Cannon Design joined the International School of Indiana to create a space that would support and facilitate the core values of the institution. With the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum as the school’s backbone, the space would chiefly create physical collisions of disciplines. To further define a collection of design drivers, the design team led a series of workshops with ISI students, faculty, staff and parents. The 79 ideas of The Third Teacher provided a common language that enabled collaboration between the learning community and architects. The workshop groups selected “do no harm,” “let the sunshine in,” “imagine like a child,” “build a nest,” “dream big and be brave,” “make it feel good,” and “put theory into practice” as their ideas of focus. These ideas then became design elements that guided the creation of an ideal learning space.

The spatial and pedagogical goals of the design are to:

+ Break down the walls that limit our thinking and creativity and create flexible learning spaces.

+ Disrupt the authoritative flow of information from tutor to pupil and place the child at the center of learning. Instead of passive absorption he or she will inquire, and engage in

+ Ignore silos so that each child can pick from a wealth of disciplines to assemble a matrix of knowledge. The child will understand theoretical foundations but will be empowered to go beyond: applying, practicing and experiencing material, confident in his or her abilities.