APJCRI Asia-pacific Journal of Convergent
Research Interchange

A Study on School Architecture and Spatial Planning Measures in Response to Changes Caused by COVID-19 Pandemic

February 28, 2022  |  Vol.8, No.2  |  PP. 189-201  | PDF

AUTHORS:

Jinju Jung, Department of Architecture, Cheongju University, Korea

KEYWORDS:

School Architecture, COVID-19, Decrease in the Student Population, Flexible Responses for New Schools

Abstract

Due to structural social changes such as the severely declining birth rate, a decrease in the school-age population due to aging, and the unprecedented global COVID-19 pandemic, existing school facilities and spaces are in need of fundamental changes from the conventional method of using basic classrooms and support facilities to a more flexible application method that can cope with new situational conditions. The purpose of this study is to provide basic data that can be applied to the school site in the future by considering the decrease in the number of students and school architecture and space plans to cope with changes brought by COVID-19 pandemic. The research method was approached and studied from an architectural planning aspect slightly different from the general research method in the fields of humanities and sociology, which analyzes actual school design cases. To study and analyze school-age population decline trends the following data were collected such as the resident registration population data, Statistics Korea's special projection data for the country's future population, the data of the Teacher Policy Division of the Ministry of Education that applies the enrollment rate, and KEDI. Also, drawings and field conditions are investigated and analyzed for actual cases of Korea and Japan from 2018 to 2019. The conclusion of the study is as follows. It is deemed possible to respond by fully utilizing the school space with a plan that combines face-to-face class and class mirroring or a plan that combines face-to-face class and home mirroring. Some of the flexible responses for new schools or school spaces that can be expanded or remodeled are to convert the corridors into a multifunctional 7.5 m space, which combines the function of a 4.5m wide workspace with the function of an ordinary 3m passage, and to implement changes by means of zoning by grade level and improving student mobility guides designed to minimize student mobility and contact. And it is necessary to change planing a school that maximizes flexibility and variability.