A Study of the Strategies for Improving the Architectural Spaces of Schools with Consideration of Student Points of View Based on Their Paintings (Case Study: Elementary Schools in Bandar Anzali)

The present research emphasizes on the importance of educational spaces, their role in increasing the creativity and learning ability of students as the capitals of a country, also on searching for patterns to improve the current conditions of schools and to create a desirable educational space with consideration of the needs and opinions of students as the main users of such spaces. To achieve these goals and to find an answer to questions regarding how students imagine an ideal school along with the role and possibility of collaboration between educational space designers and students as their users in addition to the possibility to adjust the opinions of the two groups (designers and students) while designing a school, five girls’ elementary schools in Bandar Anzali were studied using descriptive-survey method. Opinions related to an ideal school were obtained as paintings and texts describing such a school. In all, 208 paintings were received and collected information was analyzed and encoded using MAXQDA software. Results showed that students were not satisfied with current school conditions; they needed to spend more time outside classrooms and that a special attention had to be paid to the relationship between nature and architectural spaces. Based on these findings and adjusting them to children’s opinions, the researchers tried to create an environment as wished, so that by respecting the desires of the users of the said spaces, the quality of educational environments could be improved. The innovation of adjusting novel points of view and opinions on designing an ideal school to what students imagine such a school would be is an ideal. Thus, the authors of this chapter have presented some common views.