Educational Environment: Integration of Educational Institutions in the Development of Large Territories
Andrey Kalinin, the Head of akvk+partners, spoke at the expert session “Choosing a Site for a School in the Development of the Master Plan” at the IX International Festival Our School 2025. In his speech, he presented the methodology for working with social facilities as key components of the urban environment.
The main points of the presentation:
- Urban planning integration: Basic standards, such as accessibility radii and areas, are only the bare minimum. A modern master plan requires that schools to be placed at the intersection points of the pedestrian network. An important aspect of design today is correctly integrating drop-off zones — specialized “pockets” that prevent conflicts between transport and pedestrian flows.
- The concept of the “15-minute city”: Andrey presented a case study on designing educational infrastructure for dispersed sites within one СTD contract. The proposed school placement principle allows schools to function as a single social core for several blocks, ensuring territorial connectivity.
- The efficiency of the development project: The complex morphology of the site is a resource, not a burden. Andrey gave the example of the akvk+partners project: a compact five-story school on a site that was reduced by 40%. This solution demonstrates the possibility of maintaining a balance between social obligations and the commercial efficiency of a project.
- Working with the terrain: Instead of expensive engineering solutions, such as retaining walls, akvk+partners uses a vertical zoning technique. By integrating the elevation differences directly into the layout of the building, it creates multi-level public spaces and optimizes the costs of the groundwork.
During the round table discussion “Finding Synergy of Interests of Creators and Users of Educational Spaces,” Andrey Kalinin discussed the transformation of educational scenarios and the typological requirements for modern schools.
Key points:
- Revising educational patterns: Andrey Kalinin emphasized that in the context of rapid technological development (and in particular, artificial intelligence), one of the most important competencies for students is the ability to set tasks (prompt engineering) and think critically. This inevitably leads to changes in the architecture of the building.
- The crisis of the standard classroom: Existing regulations and technological specifications are still focused on frontal seating in standard classrooms. However, the expert questioned the feasibility of having an excessive number of such rooms. In the future, some of the educational functions will move from closed classrooms to multifunctional spaces.
- Flexible spatial programming: Instead of static corridors and classrooms, akvk+partners proposes creating open learning zones. This allows for a variety of scenarios, ranging from individual, focused work with AI models to team-based, interdisciplinary projects
"The image of the future school is a transition from a ‘knowledge repository’ to a ‘meaning-generating environment.’ The physical environment should encourage interaction rather than limiting it to the walls of a typical classroom,” said Andrey Kalinin.
For the team, an important stage of the festival was the award ceremony held during the review competition. The project of a kindergarten for 260 children, developed by akvk+partners, was awarded the Bronze Diploma. This award confirms the company's commitment to the principles of high-quality, modern, and functional architecture for children. We thank the jury for their high evaluation of our work.
More about the project
More about the project
akvk+partners — creating architectural history
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