I took another Latika team down to the building site a few months ago to show them how things were progressing. Look how they responded to the first classroom they walked into.

This photograph never fails to make me smile. I had just said: “Look at this – it’s going to be a classroom,” and they all reacted instantly and in the same way: amazement, joy, arms open wide. The feeling I get when I look at this photo is capaciousness, the capacity to hold more.

Because spacious spaces don’t just remove barriers. They also create in us what may be an unfamiliar feeling of possibility. Whether it’s a disability that holds us back or a lack of imagination or a paucity of experience, a well designed space makes US capacious: we step out of our predictable patterns. We discover how much more we are capable of, we find the courage to take risks. We realize we don’t just have arms and legs: we actually have wings.