The workshop seeks to explore the architecture of various types of school buildings as both a cornerstone and a reflection of social, political, and national identities. Beyond their functional role, school buildings stand as physical embodiments of the values, ideologies, and aspirations of the societies that construct them.

A key focus will be the development of school buildings of education in Europe. The early attempts arose 1763 in Prussia and 1774 in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Yet the development of infrastructures for mass schooling followed only slowly. The workshop is therefore open to discussions on the broader era of state-driven education as a distinct architectural type. This process gained momentum with the rise of modern states and their commitment to mandatory general education. Laws promoting reforms from the late 18th century leading up to the Second World War.

Recognizing that the typology of school buildings and their architectural history is significantly understudied, this workshop aims to concentrate on what could be considered the formative period of these efforts. While various 20th-century experiments in school architecture are noteworthy, our current interest lies in the more widespread, inconspicuous or mundane school buildings, which set the stage for later innovations and serve as a baseline for understanding subsequent developments in educational architecture.

The workshop is jointly organized by the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Habsburg and Balkan Studies.

The workshop was conceived beside of the "Invisible Agents" in Architecture (1908-38). Policies, Principles, and Projects in Central European Ministries of Public Works research project conducted at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Czech Academy of Sciences with the support of the Austrian Science Fund.