Designing for young people is, in essence, designing for joy. It’s about uplifting environments that put children at ease, spark their creativity and thoughts, and give them a sense of ownership. As any designer worth his or her salt knows, an effective way to achieve these ends is with strategic use of color, scale, and shape. But how does one do so without creating a garish and over-the-top scenario? We look at some exemplary projects that demonstrate excellent command of all of the above — whether on the exterior or interior — to enhance child-friendly environments while keeping them tasteful.
Esther Koplowitz Foundation dormitory
If there is one setting that strikes fear in the hearts of children and adults alike, it’s a medical center, be it a hospital, the dentist’s office, or a pediatric clinic. Yet a little-known dormitory for children with cerebral palsy reads more like a flourishing and happy home-away-from-home thanks to its welcoming façade. Part of the Esther Koplowitz Foundation in Madrid, the new three-story block by Hans Abaton sets out to create an optimistic image when updating the facilities and increasing occupant capacity.
Esther Koplowitz Foundation dormitory
From the sides, the building possesses a brutalist feel with giant slabs of concrete, yet, in front and back, ribbons of full-width glazing on the lower floors make the structure appear to float. Above the glazing, the upper-level façades are clad in vibrant colored-glass panels to mark the locations of the bedroom areas. Large panoramic windows interrupt the colorful display and offer access to views and natural light, two attributes that are highly sought after in healing design, today. In addition to the cheerful tones, these façade portions sport pitched roofs to emulate single-story houses; the motif is friendly and familiar, homey and whimsical yet also respectful of the small houses in the surrounding neighborhood.
Yellow Elephant Kindergarten
At the xystudio-designed Yellow Elephant Kindergarten in Poland, color came into play with child-friendly scale. The single-story building, housing five classrooms for nursery and kindergarten pupils, features a main entrance with a 7.5-foot height — tall enough for faculty and administration to use, but scaled down enough for wee ones to feel as if the building was designed for them. In the classrooms, lintels are also set low above child-height windows, while porthole openings in the upper portions and ceiling skylights provide additional natural lighting. The palettes are different for each room, from magenta and orange to cyan blue — carrying over from upholstered furnishings and chair backs to resilient-sheet and carpet flooring as well as walls.
Yellow Elephant Kindergarten
The school was set on a U-shaped plan around a central courtyard outfitted with a sandpit. Corridors lining the courtyard have quick-access sliding glass doors, which in turn admit light and fresh air, though large overhangs keep this zone from overheating. Another function of these circulation corridors is storage: here, bright green walls hold simple cubbies, benches with built-in storage, and wall hooks for hanging jackets and other knickknacks.
Yellow Elephant Kindergarten
Progressing through the courtyard, visitors encounter a sunny-yellow arbor that shades a paved terrace with matching yellow picnic tables and benches underneath. Flanking the sides of the building are colorful playgrounds with swing sets and other diversions.
Family Box Qingdao
One might say that play is an important part of early childhood development, and in China, it can be found in abundance at Family Box recreation centers. The sixth branch to open, Family Box Qingdao (also shown at top) is situated on a corner of a shopping mall and features the standard amenities of a children’s swimming pool, classrooms, and a café. But its wonderland of open-play areas, designed by Crossboundaries, is what captures the imaginations of the youngsters.
Family Box Qingdao
To transition the tykes from the over-stimulating environment of the shopping mall, spaces revolve around a limited palette of yellow, blue, and green: floors and stairs are mostly yellow, while multifunctional spaces are blue and walls are green. Tasked with accommodating more play space in a limited footprint, the designers ingeniously carved out a topography of multiple child-height levels with nooks, tunnels, slides, and stepped zones, the latter of which provide children with opportunities to practice their climbing skills but also function as makeshift theaters.
Family Box Qingdao
Various play areas sport fabric-covered, upholstered panels, be they on the walls, soffits, or floors, accompanied by pebble-shaped soft seating ensuring safety for the children but also cleverly providing sound absorption. And windows cut out in many of the walls ensure that staff and parents can keep watch of the rambunctious young ones.
Pleated Inflation
At an installation in Argelès-sur-Mer, France, play is entirely based outdoors. “Pleated Inflation” is one of Marc Fornes / Theverymany’s latest computational-design structures to open to the public. The organic structure is made with 990 pleated-aluminum “structural shingles” that sport intricate cutouts resulting in intriguing light and shadow patterns throughout the day. Meanwhile, 26 base plates anchor the entire system to the ground.
Pleated Inflation
The three-millimeter-thick aluminum shingles are coated in bright green to blue and purple hues to create a gradient effect in specific parts of the structure and add an even more visual impact. Measuring approximately 46 feet wide by 33 deep and standing 21 feet high, the volume functions as an informal amphitheater for students at Lycée Christian Bourquin as well as an exploration area for the young and the young-at-heart.