The Renovation of Traditional School Buildings to Keep Pace with Innovative Education Systems

Abstract

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the world has witnessed technological and economic developments that have led to changes in various aspects of life. Education is one of these aspects that has changed, as the skills required in the work environment have changed, which has affected the curricula, learning activities, and the design determinants of the learning environment. Many innovative design models for learning environments have emerged to accommodate the new innovative educational approach, and renovations of the existing traditional school buildings have also taken place according to the global trend towards sustainability and making the most of the available resources, which is an appropriate direction for the Iraqi reality, that suffers from the obsolescence of school buildings and the decline of the educational process that revolves around traditional education. Thus, the research problem emerged, represented by “the need to know the most important design modifications that can be made to make the traditional Iraqi school buildings capable of accommodating the development of the educational process” and the research objective was determined by “reaching the most important design modifications that can be made to renovate and develop Iraqi schools to meet the educational requirements of the new century”.  By reviewing some experiences of developed countries in renovating their school buildings, the research has reached several design modifications that can be made to make the school building more flexible, encourages cooperation and communication among students, and includes diverse spaces that accommodate the activities required to acquire higher thinking skills.