Mid-September I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Design for Children Conference, put on by Refocus and StudioUK during the London Design Festival. The focus of this one day conference was on “the desirable qualities of the built environment presented through examples of collaborations between architects, designers and the educators of the world-renowned preschools in Reggio Emilia, Italy”
The highlight of the conference for me was being in the presence of Ms. Vea Vicchi. It is always a pleasure to hear Vea Vicchi, an artillerista and pedagogical consultant for Reggio Children, speak. Whether she is talking about a particular room and the way the children flow through it or sharing a detailed observation. Her energy, intelligence and sense of humor, not only hold my attention but I always feel the need to give her a hug afterwards – I haven’t done so yet. Vea Vicchi, is a strong believer in the importance of the relationships we have with our environments along with the responsibility of the educator in that environment. It is the educator who must give the environment the daily attention it (as well as the children) requires. The “culture of ambiance” which involves recognizing the enormous potential of children and welcoming poetic languages, is another pair in her belief system.
Also speaking at the conference was Michele Zini, an architect and designer with ZPZ Partners, Modena and Maurizio Fontanili, the founder of Play+.
Mr. Zini shared with us the elements involved in “how to design environments for children”. He expressed great importance in the follow four elements. Assess the Qualities, taking into consideration ideas, perceptions and priorities. Identify which derives from the images of the child that belongs to the community. Direct Listening to those who will be using the environments. And Observation which involves observing children/teachers and parents in their present environments.
Marizio Fontanili’s left his families 20 year old furniture business in 2001 because he was interested in investigating new scenarios, new and different ways of inhabiting places. His “aim was to add softness in the furniture scapes of the school” through investigating softness and ranges of color. Mr. Fontanili created PLAY+. Below are two captions which were taken from the recent PLAY+SOFT Catalog, to give you a better understanding of the PLAY+ philosophy and what drives it.
“PLAY+SOFT originated with the pedagogical consultancy of Reggio Children, inspired by the experience of the Municipal Infant-Toddler Centress and Preschools of Reggio Emiliaand the pedagogical philosophy of Loris Malaguzzi to experiment with new types of furnishings involving an extensive team of architects, designers, and educators. PLAY+SOFT continues the research of the project “Children, spaces, relations – meta-project for an environment for young children”, giving it continuity through the art direction and acting as a support to the activities of a pedagogy of relationships, listening, and project orientation, in support of children’s self-learning processes.”
“PLAY+SOFT” aims to enrich the material complexity and variety of environments for young children, introducing pliability, softness, and elasticity in places that are often composed of few materials, all of them hard. A rich material landscape supports children in their learning adventures and in constructing their identities, helping them to hone their sensory perceptions and develop synthetic abilities.”
John Waldron an architect with RIGA and consultant with architecutureplb, also spoke at the conference, however, I have decided that I will share Mr. Waldron experiences with you through a separate article, in the near future. Stay Tuned.
Here is an article which is accompanied by a slideshow of photos from the Design for Children Conference put together by Matthew Giaretta of StudioUK
Here are a few links to help you continue your investigation into design for children —-
