WEEK 6 – Readings & Annotations
Annotation 4
Citation–
Summarize-
Assessment-
Reflection-
Annotation 5 –
WEEK 5 – Tutorial
Research Aim-
To explore the role of free play spaces and biophilia in nurturing children.
Research Objectives-
- To re-conceive spaces which enable natural creativity and free play for children (aged 2-7 years) in order to encourage social interaction between children and also with adults.
- To develop a prototype of an experiential biophilic space for children that can be proposed to be adapted in different site specific neighborhoods/communities in order to promote child friendly community spaces.
- To enhance the experiential quality of indoor and outdoor spaces for children by encouraging multi-sensory free play and inspiring interaction with nature.
Research Question-
Version 7- How can we develop a prototype of an experiential biophilic space for children by encouraging multi-sensory dynamic free play and interaction with nature in order to nurture imagination, creativity and achieve holistic development of children for providing a foundation for a child friendly community space in every neighborhood?
WEEK 4 & WEEK 5: Readings & Annotations
Annotation 3
Citation– Brooks, Libby ” Kids and the city: how do you build the perfect space for children? “. The Guardian. 20 December 2016.
Keywords- Takaharu Tezuka, Fuji Kindergarten, holistic approach, inter-generational spaces, life-long learning, special educational needs, social interaction, cooperative childcare, children’s rights to play, lack of boundary, fewer psychological divisions, noise cancellation
Summarize– In this article, Libby Brooks gives examples of few key projects, designers and innovators to summarize the key elements in designing the perfect space for children. According to Diarmaid Lawlor, (director of place at conference partner Architecture and Design Scotland) the best-designed city for children would comprise three inter-locking elements: inter-generational spaces, life-long learning (linking early years education with the world of work), and putting special educational needs at the heart of learning, to create whole communities of learners .
Assessment– The article cites two interesting examples of inter-generational spaces – Seattle’s Inter-generational Learning Center, where a preschool for under-fives is located in an elder care facility and the Radical Childcare project in Birmingham which is based on the guidelines of a “co-operative childcare” where parents become co-producers of child care rather than remaining peripheral to planning. Architect Takaharu Tezuka designed the Fuji Kindergarten with principles which respect children’s right to play. The roof of the building which is also designed as a play ground is huge and gives ample opportunities to kids to explore. The building is also a seamless outdoor-indoor space without physical boundaries which enhances the social interaction between children avoiding hierarchy or bullying. Tezuka also rightly criticizes noise cancellation in today’s kindergartens as it is important to hear each other for social interaction.
Reflection– Although I found this element of inter-generational spaces to be very interesting, I would not like to intervene this too dramatically into my project currently. I am locating my project within a neighborhood/ community and this would imply that it is broadly taken care of by adults/ parents in that community so the idea of parents being “co-producers” could be well-derived from this article. I can relate the Fuji Kindergarten project to my research project in terms of its two elements. The roof being a playground is a similar concept which I am trying to incorporate for my project. The way the trees puncture the huge roof is indeed beautiful! Also the idea of indoor-outdoor seamless space is an idea which i’m working on creating in my project.
Annotation 2
Citation– White, Randy & Stoecklin, Vicki. “Children’s Outdoor Play & Learning Environments: Returning to Nature”. 1998-2011
Keywords- outdoor play, children, learning environment, nature, open ended play, unstructured creative exploration, discovery play garden, loose objects, stimulate free play, integrate outdoors with indoors, seamless, experiment
Summarize– The article stresses on the importance of outdoor play areas as learning environment for children. It also discusses how children’s opportunities to interact in a naturalized outdoor setting are greatly diminished today. The article describe a ‘discovery play garden’ where the spaces are informal and naturalistic so they can stimulate high quality free play and discovery learning. It also states that it is desirable to integrate the outdoors with the indoor classroom with one sense of place and identity, so the transition between the two will be almost seamless.
Assessment– The idea that quality play (which includes free play and discovery) involves the whole child: gross motor, fine motor, senses, emotion, intellect, individual growth and social interaction is well defined by the authors. The importance of nature in children’s play areas is well described in the article which states that natural elements provide for open-ended play that emphasizes unstructured creative exploration with diverse materials. Nature also truly invites longer and more complex play as it offers quality of openness, diversity, manipulation, exploration, anonymity and wildness. Now days outdoor play spaces in schools are more of a retreat from indoor classrooms- the authors state the significance of integrating the two to create a better learning environment.
Reflection– This article adds to the inspiration of my research. It emphasizes the need for dynamic free play areas for children. The ideas in the article closely resemble my idea of having an outdoor-indoor transition space for children which can encourage free play, discovery, learning and holistic development of children. It also inspires me towards creating a more biophilic design for my research project and assures my belief about the importance of children’s interaction with nature and its scope in learning.
Annotation 1
Citation– Kirk, Mimi, “How to Design Cities for Children” Designing Better Urban Spaces for Kids – City Lab. 2February 2018. www.citylab.com
Keywords- Urban areas, Cities for children, Everyday freedom, Children’s infrastructure, Arup (design firm), child-friendly, popsicle-test, creative play, everyday freedom, social interaction, splashy downtown mega-projects, locally, neighborhood
Summarize– Mimi Kirk talks about what does designing a city around children mean. She narrates views of a recent report from London-based design firm Arup about designing child-friendly cities. The report focuses on two main aspects of design: everyday freedoms and children’s infrastructure. The report also advocates having more parks locally in the neighborhoods, having bus and tram stops that invite creative play and having more community gardens for better social interaction. It also outlines that cities should address all three elements – housing, essential support services and shared spaces for children in neighborhoods.
Assessment– Arup’s report definition of everyday freedoms as children’s ability to travel safely on foot or bike and without an adult in their neighborhood is ideal for urban city development. The report truly advocates having better children’s infrastructure by having network of spaces and streets which can encourage these everyday freedoms. The report also rightly supports views of having local neighborhood parks which increase social interaction and create community life rather than having splashy downtown mega projects which are typically less meaningful amenities for urban families and can be used by only certain kids. Another important issue which Arup report suggests is to have enough housing and support services along with these shared community spaces for children and their families. I agree with their stance that it would be easier and cheaper to firstly have neighborhood green spaces which can help change the housing stock and help build support services.
Reflection– I was really disgusted reading about ultrasonic weapons (the Mosquito) being designed and used in the UK to stop children gathering in streets and public spaces. Instead, cities should be built to encourage kids using public spaces. The ‘popsicle test’ mentioned in the article was a very interesting way to test the child-friendliness of urban cities. I totally agree with the views of this article which advocates having better child-friendly cities and creating better neighborhoods locally than creating large museum/ parks which only few children can access. A smaller transitional space in every neighborhood for children will be more useful for local children than making larger infrastructure used mostly by tourists. As a starting point for my research this article helped me define my research proposal and locate it. I would like my research proposal to be a prototype of a community space for children which is easily accessible locally and invites social interaction in a neighborhood.
WEEK 3 : Keywords Search
List of Keywords for my research: Children, sensory design, play, learn, natural creativity, environment, community, social, physical & emotional health
Screen capture of my keyword searches
Did you find anything? – Yes, I did find few related articles/ readings. With few more keywords which defined my research I could delve into more content available.
Was what you found helpful? – Yes, Very useful..as it gave me good start. I could read more about children’s spaces and the current issues being discussed. It helped me to refine my research question and understand various contexts about my research.
Where did you end up…did you have to refine your keywords to adapt your search? – I did have to refine my keywords for search. It is an ongoing process..the more I read..the more I can understand and find words related for further search and study. I found varied thoughts in different articles which I wanted to address in my research.
List any new keywords : experiential spaces, dynamic free play, exploratory free play, child-friendly community, biophilic design
Link to one of my findings – https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Randy_White/publication/267374472_Children’s_Outdoor_Play_Learning_Environments_Returning_to_Nature/links/545141ec0cf2bf864cba8f55.pdf.
WEEK 2 : Contexts surrounding my research
My project aims to investigate/explore…
– Sensory design of space for children which enables/liberates them to learn, play and nurtures their natural creativity.
– It should also positively affect children’s social, physical and emotional health.
– It should enhance the foundation for a child- friendly community.
Key words: Children, sensory design, play, learn, natural creativity, environment, community, social, physical & emotional health
To position my research, I have begun to look at and consider the work / research / ideas of……..
Anita Rui Olds – was passionate about designing children’s play spaces that would fulfill their developmental needs and provide a “rich environment for the wild spirit to flourish.” As a designer, consultant, writer, and instructor, Dr. Olds was one of North America’s leading experts on child care center design. Seeing the need to gather and educate architects, designers, and child-care specialists, in 1990 Dr. Olds founded the Child Care Design Institute. Child Care Design Guide, posthumously published in 2000, includes floor plans, drawings, charts, illustrations, and photographs of effective and efficient designs that consider the importance of the child’s learning environment.
Children’s Book Museum, The Hague, Netherlands – Children can learn about youth literature in a playful way at the Children’s Book Museum in The Hague. Learning, experiencing and doing are key elements of a museum visit. All exhibitions and workshops at the museum stimulate the imagination and awaken the joy of reading.
How do the concepts you have identified as important to your project, relate to the work or ideas you’ve been exploring in your selection of keywords/texts?
Can you position the contexts you’ve identified within a wider conversation? Have a go, discuss your ideas in terms of the different influences shaping them.
1: Socially:
To be sustainable, a town, city, neighbourhood must sustain its children. It must provide a physical environment that ensures children’s health, develops their faculties, and fosters their love for community, and for nature.
A child’s social health is also very critical- which is the ability to interact with other children and with adults.
It will be important to study and understand the perspectives of children themselves, of parents, teachers, and relatives in relation to child friendly spaces.
Overall development of pre-school children is also important to get them to be ready for the next level of social challenge i.e. school.
2: Culturally:
– Different cultures value and react differently to children’s play: It can be recognized by adults as having important consequences for social and emotional development, and in somecases adults may engage as playmates; For some play can be seen as a spontaneous activity of children, which adults do not structure or participate in or in some cases play can be seen as a spontaneous activity, but the amount of play is limited because other activities are considered more important. The availability of time and space, of objects and playmates; adult role models and attitudes toward play are some of the contextual aspects that affect the frequency, duration and nature of children’s play.
– Many common child play activities, such as marbles, kite-flying, dolls, houses, hopscotch etc reappear with their deep structure preserved in different cultural contexts but are modified in varied ways creating local versions, using local resources and called by different names.
– Strong cultural influences regarding the appropriateness of certain types of play for boys and girls is also seen in many cultural contexts. These perceptions vary in different cultural contexts. In some societies, gender roles are well defined and children’s choice of play activities closely mirror adult practices like doll houses and kitchens for girls and outdoor activities for boys.
– Now days the influence of media characters like superheroes and princess is also seen in pretend play in children.
In rural contexts or in small towns children are allowed to play in the streets with their siblings and neighbours of different age groups and different genders. But urban children living in large towns are often restricted to interactions with same age group children in day care centers and have less access to safe areas for free and active play.
3: Politically:
The availability of child friendly spaces including parks, neighbourhood free play areas should be as much a concern of child-oriented policies as the provision of educational and health services.
The toy industry and technological developments now are mostly offering an increasing variety of sedentary and often individualized and highly-structured toys and games which allow little space for children’s creativity in the exploration and collective construction of play objects and materials.
My research on child-friendly places can reveal findings that can provide policy-makers and community stakeholders with viable documentation for future investments in children’s play and their holistic development.
4: Historically:
Earlier kids were more in free play activities and parents encouraged the same. Today with both parents working and children left in most of the time at day care centers, time for free play has reduced. Also now parents look for structured and secured play areas which mostly end up as indoor play areas. Children are also involved in digital/ video games instead of other play activities. They live a sedentary lifestyle. They are not exposed to the beauty of nature- material, texture, smell, sounds -its way of teaching and play.
Digital technology, YouTube videos and Mobile gaming have become more popular today that reading story books. Media characters have taken over Storybook heroes.
WEEK 1 : Influential Architect
Glenn Murcutt : Australian architect and environmentalist
Project : Marika-Alderton House , 1994
The house is located Australia in the Yirrkala Community, Eastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory (Yirrkala Community, Eastern Arnheim Land, Northern Territory).
Built for Aboriginal artist, Banduk Marika and her partner, architect Glenn Murcutt faced the challenge of creating a livable home in a tropical climate where temperatures never drop below 25 º and can reach 40 º. Its design should avoid methods “culturally alien” as the air conditioning mechanical intervention. Another challenge was to keep out the various species of reptiles and spiders, some poisonous, and create a structure strong enough to withstand hurricane winds common place. Before designing the Marika-Alderton house for about three years Murcutt did extensive research about Aboriginal culture and history. Part of the research was to share life with family, which helped him better understand customer needs.
Marika House demonstrates the ability of Glenn Murcutt to adapt its principles and ideas of architecture to the different demands of the tropical climate. This thoroughly studied tropical monsoon climate, the movement of the wind, sun and water over three years. Glenn Murcutt combined his own creative vision with Aboriginal ideas, creating a unique and valuable bridge between cultures.
Why Glenn Murcutt has influenced me –
The Pritzker Prize-winning architect Glenn Murcutt is not a builder of skyscrapers. He doesn’t design grand, showy structures or use flashy, luxurious materials. Instead, Australian architect Glenn Murcutt pours his creativity into smaller projects that let him work alone and design economical buildings that will conserve energy and blend with the environment. He runs a one man office and all of his projects are located in Australia. He has developed his own ideas, principles and systems for his architecture. Murcutt chooses materials that can be produced easily and economically: Glass, stone, brick, concrete, and corrugated metal. He pays close attention to the orientation of the building on the site, movement of the sun, moon, and seasons, and designs his buildings to harmonize with the movement of light and wind. He is an architect devoted to the environment – “taking into account where materials come from”, the energy to process it, “to pull apart and reuse them” to avoid the loss of material. As a professor working with students from different parts of the world, Murcutt tells his students, “There are no limits, except your perceptions”.
WEEK 1 : My Previous work
Un-built Project – Splendour Country Farmhouse, Pune, India 2001-2002 – With _Opolis Architects
The project although un-built is till date one of my favourite projects. One of the first projects I worked on after I completed my Bachelors and started working. It is small farm house on a contoured site. The entire process which went into the project was intriguing. The photos are of a 1:50 scale model made by me a process model. We actually believed that if this could stand as a model and work it would work at actual site. After these models we did have actual working drawings and details of the project but it could not be built as the client chose to build on a different plot and this structure could not fit it there.
WEEK 1 : 6 Questions
Why do I make the things I make/create/compose/design/strategies?
As a kid I was influenced by a couple who were architects (whom I only met once but they left a deep mark on me) and I was fascinated looking at their work, drawings and models – from that day on wards I wanted to become an Architect (although at that age I never knew what architecture actually meant! I grew up simply wanting to be an architect and led myself towards this journey. Today, I am an proud Architect…an architect by passion. I design spaces because it simply makes me happy! I enjoy the way people and spaces interact with each other. I design spaces to get the best for each client and fulfill their requirements. I always try to design something new or different with a belief and desire to make something better. I also design to earn a living!
How are the things I make located in relation to a wider context?
There are a wide range of contexts and external elements that influence my design. These elements are physical and non-physical. Roads, surrounding buildings, and land contour are examples for physical elements while non-physical elements are the weather condition, local culture,as well as political and financial constraints.
These contexts determine the architectural style, building material selection and site layout, which is particularly beneficial in creating an effective design. So a structure is designed with reference to its wider surroundings. Also, while designing I need to consider the next larger context like a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in the surrounding environment, an environment in a city layout and so on. Therefore anything we build has to be closely related to a wider context.
What impact do I want my work to have, what will people understand from my research outcomes/findings, creations ?
I would want my work to serve human needs. As an art, I would like my work to provide an outlet for creative expression that leads society to look at their living/working space and the overall environment in different ways. Architecture often affects human behavior and their mood – I would like to create spaces which positively impact people living/working/viewing them. I would like people to experience sensory architecture/responsive architecture – a design which interacts with people, which engages them with their environment and impacts the way they feel, think and behave.
My research would provide a wider outlook towards more creative and sensory spatial design for children.
What are the specific “intellectual neighbourhoods” my work is informed by?
The “intellectual neighburhoods” my work is informed by are contemporary architects and interior designers, artists, structural designers, environmentalists, individuals from different fields.
How will thinking about these things improve my practice?
It will add a new dimension to my practice. Dig deeper into my thoughts and create conversations with myself which would help me be more sensitive towards design.
What discipline-based methods will I use to advance my practice?
The methods I will use to advance my practice will include a good research surrounding the projects I work on, conceptual planning of projects and understanding the various contexts which would affect and influence the design in order to create responsive architecture.
Akanksha's Design Explorations 