For teachers of Early Childhood Education who are familiar with the Reggio Educational Approach and Philosophy which insists that children learn readily from their environment, and therefor the environment is the ‘third’ teacher’, The Diana Municipal Preschool is a mecca, so to speak.

Below is an overview of the Diana Municipal Preschool in Reggio Emilia, Italy from ‘Imagine’.

‘Imagine’ is “a database which captures school design best practice from around the world.” Case studies are selected, researched and written by a core team of architects and researchers and serve as an academic resource and research base, applicable in the practice of design, planning and construction of schools.

“The Reggio Emilia schools were established after the 2nd World War by communities who took the opportunity to redesign and rebuild their approach to preschool education in the city. Parents literally used the rubble of destroyed buildings to create learning environments whose focus was to allow children the opportunity to experience life through sensory investigation. The design of the school buildings is aimed to link inside and outside, creating an environment where ‘osmosis’ between enclosed and open spaces could occur. The buildings and pedagogy were considered and developed at the same time, each reinforcing the other.”

View full case study here

Building, Designing, Exploring, Imagining, Teaching, Thinking

“A cheerleader of possibility, Public Workshop is dedicated to helping individuals, schools and communities achieve great things through design. We create projects, tools and events that help people positively change the places they live, work and play.”

Africa today: “Women and children walk an average of 6 miles a day to collect water. 1 child dies every 15 seconds due to the lack of clean drinking water. More than 10 million children die every year from preventable illnesses. 270 million children have no access to public health services.”

Design For The Children “is an open, international design competition asking architects and designers from around the world to develop a sustainable, culturally responsive, pediatric clinic model for East Africa.”

Competition is closed. View the winner here.

“In the last 10 years the Sure Start (UK) programme has transformed the delivery of integrated services and quality early learning to children and their families.

Children’s centres are crucial to the government’s 10 year strategy for childcare, Choice for parents, the best start for children, and are key to improving outcomes for children as part of the Every child matters agenda. By 2010 there will be 3,500 children’s centres, one in every community. We want centres to be accessible, welcoming, flexible, inspirational spaces.

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) is the government’s advisor on architecture urban design and public space. CABE has worked in partnership with the former DfES and now DCSF since Sure Start’s inception. By providing advice guidance to partners involved in the delivery of children’s centres, CABE promotes good design, helping children’s centres to become the focus of the community.

This guide has been created with CABE for the next phase of delivery. Drawing on the lessons that local authorities and other key partners have learned and highlighting the importance of quality design, the guide focuses on both the preparation for, and the design of, a children’s centre and other early years facilities.”

For anyone interested in children’s spaces and design, VIEW the guide in detail and be inspired.

Happy 1st Birthday Present & Correct

New in the shop:

Get inspired, explore the work of David Smith @ ATELIER.IE

If you have always imagined having your own design on the fabric you use for your next project, check out Spoonflower.com. They will take your design and print it on quality, quilting-weight, 100% cotton fabric.

“You do need to be somewhat computer-literate, but if you need help preparing your graphics files, explore FAQ, and/or watch a video tutorial explaining things in detail.

It is a little pricey at $18/yard, but it’s not outrageous, and hey it’s custom, plus there is no minimum order so you can order as much or as little as you like.”

via talkcraftytome

“ShapeMaker is a set of 25 colourful, geometric design, hand printed, environmentally friendly, rubber wood blocks that can be excitingly arranged to create a menagerie of thousands of surprising creatures and tons of sparkling, imaginative, engaging images that guarantee to delight children from 4 yrs and upwards. The blocks perfectly illustrate millergoodman’s commitment to combine function with the highest design principles, producing beautiful, sensitive New Classics in the children’s market.”

Design is the Problem: The Future of Design Must Be Sustainable, by Nathan Shedroff – published by Rosenfeld Media

“Design is the Problem explains:

1. How sustainability isn’t as difficult to understand and address as many would have you think
2. Several of the leading frameworks and perspectives on sustainability
3. How to insert sustainability into the development process that you’re already using
4. The many, practical strategies that make the products, services, and events you design and develop more sustainable—right now”

via oberholtzer-creative.com

Open-Ended Learning: Design Responses to K-12 Education Today

“The explosion in school construction in recent years to meet the demands of a post-9/11 baby boomlet has forced a fundamental shift in how we approach K–12 schools. For architects, this new thinking—with its call for project-based learning, an increased role for technology, and more sustainable and socially responsible institutions—has resulted in more flexible spatial configurations, integrated break-out and project rooms, and better connections between the indoors and out. For example, the Nueva School, in Hillsborough, California, designed by Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, with some curriculum developed by IDEO and the Stanford D. School, has students growing food and learning from the building itself, extending the school’s role into the wider community. We asked eight leading design firms to submit a recent K–12 school project that featured an innovative approach, application, or idea. Their responses—wind turbines, green roofs, using a building as a teaching tool, and something the architects call “ad hoc urbanism”—illustrate how changes in education are affecting the design of schools today, providing a new blueprint for the classroom of the 21st century.”

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