Projecting with children
Roberto José Londoño
Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo
Universidad de Buenos Aires. Argentina
rojolondono@gmail.com
It is an unquestionable matter the suggestive power that architecture exerts through space. Architecture knows and manages this resource to persuade, deter, condition and (according to Foucault) monitor and correct. But, moving in the opposite direction, from this sinister path, it can also contribute to—and favour—the imagination, play with perception, as well as enable and encompass a sense of identification and belonging. These issues are crucial for children in a world tailored to adults. If we also consider that the management and construction process calls for the participation and creation of a community, then the result makes complete sense and confirms the formative role that architecture could have.
These values—spatial and formative—are found in the projects presented or mentioned in this section. It is a heterodox selection, in which ingenious architectural ideas converge in dialogue with the context that originates them. Additionally, their own construction has been part of a strategy that transcends the mere objective of supplying a specific result, becoming a holistic process that considers and involves children in its context, as the main motivation.
Before approaching the examples and potential virtuous processes, we must try to answer one question: where and how do children’s aspects emerge within design decisions? This question leads us to think about the different decision levels and actions within the scope of the project, as well as the scale and ways in which these decisions interpret childhood’s dynamic and transitory world.
The first aspect relates to public policies, social agreements and actions that institutions exercise over the community, hopefully, carried out in favour of children. This forms the general framework defining the meaning of specific projects. A group of approximately 700 parks, designed by Aldo van Eyck and built between 1947 and 1978 in Amsterdam, is mentioned here as an example (Álvarez Santana 2017). This initiative clearly represents the disciplinary discussion on the need to "humanize the city", as well as the institutional concern to provide playgrounds for children while granting use and value to a series of residual spaces that, with intervention, can become community spaces.
Figure 1. Human structures and archetypes: playgrounds © Aldo Van Eyck. Source: The Aldo van Eyck Archive.
A second aspect refers to the architectural projects properly defined and materialised. In this area, architecture practice is fully applied and specific programmes emerge, such as the school, the park, the hospital ward or the children’s museum. These spaces have been remarkably specialised and enriched by different disciplines to provide adequate responses to children’s conditions. Herman Hertzberger's schools, based on Montessori’s theory, are examples of this (Mayoral-Campa and Pozo-Bernal 2017). Such educational spaces were conceived and operated whilst understanding the building as a city, with different and intermediate related spaces that favour public sense and interaction features as pedagogical values.
The third aspect corresponds to suitable scalable objects or modular systems. These aim to activate abstract reasoning through geometric figures that allow different combinations, including games, toys, or pieces of furniture that follow syntactic operations with a clear semantic vocation. The well-known Fröebel, for example, was a pioneer of this type of design, since it served as the basis for a further series of systems. It encourages suitable forms of learning through play, which allows for the creation of global representations that activate creativity.
Figure 2. Fröebel’s Gifts.
From the above three potential aspects of the project, illustrated with historical examples, this work moves to the analysis stage. This time, reviewing some topics and possible variables that may come into play, aiming to discover virtues in both processes and results. Through further examples, the author examines six considerations within design projects aimed at children. These are contemporary projects that highlight biases, directions or possibilities, which are common to all projects and, therefore, shared to some extent.
The first consideration relates to urban life. This collective manifestation unfolds in the public dimension related to project design, as illustrated in a series of works in the Province of Santa Fe (Argentina). Some of these developed in the city of Rosario were named Tríptico de la infancia (childhood triptych). These initiatives, promoted in 1999 by María de Los Ángeles (Chiqui) González (politician, teacher and cultural manager), involved the adaptation of three specialised spaces: La granja (the farm), La isla de los inventos (the inventions’ island), and El jardín de los niños (the children's garden). In 2010, three other similar projects were carried out in Santa Fe city: El molino, fábrica cultural (the mill, cultural factory), La esquina encendida (the lit corner), and La redonda, arte y vida cotidiana (the round, art and daily life). The dimensions and urban scope of these projects have defined an explicit reference for these two cities. Despite the permanent difficulties and the passage of time, they have continued to function.
Figure 3. La isla de los inventos (the inventions’ island) one of the three components of the Tríptico de la infancia (childhood’s triptych), in Rosario’s old train station. Source: Marcos Garfagnoli - Gentileza: Comisión de Filmaciones de Santa Fe.
As a starting point, the second consideration is the environment. In this case, it is an urban environment whose particular reading validated the project decisions. Dawar El Ezba Cultural Center, designed by Ahmed Hossam Saafan in Cairo (Egypt) is a proposal that seeks to generate a vibrant landmark; a recognisable element in the urban landscape. Therefore, it uses colours and coatings that contrast with the homogeneous material of neighbouring buildings. It was proposed as a "living agent", showing how material and energy can be used within an environment populated by carpentry workshops and houses. The programme resulted from interpreting the community’s needs and offering work options. Consequently, it combines a communal kitchen, a theatre, a workshop and a meeting space. It comprises four floors where children can move freely while their parents work in the kitchen.
Figure 4. Dawar El Ezba Cultural Center. Cairo (Egypt). Arq. Ahmed Hossam Saafan.
The third consideration—as a characterising element— is technique. The Volontariat Homes for Homeless Children in Pondicherry (India), designed by Anupama Kundoo, experiments with an ancient Persian construction technique. It uses fire energy and heat to ensure the construction’s waterproofing and mechanical resistance, as well as to bake coatings, sanitary appliances, and bricks for other buildings. During the construction process new materials are produced, creating a synergy that enhances and takes advantage of the available resources. Undoubtedly, this lesson from the constructive process promotes a sense of identity and belonging in children.
Figure 5. Volontariat Homes for Homeless Children in Pondicherry (India). Arch. Anupama Kundoo.
This was the same starting point for the Children's Corner Rural Knowledge Centre, near Halvad (India). There, and as part of an architecture student programme led by Sharon Rotbard, the aim was to build four classrooms on a rural property. The simple base and wall configuration supported the roof and enclosures. This was made of very light and economical materials, and the constructive design experience achieved was easily appropriated, ensuring its sustainability over time.
Figure 6. Children's Corner Rural Knowledge Centre, in Halvad (India). SABA. Dir. Arch. Sharon Rotbard.
The fourth consideration is the courtyard as a centre and reference, which is the case in the Rayito de Sol Kindergarten in Comuna 8, Buenos Aires (Argentina). In that project, courtyards were used to create three characteristic worlds or autonomous microcosms—somehow independent from the context—in a building mainly closed on four sides with carefully controlled openings. The first courtyard offers access, which leads to a garden with a central flag. The second is a very elongated courtyard connecting the classrooms with the multipurpose room. The third is a shorter patio that separates the entrance and the main lobby from the dining room. The orientation, dimension and configuration of each of the three courtyards help to identify and locate them within the building’s isotropic environment. The patios are the main reference and provide light and ventilation.
Figure 7. Rayito de Sol Kindergarten. Comuna 8, Villa Lugano, Buenos Aires (Argentina). Dirección General de Arquitectura + MDUyT
The Lycée Schorge Secondary School in Koudougou (Burkina Faso) by Francis Keré, shows a variant of this consideration. The patio is an element used to mediate with the outside. The building is shaped with a sequence of nine modules that form a courtyard to protect the interior from wind and dust, leaving an opening on one side. Moreover, different shading and ventilation mechanisms are openly exhibited, showing the potential use of materials and techniques.
Figure 8. Lycée Schorge Secondary School in Koudougou (Burkina Faso). Kéré Architecture. Source: Andrea Meretto
The fifth consideration is scale and spatial characterisation. Scale or scale variations is used as a principle to differentiate the child’s world from the adult’s world and the means to identify and appropriate space. This is a feature of the Rodrigo Lara Bonilla School in Bogotá (Colombia). It employs multiple scales as a resource to specialise environments according to age. Galleries define courtyards that serve as an expansion of the classrooms. Likewise, there are elements on the facade (such as furniture, gaps or windows) whose size, adjusted to the children’s scale, generates appropriable spaces.
Figure 9. Rodrigo Lara Bonilla Kindergarten, Bogotá (Colombia). FP Arquitectura.
The sixth consideration is didactics and its impact on design decisions. Arguably, this approach is common within projects aimed at children. However, it can be made explicit and intentionally favoured through interactive activities representative of the architectural proposal. This is the case of La Casita (the little house), a project for minors on the process of social rehabilitation. In this proposal, minors can find diverse ways of interacting, both within spaces and with a series of specifically designed artefacts that enable several forms of representation.
Figure 10. The design of three pedagogical artefacts. Equipo Mazzanti
This didactic consideration could also be approached differently. For example, when play is autonomous and invokes architecture’s form or processes, allowing arquitecture to become an interesting toy. This is the case of the Lupo System, devised by Fermín Blanco in Spain, or the Platonitos series by Fabiola Uribe, in Colombia. These examples introduce formative contents on constructive, geometric and compositional notions, allowing learning from play.
The above considerations arise from the interpretation of the chosen projects. Other considerations are possible and, certainly, new thoughts can emerge from the articulation between them to reflect on the implications of the project-childhood relationship. There are multiple possibilities concerning the project. Rather than a precise answer or a single formula, the important element seems to be the sense given to the process and the conditions of the context. This relates to the creation of relationships and, ultimately, to the way childhood is assumed, considered, and represented, continuously founding new and better ways to care for it.
Bibliography
1. Álvarez Santana, Jaime. 2017. “Aldo van Eyck. Parques de juego en Ámsterdam. 1947-78”. Tesis de doctorado. UPM. Dirigida por Emilia Hernández Pezzi. Disponible en: https://oa.upm.es/48484/
2. Mayoral-Campa, Esther and Melina Pozo-Bernal. 2017. “Del aula a la ciudad: Arquetipos urbanos en las escuelas primarias de Herman Hertzberger”. Proyecto, Progreso, Arquitectura 17: 100-115. https://idus.us.es/handle/11441/68490.
3. Van Eyck, Aldo. 1961. “Whatever Space and Time Mean, Place and Occasion Mean More”. Forum, n. d.