2015
author
Aleksandra Szewc (PL)
title
Outdoor Lesson
degree
B.A. project
e-mail
school
Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
supervisor
Grzegorz Niwiński
Simple, light furniture for post‑elementary schools that can be used outside of the classroom or, as the designer prefers, out in the field. It is meant to encourage new forms of education, as well as promote activeness and cooperation in place of competition. The design was inspired by the critique of the contemporary education system depicted in Erwin Wagenhofer’s film Alphabet (2013). The furniture is meant to encourage three forms of learning: work in standing groups, individual education in a sitting position, and presentations or performances (with an “auditorium” furniture arrangement). The seats are not the most comfortable, but here the dynamics of the users’ positions are more important. An added value is in moving the lessons to a new environment, into the “open air.” As such, the furniture has to be easy to transport and to fold, yet stable and resistant to changeable weather conditions. Apart from these attributes, the linear, light contours are notable, as is the unimposing form – for this is not what is most important in school.