Unlocking wellbeing-affordances in elementary schools initiated by a “natural experiment” caused by Covid-19

Abstract

In 2020-’21 Covid-19 rolled over the school landscape as a pressure wave. Elementary schools had

to push through ad hoc changes in their physical structure to succumb to the safety regulations is- sued after the first lockdown in the Spring of 2020. These physical alterations influenced the organ- izational structure of schools and the wellbeing of protagonists. Through all the negative, also posi- tive sparks were noticed, as some changes were appraised positively, inveterate ideas were aban- doned for an open minded view and teachers at home overthought their functioning and searched

for meaning in their profession. This relevant momentum can be viewed as an opportunity to criti- cally question the rather cumbersome design type of elementary schools, and to provide more at- tuned spatial affordances to teachers and pupils. The aim of our study was thus twofold: first, to

get a grip on the values and needs that teachers and pupils had (re)attached to the functioning, and positively appraised changes in the school organization and environment. Second, we aimed to combine the gathered data and explore design strategies to design wellbeing related affordances inspired by the “natural experiment” caused by Covid-19. To conclude, the paper discusses the ‘flourishing affordance’ in school architecture.