부산대학교 도서관

This paper aims to investigate spatial configurational properties of a school based on year-mixed departmental system. As one of fundamental differences of this system compared with ordinary departmental system, students are not grouped in accordance with their years, but rather randomly allocated to one of five core subjects without considering what year they are. Year-mixed departmental system is carefully developed by a local educational administration in Fukui-city, Japan, in order to ensure sustainable learning activities, correspond to diverse didactics and to meet required educational quality. However, this particular system has not been fully examined how it works and what spatial properties can be defined in architectural viewpoint. Throughout in-depth understanding of spatial properties using visibility graph analysis model which is one of analytical tools in space syntax, it is concluded that the spatial layout is characterised by dynamic spatial structure at different levels: a congregational space (i.e., foyer) acts as a core for social interactions and activities at a global level, but cluster-based common spaces act as substantial places for educational activities. Moreover, not only courtyards allow light in the deepest part of the building, but also they make the spatial structure more intelligible, visible and accessible for students. It is suggested that this spatial configuration designed for year-mixed departmental system allows students to create diverse learning activities, leads to various interactions across the building and results in an innovative educational culture.