Mahakaal Darshan

Darshan at Shri Mahakaleshwar, Ujjain — two hours from Indore — for delegates arriving on Monday 5 October. Travel is arranged from Sheraton Grand Palace; seats are limited and confirmed in order of registration. You return in time for the evening on the lawn.

The Making

Clay diyas along the path. A Bagh printer from Dhar, a Maheshwari loom, a potter at the wheel — you print your own square of cloth, returned at the door.

Seated in the Round

Baithak seating in the round — a short khayal set in the Indore gharana, then Malwa Kabir in the nirguni tradition, a form the room is expected to sing back.

The Welcome

Live counters, everyone standing, every visiting delegate walked through it by a host from Indore. One Kabir doha closes the night.

Becoming Human

Kevin Bartlett · Sankoré International School, Nairobi

Understand why education reform keeps stalling, and discover a whole-ecosystem approach built on Capacity, Culture, Curriculum, Community and Context, plus an affordable curriculum designed to put India’s NEP into practice.

School as a Mini City

Asher Marcus & Dr. Embeth van der Wal · Hubo Studio, South Africa

See how Redhill Early Learning Centre turned a Reggio Emilia-inspired philosophy into architecture, and learn how co-creating with educators and children helps design schools as mini cities.

How Boards Shape Space Culture

Syed Sultan Ahmed · Ashish Trivedi · two further voices to be announced

Senior board leaders discuss how curriculum frameworks and board philosophies translate into the physical design, spatial culture and daily rhythms of a school, and what it means for your campus.

GLSN × LEAFI Unveiling, with LED Nordic Research

Markku Lang & Hannu Haarala · Finland

Witness the launch of the LEAFI–GLSN collaboration and the India unveiling of the LED Nordic Project’s latest research, and learn about upcoming Nordic study tours, training programmes and cross-country initiatives.

Micro Talks — Space · Furniture · Pedagogy

Denis Fujii · Ralph Razisberger

Short, focused micro talks connecting space, furniture and pedagogy — quick perspectives from practice on how the three work together in a school.

Space, Furniture and Pedagogy as One System

Denis Fujii · DLUX · MONO · BAYA Learning, Brazil

Explore space as the “third educator” and learn practical strategies for aligning architecture, flexible furniture and pedagogy into one ecosystem that nurtures creativity, autonomy, collaboration and a stronger school culture.

Open Floor — the Morning’s Voices

Student Performance — the Room Reassembles

The Space to Become

Ganesh Kohli · IC3

Reflect on education beyond marks and achievement, and explore how schools can give young people the room to question, explore, stumble, seek help and discover who they want to become.

What We Want — Designers and Educators

Arjun Puri · Chhavi Lal · Arora · Rajgarhia · moderated by Irshad & Sai

Two Sparks I — From Sprawl to Stack

Rohit Bhatkar · Tangents Design Cell

Learn strategies for designing child-centric, open and healthy schools on tight urban plots within regulatory limits, with a practical framework for balancing density and design quality in land-scarce cities.

Two Sparks II — Watching Someone Learn

Akshara Verma · ACE Group Architects

Reflect on four decades of designing for education through the eyes of a one-year-old learner, and explore how spaces can keep children safe while preserving risk, play, agency and discovery.

Beyond the Built — Journey of Heritage Xperiential

Prerna Shivpuri · Heritage Xperiential Schools, Lighthouse Learning

Compare two journeys, building a school from scratch and transforming an existing one, and understand why teacher mindset and school culture must evolve alongside space for real transformation to last.

Library, Makerspace, Playscapes

Richa Shrivastava · Pravir Sethi · Jwalant Mahadevwala

Explore the “hardware and software” of libraries, makerspaces and playscapes, and how physical design and the culture around it combine to create places where children read, make, play and learn.

Learning Space Hackathon

MYLES — Malaysian Learning Spaces · Malaysia

Roll up your sleeves in a hands-on hackathon, prototyping learning space solutions on $50, $500 and $5,000 budgets, and learn how community collaboration can turn constraints into creative, meaningful transformation.

Designing Belonging — Inclusion

Riitu Chopraa (WIC) with panellists

Move beyond compliance to see inclusion as a spatial and cultural question, from neurodiverse-friendly to gender-responsive design, and leave with changes school leaders can make tomorrow without a new building.

Gala Dinner — The PULSE Learning Space Awards

Six categories and the GLSN Grand Prix, presented over dinner.

Sur — Students Open the Day

More Power to the Kids

Ulrike Reinhard, Janwaar Castle · with Anil Kumar, Rishihood University

Hear how a skatepark in rural Janwaar grew into a network of child-led learning spaces, and take away principles for designing with children, not for them, using minimal resources.

Agency: Who Acts?

Dr. Benjamin Freud · Green School Bali

Rethink agency as something enacted between people rather than given to students, and explore, through Green School Bali’s student governance experience, what genuinely flattening school hierarchies demands of institutions.

What Are We Ready to Lose?

How Pedagogy Shapes Future-Ready Spaces

Shashank Goenka · Finland International School

Discover how Finnish pedagogy shapes future-ready learning spaces, with examples from Finland International School showing how educational philosophy can drive flexible, collaborative, inclusive and student-centred design decisions.

Classrooms Where More Children Can Learn Together

Dr. Reiko Shimokura · Meijo University, Japan

Discover how features from British special schools and Australian mainstream schools, such as breakout spaces, sensory zones and flexible layouts, can make everyday classrooms more inclusive through small, low-cost interventions.

The Architecture of Identity — White Paper Release

Bimal Desai, DSP Design Associates · Dr. Parul Minhas, EDI

Explore how learning environments shape identity into adulthood through five lenses: autonomy, competence, belonging, regulation and stewardship. The session also launches the EDI–DSP white paper, The Architecture of Identity.

Fireside Chat

Euro School Bannerghatta — a Case Study

Akanksha Gupta · Vijay Gupta Architects

Discover how Euro School, Bannerghatta, made architecture an active participant in learning, and take away a working model for campuses where design, teaching and site together shape a child’s growth.

Cultures of Early Years Learning

Darshan Mutha · Medha Jalan · Diksha · one further panellist

Hear Montessori, Reggio Emilia and Waldorf practitioners explain why space is central to each philosophy, and how thoughtfully designed early-years environments shape child development and the culture of learning.

Designing for Belonging — Workshop

Dr. Fiona Young & Alastair Blyth

Practise integrative briefing hands-on by role-playing a real school scenario, and leave equipped to run values-led, multi-stakeholder briefing conversations that cut through buzzwords to what school design must truly deliver.

Hi-Tea, with Students Performing on the Floor

The Residential Advantage — Round Table

Vivek Shukla (AFAIRS) with heads of boarding schools

Discover how India’s boarding schools design culture through space, from houses and rituals to dormitories and dining halls, and how legacy and new campuses can modernise without losing their soul.

What We Want — Students Speak

Hear directly from students about what they want from their learning spaces, and gain first-hand insight into how young people experience school environments and what would help them learn better.

Signals — What We Take Home