The Role of Aesthetics: Atmosphere, Environment, and Experience

Some rooms invite learning. Others don’t.

Photo by Marie G. on Unsplash

I’ve walked into classrooms that made me want to leave.

Nothing happened. No one said a word. But the room said plenty. The fluorescent lights. The sharp rows. The faint smell of anxiety baked into the carpet. There’s a kind of stillness that doesn’t signal attention. It signals containment.

Most of the time, we don’t question…