Book excerpt: Flexibility, safety and accessibility: in addition to the current technical, energy and environmental standards, school buildings require innovative structural solutions which extend far beyond the building design. The authors guide the reader through the cultural development of school buildings, presenting stakeholders as well as historical and contemporary learning concepts, defining organizational tasks, formulating quality standards of contemporary learning and working as well as presenting typologies and spatial organizational models, which were created in cooperation with the foundation, the Montag Stiftung, as part of the project Guidelines for Productive School Buildings. 32 international school buildings are presented through detailed drawings and photographs, arranged according to their levels of education. Ten design parameters for school construction round off this practical design manual. With contributions by Natascha Meuser, Hans Wolfgang Hoffmann, Thomas Müller and Jochem Schneider