Unique Circular Garden Rooms, modular school buildings and lodges - Handcrafted in the UK
We’ve recently been engaging with several schools and nurseries about the astonishing benefits of changing the shape of classroom environments to enhance engagement with pupils and further improve school facilities. As a small and passionate team of eco-builders, we are absolutely convinced that there is no better shape to nurture, inspire, engage and support our youngsters than the round.
Of course, it goes without saying that there is nothing more organic and natural than a group of people settling down together in a circle. As hardened “Roundhouse Enthusiasts” we are always on the lookout for scientific research papers which validate our claims that the round is the most natural form of space for human emotional and physical wellbeing. It all starts in our mothers womb!
We have now discovered that some psychologists agree with us; and that a circular seating arrangement may encourage a greater sense of belonging within a group and improve the rates of interaction between people.
Where better to foster these principles than in the classroom?
Of course, the Roundhouse is the most ancient form of architecture known to man… and that blows our mind!
So, our research tells us that the effects on classroom seating arrangements can affect the question-asking behaviour of children. Judging by the dates and origins of these studies, this is clearly an international debate which has been a consideration for psychologists for several decades.
A German study carried out by the Department of Psychology Institute of Housing Research at Otto-von-GuerickeUniversity in 1998 (Marx, Furher and Hartig) stated that:
“Although educational systems are now under intense scrutiny, educators and educational critics tend to ignore two facts. First, classrooms are physical entities as well as organisational units. Second, the physical characteristics of a classroom setting can influence the behaviour of its users.
Awareness of these facts is needed, as efforts to create high quality educational experiences for our children must include consideration of the physical milieu.”
In summary, the study revealed a positive effect of a semicircle seating arrangement on children’s question-asking, and demonstrated an action-zone effect on question asking in the traditional row-and column arrangement. Seating in other than the row-and-column arrangement deserves further consideration as a means to promote children’s question-asking in primary schools.”
According to “Desk Arrangement Effects on Pupil Classroom Behaviour – Peter Rosenfield (Department of Education University of California, Berkeley 1985):
Desks arranged in circles during classroom discussion can facilitate interaction as well as control for off-task behavior of pupils. The results suggest that desk arrangement influences participation, thinking, and appropriate comments, which in turn can have a positive effect on learning.
Teachers who wish to facilitate pupil interaction during discussion sessions would be wise to consider arranging desks in circles. In this study, circles facilitated on-task response as well as on-task out-of-order comment, suggesting that more active participation of students for developmental learning is affected positively by circles rather than row seating.
And one of the most interesting was a Japanese study, Circular seating arrangements: Approaching the social crux in language classrooms (Joseph Falout Nihon University, Japan) claimed that “Abstract Circular seating arrangements can help instil a sense of belonging within classroom communities with overall positive effects on learning, emotions, and well-being.”
Joseph Falout states within his report “I began to understand how circular seating in any classroom context might not only be relevant for learning but crucial for well-being.”
“The circle itself has become a worldwide symbol of unity and strength and simply sitting in a circle promotes the same effect” (Pease & Pease, 2006, p. 339). Social interaction is encouraged by sociopetal spaces, such as a small circle of chairs around a coffee table. Sociopetal spaces can bring people together, excite their senses, endear each one to the others, create an atmosphere of mutual care, and stimulate the entire circle into a social action zone.”
………………………….Well, that’s enough evidence for us!
We’re thrilled and delighted to be building classrooms and modular buildings for UK schools and nurseries.
To be working with cutting edge building techniques on gorgeous buildings whilst actively improving the learning experience for children (and teachers!) around the country is a wonderful feeling; so we will be updating you with the feedback from our unique and uplifting learning environments as the positive feedback continues to roll in from our happy clients!
Until then, happy “Back to School” everyone – and enjoy the Autumn!
From all of us at Rotunda x
Shed Culture & Modular Buildings
Shed Culture & Modular Buildings
With the media showcasing all things ‘shed’ and ‘compact living’ such as Chanel 4’s “George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces” and regular features in the papers and lifestyle magazines; the British public are going bananas over sheds and shed-like cabins!
Now this is all well and good, until the Modular Buildings Industry gets swept-up in the media typhoon and thrown into the mix! A few very talented Architects are seemingly delighted when their modular buildings and garden rooms are being highlighted as worthy of “Shed Love” and suchlike; others are as proud as puffed up pigeons to be providing garden offices to the ever growing numbers of UK “Shed-Workers” and will advertise this wholeheartedly. Am I seriously the only person in this industry reeling back in horror? Don’t get me wrong, there are some beautiful little cabin-esque sheddy structures being promoted in the UK right now, one imported model recently caught my eye, cute little hexagonal structures which are used predominantly as BBQ huts. Pretty as they might be, they are… SHEDS. Cheap as chips and imported from abroad en masse as fast as those big Arctic trucks can carry them to grace the gardens of our shed-smitten British public.
Similarly, the amount of enquiries we receive asking us to build a Roundhouse at the same price and specification of one of these sheds is staggering. Only too often have I lain awake at night seriously contemplating starting a shed-company! There is an enormous difference between a cabin, shed, garden building, glamping pod, eco-pod, garden office, modular building and a high-specification eco-dwelling!
For us, a modular building is architecturally designed, it’s signed off by a structural engineer, it is built to comply (even if not completely necessary) to Buildings Regulations and it’s built as an additional room to your house or business – to be used throughout the depths of winter! It’s a house extension. Not a shed!
So, next time you’re drawn into the hazy glow of a pretty little cabin with the bitumen felt roof and flowers round the door, ask yourself what it is you need to use the space for – will you be happy shivering at the bottom of the garden mid-February wearing gloves as you attempt to type with your feet slowly turn blue, numbing on the frozen floorboards? Is it better to think “Modular Building” and all of the joy this can bring you, for many decades, all year round, or “pretty summer-house” which you will avoid at all costs post-November? Saving money now in the summer by purchasing a cheap alternative is only a temporary gain, whereas the ‘garden room’ is an asset which will stay with you and be utilised and loved for life.
I for one, have ceased to lie awake and ponder the short-term gains of the shed or summerhouse and am firmly back in the camp of High-specification ‘modular buildings’ because I know, that in twenty years time, (and in January) our Rotundas will still be used as much as they were when they were first installed. That makes me happy. Will the British public see the difference? Give it a few years, and I believe they will.
Blogpost written by Gemma Roe.
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