Learn to think like a child. It makes sense. If you need to create something new, for example, to build a playground, who, if not the children who will use it, can help? Increasingly, architects and landscape designers are attracting young people to the design process. Architecture for children is a very important direction of development, since it is a growing generation that can bring the necessary energy and destroy any creative barriers.
Creative approach
Design is often associated with what is called a “thinking opportunity,” which requires openness and the ability to analyze possible scenarios. According to one architect who worked a lot with children who designed schools, these skills are close to what children do in their creative “moments.” He said: "I think that all creative processes are, in some way, a children's process that allows you to do something more directly."
Directness and curiosity
Preschoolers have that uninhibited curiosity for life that can bring fresh perspectives and lead to the study of alternative scenarios. Children are less likely to self-censor their ideas and decisions; they are honest and spontaneous. Architecture for children is one of the most interesting tools for expressing their multifaceted personality.
Losing control
Children can use almost everything in the design process of a multifunctional open space. Sometimes the consequences can be devastating and unpredictable. Architecture for children is an interdisciplinary tool that encourages children's confidence in the development and transfer of ideas using science, technology, art, architecture and mathematics as a way of learning.
Creative thinking development
Although children can repeat the design process many times, a blank sheet of paper or typical building materials become a palette for their expression, which over time becomes more complex for a higher level of visual communication as the student grows older. Organizational design principles, grammar and design language are gradually understood, how to draw and create models, study engineering, landscape design, and the history of architecture. For children, projects are created to offer creative problem-solving processes.
Little Architect in London
"Little Architect" is a program at the Association of Architecture in London. Created in 2013, it is focused on teaching architecture for primary school children. Amazing results have already been obtained in more than 2,400 children from different countries receiving architectural lessons. They are particularly focused on their program in low-income areas and in public schools in London. “Our responsibility as architects lies not only in the development, but also in the coverage of urban problems and modern architecture,” says Dolores Victoria Ruiz Garrido, author and director of the program.
"Little Architect" is an educational program through which children are introduced to architecture and the urban environment. Students from the age of 4 to 11 are taught how to observe, understand and enjoy architecture. School seminars are conducted in partnership with class teachers and are included in the UK national curriculum. A team of teachers helps children achieve their learning goals through architecture and art, while the program provides children with the opportunity to think and talk about buildings and cities through drawings. These drawings are used as a communication tool.
“We encourage children to create a new, futuristic urban environment and pay attention to the wonderful world around them,” says Ruiz Garrido. “We want to provoke new relationships with modern architecture and its local environment, encouraging children to take care, as well as adequately criticize the cities in which we all live. The way we design our cities is changing for the better. The participation model, community voice and flexible dialogue between citizens and politicians are widely demanded. Today it is more necessary than ever to receive an education from a young age in architecture and sustainable living. If we want better cities, we need dedicated, empowered and informed citizens working together for a common future. ”
Encouraging a young voice
Each person is pleased when he can calmly talk about his own views, and he is always pleased to hear that his opinion matters. This also applies to children. How does pre-school children get acquainted with architecture? First of all, training takes place through game activity. One of their main goals is to foster creativity.
Architecture for children of high school age is an ideal tool for integrating into any school theme and creating strong ties with history, science, geography and others. The main idea is to give young children the opportunity to feel responsible for their future city. Architecture for children can have a positive impact on the environment and on people's happiness.
School of architectural thinking for children in Belarus
The practice of teaching architecture from childhood is quite common in European countries. In Finland, for example, it is included in the school curriculum. There are even special schools of architecture for children. And this is not surprising. Buildings in cities are places where people spend most of their lives. It is important from preschool age not only to study architecture, but also to learn how you can change the world for the better.
The profession of an architect is associated with many disciplines: history, philosophy, visual arts, mathematics, ergonomics, physics. The list goes on. Among the skills are the ability to research, analyze, communicate and find a common language with customers and authorities, design, present labor products and build. Architectural thinking is a system of a comprehensive understanding of a complex and rapidly changing world.
The Belarusian School of Architectural Thinking has developed a unique technique, the purpose of which is an intelligent child, confident, courageous and successful. The leading activity in childhood is the game. To familiarize senior preschool children with architecture, due to the main game principles and methods of architectural thinking, a certain atmosphere is created in the institution where the student is liberated, offers his unique ideas using the language of various types of art and reveals his creative potential. Children learn to work in a team, learn communication skills, learn to negotiate and defend their own point of view.
What is included in the program of the School of Architectural Thinking?
The school has a certain division, a choice of 16 major studios is offered:
- Graphic design.
- Architecture.
- Journalism.
- The photo.
- Fashion.
- Craft.
- Psychology.
- Subject design.
- Sculpture.
- Book.
- Sound.
- Street art.
- Management.
- Modern Art.
- Dance.
- Video.
In addition to the main ones, extra-disciplines are studied: economics, genetics, history, theatrical art and others. There are certain age limits: the first group is the age of 6-7 years, the second - 8-10 years.
Architecture for preschool children and not only
Various architectural studios offer programs that help children and adolescents from 2.5 to 17 years to develop their creative potential. Future architects are taught to create the first models of buildings and other urban structures with their own hands, and also contribute to the acquisition of the knowledge and skills that may be necessary for entering specialized universities.
Education for children of preschool and primary school age, up to 12 years old, has as its main goal the formation of spatial thinking, the ability to draw and design. Children master the "feeling" of the surrounding space, learn to distinguish between proportions, colors and volumes. The guys get acquainted with the theory: the history of architecture and the works of famous masters. In practical classes, various volumetric projects and designs are conceived and created.
Learning Objectives and Prerequisites
The main tasks of architectural education and development are the following:
- the formation of the ability to recognize styles in architecture;
- the formation of the ability to translate architectural images through artistic creation;
- patriotism, instilling love for one’s hometown, country;
- development of a sense of beauty;
- development of memory, thinking and imagination.
Familiarization of older preschool children with architecture takes place comprehensively and in stages. To begin with, it is necessary to form primary knowledge in children about architecture as a special art form. Next, it is worthwhile to establish a connection between the perception of art and productive children's creativity.
The art of architecture and great opportunities in the upbringing and development of personality
The introduction of children to architecture has many positive consequences:
- the formation of cognitive interests;
- acquaintance with a wide variety of surrounding objects and phenomena;
- responsiveness and love of beauty;
- development of a sense of beauty;
- fostering respect for cultural heritage;
- respect for the results of another's work;
- artistic creation;
- the expression of their ideas in various types of artistic activity;
- impulse to independent creative activity.
In the learning process, children need to be given the opportunity to use the information received in various types of artistic and creative activities, as well as use a variety of forms and methods of familiarization with architecture. This can be conversations, drawing, excursions, walks, viewing illustrations and photos, cartoons, various didactic games, and much more.
Little people are great ideas
Holistic education uses a systematic approach in which the individual parts - science education, mathematical education and others - are combined to create a stronger and more integrated curriculum, in which students and teachers are encouraged to establish connections and identify correlations between different disciplines.
Science education includes aspects of language, literacy, mathematics, and even music. Language art includes the study of concepts and ideas from history, science, art and so on. With a certain degree of creativity, art education can be easily integrated into any lesson plan. Presentation of concepts through visual and musical forms can strengthen and expand training in all subjects. The main task of adults is to create a space where children can grow, develop and prosper.