There appears to be a belief in many quarters that concern themselves with matters educational, that new schools must be brightly, even outlandishly coloured, as a prerequisite to being suitable for children.
I suspect that bright colour is sometimes used to mask the lack of architecture, budget and possibly even teaching. It seems to say that children must immediately like their school environment otherwise they might not want to learn, irrespective of the teaching. Gaudiness, as a substitute for architectural rigour, seems like a subliminal softening-up of expectations for the quality the public domain in adulthood.
But with the Lucie Aubrac School in Paris, lessons in architecture, are interesting, rigorous and serious.
I am delighted that
Dietmar Feichtinger Architects has taken an approach, that children should be exposed to sophisticated architecture from as early an age as possible. And say they do not immediately like their surroundings because it's style is too adult, then given education and encouragement, they can learn to like it, just like they do with other refinements in human thinking.
