classroom of the future award architecture for humanity

earlier this week architecture for humanity announced the eight finalists for the 2009 open architecture challenge – classroom of the future award. 10,000 architects, teachers and students came together to develop designs for more than 500 schools in 65 countries all seeking a solution to a common issue – how can we create innovative, sustainable yet affordable and adaptable learning environments?

designers entering the competition were given a simple mandate: collaborate with real students in real schools in their community to develop real solutions.

the need for safe, sustainable, smart classroom design has never been greater. worldwide, 776 million people are illiterate. with less than six years left to meet the UN millennium development goals, the world bank estimates ten million new classrooms are needed to reach its target equal access to primary education.

the eight finalists entries were: the blurred classroom teton valley community school teksing bamboo school classroom for the salt pan community a sustainable community classroom for uganda extending the classroom justified architecture in a landscape of transition adaptable hillside classrooms

the overall winner will be announced in august.

justified architecture in a landscape of transition design team: arquitectura justa – wolfgang timmer, fabiola uribe, t. luke young, bogota, colombia partner/ location: waldorf educational & social organization, ciudad bolívar, bogota, colombia

classroom for the saltpan community, cohesion foundation design team: rajesh kapoor, prashant solanky, bharat karamchandani, kiran vaghela, gujarat, india partner/location: cohesion foundation, kutch, gujarat, india bamboowod school, design team: petr kostner, martina sobotkova, sona huberova, czech republic partner/ location: antarastriya yuba barsais, kavre, central nepal

blurred classroom design team: gensler, new york, united states partner/ location: future leaders’ institute, new york,  united states

house in the wood / rowe elementary school design team: built form, LLC / northwestern university settlement house, chicago, united states partner/location: northwestern university settlement house, delavan, wisconsin, united states

adaptable hillside classrooms design team: feilden clegg bradley studios & afh UK partner/ location: bunyonyi community school, kabale, uganda

a sustainable community classroom design team: gifford, london, UK partner/ location: building tomorrow, uganda

teton valley community school design team, section eight design, idaho, united states partner/ location: teton valley community school, victor, idaho, united states

the open architecture network was created by architecture for humanity, a non-profit organization co-founded by cameron sinclair. the network is an online community ‘dedicated to improving living conditions through innovative and sustainable design’. the 2009 open architecture challenge was hosted by architecture for humanity and principal partner orient global in collaboration with a consortium of other partners around the world.