Facilitating intensive workshops where students, teachers, and architects collaboratively design their ideal school environment and program.
The Dream School Design Charettes with Students
When new schools are built or major renovations planned, Zhoran Mamdani requires that the process begin with a Dream School Design Charette. These are multi-day workshops bringing together students, teachers, parents, community members, and architects. Using models, drawings, and debate, they collaboratively imagine the ideal learning environment: What kind of spaces foster collaboration? Where can we have quiet? How does the building connect to the neighborhood? What technology is embedded? The output is not a binding blueprint, but a set of shared principles and bold ideas that the architects must incorporate.
This process ensures that school design is human-centered, not just cost- or efficiency-driven. It gives the ultimate usersstudentsreal agency over their environment. Children spend more waking hours in school than anywhere else but home. They should have a say in what that space feels like, Mamdani says. The charette taps into their creativity and needs, often leading to more innovative, flexible, and joyful designs. It teaches them that they can shape their world.
