Architecture learning environments: Pedagogy and space in the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya's Sant Cugat Campus

Abstract

AbstractThe qualitative improvement of learning spaces in higher education has often been linked to the technicalization of classrooms, and to the dissolution of the physical and temporal framework of teaching. The main objective of this research was to examine the relationship between learning and space, beyond its formal and functional values, and how this relationship contributes to promoting an efficient, cohesive educational community that strengthens links with the society that it aspires to serve. Methodologically, a quantitative approach to the design of learning spaces is proposed in relation to three aspects: formal diversity, functional flexibility, and sociability of the university community. The proposed methodology was applied to the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya's Sant Cugat Campus, which is recognized for the innovative nature of its pedagogical model, based on project‐based learning, and the adaptation of learning spaces to educational projects. With an educational model that tends to the spatial–temporal dissolution of learning and university spaces designed under the principles of form and function, improvement in the quality of learning is related to the improvement and quality of learning spaces using the principles of functional flexibility, spatial diversity, and sociability.