Published in 1991 and 2000 respectively, Lessons for Students in Architecture and Space and the Architect comprise an essential part of the biography of Herman Hertzberger (Amsterdam, 1932): his extensive career as a professor at the Delft Technical University between 1970 and 1999. In these volumes, Hertzberger selects particular aspects of the projects of other architects as well as some of his own, to use them as specific examples in a discourse on the social dimension of architecture. The competition proposals by Meyer & Wittwer for the Peters Schule in Basel, and the open-air schools in Amsterdam by Duiker & Bijvoet, and in Suresnes, by Beaudouin & Lods, endeavour to improve the conditions for a better education. Designed by Hertzberger himself, the Montessori School in Delft and the Apollo Schools in Amsterdam reflect their author’s concern for the flexibility and vitality of educational spaces. The following excerpts from the ‘lessons’ of the architect and professor on the five projects illustrate the educational purpose of this issue…[+]