Drawing on the perspectives of architectural psychology set against the historical development
of school building in the United States Japan and Germany the authors' vision is to create
places where we would want to relive our own school days. The book takes the position that user
design control of stress factors and control of communication (privacy retreats) should be
allowed to modify the original architectural design to flexibly accommodate future changing
requirements. The development and application of criteria for assessing functional aesthetic
social-physical ecological organizational and economical aspects to various parts of the
school complex call for a common language for the design process. The appendix presents 24
innovative schools from countries in five continents.
