School and kindergarten gardens as a place of education. History and contemporary design trends

Marzanna Jagiełło, Grzegorz Malkusz, Sebastian Szostek

doi:10.37190/arc210203

Abstract

This article presents the history of school and kindergarten gardens in the context of changing educational programs and social needs in a global review that also takes into account Poland. It was based on source texts and rich literature on this issue, including its historical, didactic and socio-ecological aspects. Next, contemporary layouts of this type are presented, and then innovative architectural and spatial solutions are discussed. This was done by means of the presentation of the selected projects developed for educational facilities functionally connected with gardens, mainly schools, but also kindergartens. Some of them have already been implemented. Some still remain at the concept stage. All of them present the direction of changes in the approach to designing educational facilities for children, being a response to contemporary didactic and social challenges.

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2021

2(66)

DOI: 10.37190/arc210203

Marzanna Jagiełło*, Grzegorz Malkusz**, Sebastian Szostek***

School and kindergarten gardens

as a place of education.

History and contemporary design trends

Introduction

More than 350 years ago, the Czech philosopher who

was considered to be the “father of pedagogy” and – as

a member of the Unity of the Brethren – a religious refu-

gee, Jan Amos Comenius (1592–1670)

wrote: You have

to teach people to get their knowledge not only from

books, but also from heaven, Earth, oaks and beech trees

[1, p. 161]. Let us add, again following Comenius, that this

learning should be started as early as possible, preferably

in gardens, which […] should be connected with every

school, where children have the opportunity to calmly

look at trees, owers, herbs and learn how to appreciate

them [1, p. 172]

. This thesis was later supported by many

people, mainly philosophers and educators, including

Jean-Jacques Rousseau [2], Johan H. Pestalozzi [3], Frie-

drich Froebel [4], John Dewey [5], Ovide Decroly [6], and

Maria Montessori [7]. Particularly noteworthy here is an

observation made by John Dewey, an American philoso-

pher, educator and creator of the American concept of the

* ORCID: 0000-0001-9400-8967. Faculty of Architecture, Wro-

cław Uni versity of Science and Technology, e-mail: marzanna.jagiello@

pwr.edu.pl

** ORCID: 0000-0001-5385-2045. Grzegorz Malkusz Pracownia

Architektury Krajobrazu Garden’s Philosophy.

*** ORCID: 0000-0002-6028-5680. Faculty of Architecture, Wro-

cław University of Science and Technology.

After his Bohemian emigration he rst settled in Leszno; he died

in Amsterdam.

Let us recall that Komeński was also the author of the rst basic

alphabet book for students, which was published in 1658 under the title

Orbis Sensualium Pictus and used for many years. This extensive work

was lled with illustrations presenting the then knowledge of the world

(including natural), as well as man and human activity, including agro-

technical activities [8].

work school, who in 1915 referred to the importance of

gardens in school education as follows: Where schools are

equipped with gardens […] opportunities exist for repro-

ducing situations of life, and for acquiring and applying

information and ideas in carrying forward of progressive

experiences. Gardening need not be taught either for the

sake of preparing future gardeners, or as an agreeable

way of passing time. It aords an avenue of approach to

knowledge of the place farming and horticulture have had

in the history of the human race and which they occupy in

present social organization. Carried on in an environment

educationally controlled, they (gardens) are means for

making a study of the facts of growth, the chemistry of soil,

the role of light, air, moisture, injurious and helpful animal

life, etc. There is nothing in the elementary study of botany,

which cannot be introduced in a vital way in connection

with caring for the growth of seeds. Instead of a subject

belonging to a peculiar study called “botany”, it will then

belong to life, and will nd, moreover, its natural correla-

tion with the facts of soil, animal life, and human relations

[…] It is pertinent to note that in the history of man, the

sciences grew gradually out of useful social occupations

[5, p. 36].

Since then, many publications have been devoted to

the subject of school gardens (it is impossible to list them

here, but the most important part of them will be quoted

later in the article), which, however, treat this topic in

part, dividing the related issues into pedagogical, histori-

cal, hygienic-medical, ecological, as well as botanical and

gardening

. The rst part of the article constitutes a dis-

cussion about them. However, the topic of contemporary

The authors of this article would like to express their thanks to

Agnieszka Stolarczyk for her helpful comments on the literature.

28 Marzanna Jagiełło, Grzegorz Malkusz, Sebastian Szostek

architectural and spatial trends for school and kindergarten

facilities connected with gardens has not yet been dealt

with by researchers. Their presentation and discussion is

the main objective of the second part of this study.

The beginnings of school gardens

It is believed that the project of the rst school gardens

was developed by German architect, engineer and math-

ematician Joseph Furttenbach. He included this project,

along with descriptions, in two of his works, i.e., the trea-

tise Architectura universalis… [9, pp. 45–49] published

in 1635 and Mannhaten Kunsspiegel published in 1663

[10, pp. 45–52]. According to Furttenbach, the garden

preceding the school, described by him as “Schul-Para-

deis-Gärtlin” (paradise school garden), was to be used for

walks as well as to evoke good and Christian thoughts

in students [10, p. 45]

. A centrally located open pavilion

(called Cupola) was designated as a place for discussions

and presentations of works made by children. Four gar-

dens, which were separated by paths enclosed by hedges

and trees, were lled with geometrically arranged ower

beds. Each of the separated parts of the garden was accen-

tuated by a sculptural composition, with statues of Adam

and Eve as well as Christ. The school itself was laid out on

a square plan, with four courtyards surrounded by study

rooms and students’ rooms; the central place was occu-

pied by a chapel. In the courtyards there were ower and

kitchen (vegetable) gardens as well as an orchard. There is

no indication that the people of Ulm ever took advantage

of this concept which remained a kind of Furttenbach’s

dream of a dierent school [11].

One of the rst school gardens was implemented in

the years 1695–1698 in Halle (Germany) thanks to the

invention of the Protestant theologian and educator Au-

gust Hermann Francke. The initiative of the then ruler of

Saxony, Ernst I, to establish a herb garden at the gymna-

sium in Gotha to raise the botanical awareness of students

is dated for the same period. Gardens by schools, as part

of an educational, recreational and sports complex, were

also arranged in the settlements of the Unity of the Breth-

ren, Protestant refugees who settled in Lusatia, Hesse and

Silesia in the 1

half of the 18

century. They developed

an original plan of their settlements, called Hernhucki af-

ter the name of the rst one, in which public green areas,

including school gardens, played an important role in the

educational process. The most famous school and garden

complex of this kind was built in the Lusatian town of

Niesky. Another interesting case, this time from a botan-

ical point of view, is the garden which was founded by

German educator Johann Julius Hecker in Berlin in 1750

at the economic and mathematical “Realschule” (grades

from 5 to 10). The inventory which was carried out in it

It should only be remembered that in ancient times wooded plac-

es, mainly groves (Platonic Academy) and private gardens (Epikur’s

school), were used for purposes of education “in the open air”.

Hierdurch den Kindern gute Gedancken zu erwecken, in das

Paradies zu spazieren, daselbst ihr Christenthum und andere gute und

nützliche und rühmliche Künsten zu exerzieren [10, p. 45].

in 1768 showed that citruses, pineapples, myrtles, pome-

granates, aloe, agaves and coee trees were cultivated in

its greenhouses.

A signicant increase in interest in school gardens can

be observed during the 2

half of the 19

century and at

the beginning of the next century. For example, in the ter-

ritory of Bohemia, which was then part of Austria-Hunga-

ry, an obligation to establish school gardens appeared with

the introduction of the monarchy-wide decree on setting

up folk schools in 1869. The rst school garden (školní

zahrada), serving more professional training for teachers

than for students, was established in 1871 in Prague, and

practical teaching in the area of school gardens was intro-

duced in 1893. One of the traditions of many schools of

this type at that time was the so-called Slavnost stromů

(tree festival), during which students planted young limes

and poplars [12]. The program of establishing school gar-

dens, the aim of which was to create a positive relation-

ship between students and nature, was summed up in Bo-

hemia in 1904. It turned out then that they found a place

in over 85% of the institutions [12].

At a similar time, legal provisions concerning the obli-

gation to establish school gardens in the territory of Prus-

sia were introduced. The rst experiences with them were

included in the publication by Erasmus Schwab, the direc-

tor of the military school in Vienna [13]. The rst Dutch

school gardens, which began to be established after World

War I, had a dierent host character, which was connected

with the dicult situation at that time. Only with time did

they begin to perform an educational function.

At that time, the foundation of school gardens was ac-

companied by more and more publications which were

devoted to their establishment and management. One of

the most widely read was the work entitled Ideal-Schul-

garten im XX. Jahrhundert by Carl Graeber from 1907,

which included model composition diagrams of garden

layouts and a lot of agrotechnical and botanical informa-

tion [14]. In this book we can also nd photographs pre-

senting children working in a school garden in Wrocław

[14, pp. 108, 109].

The idea of outdoor education, which would be con-

nected with work in school gardens, was also implement-

ed in many countries in open-air schools [15, pp. 23–41],

[16, pp. 101–108] (Fig. 1), whose origins date back to the

decades of the 20

century. Initially, their educational

value was posed by the health element resulting from the

increase in tuberculosis incidence, and outdoor education

was treated as both preventive and therapeutic at the same

time. Schools of this type were established almost all over

Europe. In Germany, they were called Waldschule (from

the rst institution of this type which was established in

Charlottenburg near Berlin in the Grünewald pine forest

in 1904). Soon, gardening classes were included in the ed-

ucational program of such facilities, thanks to which […]

children got to know the cycles of nature and they got ac-

quainted with the basics of meteorology and biology. The

emphasis was on learning based on direct observation,

as opposed to traditional indirect learning methods [15,

p. 30]. The discovery of anti-tuberculosis drugs weakened

the movement promoting the construction of this type of

School and kindergarten gardens as a place of education. History and contemporary design trends 29

Fig. 1. Open-air school in Suresnes

(designed by E. Beaudouin and M. Lods, 1932–1935, source: [17])

Il. 1. Szkoła typu open-air w Suresnes (Francja),

(proj. E. Beaudouin i M. Lods, 1932–1935, źródło: [17])

institutions, […] however, the achievement of exposing the

school to the external environment, blurring the boundary

between the inside and the outside survived and were later

subjected to various interpretations [15, p. 30]. They were

carried out by drawing inspiration from the original, ini-

tially in Germany, then also in Great Britain (where there

were nearly 150 such schools), France, the Netherlands,

Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, even spreading

to the United States and Australia. It is worth mention-

ing that gardens for children at risk of tuberculosis were

also founded in Poland, among other things, thanks to the

eorts of the Eugenic Society which cooperated with the

Anti-Tuberculosis Society. However, let us add that the

Eugenic Society was controversial in its many other ac-

tivities and views.

It is worth adding that we owe the pedagogical foun-

dations for the opening of the school to the external en-

vironment to Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher and

creator of anthroposophy (a kind of mystical philosophy)

who was the founder of the school which was erected in

Stuttgart in 1919 at the cigar factory “Waldorf-Astoria”

and hence called “Freie Waldorfschule”, from which the

term was created, i.e., Waldorf pedagogy. The basis of the

functioning of this institution was the development of

young people in connection with the world and society,

and the overriding goal was to educate free and morally

responsible as well as internally integrated people with

a high level of social competences. One of the methods

of achieving such pedagogical eects was learning by

acting, including working in the garden. At present, there

are over a thousand “Waldorf schools” and about 2,000

kindergartens as well as over 600 centers of special edu-

cation, which are located in 65 countries [18].

Other pedagogical trends such as New Education, also

known as Progressivism, new upbringing using both

Ko-

meński’s works and the ideas of Rousseau also played an

important role in promoting teaching through experience.

Its promoters were Decroly in Belgium, Adolphe Ferrière

in Switzerland, Célestin Freinet in France, and Dewey and

Montessori in the United States [5]–[7], [19], [20].

At this point, it is worth posing a question about the

earliest Polish experiences in this regard, paying attention

to the beginnings of nature didactics connected with the

activities of the National Education Commission (1773),

which postulated identication of plants in the process of

teaching biology and carrying out eld observations of na-

ture [21]. However, it took over 100 years (1890) to issue

the rst methodological principles of conducting science

classes and to combine them with practical advice on set-

ting up and conducting classes in school gardens [22, see

further therein]. Their impressive boom took place be-

tween the First and Second World Wars [22, further litera-

ture there]. They were arranged by using, inter alia, the

so-called notebooks which were published by the Mini-

stry of Religious Denominations and Public Education

[23]. In the years 1925–1935, they contained “Designs

of elementary school buildings”, which also contained

model examples of the layouts of school gardens. It is

widely discussed in the monograph prepared by Joanna

Dudek-Klimiuk [22]. Reading this work may be surpris-

ing to readers. Especially to those who were interested

in school gardens and perceived them (due to previous

studies) more often as a global phenomenon rather than

a Polish one. Let us add that the work might surprise the

reader in a positive way. The scope of interest – both theo-

retical (didactic, design, formal and legal) and in terms of

implementation – in educating children and adolescents in

gardens and by means of gardens in a country that at that

time was really getting up from its knees, having so many

much more serious issues and problems at the beginning

of its new way, seems to be really impressive.

After World War II, the obligation to use school gar-

dens, which were then most often called school plots, was

introduced under the Instrukcja z 13 maja 1954 r. w spra

wie szkolnej działki doświadczalnej [Instruction of May 13,

1954, on the school experimental plot]. It concerned pri-

mary schools, general secondary schools, teacher and edu-

cator training centers for kindergartens, youth community

centers, scout houses, orphanages and children’s holiday

homes. It said: Lessons and extra-curricular activities are

organized on the experimental plots. The aim of work on

the plots is to carry out didactic, educational and eco-

nomic tasks in line with the biology curriculum [24, p. 2].

According to Ryszard Kowalski and Edward Grott, this

document introduced a nancial motivation in the form of

a salary supplement for teachers taking care of the plot,

it dened the minimum size of the area, the layout and

subject of classes and extracurricular activities, unambig-

uously connecting them with the biology curriculum. An

interesting recommendation at the time was that the crops

obtained from the school plot should be used to provide

food for young people [25, pp. 38, 39].

Contemporary school gardens

and their new functions

We have been observing a signicant intensication of

interest in school gardens in many countries around the

world since the 1980s, which is connected with unfavora-

ble climate changes caused by human activity. They made

30 Marzanna Jagiełło, Grzegorz Malkusz, Sebastian Szostek

us aware of the fact that it was necessary to develop new

models of behavior towards the environment. In many

countries, school gardens have become one of the elements

of eld science education, which also includes other types

of learning outside the classroom. These include widely

understood environmental education, outdoor education,

education outside the classroom, which indicates the need

to open the learning process to what happens outside of

school, as well as adventure education whose main goal

is survival and experience [21]. Taking into account the

importance of sustainable development, all of them are

supposed to inuence the development of ecological

awareness, which is acquired, among other things, during

the didactic process and mainly as a result of individual

experiences of students. Ecological culture is based on its

values, the main determinant of which is […] readiness

to adopt specic behaviors in relation to the natural envi-

ronment [21, p. 18], increasing ecological safety. This atti-

tude is reected in the provisions of the report prepared by

Jacques Delors for the UNESCO International Commis-

sion on Education, entitled Learning: the treasure within.

The provisions of the Decade of Education for Sustaina-

ble Development 2005–2014, which were adopted by the

UN General Assembly in December 2002, also obliged

authorities to provide permanent environmental education

by introducing it to all stages of education, i.e., the aim of

the Decade is to support eorts to promote sustainable so-

cial, economic and ecological development. It also consti-

tutes an opportunity to advance human development and

improve the quality of education to make it a key factor of

changes [26].

In this context, experiences from America, where over

30 years ago school gardening became almost a national mo-

vement, are very interesting. Many states, especially south-

ern states, incorporated school gardens into their curri cula.

On this basis, the school environment was transformed

into

an educational space. These changes were based on two

documents developed by educators and landscape architects

as part of the Boston Schoolyard and Youth and Landscape

[27, p. 15]. A noteworthy initiative was also taken by the

Horticultural Society of New York, which has been support-

ing schools in the eld of garden design and care since the

1980s thanks to the Apple Seed program.

In summaries regarding the benets of such garden

layouts, it was very important to change the eating habits

of children and adolescents (previously “fattened” due to

fast food) and the resulting improvement in their health

condition. 3.8 thousand schools are currently participating

in the “Edible schoolyard garden” program. They involve

students in all aspects of working in the garden and then

in eating meals prepared from the plants they have grown.

The program, which is fully integrated with the scope of

education by combining garden classes with didactic pro-

grams and current science achievements as well as the food

program, has contributed to the increase in the consump-

tion of fruit and vegetables by students. It has also inu-

enced a better understanding of human relations with the

earth and the environment by children and young people.

The importance of the food program implementation in

the case of school gardens was also noticed in countries

much less prosperous than the USA. This was pointed out

by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United

Nations (FAO) by publishing the results of research in 2002

and 2004, which analyzed the importance of garden-based

learning (GBL) programs in various countries [28]. A year

later, on this basis the UN issued a comprehensive (over

200 pages) book Setting up and running up the school

garden, which contained instructions on how to set up, run

and use school gardens in the educational process [29].

It should also be noticed that in the analyses of the

benets of the school garden, and more broadly of green

areas connected with educational institutions, also so-

cio-psychological, and even therapeutic topics were taken

up. It was emphasized that they serve as enclaves in which

students can “ensconce themselves” and “take a breath”

during breaks before re-entering the formal and ocial

space of the school building [25, pp. 6, 8].

How does Poland fare against this background? At pre-

sent, school gardens can be found only at about 25% of

educational institutions in Poland

. One of the reasons for

this situation results in the current core curriculum for ge-

neral education, in which the terms “school garden” and

“school plot” are not mentioned, so there is no obligation

to establish them. The research carried out by Kowalski

and Grott shows […] that in most schools, regardless of

their level, teachers deny the existence of school gardens.

It turns out that if there is no formal obligation imposed

by the requirements of the core curriculum, schools resign

from more ambitious forms of educational work, which

include classes in the school garden, not taking into ac-

count the consequences of lowering the level of science

education for young people. […] The problem is complex

and results from the lack of any concept for the proper

organization of general education in Polish schools, the

authors conclude [25, p. 40]. A signicant part of the ex-

isting ones functions as a remnant of the post-war “school

experimental plots” which were ordered by the then Min-

istry of Education and used for teaching biology. Some

of other school gardens were created after 2000. Most of

them, however, perform the role which is limited to rec-

reation, less often didactic, and the maintenance of these

gardens is (in more than half of the cases) not dealt with

by students, but by school sta. This situation takes place

in spite of many publications and appeals promoting the

establishment of school gardens of a didactic and practi -

cal-nature character, such as the book by Julian Piotr Sa -

wiński, which presents, inter alia, the basics of their arran-

gement, management and use in the process of integrated

learning, taking into account environmental aspects in

terms of ecology and sustainable development [30].

School gardens as an architectural

and spatial topic

The rst, very interesting solutions, going beyond the

arrangement of a garden accompanying the existing school

building, are considered to be those that proposed an open

In Germany, for example, more than half of the schools have them.

School and kindergarten gardens as a place of education. History and contemporary design trends 31

plan of space organization. Experiences with open-air lay-

outs deserve special attention. First of all, L’École de Plein

Air (EPA) in Suresnes (Fig. 1) for children suering from

illnesses, in particular tuberculosis, which was erected ac-

cording to the design of Eugène Beaudouin and Marcel

Lods in the years 1932–1935. Over a 2-hectare plot of land

occupying a sunny slope was used for its construction.

A 200-meter-long and two-storey high building housing

a part of the school, the arms of which were connected

by a gallery in a way that separated a spacious pentagonal

courtyard, was erected on it. The gallery connected the

building with eight separate pavilions – classrooms. Each

of the pavilions was equipped with folding glass walls,

which made it possible to open the room to the garden

and under-oor heating provided comfort even on colder

days. In front of each classroom, there was a shaded area

for learning and contact with nature. There was a solarium

on the roof of the gallery.

Unfortunately, neither the experiments connected with

open-air schools nor the new pedagogical methods from

the beginning of the 20

century had a signicant in-

uence on the shape of most school buildings for many

years. The vast majority of them maintained the “barracks

organization” and formalized teaching methods and the

accompanying gardens maintained the traditional charac-

ter of a separate area cultivated in the summer season. It is

also visible in Poland, where the entire education system

is assessed as inconsistent with contemporary challenges.

The rst contemporary examples of solutions which

integrate schools with gardens can be found in the Unit-

ed States. Their foundation is connected with changes in

trends in education towards a more innovative method of

learning. The emphasis was put on empirical and envi-

ronmental education. Space restrictions also came to the

rescue, especially in large cities. In this context, solutions

which integrate the school’s architecture with cultivat-

ed areas arranged on the roofs deserve attention. A good

example of this is represented by the Manhattan School

of Children with a greenhouse on the roof of the school

building (Figs. 2, 3) as part of the New York Sun Schools’

hydroponic growing program for “city” children. The ef-

fect is supposed to result in better understanding of the en-

vironmental problems of our time related to global climate

change, water and energy use, and food supply by students.

The project uses technologies of urban agriculture and

combines practical operation with an integrated curricu-

lum. The greenhouses themselves constitute a combination

of city hydroponic farms and a science lab. Schoolchildren

grow food there and at the same time learn water manage-

ment, ecient use of land, biological diversity, protection

against pollution, waste management and the principles of

sustainable development [31].

There are also open gardens on the roofs of schools. An

interesting and at the same time impressive solution of this

type from 2006 by John Ronan and Hoerr Schaudt Land-

scape Architects which was granted many awards, can be

found in Chicago, at Comer Youth Center Bars (Fig. 4). The

garden of the roof constitutes the central place of the school,

which integrates young people. Thanks to the classes which

are conducted in its area, students learn about environmen-

tal problems, botany and the processes of caring for plants

growing there. The garden collects rainwater and serves to

reduce the urban heat island eect in a way

that at the same

time enhances the educational mission.

We will also nd similar (on the roof) solutions in

China. Shanghai is particularly involved in the implemen-

tation of such projects. According to the city authorities,

within ten years between 2008 and 2017, 64 schools in the

Fig. 2. Roof greenhouse

of Manhattan School of Children

(project by BrightFarm System and Kiss+Cathcart Architects,

photo by Ari Burling, 2010, source: [31])

Il. 2. Szklarnia na dachu

Manhattan School of Children

(proj. BrightFarm System oraz Kiss+Cathcart Architects,

fot. Ari Burling, 2010, źródło: [31])

Fig. 3. Greenhouse – hydroponics laboratory

on the roof Manhattan School for Children

(project by BrightFarm System oraz Kiss+Cathcart Architects,

photo by Ari Burling, 2010, source: [31])

Il. 3. Cieplarnia – laboratorium hydroponiczne

na dachu Manhattan School for Children.

(proj. BrightFarm System oraz Kiss+Cathcart Architects,

fot. Ari Burling, 2010, źródło: [31])

32 Marzanna Jagiełło, Grzegorz Malkusz, Sebastian Szostek

Minhang province, to which Shanghai belongs, had over

80,000 m

of green space on roofs. Such gardens became

an integral part of school education. They were considered

to be the best place to study many subjects. On the basis

of cognitive characteristics of dierent students, schools

developed many types of educational activities in which

students learn about plants, their structure and the func-

tions of vegetative organs.

However, the benets of rooftop gardens are not limit-

ed to increasing students’ interest in botany and their en-

vironmental awareness. It was considered that greenery

also fosters the development of children’s interests in ne

arts. For example, by observing plant leaves in dierent

shapes, students can discover the beauty of life and de-

velop a sense of aesthetics. An example of such integrated

design of schools with roof gardens is a school facility

which was built in the part of Shanghai known as Pujia

(Fig. 5). It was designed by a team led by Professor Li

Bojun from the Agricultural Academy of Zhejiang Prov-

ince. A garden, or rather an ecological city farm, includes

arable land, terraced rice elds and even an orchard. All

products are grown pesticide-free. Vegetables and fruits

are harvested daily and used in the school dining room to

prepare meals for students. The farm on the roof of Pujia

Elementary School also acts as an insulating layer that re-

gulates the temperature of the building [33].

More broadly dened goals were implemented in the

construction of the Shanghai Thomas School which was

erected in the Taopu district and connected with the dor-

mitories and sports complex (Fig. 6). In the future, this

district will become a smart city of science and technolo-

gy. The school erected there is designed as an institution

initiating technologically and ecologically advanced solu-

tions in this newly developing part of Shanghai. Due to

the lack of space on the ground level, the gardens were

moved to the roof, or rather a complex of roofs serving

utility (arable gardens) and recreational functions [34].

The most modern and even visionary solution in this

group is the project for Green School in Stockholm, which

was developed by the Danish design studio 3xn in 2012

(Fig. 7). Behind it, there is not only an unusual form, but

above all a type of school that is part of a complex consist-

ing of a kindergarten, high school, greenhouse as a place

for vegetable production (city farm), dormitory and apart-

ments. The main idea is to educate children about the local

food production and a healthy lifestyle. The complex will

consist of a 15-storey building with an area of 22,800 m

The architecture of the building includes optimal insola-

tion and green roofs for rainwater collection and insulation.

The leitmotif of the investment is a 1600 m

greenhouse

where plants are grown organically. There is an ecological

food store in the publicly accessible part of the building,

where vegetables from the greenhouse are sold. Green ter-

races outside the building provide maximum daylight. This

project has not yet been implemented. However, it shows

the direction which architectural and functional solutions

for schools connected with hybrid facilities can follow by

integrating various functions, including the broadly under-

stood educational one, and taking into account the policy

of sustainable development [35].

Fig. 4. Gary Comer Youth Center, Chicago

(project by J. Ronan and Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects, 2006,

photo by S. Shigley, source: [32])

Il. 4. Bary Comer Youth Center, Chicago

(proj. J. Ronan i Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects, 2006,

fot. S. Shigley, źródło: [32])

Fig. 5. The roof garden of the elementary school at Puija in Shanghai

(project by Li Bojun with the team, 2015,

photo by an unknown author, source: [33])

Il. 5. Ogród na dachu szkoły podstawowej w Szanghaju (Chiny)

(proj. Li Bojun z zespołem, 2015,

autor fot. nieznany, źródło: [33])

Fig. 6. Rooftop Gardens Shanghai Thomas School, Shanghai

(project by Architects TJAD, photo by Youn Ma, 2019, source: [34])

Il. 6. Ogrody na dachu Shanghai Thomas School, Szanghaj

(proj. Architects TJAD, fot. Youn Ma, 2019, źródło: [34])

School and kindergarten gardens as a place of education. History and contemporary design trends 33

The project of a school for Irkutsk situated on a plot

of land near Lake Baikal was treated with a much greater

functional and, at the same time, architectural and land

scape scale. In 2015, an international competition was

announced for the design of an innovative educational

complex with a housing estate for foster families, which

would be integrated with the surroundings. The imple

mentation of this project (originally planned to be com-

pleted in 2019) is supposed to become a step towards the

Fig. 7. Green School in Stockholm according to the project by 3xn Studio:

a) external view, b) interior, 2012

(source: [35])

Il. 7. Green School w Stokholmie według projektu biura 3xn:

a) widok ogólny, b) wnętrze, 2012

(źródło: [35])

reform of secondary education in Russia. According to

Tina Kandelaki, a member of the Smart School Board of

Trustees, the model of socially responsible education will

be implemented here. The educational complex is to be

come a real home for orphans who will live with foster

parents in a special housing estate and go to school with

children from ordinary families [36]. Its main element is

to be a new type of school called “school park”, which

will integrate architecture and landscape into a unique

Fig. 8. The winning competition project at Smart School in Irkutsk by CEBRA Studio, 2015

(source: [37])

Il. 8. Zwycięski projekt konkursowy na Smart School w Irkucku autorstwa biura CEBRA, 2015

(źródło: [37])

34 Marzanna Jagiełło, Grzegorz Malkusz, Sebastian Szostek

educational environment and a meeting place for the local

community. Six projects from around the world (MVRDV,

CEBRA, Sou Fujimoto, WORKac, Architects Rudanko +

Kankku nen / Studio Puisto and MKPL Architects) entered

the com petition. The winner was selected in the form of

a proposal submitted by the Danish company CEBRA

(Fig. 8).

The winning project, called Smart School Meadow,

proposed a ring of buildings open to the outside and in-

wards with glass walls. The building occupied the central

place in the campus. Its functionally and formally diversi-

ed interior was based on the concept of responsive spac-

es, which were intended not for classical subjects such as

mathematics, biology or music, but for various activities

connected with them. This means that dierent school

spaces have dierent properties which correspond to spe-

cic activities or subjects but are not limited to one single

use. They all open onto the title meadow which is situated

within the ring. Its importance is explained by architect

and co-founder of CEBRA Carsten Primdahl, namely,

the meadow constitutes a diverse landscape for learning

and activity which creates a gradual transition between

interior and exterior space, so that school activities take

place not only in designated areas, but in a continuous in-

teraction between functions and areas within and around

the school complex. The meadow gives students dierent

ways to express themselves and motivates them to discover,

play, create and meet, which depend only on school ac -

ti vities and their individual temperament, mood and cu-

riosity [37].

The transparent architecture of this complex of build-

ings, as well as the gaps in the continuity of the ring,

ensure contact with the campus, which will also include

publicly accessible cultural, recreation and health centers.

More broadly, it is to enable everybody to experience the

unique surrounding landscape.

Gardens by kindergartens

Almost simultaneously, although on a smaller scale,

modern kindergartens connected with gardens began to be

designed. It is worth mentioning here that the movement

of children’s gardens, as a prototype of later kindergar-

tens, developed in Europe in the mid-19

century. Frie-

drich Froebel is considered to be their founder and the

rst theorist of preschool education. The main purpose of

the gardens was upbringing and educational activity. They

were to develop and educate children in the way a garden-

er cares for plants using appropriate methods. We owe the

further development of pre-school pedagogy to the previ-

ously mentioned Decroly and Montessori [6], [38].

Among the contemporary solutions of facilities com-

bining educational functions with gardens at the preschool

stage, the London Nursery School project by Gabriele

Ca po bianco, Edoardo Capuzzo Dolcetta, Jonathan Lazar,

and Davide Troiani is worth paying attention to (Fig. 9).

A large plot of land was designated for the construction of

the kindergarten, which was situated in London’s Green-

wich, next to the River Thames and in close proximity

to the famous Laban Center Dance School (designed by

Herzog & De Meuron). Its size made it possible to des-

ignate a large area for green areas. The fundamental task

of this facility is to prepare children for primary school

education by playing and performing activities which

Fig. 9. Project “Nursery Fields Forever” in London

(project by G. Capobianco, E.C. Dolcetta, J. Lazar, D. Troiani, 2015, source: [39])

Il. 9. Projekt “Nursery Fields Forever” w Londynie

(proj. G. Capobianco, E.C. Dolcetta, J. Lazar, D. Troiani, 2015, źródło: [39])

School and kindergarten gardens as a place of education. History and contemporary design trends 35

are connected with the cultivation of small gardens. De-

signers who called their project “Nursery Fields Forever”

found that “city” children lack places where they would

be able to see the world through the most basic processes.

So they created a space which is to ensure their physi-

cal, social, emotional and cognitive development. All this

is to take place in interaction with animals and plants, as

well as with other people, while sharing responsibilities

connected with their maintenance and care. The whole

thing resembles a settlement with small classroom houses

with a connector, which evokes associations with an open-

air school built years ago in Suresnes (Fig. 1). They are

accompanied by places of plant cultivation, animal hus-

bandry and recreational areas [39].

A less traditional and more building-related solution

was chosen for a kindergarten erected in Bien Hoa (Dong

Nai Province), Vietnam, according to the design of the lo-

cal architectural rm Rol e-model, run by Vo Trong Nghia

(Fig. 10). It was given the character of a “garden kinder-

garten” with places for cultivation situated on the roofs

of the building, which were given the shape of a pretzel.

The vegetable garden there is a place to educate children

on how to grow food on their own. It serves as a building

insulation, which works very well in local conditions. The

upper levels of the school serve as a place where children

learn the importance of agriculture, while the lower lev-

els consist of typical classrooms (Fig. 11). The facility is

a response to the rapidly progressing urbanization of the

country in recent years as a place referring to its centu-

ries-old agrarian tradition [40].

Summary

Many years of experience connected with the function-

ing of school as well kindergarten gardens make it pos-

sible to summarize the benets of their presence in the

educational process. Apart from these obvious ones, i.e.,

a better knowledge of ecological issues (reuse of waste

materials, saving energy and water), botanical and garden-

ing (plant growth, cultivation), and more broadly natural

ones (geology, climatology), students became also more

aware of human relationships with nature (which resulted

in a wiser and more responsible attitude to the environ-

ment, strengthening at the same time the sense of securi-

ty), and increased their ability to work in a group. It was

also noticed that such gardens inuence the promotion of

cooperation (including intercultural integration), devel-

opment of planning skills, teaching patience, loyalty and

perseverance, and the ability to think critically. It was also

considered important to develop the ability to share dier-

ent things (e.g., harvest with people in need), a sense of

responsibility (not only for the life of plants) and feeling

empathy as well as developing proper eating habits (fruit,

vegetables), and more broadly, the impact on the health

Fig. 10. Kindergarten building with vegetable gardens on the roof in Bien Hoa (Vietnam)

(project by VTN Architects, photo by Gremsy, Hiroyuki Oki, 2013, source: [40])

Il. 10. Budynek przedszkola z ogrodami warzywnymi na dachu w Bien Hoa (Wietnam)

(proj. VTN Architects, fot. Gremsy, Hiroyuki Oki, 2013, źródło: [40])

36 Marzanna Jagiełło, Grzegorz Malkusz, Sebastian Szostek

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by means of gardens-laboratories which were established

on the roofs of buildings or terraces. They were given open

or closed forms, which each time referred to the idea of city

farms. In more comfortable surface conditions, integrated

projects with many additional functions by creating hybrid

solutions were proposed for them.

As we have already mentioned, in Poland school gar-

dens, which are archaic in their functions and forms, can

be found at about 25% of educational institutions only.

This happens despite many publications and appeals pro-

moting the establishment of school gardens, mainly of

a pedagogical and practical nature. The author of one of

them, J.P. Sawiński, made such a universal appeal in his

message: The human environment on Earth will likely un-

dergo further degradation. Already today, in many regions

it is becoming detrimental to human health and life. That

is why environmental education by means of nature and its

preservation has become one of the basic problems of our

civilization. Therefore, today, starting with primary edu-

cation, and even with preschool education, people should

be made more aware of the importance of the natural envi-

ronment for human existence and they should be prepared

for nature protection better than ever before [30, p. 6].

Translated by

Bogusław Setkowicz

Fig. 11. Vegetable gardens

on the roof of the kindergarten

in Bien Hoa (Vietnam)

(project by VTN Architects,

photo by Gremsy, Hiroyuki Oki,

2013, source: [41])

Il. 11. Ogrody warzywne

na dachu przedszkola

w Bien Hoa (Wietnam)

(proj. VTN Architects,

fot. Gremsy, Hiroyuki Oki, 2013,

źródło: [41])

School and kindergarten gardens as a place of education. History and contemporary design trends 37

Abstract

School and kindergarten gardens as a place of education. History and contemporary design trends

This article presents the history of school and kindergarten gardens in the context of changing educational programs and social needs in a global

review that also takes into account Poland. It was based on source texts and rich literature on this issue, including its historical, didactic and socio-eco-

logical aspects. Next, contemporary layouts of this type are presented, and then innovative architectural and spatial solutions are discussed. This was

done by means of the presentation of the selected projects developed for educational facilities functionally connected with gardens, mainly schools,

but also kindergartens. Some of them have already been implemented. Some still remain at the concept stage. All of them present the direction of

changes in the approach to designing educational facilities for children, being a response to contemporary didactic and social challenges.

Key words: school gardens, nursery gardens, education, school architecture

Streszczenie

Ogrody szkolne i przedszkolne jako miejsce edukacji. Historia i współczesne tendencje projektowe

W artykule przedstawiono, w przeglądzie światowym uwzględniającym również Polskę, historię ogrodów przyszkolnych oraz przedszkolnych

w kontekście zmieniających się programów edukacyjnych i potrzeb społecznych. Oparto ją na tekstach źródłowych oraz bogatej literaturze dotyczą-

cej tego zakresu badań, obejmującej zagadnienia historyczno-dydaktyczne oraz społeczno-ekologiczne. Przedstawiono też współczesne założenia

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38 Marzanna Jagiełło, Grzegorz Malkusz, Sebastian Szostek

tego typu, a następnie omówiono nowatorskie dla nich rozwiązania architektoniczno-przestrzenne. Zaprezentowano wybrane projekty opracowane

dla obiektów edukacyjnych połączonych funkcjonalnie z ogrodami, głównie szkolnymi, ale także przedszkolnymi. Część z nich została już zreali-

zowana. Niektóre pozostały na etapie koncepcji. Wszystkie prezentują kierunek zmian w podejściu do projektowania obiektów edukacyjnych dla

dzieci, stanowiący odpowiedź na współczesne wyzwania dydaktyczne i społeczne.

Słowa kluczowe: ogrody szkolne, ogrody przedszkolne, edukacja, architektura szkół