Good architecture responds to contemporary challenges, irrespective of fashionable trends, and is characterised by rigorous building processes. Office buildings, housing, stadiums and theatres offer outstanding examples of this principle. But do school buildings figure among them? Happily, in Germany they do, although they are still too rare. This article focuses on school building processes and raises the following questions: what sort of challenges will we meet in the future? Will a culture of planning be sufficient to foster the emergence of modern and tailor-made learning environments?