The impact of appealing settings that are also conducive to learning is critical to a student's educational experience. Data shows us that this is due to the way the architecture of the built environment cognitively impacts learners' attitudes and demeanour.

As Designers and Specifiers, the expectations of the needs of an interior are the most important goals to achieve.

But, for education spaces where the criteria of needs are more fluid, creating stimulative spaces must work for both educators and students. To create an intuitive environment, designers should aim to be more intentional, ensuring contemporary consideration and understanding of students' feedback and personal experiences.

Interior walls and ceilings are some of the best ways to explore this environmental relationship. However, creating beautiful visual stimuli that support functional needs can be daunting.

The Vtec team work with Architects and Specifiers daily to help solve challenging integration concerns and bring it all together.

Vtec shares four ways that walls and ceilings can be used to create a dynamic and spatial learning environment, and how they can help you achieve this.

1. Sound for Listening, Sound for Talking
Sound can either be merely discernible or can be controlled to add value and performance. With walls and ceilings, acoustic considerations must be part of the design and should not be an afterthought. Correctly controlled sound helps to manage disruptions and interruptions to concentration, allowing staff and students to focus and listen.

VTEC'S RECOMMENDATION: Decide on a system which includes acoustic properties to control reverberation. For educational settings where several types of activities are taking place, perforated timber panels like Supacoustic are a great option. Supacoustic gives you the freedom to create beautiful aesthetics and sound performance in an accessible and functional system.

2. Light Within
Good lighting is intrinsic to improved well-being, better health and increased attention in learning environments. Lighting also helps to communicate spatial awareness between students and their surroundings.

VTEC'S RECOMMENDATION: Integrate your lighting in walls and ceilings to create a cohesive system that can help translate the visual relationship. Vtec's Technical Specialists help designers solve their integration concerns by including lighting, M&E and all services in 3D Modelling. The team creates these models to ensure accurate incorporation that guarantees a perfect interface with surrounding construction elements.

3. Reach for the Skies
Studies show that lofty and tall ceiling heights promote increased cognitive functioning. We think more abstractly and creatively. Students, therefore, pay more attention and interest in their environment allowing them the opportunity to flourish.

VTEC'S RECOMMENDATION: Use the height of the ceiling environment to your advantage. SupaSlat is a modular slatted wood panel system that installs easily into common ceiling grids. This makes it an easy and reliable system to use coupled with beautiful wood specie finishes.

4. Future Change
Challenge the concept of how learning spaces function. Explore break-out spaces, one-to-one zones, team areas etc. Creating more flexible spaces supports students with varying learning styles.

VTEC'S RECOMMENDATION: Diversify these zones with MaxiBeam vertical screens. This helps to create an organic flow to an interior, easily adapting a space into several smaller customised areas. MaxiBeam screens are ideal for maintaining zones yet still retaining an aesthetic quality.

Staying focused on the needs of staff and educators is pivotal to a learning environment's success. Vtec Group can help specifiers to find the right system that supports, visual stimulation, sound control and integration. Each system is designed to be flexible to the needs of the space.

Chat with their Technical Team today to learn how they can help support you with your designs.

Visit vtecgroup.co.uk for specification details, inspiration and technical data.