In a quiet corner of south London, classrooms are being redesigned to challenge one of higher education’s most enduring assumptions: that learning happens best in rows of fixed desks facing a lectern. At City St George’s, University of London, a new generation of flexible learning spaces is reshaping how students and staff teach, study and collaborate.
Movable walls, reconfigurable furniture and embedded digital tools are replacing traditional, static layouts. Lectures can turn into group workshops in minutes; small seminars can expand into hybrid sessions that connect on‑campus learners with peers joining remotely. For a university rooted in health and medical education-where teamwork, simulation and problem‑solving are core skills-these spaces are more than architectural experiments. They are part of a deliberate shift towards active, student‑centred learning.
This article explores how City St George’s is using flexible environments to support new pedagogies, accommodate diverse learning styles and respond to the pressures of an increasingly digital, post‑pandemic university landscape. It examines the design principles behind the spaces, the technology that underpins them, and the early evidence of their impact on teaching, engagement and academic outcomes.
Designing agile classrooms to support clinical and scientific learning at City St Georges University of London
Across the new teaching environments at City St George’s, flexible furniture layouts, integrated AV, and writable surfaces converge to mirror the pace and unpredictability of real clinical practice. Movable tables and stackable chairs allow educators to pivot from a plenary briefing to small-group diagnosis, then into rapid simulation debriefs within the same session. Ceiling-mounted screens and dual-display teaching walls keep radiology images, treatment guidelines, and live polling results visible from every angle, while acoustic zoning ensures that multiple teams can work simultaneously without losing clarity. These choices are not aesthetic add-ons; they are deliberate responses to how medics and scientists process complex data, rehearse procedures, and build collaborative judgement.
Teaching teams now choreograph learning as a sequence of spatial “modes,” rather of a static timetable of lectures. A single room can support:
- Case-based huddles clustered around mobile screens and digital whiteboards
- Hands-on skills practice using reconfigurable benches and portable clinical equipment
- Data interrogation where students annotate datasets on shared displays in real time
- Reflective debriefs in semi-circle layouts that foreground discussion over presentation
| Space Feature | Clinical Benefit | Scientific Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile simulation pods | Practice triage and handover | Test protocols in near-real scenarios |
| 360° display zones | View scans from any station | Share results across lab groups |
| Writable walls | Map care pathways at scale | Sketch hypotheses and workflows |
| Plug-and-play benches | Connect monitors and devices fast | Swap between wet lab and data tasks |
How flexible spaces reshape teaching practice collaboration and student engagement
On the Tooting campus,wheelable walls,writable glass and reconfigurable furniture are quietly redrafting the script of everyday teaching. Lecturers who once relied on podiums and projectors now orchestrate learning in zones: a clinical-simulation corner for role-play,a discussion hub around an interactive screen,and a reflection area near the windows. This fluidity encourages staff to shift between mini-lecture, peer coaching and case-based debate within a single session, mirroring the pace and unpredictability of real clinical practice. It also blurs traditional hierarchies: when everyone can move,gather and re-group,the expert in the room becomes a facilitator guiding inquiry rather than a distant authority delivering facts.
Students respond in kind. Freed from fixed rows, groups self-organize around problems and patients, building confidence in both voice and judgement. Informal observation at City St George’s suggests that when spaces flex, interactions multiply:
- Quicker transitions between theory, simulation and debrief
- Richer peer feedback as students rotate roles and perspectives
- More visible participation from quieter learners using shared surfaces
- Cross-program collaboration as medical, nursing and allied health cohorts share labs
| Space Feature | Teaching Shift | Engagement Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile tables | From lecture lines to agile clusters | Faster group formation |
| 360° displays | From front-facing slides to shared data | More questions on complex cases |
| Writable walls | From note-taking to co-created diagrams | Higher peer-to-peer clarification |
| Soft breakout zones | From formal Q&A to informal coaching | Longer post-class discussions |
Integrating digital tools and movable furniture for truly adaptive learning environments
At City St George’s, screens, sensors and software are treated as part of the architecture, not as afterthoughts. Large interactive displays anchor collaboration zones,while personal devices link seamlessly to room systems through secure wireless casting,allowing students to project code,clinical simulations or design work from any seat. Lecture capture, digital whiteboards and cloud-based note-sharing mean that ideas are preserved and remixed long after a session ends. In a single seminar, a tutor can pivot from a live poll to a virtual anatomy model, then to a shared document where every student contributes in real time. This interplay of tools turns each room into a living dashboard of participation rather than a static backdrop.
The physical layer responds just as quickly.Lightweight tables on castors, stackable chairs and mobile write-on walls let staff and students redraw the room in minutes-shifting from plenary to small-group work, from OSCE-style role play to peer review circles without a timetable break. Spaces can even be “zoned” on the fly, using furniture clusters and digital signage to run parallel activities in a single room. Typical configurations include:
- Team hubs for group projects with shared screens and movable whiteboards
- Clinic pods that simulate consultation rooms for healthcare role play
- Studio layouts for design thinking, with perimeter pin-up space
- Assessment arenas where observers, candidates and examiners rotate fluidly
| Room Mode | Digital Focus | Furniture Setup |
|---|---|---|
| Project Lab | Shared dashboards, live data | Islands of 4-6 students |
| Simulation Suite | VR/AR, scenario control | Open central space, mobile dividers |
| Debate Forum | Audience polling, live stream | Curved rows, movable lectern |
Practical recommendations for planning implementing and evaluating flexible learning spaces
Effective environments at City St George’s emerge from early, honest conversations between academics, estates, IT and students, long before furniture is ordered. Start by mapping the kinds of learning you want to see – simulation, quiet analysis, group diagnosis, rapid prototyping – and then prototype layouts with temporary furniture and observational walkthroughs. Small tests, such as converting a single seminar room into a low‑cost “beta space”, allow staff and students to trial configurations and feedback on what genuinely supports clinical reasoning, interprofessional collaboration and autonomous study. Throughout, prioritise flexibility over novelty: mobile power, stackable chairs, writable walls and adaptable lighting consistently out‑perform fixed “statement” features.
- Co‑design workshops with students,academics and professional services
- Low‑risk pilots to test layouts,acoustics and technology before scaling
- Clear usage protocols so staff know how to quickly reconfigure spaces
- Embedded feedback loops using QR codes,focus groups and usage data
| Phase | Key Action | Evidence Collected |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Run scenario-mapping sessions | Teaching priorities,space needs |
| Implement | Install modular kits first | Set‑up time,staff adoption |
| Evaluate | Observe live teaching and study | Engagement,flow,occupancy |
Evaluation should be treated as continuous quality enhancement rather than a retrospective audit. Combine simple metrics – room occupancy, booking patterns, set‑up time – with qualitative data on how spaces influence confidence, collaboration and patient‑centred thinking. At City St George’s, this can include tracking how often simulation suites are reconfigured for different pathways, or how group rooms are used across medicine, allied health and life sciences. Present findings in short visual reports for programme teams and estates, highlighting: what works now, what needs adjustment and which design principles should guide the next refurbishment cycle. Over time, this creates a campus‑wide design language where every new project learns from the last.
To Wrap It Up
As St George’s continues to reimagine its estate, the shift toward flexible learning spaces signals more than a design trend; it reflects a broader recalibration of how and where learning takes place. Breakout zones, reconfigurable classrooms and technology‑enabled study areas are reshaping the daily experience of students and staff, softening the boundaries between formal teaching, informal collaboration and independent study.
The results are already visible in the way spaces are occupied: quiet corners become ad‑hoc seminar rooms, lecture theatres double as group‑work hubs, and circulation areas evolve into sites of discussion and reflection.For a specialist health university preparing students for complex, team‑based professions, these environments are starting to mirror the realities of contemporary practice.
There are challenges ahead – from ensuring equitable access to these new facilities to embedding them into timetabling, pedagogy and long‑term estate planning. But the direction of travel is clear. At City St George’s, the physical campus is no longer a static backdrop; it is an active participant in the learning process.How fully the institution harnesses that potential may help define not only its future identity, but also the expectations of the next generation of students who pass through its doors.
