“Fountaineers” by Daanen and Lee

With current debates about what a 21st century education should look like and £45 billion earmarked for the UK Building Schools for the Future programme, Fountaineers aims to demonstrate that children and teachers have enormous scope to influence the reconfiguration of their buildings and outdoor spaces – and particularly to use the environment to model new learning habits and more adventurous, curious mindsets.

The Fountaineers project has three equally important aspects. First is the design process in which we work with all pupils and teachers (220 in total) to ensure that everybody has an input in the final brief. Second is the fountain itself and the control system, where it is important that it is flexible and varied enough that it can be used for many things and easily be reprogrammed. The third aspect is the ongoing integration of the fountain in and outside lessons and the management of its use that is led and owned by the pupils.