Children's Spaces

Children’s Spaces For Sarah and Hamish Children’s Spaces Mark Dudek AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO Architectural Press is an imprint of Elsevier Architectural Press An imprint of Elsevier Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP 30 Corporate Drive, Burlington, MA 01803 First published 2005 Copyright © 2005, Mark Dudek. All rights reserved. The right of Mark Dudek to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 7506 54260 For information on all Architectural Press publications visit our website at architecturalpress.com Typeset by Charon Tec Pvt. Ltd, Chennai, India Website: http://www.charontec.com Printed and bound in Great Britain Contents Introduction vii 1 Talking and listening to children 1 Alison Clark The author describes a methodology for interacting with young children to gain important insights about the architecture and detail design of their space, the childcare centre. 2 Designing for play 14 Michael Laris Designer Michael Laris explains his approach to the design of playground equipment as one where his respect for children helps to create a particularly child-orientated environment. 3 Place making and change in learning environments 30 Bruce A Jilk Here, educationist Bruce Jilk posits the view that our school system, the curriculum and its physical context is an obsolete form for education in the twenty-first century. He proposes a more flexible model which allows much more creativity within the learning process and the environments which serve it. 4 The school building as third teacher 44 Eleanor Nicholson Drawing on her discussions with staff and students in Californian schools, Eleanor Nicholson explains how important the environment is in complementing the educational and social support of the pedagogy. 5 The classroom is a microcosm of the world 66 John Edwards John Edwards observes a wide range of existing classrooms in use. He illustrates the complex integration of activities and functions which take place within this most intensively inhabited room. 6 The classroom as an evolving landscape 101 Prue Chiles Her inspiring approach to design, incorporating a process of deep consultation and an overtly child-centred attitude to design, encapsulates the key principles of designing the inside–outside classroom. v Contents 7 The schools we’d like: young people’s participation in architecture 114 Ben Koralek and Maurice Mitchell The authors describe their project where children and architecture students were encouraged to participate in the design of their school. This reminds us of the need to interact with children as well as to instruct them. 8 Digital landscapes – the new media playground 154 Mark Dudek The author explains aspects of the new digital culture of childhood which has transformed the social lives of children in the home and is increasingly dictating new educational strategies at school. 9 Spaces without children 178 Helen Penn Research carried out by the author shows how the public domain has become a place which is largely devoid of children. When we construct spaces which are geared towards shopping and the car, we all lose out, particularly children. 10 Razor blades and teddy bears – the health and safety protocol 195 Judith and John Hicks Experts in the health and safety field discuss the issues surrounding the design of children’s play environments. They outline the practical and legal implications of designing for children and explain the current cultural climate which makes it essential to design safe, accessible playgrounds. 11 The sustainable landscape 215 Susan Herrington Susan Herrington describes the approach to procuring a new schoolyard in Vancouver. She sets out her concerns about the urban environment, and the messages it sends out to children about their place in a fragile world. 12 The edible landscape of school 245 Catherine Burke Obesity is becoming an epidemic. Here the pivotal role food should play within the educational curriculum is discussed with some inspiring examples of projects where cultivation and food production take place in the school grounds. Index 279 vi Introduction This is a book about children, for children. However, The chapters I suspect it will not be read by many children. Rather, it attempts to provide a framework, a Childhood is sometimes described as a state of forum within which their views and sensibilities may mind. It is also a distinct physical and mental phase be better interpreted by adult voices. By which is experienced between ages one and a half encouraging them to describe their worlds in to 16. Although it is debatable when childhood relation to the physical spaces within which they actually ceases and adulthood becomes a reality, for spend much of their time, we can see and the purposes of this collection, our definition of understand more clearly their child-centric view. childhood is broadly determined by these age I have therefore invited people to contribute criteria. Within this framework three sections chapters on the basis of their work as designers of emerge which order the chapters in this book: children’s spaces or in the context of their firstly, the child in early years; secondly, the child in academic work in the area of contemporary school; and thirdly, the child in the city. Each theme childhood studies. Each contributor has in common is linked and interconnected, with the chapters a sympathy for children and how their lives are ordered chronologically and loosely linked by a shaped by physical and bureaucratic structures, thematic narrative. such as nurseries, schools and play parks, which Chapter 1 is an introduction to some of the main helps to create the material culture of childhood. issues around listening to young children in an However, I do not forget that children are effort to take on board their views within the increasingly dependent on new technology, not just design process. Alison Clark has helped to develop for educational purposes in the school, but also for a methodological framework, called the Mosaic leisure and social interaction at home. This also approach, for listening to young people about the defines their ‘space’ as much as the streets and important details of their daily lives. She is fields in and around our cities might have done for concerned that those details and architectural children in former times. Viewed in this way, the features which young children really need, are not architecture of the computer and the television taken for granted by the adults who are creating may be just as important to them as the them. She argues that only by listening to young architecture of the classroom or the playground. children can we can begin to understand how Most important is the recognition that children important this iconography is to them. The need to be observed and listened to in order for methodology relates specifically to young children, their priorities to be understood within a complex however, many aspects of the approach are equally urban environment. Each contributor has this valid if applied to listening with older children. priority in mind, acting as an interpreter of their Michael Laris is a designer of playground subtle needs and aspirations, often outside the equipment for children of all ages which is widely traditional educational and economic conventions. recognized for its quality and style. In Chapter 2 The end result is, I hope, a diverse range of he describes his approach to designing and most perspectives which will provide a vision for the importantly evolving the equipment to better suit future, largely defined by children themselves. the needs of its users. He does this by observing vii Introduction children playing in the environments he has helped environment sends out messages about how to create. This gives a fascinating perspective on the children are valued. One historical example is of way children play. Through this two key criteria particular interest because it gauges the views of emerge, firstly, the need for flexibility, so that alumni and the positive effects the environment had children can follow their own personal imaginative in forming and shaping their lives fifty years ago. intentions and are not dictated to by overly Nicholson describes the classrooms at a well- descriptive imagery; play is rarely a straightforward loved school in Winnetka, Illinois as being ‘humane appropriation of adult pre-conceptions. Secondly, and democratic’ because simple needs are there is a need to consider the details to which respected, with classrooms having access to the children’s minds and bodies can relate. The garden, en-suite WCs and enough space to enable equipment must strike a balance between safety in teaching to take place in a number of different use and the need to challenge the child to explore forms.

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