Registration & Call for Proposals Open: ECIS Liberating School Spaces Conference 3.0. | Berlin: 27-28 November 2026
Registration & Call for Proposals Open: ECIS Liberating School Spaces Conference 3.0. | Berlin: 27-28 November 2026
Registration and Call for Proposals Open!
Liberating School Spaces 3.0
27 & 28 November 2026
Berlin-Brandenburg International School
Building on the success of Liberating School Spaces 1.0 and 2.0, ECIS, tp bennett architects, and The Mona Lisa Effect® are pleased to bring you Liberating School Spaces 3.0.
Schools are complex buildings that must serve an exceptionally wide array of needs and an extremely diverse range of people. Spatial design has a direct effect on learning — and an indirect one through its impact on school culture, community wellbeing, and a school’s commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. It is also the ongoing work of each generation to critically question, reimagine and rebuild the spaces in which young people learn. A considered revolution in school design, for our age, is overdue.
This Conference will bring together voices from across school communities and beyond to explore what it truly means to liberate school spaces. We believe that, regardless of where a school is in its architectural journey or its financial resources, spaces can be designed, redesigned and adapted to create positive change — for an inclusive future and genuinely student-centred learning. We are particularly committed to hearing from a breadth of voices: students, educators, parents and families, and those not yet arrived in our communities, across every scale of school space.
Join educators, students, school leaders, architects, designers, health professionals and manufacturers from across the globe to share research, lived experience and bold ideas — and to explore together how liberating school spaces can transform who feels expected, welcomed and able to belong.
PLUS: CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Are you someone who wishes to, or has begun to question, reimagine, and rebuild learning spaces? Are you eager to share your views, your story, your successful or less successful projects or a line of inquiry or research regarding the use, architecture and design of learning spaces?
If so, we would be delighted to receive your proposal for Liberating School Spaces 3.0!
Whether you are an educator, a student, a school leader, a board member, an administrative, marketing, admissions, facilities or healthcare professional, a service or product provider to schools – you are welcome to submit a proposal.
We want to hear from anyone with an interest in the impactful liberating of school spaces. We particularly encourage student participation in this Conference, either as independent presenters or as part of sessions presented by educators or parents/families.
Whose VOICE and which type of SPACE?
This call for proposals has been designed to enable as broad a proposal response as possible. This is because schools are complex buildings which must be designed to serve a wide range of users.
Whose VOICE:
We believe that, in order to revolutionise school design in a considered and evidence-led way, we need voices – the voices of Students, Educators and Parents/Families, and those who have not yet arrived in our communities.
Which type of SPACE:
School buildings can be examined at different scales i.e. from an entire campus/school to the smallest office. They also contain many different types of spaces based on age, learning, specialist subjects, staff needs etc.
You may choose to concentrate on one or several aspects related to voice and space.
For example:
- the student voice regarding the entire campus and how it enables them to flourish or fails them.
- the educator voice regarding Early Years spaces and how they can enhance learning.
- the educator voice regarding how outdoor learning spaces are not fit for purpose and how to improve them.
- the parent voice regarding how they are, or not, welcomed and accommodated within the learning environment.
- the student and parent/family voice regarding the effectiveness of sporting facilities currently and how they can transform sports education for all students.
- the Not-Yet-Arrived voice regarding how current spatial choices are already deciding who will feel expected, welcomed and able to belong – and who will not.
- Click here to learn more about how you can share your knowledge this November in Berlin.