The purpose of this article is to further develop the groundbreaking research conducted by the Building Performance Research Unit (BPRU). The BPRU was established at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, in 1967 and conducted research on 48 comprehensive schools in central Scotland that were opened between 1958 and 1966. Our research contents were publicly presented for the first time at the ECER 2023 conference in Glasgow, the original setting of this history of education we continued to elaborate on. Our presentation introduced the objectives of the BPRU and the theoretical contributions of its researchers from various disciplines, including the founder and main coordinator, architect Thomas A. Markus ; P. Whyman (architect), D. Canter (psychologist), T. Maver (operational research scientist), J. Morgan (physicist), D. Whitton (quantity surveyor) and J. Flemming (systems analyst).

Our presence in Glasgow, also enabled unprecedented access to the BPRU documents, which had been archived since 1973, when the unit's activities came to an end. A detailed reading and critical interpretation of these archival documents can provide a relevant contribute to the knowledge of these first post-occupancy experiences in schools from the end of the 1960s. This includes the challenges, experiences, and deviations involved in speculating on a field that, at the time, was still unaware of its true relevance, as evidenced by many contemporary studies.

The working papers, signed by the researchers, provide an objective report on the measurements of school building layouts and the needs of their communities. The papers map the physical conditions that determine teaching environments, such as sound and daylight, through a rigorous study of spatial partitions. This helped to better understand the particular perceptions of students and teachers. Although the quantitative techniques were used to translate data into objective information, psychologist David Canter's reports aimed to subjectively assess the school communities through questionnaires that were marked by their semantic richness.

The BPRU theory of “improvisation” pertains to changes made in the day-to-day operations of schools’ communities, to varying degrees. The aim was to map these changes in a relatively simple manner, using models that learn from each school's level of improvisation. This allowed for the simulation of future day-to-day operations of schools as open systems of improvisation.

Based on the BPRU’s observation that “people are more adaptable than school buildings”, it is important to consider the full activity of these spaces as relevant data to achieve a fuller architectural response. We argue that interdisciplinary research is currently crucial for renovating educational spaces. 

This paper resorts to primary sources from the archive material of the BPRU, currently deposited in Archives and Special Collections at the University of Strathclyde, to detail the goals, methods, and workflow that gave structure to this innovative approach to “research performance”, namely related to the appraisal of school buildings – here related to three main lenses: 1. Presenting BPRU’s research agenda, stated in the first intentions document GD/1/TAM/ML, 18th August 1967, is crucial to frame the context of this forerunner academic venture on education research within an architectural research environment: why schools as the focus of building appraisal, how, by whom and by what means this building appraisal is envisioned; 2. Understanding the aims, scientific organisation and techniques of the five months “Exploratory Study”, introduced in the working paper GD/1/TAM/ML, 18th August 1967, developed in the context of secondary schools in Scotland, between September 1967 and January 1968, will unravel the interchanges of the outputs coming from diverse disciplines, as psychology and architecture; 3. Considering BPRU’s dissemination activities – in the Royal Institute of British Architects, in London and the Design Methods Group in Massachusetts, USA, - as a way of receiving critique on their research endeavour on the comprehensive schools, will helps us to situate the idealization of a research field specific conceived around educational research, namely on school buildings and environments.

As argued in our paper 'The Power of School Buildings', presented at ECER 2023, we quote Thomas A. Markus to introduce the expected outcomes. The vision is to incorporate research findings into future designs, contributing to innovative school buildings and environments while being aware of the legacies provided by the long history of education and pedagogies: “In the present case the Unit’s interest in developing an understanding of, and techniques for, building performance appraisal led to the need to select a building type in which a large number of similar examples could easily be reached, in which background information on the buildings could be readily obtained and in which there was some hope of assessing the actual product of the organisation which the building housed. From a social viewpoint we felt that a building type of which many examples were likely to be built in future years would provide the possibility of research findings actually being incorporated in future designs. All these considerations pointed to schools […]” (Markus and Building Performance Research Unit, 1972, p.52) Drawing on the BPRU's five-year activity, we contend that their pioneering interdisciplinary research approach offers valuable lessons. Specifically, by unpacking their archive, we can critically revisit their experimental methodology and consider its current significance, namely in the context of research processes associated with the renovation of obsolete educational spaces. By considering the full scope of their activities, we can develop a more comprehensive response, in a contemporary context of an architectural practice-based research.

Building Performance Research Unit Reports, nº 1-38 (1967-1970). Archive materials from the Andersonian Library, Archives & Special Collections (Serials), University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Building Performance Research Unit (1970). Building Appraisal: Students London: Applied Science Publishers. Markus, T. (1967). Measurement and appraisal of building performance: the first documents. The Architects’ Journal, 146, 1565-1573. Markus, T. (1968). The Comprehensive School. Report from the Building Performance Research Unit - Activities, spaces and sacred cows. RIBA Journal, Volume 75 (9), 425-426. Markus, T. (1974). The why and the how of research in 'real' buildings. Journal of Architectural Research. Journal of Architectural Research, Vol. 3, No. 2 (May 1974), pp. 19-23 Markus, T. (1993). Buildings and Power: freedom and control in the origin of modern building types. London and New York: Routledge. Markus, T.; Building Performance Research Unit. (1972). Building Performance. St Michael’s Academy Kilwinning, The Architects’ Journal, 151, 9-50. RIBA Journal (1966). NEWS: Measuring building performance. RIBA Journal, 73(3), 103. The Architects’ Journal (1970). Tom Markus is alive and well…, 151(9), 538-543.