntax analysis has proven, determines that higher integration and
connectivity between informal learning environments and formally established
spaces, such as classrooms, embodies an even more enriched environment with a
more diverse nature of the learning activities and that ultimately gathers more users
in a conjoint space perceived as a whole.
Therefore, as studied throughout the application of the methodology to the case

study883, this school holds a high need for adaptable spaces to cope with different
activities, curricular and extra-curricular, programmed and non-programmed, in
which the latter are also very signiÀcant for the learning as it is understood today, as
a creation of knowledge that surpasses the sole knowledge transmission within the
classroom, to informal spaces and activities between peers that hold a more active
and independent student proÀle, as seen on chapter 2.3.884. This is very noticeable
in this school, particularly for the artistic students prone on spontaneous displays
and study practice wide-spread throughout all the school space.
Thus, other artistic schools could also be assessed, particularly regarding the
comparison with other conservatories, or to buildings whose spaces are separate
between the conservatory and the school. At Àrst, the need for adaptable spaces
exists, but along with the spatial segregation of the teaching proÀles comes also
a potential segregation of users and activities and hence, the need to cope with
speciÀc requirements will possibly lie only on each teaching regime and not on the
congregation of both on the same spaces. Still, the application of this methodology
to integrated teaching schools could possibly support this immediate idea with the
actual results brought with the methodological application.
Moreover, even for this particular school in which the methodology has been Àrstly
applied, can the methodology be operative again. In fact, if this school could hold
a future physical or pedagogical intervention, the application of the methodology
regarding the association of activities to spaces according to the changes carried on
by that intervention could be assessed, identifying whether the building is continuing
to cope with those social, pedagogical and spatial requirements or not.
Finally, this methodology could also be carried out in regular secondary schools,
883
884
756
individually or in a collective manner, if applying it simultaneously to a set of schools

in order to conclude on the most adaptable. That conclusion would naturally bring
further information on whether it is the activities that are less site-speciÀc or spatially
demanding that can be allocated to several spaces, or if there are spaces that can
accommodate a wider array of learning activities. Besides, as it has been understood
on the Ànal retrieval of the Ànal results on the Quinta das Flores School885, the Ànal
adaptability outlook on the school is subject to the building’s conÀguration and
physical provision, the briefs and the activities it shelters as widespread as they can
be, and is also subject to individual and collective appropriation and management
options. Naturally, if the methodology was to be applied to several schools and
different outcomes would be achieved, than the assessment of individual results on
the schools would bring further information on how did they differ and why, and
whether those differences impacted the Ànal adaptability of those schools or not.
This ultimately, represents the “description retrieval” mechanism that is assumed to
cyclically bring more generalised outcomes from a previously studied reality.
All in all, the outcomes aimed to be achieved may also lead to future developments
of potential future applications of this methodology. A more or less extended
and comprehensive procedure is guided by the cost/beneÀt balance on the time
consuming and intricacy of the methodological application and the Ànal detailed
results obtained. In fact, as it has already been explained, each milestone initiates
with a more general outlook on the space and reaches a more in-depth acquaintance,
which can be adaptable to several situations and objectives according to the number
and nature of the future case studies and the objective of future researches.
SpeciÀcally, the results will be more or less extensive and time consuming or in need
of more or less people to undertake them in future research projects, depending
on: the introduction of speciÀcities of other schools onto the activities listed on
the feasibility matrix, or on the degree of aggregation of the domain by which to
calculate the entropy; the more or less detailed morpho-syntactic analysis; and even
the number of contributors, focus groups, spaces and schedules to proceed with the
observations.
Accordingly, further applications of this proposed methodology could use a more

abstract matrix of activities to compare several schools’ adaptability, or could use
the same one to compare other schools with both artistic and regular teaching
regimes. All in all, it is acknowledged that further developments could be perceived
by introducing the speciÀcities of other schools if applied to them, or in a more
general manner, using a less disaggregated matrix by restricting it to the initial
domains, could be done in order to compare several schools in a less detailed way.
885
757
Conclusion
Conclusively, this research considers that high adaptability enables a wider variety
of social relations and inhabitants, potentiated by the attributes introduced in spatial
design and the spaces’ morphology, but it also considers the users and their spatial
fruition to deÀne the effective potential variety of social relations in space and, in
this case, of activities with learning potential, in their wide array of contemporary
possibilities. Ultimately, this reports to an early assumption by W. R. G. Hillier, in a
conference in 1969 on The people/artifact interaction:
“There are some interesting differences between the ‘physical system’

and the ‘experience system’. In the Àrst place, the physical system is
subject to normal process of entropy (the tendency towards disorder
or formlessness), in that it decays if it is not subjected to a programme
of action aimed to prevent this.
The experience system does nothing of the kind. Often its tendency
seems to be in the opposite direction. Once basic stresses are removed,
a given physical system, partly through action on it, and partly through
adaptation in experience itself, becomes an increasing source of life
enhancement by becoming a tangible framework for associations, social
relationships, memories and perhaps also a very fundamental kind of
stability.” (Hillier, 1970, p.28)
Hence, adaptability could be understood from design to space use and overall
throughout all the building’s lifecycle, because it is the intrinsic attributes accounted
for during the design that provide the building with the physical ability to cope with
the activities and the more diverse these activities are, the more adaptable it can be
to changing situations and circumstances.
The need for adaptability is perceived during the building’s use, overlapping what
is its ability to cope with the activities, to what those activities effectively are at that
moment, and how they might change in the future. This justiÀes this methodology’s
sequential approach in subsequent milestones: from the morphological description
of the building as it has been conceived by the architect in the design, to the
allocational potential that the design provides, to its effective spatial fruition and the
identiÀcation of how and by what means is the space being used. So, it correlates
design and use, under adaptability as a building’s feature that impacts its lifecycle
and the life within it during that time886.
From the beginning of this Thesis a research question has been presented887 which
has guided the methodological approach to adaptability, the contents to inform
on its state of the art, the nature of the approaches that inform the proposed
methodology and its application onto a case study, considered to be an original
886
This ultimately also justiÀes the title of this Thesis.
887
758
choice, representative and adequate for this research:
By acknowledging that, from the current pedagogical practices derive

the current spatial requirements of the schools, which inÁuence the
learning process, how is the concept of adaptability deÀned in the
secondary schools of the 21st century, and how can it be considered
throughout the building’s lifecycle – translated into the design process
and enhancer of the spatial usage?
As the conclusion of this Thesis, it considers to have answered this question, which
will be examined in detail and responded overall at the end. Current pedagogical
practices and their rapport to space have been approached on a speciÀc chapter888
that intended to project that bond between space and learning as a stage but also as
a potential enhancer of the activities, formal and informal, that it could hold within
a school and that bear signiÀcance towards the teaching-learning process.
This bond between space and social form in “places of science” has been
approached by Hillier and Penn (1991) in the paper Visible Colleges: Structure and
Randomness in the Place of Discovery. This is applied to “visible colleges” as deÀned by
the authors as: “the collective places of science, the places where the “creation of
phenomena” and theoretical speculation proceed side by side” (Hillier and Penn,
1991, p.23)889. Nonetheless, it is argued that space holds a “social logic”, insofar as
“social encounters have their own spatial logic” (p.27):
“To understand their spatial form, we must understand Àrst how

buildings can structure space to both conserve and generate social
forms” (Hillier and Penn, 1991, p.23).
The relevance of adaptability towards this bond has also been explained regarding
spatial provision with the ability to cope with the potential changes on the learning
processes, spaces in which it is considered to occur and the practices and contents
to convey, in the present and in the future.
After a wide-ranging approach to adaptability in school buildings in the past and

how has it been materialised in the built space and by what means890, regarding
the evolution of the learning practices and the spatial implications, the following
chapter intended to approach the contemporary learning practices, focusing also
on the concept of active learning environments, potentially exceeding the formal
classroom to other more informal spaces, not necessarily bounded by deÀnite walls
but bearing learning potential as places for knowledge acquisition, creation and
communication between peers. Naturally that this bears relevance when considering
888
889
Hillier and Penn recall Hacking’s (1983) “creation of phenomena”.
890
759
Conclusion
school space today, in the sense of what are the spaces in which learning activities
could be held and what is the broad nature of those activities.
Having recognised the current practices and the considerations of educational spaces,
from the acknowledgement of several potentially closer concepts to adaptability and
also several deÀnitions of adaptability per se891, it is regarded as a spatial feature that
supports that bond even further, because it bestow on space the ability to cope with
the changing activities with pedagogical potential within a school.
After the identiÀcation of the concept of adaptability and how could it be translated
onto the school brief and the contemporary context, the following chapter intended
to also provide an also explanatory outlook on approaches to space use892 and
particularly to adaptability assessment893, in order to critically review their potential
application onto the proposed methodology and context. Recognising that these
study Àelds and approaches are widespread and have been tackled differently by
distinctive authors, naturally that the previous chapters aim to provide an outlook
on diverse manners so that the proposed methodology could be supported and
enriched by an informed process of research. Nevertheless, and recognising that
this Thesis displays a broad array of contents and authors, its aim is considered to
be clear and these are presented with the purpose of contributing to inform on the
Thesis’s speciÀc approach to adaptability, applied to the case study, and particularly
to a methodological approaches on how to assess adaptability in a contemporary
school context and not to overly detail each contribution to the state or the art,
neither on the concept of adaptability, nor the adaptable schools of the past, nor
on the possible assessment methodologies.
Chapter 3.3 proposed the methodology to be applied to the contemporary school

brief, considering the previous information on how the school is perceived today
and what it comprises in terms of activities, spaces and users. It also involves the
previous research on the concept of adaptability taken from chapter 2894 and the
possible methodological approaches to assess it from chapter 3895.
This methodology conceives adaptability as a spatial feature to be thought during

the design process, for the deÀnition of the building’s conÀguration and relation
between spaces, which is assessed by a morpho-syntactic analysis by space syntax.
It is also during the design that the building is initially provided with the intrinsic
attributes that deÀne its ability to allocate activities according to each one’s spatial
requirements.
891
892
893
894
See chapter 2. State of the art and critical revision of the concept of adaptability.
895
760
Then, adaptability is assessed on the potential it has regarding activity allocation and
on the degree of uncertainty on which activity is occurring in space, that is higher if
the space can allocate several ones. This is assessed by means of a feasibility matrix
and entropy calculations and resorts to analytical models to derive the adaptability
of each space from the sample, considering adaptability as a relation between
activities and spaces.
So, as the previous models are naturally abstract, despite their potential degree of
speciÀcities that can approach the case study with more detail from the abstract
model, then adaptability is also assessed during effective spatial usage. So, the third
milestone of the proposed methodology comprises the assessment of the effective
spatial usage, in order to compare it to all potential activities that the space can
initially accommodate and that have been perceived from this former milestone,
this will conclude on its narrowing or enlargement, as it occurred in Quinta das
Flores School.
In fact, the application of the methodology has shown that activity allocation is
subject to individual and collective appropriation, besides management decisions,
which could associate activities to spaces not initially remarked from the feasibility
matrix. This is due to the proÀle of the students that this particular school holds,
who were perceived to be very creative and resourceful during the observations,
walkthroughs and focus groups. Furthermore, these students have shown a sense
of belonging in the school that also enables this more spontaneous appropriation
of spaces, because they feel it as their own, being at ease to choose where more
informal and non-programmed activities are held, often related to study practice,
external displays and artistic performances, and that have been noted in all of the
school’s ambiance from the classrooms to the corridors.
Indeed, the concept of ambiance plays a very signiÀcant role in artistic schools
because it confers music to the whole school. The ambiance also enables the
acknowledgement of the learning spaces as learning environments prone for the
teaching-learning process and surpassing the individual spaces. The spread of the
artistic practice throughout the school is also a matter of the design option, which
in this case has deliberately provided soundprooÀng between the classrooms for
their acoustics performance, but that projects the sound laid within the classrooms
for the very central corridors, where all the school community circulates, engaging
them by music. Besides, also management is accounted for the artistic milieu,
because of the options to enable socialisation and a rather informal environment
on the common living spaces.
From spatial provision to student appropriation, adaptability is encompassed by a

widespread range of stakeholders on the process and moments to acknowledge it.
Therefore, so has to be the methodology to assess adaptability, intending to assess
it in all the moments that bear signiÀcance for the deÀnition of adaptability in that
761
Conclusion
space. If adaptability is provided in the design and is experienced on the spatial

occupancy, potentially also deÀned again by the appropriation, management and
pedagogical and cultural options that guide space use, then the methodology has
to be involved in all those moments, individually assessing the results for a Ànal
gathering of them all.
This coincides with the research question, when it joined the design process and
the spatial usage by adaptability and stated adaptability as an enhancer of spatial
usage. This also has been stated from the fact that adaptability enables the activities
to be accommodated: if activities are wider in nature and undertaken by different
users, even when these change, an adaptable space can accommodate them in
their diversities and speciÀc requirements. Thus, an adaptable space enhances the
building’s use for longer, for a broader set of possible activities to occur on that
space and by diverse users with different proÀles and appropriation, which has been
remarked between the regular and the artistic teaching communities.
Therefore, adaptability is in fact, and as the research question put it, “considered
throughout the building’s lifecycle”, because it is considered in the design process
and it continues to be assessed throughout its use, before all the changes that
the school can have and that can pedagogically or culturally change the spatial
requirements of the activities, for which adaptability is considered to be resilient.
By and large, adaptability’s assessment is a conjoint process that relates all the
moments of the building’s lifecycle, the people/contributors involved in the
deÀnition of space and what does it contain in every moment. So, study areas
and methodological approaches on each of these bring a speciÀc outlook on
space, that ultimately can be triangulated for a more supported assessment of
the building. It is a comprehensive thinking about the space’s lifecycle, the people
involved, the activities to be held and the potential changes that might come, in
which adaptability is acknowledged from the beginning, but continues to play a
relevant role in providing for the people and for their actions continuously and in a
lasting, pedagogically, culturally and functionally performance for the changes that
are unforeseeable at the design.
This research also concludes that the hypothesis placed at the beginning of
this Thesis, after presenting the research question896, have also been recognised
as supported and valid throughout the Thesis. Consequently, the deÀnition of
adaptability is considered to still be appropriate, suitable and contemporary when
applied to the current school brief, as this conclusion has started by clarifying.
Furthermore, and according to what has been stated, adaptability involves the
design process as a moment for providing for adaptability and the space use that it
enables, and it also enhances the building’s ability to shelter activities, even if they
896
762
have changed from the expected to the effective spatial fruition.
Besides, the methodology proposed and applied to the case study is recognised to
be robust in the three initial milestones that it engages for providing information
gathered from different procedures and whose overall results is, thus, more
informed, unbiased and comprehensive for the triangulation of methodological
approaches it involves and for the critical review it entails in the Ànal milestone
on the building’s adaptability retrieval. It is also considered to be adequate to the
school brief on its contemporary acknowledgement and it speciÀcally recognises
the activities and the spaces that the current learning process engages. The Ànal
outlook on adaptability that the methodology provides can be considered valid and,
as it has been examined in detail, the potential correlation between the milestones
enable to identify what impacts adaptability and this can be operative information
to future designs embracing change, space use, appropriation and management, as
variables that weigh on adaptability. Recalling the initially proposed general and also
the speciÀc objectives and the speciÀc objectives regarding the approach on the
case study897, these are embedded in this conclusion’s Ànal outlook on the research
and are also considered to have been answered.
Overall, as it had already been established at the beginning of this Thesis, this
methodological framework is expected to be a contribution to knowledge
advancement, identifying adaptability in this particular contemporary context
and combining distinctive study Àelds for its assessment. Also, for the practice,
the acknowledgement of the spatial conÀgurations with higher representativeness
towards adaptability can be informative to future designs, but foremost by
informing on the variables that potentiate adaptability. It does not aim at providing
design guidelines or any rigid design solutions, which are considered not to cope
with all these variables. Indeed, if the methodology has proven that adaptability is
not a product of the design provision but also of appropriation, then the physical
attributes are relevant for potentiating an adaptable building, but its effective use
may change according to the context and the community who uses the school.
So, as adaptability is veriÀed also by effective spatial fruition, this methodology
intends to recognise both design and use as variables that impact adaptability and
recall that adaptability might change within the same design if it is used by another
community, with a different pedagogical curriculum or another students’ proÀle.
So, this methodology intends to identify the variables that are associated to
adaptability and that inÁuence the overall results and the ability of the building to
accommodate those changing activities, by resorting to approaches of different
nature that may ultimately inform on the diversity of those variables and on their
Ànal potential correlations.
897
763
Conclusion
It is highlighted that the aim of this research is a methodological approach to

adaptability that enables its identiÀcation and assessment for contemporary school
buildings. Therefore, not only does it aim to be a contribution to the practice
of architecture, while informing on the variables that enhance adaptability to be
potentially recognised in the design process, but it also intends to act as a relevant
contribution to the academia. As it regards milestones with different approaches,
then it relates all of them to adaptability and amongst each other for the Ànal
retrieval of the results.
It is also noteworthy the originality of the overall methodology towards entropy

and its sequential processes such as the feasibility matrix, the distributions for the
calculations, the estimation of the average and axial line entropy and the correlations
presented and critically analysed, besides the actual results from this case study.
Besides, also the possibility of their association with spatial fruition and the use of
observation matrices, walkthroughs and focus groups for the assessment of spatial
use in the school, under a closer approach to the context and the real scenario, is
also an original methodological approach and it concludes that adaptability involves
both realms of study.
Therefore, the analytical models are associated with fruition and experience
in a gathered methodology that holds design and use. So, abstract models and
quantitative results are interpreted with qualitative information on individual and
collective behaviour in space. This is intended to be a contribution to the different
studies Àelds within architecture and for the academia overall, acknowledging that
different research cultures can be associated and, when associated, provide more
robust and complete results.
Therefore, as this Thesis’s objective has been clearly placed onto a methodological
approach to adaptability, then it is naturally informed by many study Àelds and
authors, for an original methodological proposition that is considered to be
contemporary and that originally also assembles in a comprehensive manner
different research cultures. Its originality lies also within the subject matter of
adaptability when applied to school buildings and naturally, even more so, when it
is speciÀed for the artistic schools and the Portuguese reality, for a more a critical
comprehension of what is around us. Recalling again Nuno Portas’ quote from a
communication at the Department of Architecture of the University of Coimbra,
for the Doctoral Course, in October 2011:
“Research has a lot to do with the context, it is not a sum of events, it has
to create complicities, it has to show that it is useful.” 898 (Portas, 2011).
This research, as contemporary as it intends to be, has been embedded by its context
898
Free translation of the original quote in Portuguese: “A investigaçmo tem muito a ver com o contexto, nmo é
uma soma de acontecimentos, tem de criar cumplicidades, tem de mostrar que é útil.” (Portas, 2011).
764
on rethinking the current learning paradigm and how can spaces enable it. In 1968
Leslie Martin in his paper Education without walls was discussing that growth and
change, urban development and land use had to be accounted for when considering
an education building:
“We recognize new forms of teaching and study these in the closest
detail. We then build as tightly as we can around this. We can, of course,
by this process build in and make permanent a particular educational
pattern which itself is liable to change. And by this process we
frequently complicate the technical method. The point to be recognized
about programmes is that there can be no detailed programme for the
future.” (Martin, 1968, p.360)
Amongst several considerations, Martin recognises change, the unknown urban

patterns of growth in the future and the also unknown programme of education,
particularly for universities. Martin discloses that research has to consider them,
opening new prospects. The initial quote used in this conclusion has recognised the
need for the architects to be aware of the “new possibilities” and to be engaged, so
these are studied and understood as opportunities:
“What I am suggesting is that education should be directed towards a

more concrete end. That end should not be an abstraction, such as the
ideal conception of the architect, but the general problem of seeing the
overlapping needs of living as a whole and opening up, whenever we
can, new possibilities and choices for the future. That is an objective
in which all architects should feel themselves vitally involved.” (Martin,
1968, p.361)
This involvement with the contextual needs and changes and the engagement in the
reality has also been very deeply embedded as a motivation for this Thesis and as
an objective to contribute to the knowledge advancement in architecture, recalling
Portas: “to show that it is useful” for the reality surrounding us, which involves
architecture and to which architecture has to answer. Leslie Martin has recognised
that in 1968, assuming change and the need to consider it in the architects’ education,
and also the speciÀcity of the changing education, that was becoming an emergent
subject to which architecture had to answer:
“At the level of actual building, the consideration of the framework

within which we build could open up new opportunities and new
objectives.” (Martin, 1968, p.361)
Moreover, when addressing future change, Martin assumes its lack of anticipation
and its unpredictability:
“A starting point in any planning for growth and change must be, I
765
Conclusion
think, that no one can accurately predict what that change will be. It is
the developing use that will cause change to happen and will establish
its areas and its extent.” (Martin, 1968, p.360)
Consequently, Martin considers that “to build for a variety of uses in the variety
of forms that these will demand” represents “a new set of priorities” (ibid.). Under
a close agreement with the recognition of providing “for a variety of uses” as a
“priority”, this Thesis restates its relevance when applied to its case study on a
contemporary manner with a critical review from previous considerations, such as
Martin’s 1968 paper.
This Thesis is recognised to be explanatory and wide-ranging, but with a common

denominator that leads to the end conclusion on the validation of the proposed
methodology. It is informed by the wide-ranging literature on the deÀnition of
adaptability, on the broad possible space use assessment methodologies and followed
by the application and testing of the proposed methodology that has been produced
in abstract to a real case study, in order to be validated to future developments. This
has been the guideline of this Thesis, embodied in the table of contents and which
intends a very deÀnite goal, acknowledged from the beginning and supported in the
conclusion. It has also been informed by a widespread literature of reference, critical
thinking in regard to its adequacy and contemporaneity to this context and to the
brief, and supported by the actual practical application of an extensive methodology
on a real scenario. Overall, all these procedures enable to consider the methodology
informed, valid and potentially able to be applied to other case studies.
It also resides in the assumption that those research cultures that it engages could
be intertwined for triangulated results and not biased to a speciÀc approach, author
or perspective. But foremost, its originality is represented by the methodology that
has been constructed from scratch, all the associations of the sequential processes
on each milestone and the correlation of the several milestones, in order to produce
a methodology that speciÀcally responds to the subject matter and is applied to the
context under study.
Consequently, this proposed methodology aims to be well-deÀned, supported by

the previous studies on the state of the art on this issue, but carrying the speciÀcities
of contemporary school buildings, for activities, spaces and spatial fruition towards
the learning process. It also intends to provide valuable results to inform on that
school, for future interventions, as well as potential management decisions later
on, but also to other schools as input to report to the architects when thinking
about the school brief. So, all things considered, it does not aim to be analytical
nor qualitative, but to consider a reality that is complex and whole. It is intended
to simplify it so it is possible to analyse it without over-complexity, but likewise, to
recognise the variables to identify that particular school space and to portray that
particular learning environment.
766
The approach to the context has been pursued in each milestone. From the description
of the spatial sample in its speciÀcities, to the establishment of an adequate list of
activities that is correlated to the identiÀed spaces from the sample and also to the
evaluation of effective spatial fruition according to the more representative focus
groups for providing feedback on space use and the choice of spaces and schedules.
Naturally, that all approaches can be more or less extensive and speciÀed according
to the cost/beneÀt brought by the results and also the purpose of each research.
For the purposes of this current research, it was intended to provide an assessment
of the case study’s adaptability that effectively depicts the space, its users and the
activities that can be, and effectively are, held in space. Nevertheless, its extensiveness
and detail have also been balanced with methodological options that enable the
research to feasible, supported and effective, and that could be undertaken under
the scope of a Doctoral Thesis, in regard to an individual work that deals with a
wide set of variables, from the time consuming procedures, to the need to arouse
the involvement of others as contributors, particularly to the surveys approach and
the formal authorisation of all the people involved and Direction boards or other
entities. On the other hand, the more analytical approaches that are accomplished
by means of models, also require an adequate modelling of this case study. The
end results provide a speciÀc description of the space’s adaptability in regard to the
activities that it holds and has the potential to accommodate later on, supported and
focused, and not overly widespread in partial results, in an adequate scale of detail
for the results intended.
Recalling Fawcett’s Àrst sentence on its Thesis summary: “The relationship between
activities and spaces may be analysed at many scales” (Fawcett, 1978, p.i), we also
acknowledge different levels for assessing adaptability, in its relation to people and
spaces, and we also aim for a methodology neither “deterministic” nor “empirical”
(ibid.). Nevertheless, within an inclusive approach, this current research does not
only aim at the connection between “activities” and “spaces” as Fawcett’s, but
foremost its relationship to “people” - whether in a more general grouping (as
Fawcett considers them), but also as individuals that relate to activities and spaces in
a speciÀc sensorial and intellectual relation, when occupying space and undertaking
each of the identiÀed activities899.
Consequently, it is here assumed the relevance of the combinatorial ensemble as

a methodology that enables general, prompt and accurate outcomes. But besides
the inputs from a mathematical elaboration, also the combination of inputs from
other study Àelds, more prone to the social sciences, provide a more comprehensive
outlook on “the social logic of space” (Hillier and Hanson, 1984) and will displace
data from a broader range of dimensions on “the living experience” and the spaces’
features, that will consequently produce a more extensive outcome on understanding
899
767
Conclusion
people’s relation to activities and spaces, as a whole and as individuals.
People modify spaces and it is the people that undertake the activities identiÀed.
So, they become the subject and the object of the research on the allocation of
spaces to activities: they are the common denominator and the main character. This
connection will become evident from the design of the space itself - the spatial,
material and functional conditions that it provides - to the management decisions,
and the engagement of the inhabitants to the space, which determines the formal
and informal activities on each space, previously envisioned by the architect, as
Fawcett had already put:
“An adaptable building allows many alternative states of allocation.

This type of problem is relevant to building management as well as
design.” (Fawcett, 1978, p.i)
So, this current research would add that it is the people, by management decisions
and their own appropriation of the space, that conÀrm a lived building, functionally
and culturally along the building’s lifecycle. Recalling Cowan and Watson’s900 (1961)
quote from The Architects’ Journal in regard to the signiÀcance of bond between
architecture and people for architectural education:
“Buildings begin with people. Architecture should not be a formal or

production-derived solution imposed upon the users, but a growing
together of human needs and the industrial equation. Somewhere a
synthesis occurs; at this point stands someone – call him architect or
what you will – reconciling not leading – creating not directing – not
an amateur of other disciplines, but a profession in this task. As our
knowledge of human physiological requirements deepens, creative
design becomes easier. The multi-disciplinary team is the organisation,
research is the tool, and science the discipline which will push our
vocation forward in the second half of this century. Buildings end with
people.” (Cowan and Watson, 1961, p.744).
900
Peter Cowan and Newton Watson at the Bartlett School of Architecture formed a panel with other
contributors from different schools.
768
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SPECIFIC BIBLIOGRAPHY
. BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS IN BOOKS
. PERIODIC PUBLICATIONS AND ARTICLES
. PUBLICATIONS REGARDING ARTISTIC SCHOOLS
. PUBLICATIONS REGARDING THE CASE STUDY
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
PERSONAL PUBLICATIONS
Bibliography
As presented throughout all the corpus of this Thesis, the overall research derives
from an extensive scope of contents, because precise bibliographical references
on adaptability in contemporary artistic school buildings are scarce due to their
speciÀcity. Nevertheless, this also supports the originality and the contemporaneity
of the research and its potential relevance towards knowledge advancement within
the discipline of Architecture.
Therefore, this Thesis derives from diverse established Àelds of architectural

research for a more supported and comprehensive approach, transposing them
onto this approach and considering their potential in order to answer the main
research question of the Thesis.
Thus, distinct areas have been recognised as relevant to inform this subject matter,
namely: new teaching practices – and the way they impact the space in which they
happen; contemporary educational facilities; the state of the art on schools and
speciÀcally on artistic schools - as a way to document the case study; adaptability
and particularly focused on adaptability in schools - as a way to report the evolution
of this concept; space use evaluation processes and space use evaluation processes
on schools - as a way to analyse experience and uses that take place there; literature
related to experience with the built space and also to analytical approaches on use.
Despite being from speciÀc study areas, these contents are believed to be interrelated
by this research and to inform it, in order to produce a more inclusive, informed
and unbiased outlook on the matter and to acknowledge its general signiÀcance.
This wideness in scope is also present on the broad time frame that the following
references comprise, with a particular emphasis on literature on schools and also
on adaptability’s state of the art. Besides, contemporary literature is also extensive,
particularly on teaching practices and on the bond between educational spaces and
knowledge transmission, which again proves its current relevance.
Thus, assuming that this subject matter introduces contents from different
areas that seek to convey the concept(s) of adaptability with the spatial needs
of contemporary schools and spatial assessment methods, this explains why
the bibliographical references presented in the following pages are recognisably
extensive and widespread.
Accordingly, it was considered relevant to present the bibliography by dividing it

into speciÀc and general bibliography. Where the Àrst refers to contents that were
speciÀcally introduced in the Thesis throughout its development under explicit
chapters on those issues, and the latter lists more general references, which are
related to the research question overall and present an awareness towards issues
concerned with use, appropriation and the bond between design and experience on
more general terms.
772
Although it was pondered not to divide the bibliography it into possible sub-themes
on different reference areas, because of its variety and also the acknowledgement
that they are implicitly related, the speciÀc references are subdivided on books and
contributions in books and periodic publications and articles in periodic publications, due to its
difference in nature and format. Besides, and assuming that references on artistic
schools are scarce, the bibliography has a section that lists all the publications
consulted on artistic schools and another on the case study itself, which is very speciÀc.
At last, the personal publications produced during the process of this research are also
presented, proving the academic interest and signiÀcance of this issue by peers in a
wide scope of academic communities and contexts, such as Space Syntax, Formal
Methods in Architecture, Sensory Environment Research and Mathematics and
Architecture.
Finally, the following list presents the references in APA style (American
Psychological Association). It was chosen to present the full bibliographic list rather
than just the references quoted in the text because, for the purposes of this Doctoral
Thesis, the information used lied not only on the cited works, but also on a broader
list of works, books, chapters in books, academic works, periodic publications, …
that have comprehensively informed the contents previously presented as implicit
knowledge and not just the ones which have been quoted.
773
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RELEVANT INFO ALSO CONSULTED FROM THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES
The Bartlett Space Syntax Laboratory

https://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/space-syntax
The Bartlett UCL
http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/graduate/programmes/postgraduate/mscdiploma-advanced-
architectural-studies
11th International Space Syntax Symposium, Lisbon
http://www.11ssslisbon.pt
10th International Space Syntax Symposium, London
http://www.sss10.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk
Post-occupancy evaluation
https://postoccupancyevaluation.com
Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf01168/nsf01168u.pdf
https://soa.cmu.edu/cbpd/
Center for People and Buildings
https://www.cfpb.nl
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8). 27 - 29 September 2012. Department of Architecture Faculty of Sciences and Technology
and Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra. Conference programme available in
http://www.ces.uc.pt/eventos/ensinoprojecto/media/EPP%20cartaz%20programa%20
Ànal.pdf. Abstract and Keywords available in http://iduc.uc.pt/index.php/joelho/article/
view/1459.
COELHO, C. (2012b). From design process to space use: Adaptability in school buildings today. In M.
ROSSI (Ed.), Proceedings of the Nexus 2012 Relationships Between Architecture and Mathematics. (pp.
23-28). 11-14 June 2012. Politecnico di Milano. Milano: McGraw-Hill. Conference programme
available in http://www.nexusjournal.com/the-nexus-conferences/nexus-2012.html.
Index available in http://www.academia.edu/1247331/Nexus_Ph.D._Day_Relationships_
between_Architecture_and_Mathematics_Proceedings_of_the_Nexus_2012_Ph.D._Day_
and_Poster_Session_.
COELHO, C. (2012c). Arquitecturas da Aprendizagem. Joelho #3. Viagem-Memyrias: Aprendizagens de
Arquitectura. 190. Coimbra: Edarq. Abstract in the published version and full text available
in http://www.iuc-revistas.com/ojs/index.php/joelho/article/view/437/352. Abstract and
Keywords available in http://iduc.uc.pt/index.php/joelho/article/view/437.
COELHO, C. (2008). A questmo do arquitecto: a sociedade portuguesa e o arquitecto, hoje, Prova
Final de Licenciatura apresentada ao Departamento de Arquitectura da Faculdade de
Cirncias e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra. https://estudogeral.sib.uc.pt/jspui/
handle/10316/7392.
819
INDEX OF IMAGES AND CREDITS
Index of images and credits
822
Fig. 1. Before Duchamp’s piece on MoMA : To Be Looked at (from the Other Side of the Glass) with
One Eye, Close to, for Almost an Hour (1918) (Photo by Carolina Coelho) 10
Fig. 2. a) Diagram of the component of a music department and the potential relations it can have with
other parts of the school; b) Diagram of the possibilities of expansion of the department of
music with other activities, as proposed by the English Department for Education (Department
for Education, 2010, pp.9, 13) 31
Fig. 3. Quinta das Flores School, Coimbra (http://www.josepaulodossantos.com) 36
Fig. 4. a) Project of the initial Artistic School, by José Paulo dos Santos; b) Project of the Ànal Artistic
School in Quinta das Flores School, by José Paulo dos Santos (http://www.josepaulodossantos.com) 38
Fig. 5. a) Quinta das Flores School - The preexisting school (top) and new façade (bottom) (Top, Parque
Escolar in http://www.parque-escolar.pt/pt/escola/067; Bottom, Carolina Coelho); b) Quinta
das Flores School - Pavilions before (top) and after the intervention (bottom) (Top, Parque
Escolar in http://www.parque-escolar.pt/pt/escola/067; Bottom, Carolina Coelho); c) Quinta
das Flores School - New rear façade connected to the existing spaces (Carolina Coelho) 40
Fig. 6. a) Quinta das Flores School, Coimbra - The school’s main hall (http://www.josepaulodossantos.
com); b) Quinta das Flores School, Coimbra - Artistic performances in informal spaces (Student
Association of the Music Conservatory of Coimbra) 41
Fig. 7. Quinta das Flores School, Coimbra. Dance lesson (Carolina Coelho) 42
Fig. 8. “The movement record of a Àrst year nurse’s typical day of work. […] The nurse’s movements
were recorded by threading string around corresponding points on a plan.” (Llewelyn-Davies,
1952, p.105) 69
Fig. 9. “Port-a-punch card used for collecting room survey data” and “main classiÀcation categories”
(Musgrove and Doidge, 1970, p.32) 70
Fig. 10. Spheres of inÁuence of the concept of adaptability and Áexibility (edited to English) (Heitor and
Tomé, 2007, p.4) 72
Fig. 11. “Life cycle phases” (König, et al., 2010, p.19) 73
Fig. 12. a) “Mixture of room sizes.”; b) “Possibility of many different sized rooms” (Alexander, 1977,
p.692, 694) (edited) 79
Fig. 13. a) “The building / environment / activity / objectives / cost / system” (Markus, 1967, p.1570); b)
“The building-environment-activity-objectives system: a conceptual model” (Markus, 1970, p.90) 80
Fig. 14. a) “The System Extended over Time” (Markus, 1972, p.29-6-9); b) “The system model extended
in time” (Markus and Building Performance Research Unit, 1972, p.16) (edited) 81
Fig. 15. a) Architectural Design 11/ 1973 (Rabeneck, Sheppard and Town, 1973, cover); b) “Alternative
forms of expansion” (Rabeneck, 1974, p.659) 83
Fig. 16. “Organizational structures in a comprehensive school” (Fawcett, 1976a, p.12) 85
Fig. 17. “Diagram showing that the entries in an activity-space feasibility matrix can be based on many
attributes, not just Áoor area (from Fawcett, 1978, p.205). Each attribute acts as a Àlter, and the
activity (ei) must be compatible with the space (hj) with respect to all the Àlters in order to arrive
at an overall entry of 1 in the feasibility matrix. If the activity and space are incompatible with
respect to one or more Àlters, the entry in the feasibility matrix is 0.” (Fawcett, 2011c, p.207) 86
Fig. 18. The traditional model for decision-making (upper diagram) vs Fawcett’s “lifecycle options” (bottom
diagram) (Fawcett, 2016b, p.57) 86
Fig. 19. Duffy’s layers of change (Duffy, 1990, p.17) 96
Fig. 20. Brand’s shearing layers of change (Brand, 1994, p.13) 96
Fig. 21. Interpretative comparison of both Duffy’s and Brand’s models (Carolina Coelho) 97
Fig. 22. a) “4 May 1857. New Orleands [sic] Notarial Archives, Plan Book 43, Folio 46”; b) “November,
1993. Robert S. Brantley, New Orleans” (Brand, 1994, pp.viii-1) 99
Fig. 23. a) Facilities has been launched by DEGW in 1983; b) “Building appraisal techniques played a
key role in deÀning the brief for the Broadgate project and set the benchmark for all future
development. Prepared for Rosehaugh Stanhope this diagram sets Broadgate in a world context.
823
Accommodating and managing change are key factors.” (Duffy and DEGW, 1998, pp.46,48) 100
Fig. 24. a) “Matching patterns of user demand with building supply is essential to any successful
commercial property strategy”; b) “A diagram from The Responsible Workplace, showing the
tension between an organisation’s need to minimise costs while simultaneously adding value at
different levels of decision-making”; c) “Another diagram from The Responsible Workplace,
showing how a time-based redesign of the work process is the most effective way to minimise
cost and add value” (Duffy and DEGW, 1998, , pp.50-51,76) 101
Fig. 25. a) “REACT model – the framework for ‘facilities change management’” (Finch, 2012b, p.13); b)
“Levels of organizational change” (Mintzberg and Westley 1992, p.42) 103
Fig. 26. “Mapping of literature against AF strategies” (Schmidt III et al., 2010b, p.6) 105
Fig. 27. “Summary of Strategies in relationship to other dimensions” (Schmidt III et al., 2010b, p.7) 106
Fig. 28. a) Open-Air School, Cliostraat, Amesterdmo, by Duiker and Bijvoet, 1927-30; b) Arnhemse
Buitenschool Monnikenhuizen, Arnhem, by H. B. van Broekhuizen, 1930; c) Petersschule, Basel,
by Hannes Meyer and Hans Wittwer, 1926 (Hertzberger, 2008, pp.14, 19) 110
Fig. 29. Open-Air School, Suresnes, by Beaudouin and Lods, 1931-1935 (Hertzberger, 2008, p.18) 111
Fig. 30. Impington Village College by Gropius and Maxwell Fry. a) “a close-up of the end of the class-
room wing, showing the sliding windows, facing south-east, that can be thrown open to the
garden”; b) “model of the whole scheme” and plan (The Architectural Review, 1939, pp.227,229) 112
Fig. 31. a) “The system of construction, based on a number of standard components, used of all the
Hertfordshire schools”; b) “The modular cage. The 8 ft. 3 in. planning grid and the 8 in. vertical
module control the dimensions of every constructional element” (Llewelyn-Davies and Weeks,
1952, p.368) 114
Fig. 32. “Diagrammatic plans of Herts primary schools, 1947-50, showing grouping, siting and contours.
The shading indicates the north side, classrooms are shown by numbers. H=Hall; D=Dining;
K=Kitchen. 1, Monkfrith Infants School, East Barnet. 2, Cowley Hill School, Borehamwood.
3, Belswains School, Hemel Hempstead. 4, Morgans Walk School, Hertford 5, Aboyne Lodge
Infants School, St. Albans. 6, Spencer School, St. Albans. 7, Warren Dell School, Watford. 8,
Templewood School, Welwyn Garden City.” (Saint, 1987, p.69) 114
Fig. 33. a) Woodberry Down High School : « Top : the proposed high school from the west with two
gymnasia in the foreground. Centre: from the north-east, showing the arts and crafts wing, with
the workshops in the foreground.»; b) Woodberry Down High School, plans (Matthew, 1949,
pp.465,466) 117
Fig. 34. a) “BPRU conceptual model”; b) “BPRU conceptual model applied to a school” (Building
Performance Research Unit, 1970, p.10) 119
Fig. 35. “LEAs in membership of building consortia” (Wigglesworth, 1966, p.267) 121
Fig. 36. The UK School at the Triennale (Royal Institute of British Architects, 1960, cover, p.415) 122
Fig. 37. “Cheshunt J. M. I. School, Hertfordshire” (Lacey, 1965, p.298) 123
Fig. 38. a) Hunstanton School, Norfolk, by Alison and Peter Smithson, 1949-1954, plans (Architects’
Journal, 1953, p.324); b) “The school and separate gymnasium block from the north-west”
(Architects’ Journal, 1954, p.341); c) “Industrial Ànishes at Hunstanton: technology triumphant
and celebrated, not subordinated to the priorities of teaching and learning.” (Saint, 1987, p.185) 124
Fig. 39. Free University Berlin. Candilis, Josic and Woods, 1964 (Hertzberger, 1991, p.117) 125
Fig. 40. a) Progressive Architecture, April 1968 (Progressive Architecture, 1968, cover, back cover); b)
Technological tools (Progressive Architecture, 1968, p.137) 130
Fig. 41. a) Simultaneous teaching. Class (Alegre, 2009, p.28); b) Mutual teaching (Lancaster method).
Classroom, 1811 (Alegre, 2009, p.28); c) Geschwister-Scholl-Schule (Lünen, 1956-62) by
Scharoun (Architectural Forum, 1961, p.107) 133
Fig. 42. a) Crow Island School, Winnetka, 1939-40, Eliel and Eero Saarinen, with Perkins, Wheeler and
Will (Architectural Forum, 1955, pp.130, 131, 132); b) Class of a primary school, Neutra, 1934-35
(for small children) (Neutra, 1935, p.51) 135
Fig. 43. a) “Air and the pupil” ; b) “Sound and the pupil”; c) “School planning starts and ends with the
824
pupil. Every factor must relate in some way or other to the school child. […] We want schools
that serve the needs of our youngster - emotional needs as well as physical needs” (Caudill, 1954,
pp.2, 6, 7) 136
Fig. 44. “Formality vs. Informality” (Caudill, 1954, pp.22-23) 137
Fig. 45. “The following series of photographs, posed by an actual elementary class, demonstrates the
space requirements of typical classroom activities” (Caudill, 1954, pp.30-34) 138
Fig. 46. a) “Perkins and Will, Heathcote School, plan” (Ogata, 2008, p.573); b) “Flexible school made up
of classroom clusters, 1954. The Architects Collaborative” (Royal Institute of British Architects,
1956, p.231) 139
Fig. 47. “An open-plan school in the United States” (Manning, 1968, p.378) 141
Fig. 48. a) Mem Martins School, 1966 (Heitor, 2014, p.507. From: Mistério da Educaçmo e Cirncia,
Secretaria Geral, Direçmo de Serviços de Documentaçmo e Arquivo); b) “Plans of the Àrst “P3”
school built in Quarteira and inaugurated in 1974 (Martinho and Silva, 2008, p.5) 143
Fig. 49. “3x3 Project: different site locations”: a) José Saramago Secondary School, Mafra; b) Dr. António
Carvalho Figueiredo Secondary School, Loures; c) Ponte de Sôr Secondary School, Ponte de
Sôr; d) Plan of the standard-block – ground Áoor; e) Plan of the standard -block – upper Áoors
(Heitor, 2014, p.515) 145
Fig. 50. “A Áoor or roof structure which allows the easy incorporation of new horizontal services runs,
an important feature of adaptability” (OECD, 1976, p.99) 149
Fig. 51. a) Illustration for the concept of “turf ” (Leggett et al.,1977, pp.66, 67); b) “Well-deÀned acticity
pockets” (Moore, and Lackney, 1994, p.30) 151
Fig. 52. a) Fixed structure; b) Adaptable equipment (Clynes, 1990, pp.23-24) 152
Fig. 53. Montessori School, Delft, by Hertzberger, 1960-2010 (Scholen, 2009, p.165) 153
Fig. 54. a) “Basic classrrom” vs “Articulated classrroom”: “Articulated leads to multiple centres”; b)
Conceptual model of the classroom as a shell; c) De Monchy School, Arnhem, 2004-2007
(Hertzberger, 2008, pp.24-25, 32, 65) 154
Fig. 55. Apollo Schools Amsterdam, 1980-83. “Top-lit central amphitheatre connects six classrooms on
three levels”Apollo Schools Amsterdam, 1980-83 (McCarter and Herzberger, 2015, p.158) 155
Fig. 56. Apollo Schools Amsterdam, 1980-83 (Herzberger, 1991, p.215) 156
Fig. 57. a) “Plans of Willemspark School (top) and Montessori School (bottom)” (edited); b) Apollo
Schools Amsterdam, 1980-83, Section (McCarter and Herzberger, 2015, pp.154-155) 157
Fig. 58. a) Montessori School, Delft, by Herman Hertzberger, 1960-2010. “Main street through the
building, formed by a chain of places” (Herzberger, 2008, p.115); b) “From user to dweller”
(Hertzberger, 1991, p.29) 158
Fig. 59. Montessori School, Delft, by Herman Hertzberger, 1960-2010, plans of construction stages
(Herzberger, 2008, p.115; Hertzberger, 1991, p.29) 159
Fig. 60. Amstelveenseweg Orphanage, Aldo van Eyck, Amsterdam, 1955-60 (Eyck, 1999, p.50) 160
Fig. 61. a) School scheme with 16 classrooms, celule B, Manuel Tainha, Olivais Sul, 1965-68 (Parque
Escolar’s archives, conference “Fazer a Escola”, 2010); b) Cedro Elementary School, Fernando
Távora, Vila Nova de Gaia, 1957-61 (Banderinha, 2012, p.233); c) Cedro Elementary School,
photograph, 2016 (Carolina Coelho) 161
Fig. 62. “The transactional worldview examines the interrelationship between the social and the physical
environments and the learner.” (Lippman, 2010, p.20. Authors: Peter Lippman and Marius
Calin) (edited) 167
Fig. 63. “A mediational-interactional model of environmental factors affecting educational outcomes”
(Moore and Lackney, 1994, p.15) (edited) 171
Fig. 64. “Active Learning Ecosystem framework” (Scott-Weber, 2014, p.163) 172
Fig. 65. a) The village school, by William Henry Knight, 1857 (Image’s source: www.leicestergalleries.
com/19th-20th-century-paintings/d/william-henry-knight/10393); b) The village school in
1848, by Albert Anker, 1896 (Located on the Kunstmuseum, Basel. Image’s source: www.the-
825
athenaeum.org/art/full.php?ID=111125); c) Titaan College Hoorn (NL), 1999-2004, by Herman

Hertzberger (Mccarter and Herzberger, 2015, p.219) 174
Fig. 66. “Secondary environment: the layout of the traditional classroom where the teacher is the
performer/local point of the learning environment.” Vs “Potential activities occur routinely
in a traditional classroom where the teacher is the performer/local point of the learning
environment.” (Lippman, 2010, pp.13-14. Authors: Peter Lippman and Marius Calin) 176
Fig. 67. “Learning Path – Niche, Alcove, & Hub”s” (Lippman, 2002, p.5) (edited) 177
Fig. 68. a) “Formal and informal learning spaces shown as a pattern of ‘either/or’ binary oppositions and
associations”; b) “Learning space shown as a pattern of ‘and/and’ encounters and practices”
(Boys, 2011, pp.5, 7) (edited) 179
Fig. 69. a) “Contemporary thought about learning and teaching’, division, Orphelinat (orphanage National
des Chemins de Fer, Colonie d’Avernes, France, c. 1920” (Burke and Grosvenor, 2008, p.11)
(edited); b) “Wireless Laptops Provide Information Access and Clearer Sight Lines” (Oblinger,
2006, p.224, Photo: Andrew Nolte ©2005 Estrella Mountain Community College)(edited) 180
Fig. 70. a) Photo from the exhibition on the “100 years of Heritage: memory and identity – Portugal
1910-2010”, in Palácio Nacional da Ajuda, Lisbon, 2010, coordinated by Jorge Custódio (Luís
Miguel Correia); b) Informal spaces for learning: creative learning and group interaction (OECD,
2011, p.12) 182
Fig. 71. a) “Linking pedagogy and space” (Fisher, 2006, p.17 Source: Fisher, K, TEFMA Seminar, Brisbane
(March, 2005) and Christchurch (July, 2005), adapted from Scott-Webber (2004)) (edited); b)
Learning settings (Fisher, 2005a, p.10) 185
Fig. 72. “The Habitability Framework: Transfer of Maslow’s Levels of Human Functioning to Habitability
Levels of Architecture” (Taylor, 2009, p.133 © 2007 Anne Taylor Associates) 187
Fig. 73. a)“Flexible space between outer shell and inner core”; b)“Schools need some adaptable space”;
c)“Schools must grow and change” ; d)“OfÀce buildings provide re-deployable space” (Brubaker,
1998, p.32,34) 189
Fig. 74. a) Arcos School Complex, Óbidos (Sat, 2010, p.89) (edited); b) Passos Manuel Secondary School,
Lisbon (Heitor, 2011, pp.10-11) (edited); c) Soares dos Reis Artistic School, Porto (OECD, 2011,
p.217) 192
Fig. 75. Soares dos Reis Artistic School (Heitor, 2008a, p.35) (edited) 198
Fig. 76. “Areas of possible literatures of relevance” Courtesy of Professor Paul Jenkins. (Jenkins,
2010, p.10) 205
Fig. 77. “3D analytical framework” Courtesy of Professor Paul Jenkins (Jenkins, 2010, p.14) 209
Fig. 78. “Models of knowledge of relevance” (Jenkins, 2010, p.11) 211
Fig. 79. “Re-deÀning the relationships between architectural research, the design practice and the user”
Courtesy of Kerstin Sailer. (Sailer et al., 2007a, p.7) 213
Fig. 80. Observing environmental behaviour (Zeisel, 1984, p.125) 215
Fig. 81. “Frequency Distribution for Selected Statements” (Preiser, 1970, p.257) 218
Fig. 82. “Post-occupancy evaluation uses and beneÀts” (Preiser, Rabinowitz and White, 1988, p.5) 218
Fig. 83. Illustration of the beneÀts of POE (Preiser, Rabinowitz and White, 1988, p.7) 218
Fig. 84. “POE applied to school facilities: A systematic and integrated vision in a built environment”
(Ornstein, 2005, p.137) (edited) 221
Fig. 85. “Building performance evaluation (BPE) process model” Source: Wolfgang F.E. Preiser. (Preiser
and Vischer, 2005, p.17) 222
Fig. 86. “Interrelationships between buildings, occupants and occupant needs” Source: Wolfgang F.E.
Preiser. (Preiser and Vischer, 2005, p.22) (edited) 222
Fig. 87. “Feedback and feed forward of ex ante and ex post evaluation” (Voordt and Maarleveld, 2006, p.10) 222
Fig. 88. “Types of FPEs and their relationships to the building production, delivery, and occupancy
stages” (Zimring, Rashid and Kampschroer, 2005, p.2) 225
826
Fig. 89. Bill Hillier, at 32 years old, as assistant secretary of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
(Royal Institute of British Architects, 1969, p.426 229
Fig. 90. “The four-function model as a structure (two versions)” (Hillier and Leaman, 1974, p.8) 231
Fig. 91. “Elementary lexicon. The diagrams are illustrative rather than rigorous and are included as an aid
to understanding the argument” (Hillier, Leaman, Stansall and Bedford, 1976, p.155) 234
Fig. 92. Space Syntax, paper cover of the paper on the Architect’s Journal 30 (Hillier, Hanson, Peponis,
Hudson and Burdett, 1983, p.47) 235
Fig. 93. Limehouse Basin – photo (Hillier, Hanson, Peponis, Hudson and Burdett, 1983, p.60) 236
Fig. 94. Limehouse Basin – spatial analysis (Hillier, Hanson, Peponis, Hudson and Burdett, 1983, p.60) 236
Fig. 95. Richard Rogers’s proposal and analysis (Hillier, Peponis and Simpson, 1982, p.38) 238
Fig. 96. Mission Impossible? (The Architects’ Journal, 1983, pp.14-15) 239
Fig. 97. Space syntax studies at the Bartlett, UCL Courtesy of Professor Bill Hillier. (http://www.bartlett.
ucl.ac.uk/graduate/programmes/postgraduate/mscdiploma-advanced-architectural-studies) 242
Fig. 98. Space Syntax Laboratory (Carolina Coelho, 2015) 243
Fig. 99. Space Syntax Symposium, London, 13 -17 July 2015 (http://www.sss10.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk)
th th
244
Fig. 100. Space Syntax Symposium, Lisbon, 3 -7 July 2017 (Heitor, 2017b, p.1)
rd th
244
Fig. 101. “Rating of research methods for evaluating quality in educational facilities” (OECD, 2005b, p.12) 252
Fig. 102. “Ideal process of model-making in relation to the reality” (Echenique, 1972, p.172) 262
Fig. 103. “ClassiÀcation of research into adaptability” (Fawcett, 1978, p.16) 274
Fig. 104. “Relationships between the functional parts describing the environment” (Aylward, 1970, p.131) 279
Fig. 105. “Notional order of need and interdependence between activity and space properties” (Aylward,
1970, p.132) 280
Fig. 106. a) Distribution of activities per room size; b) Frequency of room in hospitals and schools per
room size (Cowan, 1963, pp.57,58) 281
Fig. 107. Structural degeneration (Cowan, 1963, p.68) 282
Fig. 108. Functional obsolescence (Cowan, 1963, p.69) 283
Fig. 109. a) “Disutility scale”; b) “A schematic view of constraints through time” (Nutt et al., 1976,
pp.64,40) 284
Fig. 110. a) Matrix of correlation of actions to constraints; b) Zero-one matrix and bipartite graph as in
which feasible event-space pairs are linked by an edge (Fawcett, 1978, p.23) 286
Fig. 111. “Restrictions and constraints shown diagrammatically” (Tomlison et al., 1973, p.234) 288
Fig. 112. “Diagrammatic presentation of the results of a large-scale simulation of student activities for a
10 per cent sample of a university of 3,000 students in all” (Bullock, Dickens, Steadman, 1970,
p.304) 290
Fig. 113. Filters that constrain the feasibility matrix (Fawcett, 1976b, p.28) 294
Fig. 114. Brand’s “shearing layers of change” (Brand, 1994, p.13) 295
Fig. 115. “OfÀce layouts of differing degrees of sub division and differentiation are thought likely to relate to
the organisational dimensions of interaction and bureaucracy” (Duffy and Worthington, 1976, p.602)296
Fig. 116. Fawcett’s adaptability formulation (Fawcett, 1978, p.56) 302
Fig. 117. a) Analogy between adaptability and reliability, illustrated from a beam and a building; b)
Comparison between beams and spaces in the same feasibility matrix (Fawcett, 1978, pp.59-60) 304
Fig. 118. a) “Five possible schedules of a population of 4”; b) Diagram of the set of schedules, in which
adjacent schedules are joined, for a population of six and “rotational symmetry” from the lattice
(Fawcett, 1978, pp.76,81) 311
Fig. 119. Ensemble of possible states for a population of 4 (Fawcett, 1978, p.85) 313
Fig. 120. “Schedules and associated microstates of a population of 6 individuals” (Fawcett,1978, p.87) 314
827
Fig. 121. “Number of occurrences of groups according to size (=number of pupils present) in the
observed weeks. Subsidiary segment represents sixth form groups” (Fawcett, 1976a, p.12) 315
Fig. 122. “Plotting activity states against space budget” (Fawcett, 1978, p.138) 320
Fig. 123. Feasibility matrix (Fawcett, 1978, p.168) 322
Fig. 124. a) Two representations of feasible event-space pairs; b) Matrix of all allocations and stochastic
matrix (Fawcett, 1978, pp.179,181) 323
Fig. 125. Schematic synthesis of the methodology (Carolina Coelho) 335
Fig. 126. Synthesis of the methodology (Carolina Coelho) 340
Fig. 127. Description of the spaces of the school (Carolina Coelho) 342
Fig. 128. Description of the activities of the school (Carolina Coelho) 343
Fig. 129. Description of the spatial attributes of the school (Carolina Coelho) 344
Fig. 130. Detailed systematisation of the Àrst step of the methodology (Carolina Coelho) 346
Fig. 131. “An example of how convex and axial representations are mapped on House at Creek Vean,
Team 4.” “a) An analyse convex map,” “b) An analyse axial map” (MSc AAS student work 2007
@UCL in Al_Sayed, Turner, Hillier, and Iida, 2014, p.12) 349
Fig. 132. Sequential procedure for measuring the entropy of the system (Carolina Coelho) 355
Fig. 133. Activities sample of an abstract scenario (Carolina Coelho) 357
Fig. 134. Feasibility matrix of an abstract scenario to be Àlled in (Carolina Coelho) 358
Fig. 135. Allocation matrix of an abstract scenario to be Àlled in Domain III _ less disaggregated Domain
IV_ more disaggregated (Carolina Coelho) 360
Fig. 136. Distribution matrix of an abstract scenario to be Àlled in for Domain III (Carolina Coelho) 360
Fig. 137. Floor plan of Quinta das Flores School with its several convex spaces and a representative axial
line (in red) (Carolina Coelho) 363
Fig. 138. Illustration of observation practices. a) “An example of snapshot at observation at Belén
Library Park”; b) “An example of tracing observation at Belén Library Park”; c) “Aggregating all
snapshots and tracings in a single GIS Àle” (Capillé and Psarra, 2015, p.8) 364
Fig. 139. a) “Observation analysis” (Aragüez and Psarra, 2015, p.16); b) “Snapshot data from the study
areas showing the amount of pedestrians: […] SoFo” (Choi and Koch, 2015, p.6); c) “Five major
routing patterns at the Keio Techno Mall.” (Naya, Yamada, Kishimoto, 2015) 365
Fig. 140. Analysis of the potential correlations between Integration, Entropy and Experience from the
milestones of the methodology (Carolina Coelho) 370
Fig. 141. Quinta das Flores School _ Location in Portugal identiÀed with a red dot (Google Earth) 376
Fig. 142. Quinta das Flores School _ Location in Coimbra identiÀed with a red dot (Google Earth) 376
Fig. 143. Quinta das Flores School _ Bird’s eye view of the all school (Google Earth) 376
Fig. 144. Quinta das Flores School _ New building in its street façade (Carolina Coelho) 378
Fig. 145. Quinta das Flores School _ New building and its accesses from the street (Carolina Coelho) 381
Fig. 146. Quinta das Flores School (ground Áoor) _ Spatial sample identiÀed in grey (Plans provided by
Parque Escolar with the spatial sample screened in grey by Carolina Coelho) 392
Fig. 147. Quinta das Flores School _ New construction from the Secondary School Modernisation
Programme identiÀed in dark grey (Parque Escolar, n. d. b) 396
Fig. 148. Quinta das Flores School _ Transversal section of the plot and overall plan (Drawings provided
by Parque Escolar and edited by Carolina Coelho) 400
Fig. 149. Description of the methodology and identiÀcation of the current milestone I. (Carolina Coelho) 406
Fig. 150. Quinta das Flores School’s new building (Plans provided by Parque Escolar and edited with
captions by Carolina Coelho) 409
Fig. 151. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Main façade (Drawings provided by Parque Escolar and
edited by Carolina Coelho) 411
828
Fig. 152. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Transversal section through the administrative block
(Drawings provided by Parque Escolar and edited by Carolina Coelho) 411
Fig. 153. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Transversal section through the auditorium (Drawings
provided by Parque Escolar and edited by Carolina Coelho) 411
Fig. 154. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Active and supportive learning environments (Original
plans provided by Parque Escolar, edited and colour assigned by Carolina Coelho) 414
Fig. 155. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Informal and formal spaces (Original plans provided
by Parque Escolar, edited and colour assigned by Carolina Coelho) 416
Fig. 156. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Pathways for circulation (Original plans provided by
Parque Escolar, edited and colour assigned by Carolina Coelho) 422
Fig. 157. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Teaching regime (Original plans provided by Parque
Escolar, edited and colour assigned by Carolina Coelho) 424
Fig. 158. Descriptions of the spaces of the school (Carolina Coelho) 428
Fig. 159. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Spatial analysis (according to Fig. 158) (Original plans
provided by Parque Escolar, edited and colour assigned by Carolina Coelho) 428
Fig. 160. Descriptions of the activities of the school (Carolina Coelho) 432
Fig. 161. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Activities of the school (according to Fig. 160)
(Original plans provided by Parque Escolar, edited and colour assigned by Carolina Coelho) 432
Fig. 162. Descriptions of the spatial attributes of the school (Carolina Coelho) 434
Fig. 163. Detailed drawings of a typical music classroom (plan, section and interior façade) (Parque
Escolar) 434
Fig. 164. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Entrance from the street (Carolina Coelho) 438
Fig. 165. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Accesses from the main hall to the exterior (Carolina
Coelho) 438
Fig. 166. Quinta das Flores School’s new building _ Accesses from the new building to the exterior
(Carolina Coelho) 438
Fig. 167. Detailed systematisation of the Àrst step of the methodology (Carolina Coelho) 440
Fig. 168. Quinta das Flores School’s new building, Convex Spaces: a) over the plans; b) detached (original
spaces as convex spaces in magenta; convex spaces adjusted from the original non-convex spaces
in green) (Original plans provided by Parque Escolar, editing and convex spaces’ drawings by
Carolina Coelho) 444
Fig. 169. Quinta das Flores School’s new building: a) Convex spaces; b) Pajek graph (Carolina Coelho) 444
Fig. 170. Convex Space Analysis: a) Integration HH rn map; b) Integration HH r3 map (Carolina
Coelho) 446
Fig. 171. Attributes Summary rn (Carolina Coelho) 447
Fig. 172. Convex Space Analysis: a) Connectivity rn map; b) Mean Depth rn map (Carolina Coelho) 448
Fig. 173. Integration, Connectivity and Mean Depth rn comparison for the convex space analysis (table
and scattergram) (Carolina Coelho) 449
Fig. 174. Integration, Connectivity and Mean Depth rn and r3 comparison for the convex space analysis
(table and scattergram) (Carolina Coelho) 450
Fig. 175. Intelligibility rn Scattergram (Carolina Coelho) 451
Fig. 176. Quinta das Flores School’s new building: a) Closed polygons for axial maps over the Ànal plans
of the building (in red); b) Closed polygons for axial maps (Original plans provided by Parque
Escolar, editing and closed polygons’ drawings by Carolina Coelho) 452
Fig. 177. Quinta das Flores School’s new building, Axial line map: a) With all axial lines; b) Reduced to the
fewest lines (Carolina Coelho) 452
Fig. 178. Axial Line Analysis: a) Integration HH rn map; b) Integration HH r3 map (Carolina Coelho) 454
Fig. 179. Axial Line Analysis: a) Connectivity rn map; b) Mean Depth rn map (Carolina Coelho) 454
829
Fig. 180. Attributes Summary rn (Carolina Coelho) 455

Fig. 181. Integration, Connectivity and Mean Depth rn comparison for the axial line analysis (table and
scattergram with and without outliers) (Carolina Coelho) 456
Fig. 182. Integration, Connectivity and Mean Depth rn and r3 comparison for the axial line analysis (table
and scattergram with and without outliers) (Carolina Coelho) 457
Fig. 183. Intelligibility rn Scattergram (Carolina Coelho) 459
Fig. 184. VGA Analysis, Visibility graph: a) Filling in the spaces; b) Connectivity (Carolina Coelho) 460
Fig. 185. VGA Analysis, Visibility graph: a) Visual integration HH; b) Visual clustering coefÀcient (Carolina
Coelho) 460
Fig. 186. VGA Analysis, Visibility graph: Visual control (Carolina Coelho) 463
Fig. 187. VGA Analysis, Visibility graph: Isovists (Carolina Coelho) 464
Fig. 188. VGA Analysis, Visibility graph: a) Isovists with closed doors; b) Visual integration HH with
closed doors; c) Visual clustering coefÀcient with closed doors; d) Visual control with closed
doors (Carolina Coelho) 464
Fig. 189. Axial and Convex Integration HH: a) Axial map; b) Convex map (Carolina Coelho) 467
Fig. 190. Integration, Connectivity and Mean Depth rn comparison between all parameters (table and
scattergram with and without outliers) (Carolina Coelho) 468
Fig. 191. Integration, Connectivity and Mean Depth rn and r3 comparison between all parameters (table
and scattergram with and without outliers) (Carolina Coelho) 468
Fig. 192. Visibility graph and Isovists (Carolina Coelho) 472
Fig. 193. Integration rn comparison between convex, axial and VGA analysis (table and scattergram with
and without outliers) (Carolina Coelho) 474
Fig. 194. Integration map for convex, axial and VGA analysis (Carolina Coelho) 475
Fig. 195. Description of the methodology and identiÀcation of the current milestone II. (Carolina Coelho) 480
Fig. 196. Sequential procedure for measuring the entropy of the system (Carolina Coelho) 481
Fig. 197. Quinta das Flores School’s new building (Plans provided by Parque Escolar and edited with
captions by Carolina Coelho) 484
Fig. 198. Activities sample (Carolina Coelho) 486
Fig. 199. Feasibility matrix (Carolina Coelho) 492
Fig. 200. Allocation matrices per domain (Spaces 1 to 49 are identiÀed in Fig. 197 and Domains I to IV are
identiÀed in Fig. 198) 498
Fig. 201. Distribution matrices per domain (Spaces 1 to 49 are identiÀed in Fig. 197 and Domains I to IV
are identiÀed in Fig. 198) 498
Fig. 202. Table with the entropy results per space for both distributions (Spaces’ locations are identiÀed in
the school plans illustrated in Fig. 197) (Carolina Coelho) 500
Fig. 203a. Axial line entropy and average axial line entropy distributions for the ground Áoor per domain
Fig. 203b.Axial line entropy and average axial line entropy distributions for the Àrst and second Áoors per
domain (Carolina Coelho) 507
Fig. 204. Correlation between activity allocations and entropy per domain _ Table (Spaces’ locations are
identiÀed in the school plans illustrated in Fig. 197 and the numbers near the spaces’ identiÀcation
refer to their caption on those plans) (Carolina Coelho) 508
Fig. 205. Correlation between activity allocations and entropy per domain _ Scattergram (Spaces’ locations
are identiÀed in the school plans illustrated in Fig. 197) (Carolina Coelho) 512
Fig. 206. Distribution of activities per room size (Cowan, 1963, p.57) 513
Fig. 207. Description of the methodology and identiÀcation of the current milestone III. (Carolina
Coelho) 516
830
Fig. 208. Observation matrices, 3rd February 2017 (Carolina Coelho) 522
Fig. 209. Walkthrough, 3rd February (Carolina Coelho, Jéssica Barreto) 523
Fig. 210. Focus group, 3rd February (Carolina Coelho, Jéssica Barreto) 524
Fig. 211. “Movement traces and static activities are drawn on a 1:50 plan of the target area. Notes on
behavioural patterns and special features and conditions are recorded. Source: Screens in the Wild
@UCL.” (Sayed, Turner, Hillier and Iida, 2014, p.42) 529
Fig. 212. Indication of the observation location by Áoor (Carolina Coelho) 533
Fig. 213. Detailed plan of the observation locations, in which to register the data, highlighted with a red
boundary and with a dot representing the observers’ positioning (Carolina Coelho) 537
Fig. 214. a) “Survey of the city square, Ascoli Piceno, Italy”; b) “Survey of pedestrian routes on a square
in Copenhagen” (Gehl, 2011, p.148 and p.138) 539
Fig. 215. “A vivid image of Kleparski market” (Lynch, 1977, p.41) 540
Fig. 216. “Diagramming the activity in a public park in Melbourne and the photograph keyed to the
diagram” (Lynch, 1977, pp.68-69) 540
Fig. 217. “Behavioral diagram from Melbourne” (Lynch, 1977, pp.110-111) 540
Fig. 218. Team meeting after each observation (Carolina Coelho) 542
Fig. 219. Plans and photos of the observed spaces with furniture and devices’ location: a) Library on the
ground Áoor; b) Main corridor of the second Áoor; c) Main corridor of the Àrst Áoor (Carolina
Coelho) 546
Fig. 220. Plans and photos of the observed spaces with furniture and devices’ location: a) Main hall on the
ground Áoor; b) Cafeteria on the ground Áoor; c) Canteen on the ground Áoor (Carolina Coelho) 548
Fig. 221. Observations 23rd January, 8.00 / 8.30 a.m. _ Ànal drawings (Carolina Coelho) 554
Fig. 222. Observations 23rd January, 10.00 / 10.30 a.m. _ Ànal drawings (Carolina Coelho) 558
Fig. 223. Observations 23rd January, 1.00 / 1.30 p.m. _ Ànal drawings (Carolina Coelho) 563
Fig. 224. Observations 23rd January, 5.00 / 5.30 p.m. _ Ànal drawings (Carolina Coelho) 566
Fig. 225. Observations 25th January, 8.00 / 8.30 a.m. _ Ànal drawings (Carolina Coelho) 570
Fig. 227. Observations 25th January, 1.00 / 1.30 p.m. _ Ànal drawings (Carolina Coelho) 578
Fig. 228. Observations 25th January, 5.00 / 5.30 p.m. _ Ànal drawings (Carolina Coelho) 581
Fig. 230. Observations 7th February, 10.00 / 10.30 a.m. _ Ànal drawings (Carolina Coelho) 587
Fig. 231. Observations 7th February, 1.00 / 1.30 p.m. _ Ànal drawings (Carolina Coelho) 590
Fig. 234. Observations 9th February, 10.00 / 10.30 a.m. _ Ànal drawings (Carolina Coelho) 598
Fig. 237. Students waiting for classes (from left to right: the main hall and the science lab corridor)
Fig. 238. a) Corridor on the Àrst Áoor; b) Students on the second Áoor (Carolina Coelho, Maria Catré) 604
Fig. 239. a) Parents with their children: studying for regular classes and going to the music lesson; b) Main
hall in the morning arrival; c) Main hall in the mid-morning break; d) Main hall in the afternoon
Fig. 240. a) Library; b) Activities in the library (Carolina Coelho, Jéssica Barreto, Juliana Ferreira) 606
Fig. 241. a) Auditorium’s cafeteria; b) School cafeteria at the mid-morning break; c) Locker space on the
corridor on the second Áoor (Carolina Coelho, Daniela Aires) 607
831
Fig. 242. Dance students heading towards the dance studios for classes (Carolina Coelho, Maria Catré) 608
Fig. 243. a) Activities in the corridors’ niches; b) Room for students to leave their instruments and the
room of the music sheets (Carolina Coelho, Stephanie Torres, Micael Soares) 610
Fig. 244. a) Activities in the corridors’ niches; b) School cafeteria; c) Canteen at lunch time (Carolina
Coelho, Stephanie Torres, Micael Soares, Daniela Aires) 611
Fig. 245. a) Main hall’s fruition (from left to right: morning arrival, mid-morning break and afternoon);
b) Different seating arrangements on the main hall with and without the exhibitions display
Fig. 246. a) Younger children playing; b) Library’s clusters of users (Carolina Coelho) 614
Fig. 247. The queues generated by the card machines on the main hall (Carolina Coelho) 615
Fig. 248. a) Educational activities in the niches and social and leisure activities in the library; b) Main hall’s
fruition and location of students (Carolina Coelho, Juliana Ferreira) 617
Fig. 249. a) Main hall on the mid-morning break before the display on the auditorium; b) Students studying
(from left to right: external courtyard, auditorium’s cafeteria) (Carolina Coelho, Daniela Aires) 619
Fig. 250. Artistic practice in one of the corridors’ niches (Carolina Coelho) 620
Fig. 251. Artistic students in the library experiencing both leisure and educational activities, while using the
computers, playing on their phones and listening to music (Juliana Ferreira) 625
Fig. 252. “Physical arrangement can promote or prevent visual and auditory contact in at least Àve different
ways.” (Gehl, 2011, p.62) 627
Fig. 253. Walkthrough with teachers of the regular teaching: a) plans; b) photos (Carolina Coelho, Daniela
Aires) 635
Fig. 254. Walkthrough with students of the regular teaching: a) plans; b) photos (Carolina Coelho, Daniela
Aires) 637
Fig. 255. Walkthrough with students of the articulated teaching _ debating on the potential adaptable
spaces: a) plans; b) photos (Carolina Coelho, Jéssica Barreto) 639
Fig. 256. Walkthrough with students of the articulated teaching _ moving through the school (Carolina
Coelho, Jéssica Barreto) 642
Fig. 257. Walkthrough with teachers of the artistic teaching _ plans (Carolina Coelho, Micael Soares) 643
Fig. 258. Walkthrough with teachers of the artistic teaching (Carolina Coelho, Jéssica Barreto) 644
Fig. 259. Walkthrough with all groups _ plans (Carolina Coelho, Daniela Aires) 645
Fig. 260. Focus groups with teachers of the regular teaching _ drawing by one participant (Teacher A) 651
Fig. 261. Focus groups with teachers of the regular teaching (Carolina Coelho, Daniela Aires) 652
Fig. 262. Focus groups with students of the regular teaching _ brieÀng on the aim of the procedure
(Carolina Coelho, Jéssica Barreto) 653
Fig. 263. Focus groups with students of the regular teaching _ drawing by one participant (Student A) 655
Fig. 264. Focus groups with students of the regular teaching (Carolina Coelho, Jéssica Barreto) 656
Fig. 265. Focus groups with students of the articulated teaching _ drawing by one participant
(Student B) 657
Fig. 266. Focus groups with students of the articulated teaching (Carolina Coelho) 658
Fig. 267. Moment of spontaneous artistic display during the focus group with students of the articulated
teaching (Carolina Coelho, Jéssica Barreto) 660
Fig. 268. Focus groups with teachers of the artistic teaching _ drawing by one participant (Teacher B) 663
Fig. 269. Focus groups with teachers of the artistic teaching (Carolina Coelho, Jéssica Barreto) 664
Fig. 270. a) Project “Há Baixa” with students from the Department of Architecture of the University
of Coimbra, explaining their project and displaying a movie projection about their work, 14th
February 2017; b) Students entering a session on the auditorium, gathering a set of several classes
from different years. 9th February 2017, 10.30 a.m (Carolina Coelho) 668
832
Fig. 271. Exhibition on the main hall, 25th January (left) and 7th February (right) (Carolina Coelho) 669
Fig. 272. Exhibition displayed on the main hall 25th January (right) and its previously layout 23rd (left)
Fig. 273. a) Exhibition displayed on the library, 23rd January; b) Auditorium’s cafeteria on the main hall,
23rd January (Carolina Coelho) 671
Fig. 274. Student Association room. 7th February (Carolina Coelho) 672
Fig. 275. Plans with the effective spatial usage of the school (Plans provided by Parque Escolar and edited
with captions by Carolina Coelho) 674
Fig. 276. Description of the methodology and identiÀcation of the current milestone IV. (Carolina
Coelho) 686
Fig. 277. Different ways of experiencing the artistic school spaces (from left to right: the auditorium’s
cafeteria, the dance studio, the main hall, open space onto the corridor) (Carolina Coelho) 688
Fig. 278. Quinta das Flores School _ Spaces and Activities (Original plans provided by Parque Escolar,
edited and colour assigned by Carolina Coelho) 688
Fig. 279. Axial line (a) and convex space map (b) for integration (Carolina Coelho) 690
Fig. 280. Entropy rank of convex spaces (Carolina Coelho) 692
Fig. 281. Convex spaces correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy. All convex spaces (a) with all
values, (b) dismissing outliers (Carolina Coelho) 695
Fig. 282. Convex spaces correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy. All convex spaces with higher
integration (a) with all values, (b) dismissing outliers (Carolina Coelho) 696
Fig. 283. Convex spaces correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy. By Áoor plans (a) second Áoor, (b)
Àrst Áoor, (c) ground Áoor (Carolina Coelho) 698
Fig. 284. Axial line correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy. Distributions according to Áoor plans
and domains (a) all data, (b) no outliers (Carolina Coelho) 702
Fig. 285. Axial line correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy. By Áoor plans: (a) second Áoor with all
data; b) second Áoor with no outliers (Carolina Coelho) 703
Fig. 286. Axial line correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy. By Áoor plans: a) Àrst Áoor; b) ground
Áoor (Carolina Coelho) 704
Fig. 287. Average axial line correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy. Distributions according to Áoor
plans and domains (a) all data, (b) no outliers (Carolina Coelho) 705
Fig. 288. Average axial line correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy. By Áoor plans: (a) second Áoor
with all data; b) second Áoor with no outliers (Carolina Coelho) 706
Fig. 289. Average axial line correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy. By Áoor plans: a) Àrst Áoor; b)
ground Áoor (Carolina Coelho) 707
Fig. 290. Convex spaces correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy. Distributions according to Áoor
plans and domains, dismissing outliers (Carolina Coelho) 708
Fig. 291. Axial line correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy. Distributions according to Áoor plans
and domains, dismissing outliers (Carolina Coelho) 708
Fig. 292. Average axial line correlation scattergram _ Integration, Entropy. Distributions according to Áoor
plans and domains, dismissing outliers (Carolina Coelho) 708
Fig. 293. Scattergram of the most representative correlation: Correlation between axial line integration and
axial line entropy for the ground Áoor’s domain IV (Carolina Coelho) 711
Fig. 294. Observation matrices _ Morning of a regular school day (Carolina Coelho) 715
Fig. 295. Walkthroughs _ Photos and plans with the most adaptable spaces identiÀed (Carolina Coelho) 716
Fig. 296. Analysis of the correlations between Integration, Entropy and Experience from the methodology
Fig. 297. Synthesis of the methodology (Carolina Coelho) 746
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Life Within Architecture From Design Process To Space Use

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Life within architecture from design process to space use

Adaptability in school buildings today – A methodological approach

Carolina da Graça Cúrdia Lourenço Coelho

PhD Thesis in Architecture

Quinta das Flores School, Coimbra, Portugal, 2017 © Carolina Coelho

Life within architecture from design process to space use

Adaptability in school buildings today – A methodological approach

Acknowledging school space as an enabler of the teaching and learning process,

A vivência na arquitectura do projecto ao uso

Adaptabilidade no programa escolar de hoje – Uma abordagem metodológica

Ao entender o espaço da escola como potenciador do processo de ensino-

Naturally that a deeper word of acknowledgement goes to the contributors on the

I also thank all my colleagues of the Department of Architecture, with whom

To those who love me.

3. CONSTRUCTION OF THE METHODOLOGY 201

4. APPLICATION OF THE METHODOLOGY IN THE CASE STUDY 373

INDEX OF IMAGES AND CREDITS 821

1.2. Motivation and background:

This initial text aims at providing a background understanding and critical

Overall, the living experience is deeply embedded in architecture, as a feature but

translation to English may be disputable. Even if some concepts can be considered,

Commonly, it is regarded as an inner feeling that is perceived by each individual

Philosophically, it could also be regarded as an intellectual conception of space

Later, Lefebvre (1974) develops a mechanism for analysing the relationship

In a different approach, Bakhtin’s concept of “chronotope” (1981), a space-time

Paralleling this to architecture, both the fruition and appropriation of space

more intentional or unconscious way, that bear meaning to this analysis.

Hill (2003) relates his approach of architecture to Barthes’ literature outlook on

“The building is not directly comparable to the text. Instead, I suggest

“It may be said of a natural space modiÀed in order to serve the

“The illegal architect questions and subverts the established codes

The individuality expressed in this appropriation was a relativised variable by

“The preceding sections have suggested that most building tasks

Experience is, in fact, deeply discussed in Pallasmaa’s extensive work on

“A building is encountered; it is approached, confronted, related to

For Pallasmaa, “signiÀcant architecture”20 (Pallasmaa, 2005, p.11) or “life-enhancing”

According to Holl, Pallasmaa “[...] practices the unanalysable architecture of the

“My use of the word “phenomenon” is like that of the physicists.

phenomenalism, phenomenology and private, Áeeting, sense-data. A

Whereas phenomenon is considered by Pallasmaa’s outlook to be based on an

Conversely, according to Tadao Ando, architecture gathers a mental and a sensory

“Architecture consists of two elements. An intellectual element in that

The acknowledgement of the lived space complements the design process,

Thinking about the living experience implies acknowledging what is immediately

This introductory approach intended to provide a background reÁection on

1.3. The research question:

In recognising architecture’s embedded relevance for society and simultaneously

Adaptability is here considered a form of engagement between Architecture and

Thus, it is up to the architect, in his social and professional responsibility, to

“Just as we see learning as second nature and an enlargement of one’s

“Educational facilities need to accommodate both the known and

Due to current pedagogical developments, educational spaces have undergone

In fact, an adaptable school building, by coping with the current requirements

Therefore, this Thesis recognises the relevance of adaptable educational architecture

So, it is proposed that adaptability, applied to contemporary school buildings,

The central problematics of this research is to identify the concept of adaptability

All in all, the research question can be placed like so:

By acknowledging that, from the current pedagogical practices

Besides proposing an original methodology to assess adaptability in school buildings

First, it is crucial to clarify the concept of adaptability directly applied

Secondly, the research aims at deÀning an operative methodology capable

Thirdly, the methodology is tested in a school with a variety of spaces to