Imaginative Bridges Between Architecture and My Classroom.

Let me first start off by saying that I hate the way my classroom is designed. Let me follow that up by saying that I had no input as to it's present design. My classroom is a computer lab and is rectangular in shape. It is a large room. In fact, much larger than it needs to be. The computers are along the perimeter in the room leaving a mass of dead space in the middle that I tried to fill with tables that I rarely use. At the far end of the room you will find two large windows. I do enjoy the natural light because I am not fond of the flourescent lights in the ceiling. I have also added a lamp with candescent light because I feel it is less irritating.

Anyway, the layout of my classroom is highly ineffective. The class is very large and the computers stretch all the way around the room. Having that much space with a room full of 30 middle school students is a nightmare. Also, because the computers are around the perimeter I see the back of the students' heads. If I could have designed the room myself I would've had the computers run across the room in tiered rows. The tiered rows would be like seating rows at the movie theater with the farthest computer row being the tallest. Also, behind the seating in every row would be a long table that stretches the length of the row so that when I am presenting in the front of the room students are able to turn around and take notes or write on the table. When I am finished all they have to do is rotate around back to their computer screen. I believe this would be the most effective architecturally effective design for my computer lab.