ASIA

case study #9

Gunma International Academy, Ohta, Gunma, Japan

Architect: CAt + CAn, Planning Advisors: Jun Ueno and Kaname Yanagisawa. 2005. I st—9th grade; 970 students

(Author: Kaname Yanagisawa)

Gunma International Academy in Ohta city introduces “immersion  education,”  which uses English native teachers and Japanese teachers to teach  subjects in English as a team. Ohta city is authorized as a special ed­ ucational ward by the national government as a way to establish this  unique school. Students from 6 to 15 years old study ev­ ery subject in English, except Japanese lan­ guage classes and social science classes. The school building is specially designed to cor­ respond to this unique educational  system by grouping every three grades in “neigh­ borhoods.” Every “neighborhood” has three units called “houses” with 100 pupils in the same grade. Each “house” has a closed class­ room, an open classroom, an art and science area, three home bases, a quiet room, and a teacher station. The school is a one-story wooden building with many courtyards used for both learning and playing. Besides English-based learning and team teaching, the school also focuses on individual and diversified ‘learning using  IT.  There are many computers, not only in the media center, but also in each house’s common spaces and quiet rooms. There are also various social places inside and outside of the school. (see CAn+CAt. (2005). Gunma  KokusaiAcademy. Shinkenchiku, vol. 80, pp. 125—134. To­ kyo: Shinkenchiku, Inc.)

case 10

Pathways World School, Gurgaon, New Delhi, India

Architects: C. P. Kukreja & Associates and Prakash Nair. 2003.

Kindergarten —  12th grade; 1,150 students

(Author: Jeffery A. Lackney)

The Pathways World School is a grades K—12 school for 1,150 students on 30 scenic acres in the Aravili Hills near New Delhi. It provided an opportunity to respect the in­ evitable forces of globalization that are breaking down nationalistic and communalistic boundaries and to marry centuries’ old Eastern education philosophies with the rigor and structure of the western education model. The name of the school, Pathways, represents the multiple pathways to learning that are available and how each individual walks different pathway of learning during the course of his or her life. A “

Learning Street

,” a Western notion borrowed from “

Main Street

,” organizes the entire project. The school is planned with the understanding that learning does not begin or end in the classroom. The entire site has been laid out as an eclectic mix of formal and informal areas to encourage different learning styles. Students can have one-on-one lessons from peers or teachers in so-called “formal learning zones” with the immediate area outside the classroom serving as an extension of the learning experience and designed to encourage informal student gatherings that flows into a central green zone within each academic block designated for student-created gardens. Each academic block contains one room set aside as an independent study lounge for students.