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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, Jor...

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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. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1T 4LP. Applications for the copyright holder’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science and Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK; phone:
44-0-1865-843830; fax:
44-0-1865-853333; e-mail: [email protected]. You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage (http://www.elsevier.com), by selecting ‘Customer Support’ and then ‘Obtaining Permissions’. 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

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Contents

Introduction

vii

1 Talking and listening to children Alison Clark

1

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 Michael Laris

14

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 Bruce A Jilk

30

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 Eleanor Nicholson

44

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 John Edwards

66

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 Prue Chiles

101

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 Ben Koralek and Maurice Mitchell

114

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 Mark Dudek

154

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 Helen Penn

178

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 Judith and John Hicks

195

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 Susan Herrington

215

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 Catherine Burke

245

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

vi

279

Introduction

This is a book about children, for children. However, I suspect it will not be read by many children. Rather, it attempts to provide a framework, a forum within which their views and sensibilities may be better interpreted by adult voices. By encouraging them to describe their worlds in relation to the physical spaces within which they spend much of their time, we can see and understand more clearly their child-centric view. I have therefore invited people to contribute chapters on the basis of their work as designers of children’s spaces or in the context of their academic work in the area of contemporary childhood studies. Each contributor has in common a sympathy for children and how their lives are shaped by physical and bureaucratic structures, such as nurseries, schools and play parks, which helps to create the material culture of childhood. However, I do not forget that children are increasingly dependent on new technology, not just for educational purposes in the school, but also for leisure and social interaction at home. This also defines their ‘space’ as much as the streets and fields in and around our cities might have done for children in former times. Viewed in this way, the architecture of the computer and the television may be just as important to them as the architecture of the classroom or the playground. Most important is the recognition that children need to be observed and listened to in order for their priorities to be understood within a complex urban environment. Each contributor has this priority in mind, acting as an interpreter of their subtle needs and aspirations, often outside the traditional educational and economic conventions. The end result is, I hope, a diverse range of perspectives which will provide a vision for the future, largely defined by children themselves.

The chapters Childhood is sometimes described as a state of mind. It is also a distinct physical and mental phase which is experienced between ages one and a half to 16. Although it is debatable when childhood actually ceases and adulthood becomes a reality, for the purposes of this collection, our definition of childhood is broadly determined by these age criteria. Within this framework three sections emerge which order the chapters in this book: firstly, the child in early years; secondly, the child in school; and thirdly, the child in the city. Each theme is linked and interconnected, with the chapters ordered chronologically and loosely linked by a thematic narrative. Chapter 1 is an introduction to some of the main issues around listening to young children in an effort to take on board their views within the design process. Alison Clark has helped to develop a methodological framework, called the Mosaic approach, for listening to young people about the important details of their daily lives. She is concerned that those details and architectural features which young children really need, are not taken for granted by the adults who are creating them. She argues that only by listening to young children can we can begin to understand how important this iconography is to them. The methodology relates specifically to young children, however, many aspects of the approach are equally valid if applied to listening with older children. Michael Laris is a designer of playground equipment for children of all ages which is widely recognized for its quality and style. In Chapter 2 he describes his approach to designing and most importantly evolving the equipment to better suit the needs of its users. He does this by observing vii

Introduction

children playing in the environments he has helped to create. This gives a fascinating perspective on the way children play. Through this two key criteria emerge, firstly, the need for flexibility, so that children can follow their own personal imaginative intentions and are not dictated to by overly descriptive imagery; play is rarely a straightforward appropriation of adult pre-conceptions. Secondly, there is a need to consider the details to which children’s minds and bodies can relate. The equipment must strike a balance between safety in use and the need to challenge the child to explore the limits of their physical dexterity. He describes the conceptual thinking which goes into his work, elevating a piece of climbing equipment to part of a psychological landscape of play and experimentation which extends development opportunities for those who use it. In Chapter 3, Bruce Jilk presents a radical view of contemporary education which, he argues, is outdated and does not meet the needs of the modern world. Instead of providing for a world of individuals operating within a wider urban environment, schools have become internalized ghettos of childhood, cut off from the communities they are supposed to serve, centrally administered in a ‘one size fits all’ ethos. He describes an alternative strategy he helped to devise which has been used to develop a new school in Reykjavik, where a whole range of factors such as politics, society, environment and economics have been brought into the discussion about the shape of the new school, its architecture and its curriculum. By engaging with the community, the process moulds the school to its individual needs, recognizing it as a unique community in its own right. Eleanor Nicholson was a schools inspector in California before her recent retirement. She describes a more enlightened approach to school design in Chapter 4. Drawing upon her discussions with staff and students over many years she explains how important the environment is in complementing the educational and social support of the pedagogy. She cites a number of key examples of good school design, which values the needs of children and forms a lasting impression on the users. In her view it is important because the viii

environment sends out messages about how children are valued. One historical example is of particular interest because it gauges the views of alumni and the positive effects the environment had in forming and shaping their lives fifty years ago. Nicholson describes the classrooms at a wellloved school in Winnetka, Illinois as being ‘humane and democratic’ because simple needs are respected, with classrooms having access to the garden, en-suite WCs and enough space to enable teaching to take place in a number of different forms. This allows schools to deal with special needs within an increasingly individualized society. In Chapter 5, John Edwards illustrates the intensive integration of activities and functions within the framework of this single room, the primary school classroom, where children aged 5 to 11 years spend most of their time. Based on observation of children and their teachers in 40 or so existing classrooms, Edwards listens to children and observes the way in which they use their spaces. His research represents a significant contribution to our understanding of the way in which classrooms operate. Here, the views of teachers are particularly enlightening as they comment on the shortcomings of their own teaching spaces. In search for a common language, his work sets out to translate the misunderstandings which often occur when architects try to talk about education and when educationalists try to discuss architecture and space. The chapter is an ideal briefing tool for designers and architects embarking on the construction of new or refurbished classrooms. In Chapter 6, architect and academic Prue Chiles describes her work on a research-orientated building project initiated by the UK government to explore new educational ideas. She designed one of Sheffield’s ‘Classrooms of the Future’, where the needs of children were established as the priority from the outset, often at the expense of a more mundane health and safety agenda. Her approach incorporates a process of deep consultation with the end users, and an overtly child-centred attitude to design, which encapsulates the key principles of designing the inside–outside classroom; a true landscape for childhood. Her report includes a commentary on some of the difficulties

Introduction

encountered when she tried to ‘jump outside the box’ and develop new innovative educational ideas. The view that children’s perceptions of space are different to those of adults is the central premise of Chapter 7. Ben Koralek and Maurice Mitchell illustrate a range of initiatives which has been implemented within the UK over the past ten years, intended to include pupils in the design processes. These initiatives have helped to transform the perceptions of those who have participated. In the second part of Chapter 7 the authors describe important case studies where school students have actually worked with designers on real school projects. Although full of childlike fantasy, there are some remarkably grounded ideas to transform existing and new school environments and to make them more appropriate for the present and future generations who will be expected to use them. The authors argue that as huge amounts of investment flow into the state education system (within the UK), the need to get it right has never been more critical. Creating a landscape for physical exploration was a concept I understood very clearly as being of tremendous value for young children, through my own design work. But what about older children?1 What additional factors, whether they are environmental, technological or pedagogical, come into play as children grow and develop? Over the age of seven, children may begin to explore landscapes in a less physical way, nevertheless the extent to which the environment encourages play and enquiry can have a similar cognitive benefit. As the physical dimension of younger years play gives way to a more intellectual independent engagement during the teenage years, the importance of fantasy and imagination should not be overlooked. Older children still need to explore new and challenging ‘metaphorical landscapes’. We can include new digital culture as part of these ‘landscapes’. Other social landscapes also need to be considered. For example when people can sit together in school and share lunch, this can have tremendous social benefits especially when linked to a healthy eating regime. The sustainability agenda can and should become an essential part

of the experience of school architecture, so that students pick up important messages about their environment reinforced through explicit architectural expression. Architecture can, and should, go beyond the merely functional. The richer and more stylish it is, the more likely it is to turn older children onto education and learning, and perhaps most importantly encourage meaningful social interactions. However, we are not concerned here exclusively with school buildings. Although there is no other activity which occupies as much of a child’s life as that involved in attending school, other aspects of children’s time impacts on their development. In this respect we felt we needed to consider the home environment. We must remember that the context of the school is its community – urban, suburban or rural. Computer games also play an increasingly important role in the lives of children at home. Many young people playing games with realistic animated landscapes, which can be explored, spend significant amounts of time hunched over a computer console. In Chapter 8 I will describe some of these games and assess their effect on the contemporary culture of childhood. Other aspects of digital culture are also informing the lives of our children. New educational strategies at schools place ICT at the heart of the process. To a certain extent this too is a generational issue. At least as adults we have, during the course of our lives, accumulated direct experiences for ourselves (largely without the aid of computers) and hence have a perspective formed alongside the virtual realm. Increasingly, however, our children’s experiences of the world are effectively secondhand, communicated through a voracious electronic landscape, detached from the real physical landscapes of earlier childhood experience. Continuing this theme in Chapter 9, Helen Penn describes how confined children are today, restricted by a health and safety agenda, which emphasizes the need for constant adult surveillance at the expense of independent play and exploration. Arguably, there has never been so much control imposed upon children as there is today. This is tending to diminish the quality and ix

Introduction

Illust C Children playing in the street (Hulton Getty: reproduced with permission). Play streets. Young boys playing cricket in London’s East End, 1929. In streets like these, motor cars were almost unknown, pavements made a firm playing surface, and lamp posts were excellent wickets or goal posts.

scope for independent imaginative play, and the uses children had previously for chance play in ‘found’ (mainly) urban places around the city, and in previous centuries, within the surrounding countryside. Today, most children are simply never permitted the freedom to explore the areas around their home freely. Less freedom is creating a generation of children over-anxious about their external environment. A survey indicates that in 1989, 62 per cent of primary-age children walked to school. A decade later it was only 54 per cent.2 There is growing concern that youngsters are losing their connection with the natural environment because they have limited opportunities to play and learn outside controlled zones like the home or the school. As Penn asserts in Chapter 9, it is a widely held view amongst many commentators and parents that health and safety legislation relating to children’s environments is limiting their capacity for free imaginative play. In Chapter 10, Judith and John Hicks take these concerns and place them in the context of a modern world which must legislate for risks and hazards, as never before. They describe x

the basic principles which designers must adhere to and place these into a historical context. They explain the basic rules for evaluating safety and developing good design strategies for children’s play parks. They go some way towards defining exactly what ‘child friendly’ means and set out the rules which ensure that the environment complies with the legislation. They will argue that whilst children’s safety must alwa...