For those of you who know me personally, you know how I cherish to see children evolve in the 'right' environment. I truly and sadly believe that more than more than half of troubles at school is due to the wrong settings for children, which we tend to put in "shoe boxes" with an overload of "outdated rules". With this in mind, you won't be surprised we have decided to home-school our own child in June of this year!
Way before we made that decision, I came across the fabulous work of the Japanese architects couple Takaharu and Yui Tezuka. One project in particular caught my attention. I fell in love with it both from an architectural and educational perspective.
Mr Takaharu designed "the school as a circle, with a kind of endless circulation". When they started, he had no preconceived notions. He says that "studying other kindergartens was like looking in the rear-view mirror of a car: even if you look very closely, you can’t see anything in front.” He observed (looking at his own children's) that "children love running in circles."
He decided then to design the Fuji kindergarten in the round, with a roof built as one huge running track. It is low enough so children can look at other kids on the ground and vice-versa.
(Photo Courtesy: Tezuka Architects)
In the TED talk below, the architect explains how he and his colleagues tried to get inside the minds of children to create a space that would help them learning. Tezuka observed that when you put children in boxes, certain children become nervous" and try to hide or behave maybe badly.
There are no walls between classrooms and children who need to stand up and move (I KNOW!!!) can wander off if the mood strikes them. Teachers in that school don't worry because they'll always find their way back as everything has been designed in a circular way. You can even find trees which children can climb (without fearing to be told off!)
(Photo Courtesy: Tezuka Architects)
I think schools designs and "rules" are a real challenge in our society nowadays: how to create a positive atmosphere which transcends the debate of whether our schools need to become more goals oriented, and more accountable for their results. Isn't it about making school a place where children feel challenged but competent? Where they work hard but really enjoy it? Where achievement is the product but not the sole objective?
I hope you will enjoy (as much as I did it here!) this quirkily funny TED talk (below!) which emphasizes how design can promote the playful, fun-loving, movement-filled learning spaces that nurture in such an incredible way young children.
Merci Takaharu and Yui Tezuka!
Urszula x
(Video "The best kindergarten you’ve ever seen | Takaharu Tezuka" by TED)
(Video Copyright Murshid Mahmud - Video & Picture Ms Delliya - A video made of Fuji Kindergarten for an architectural talk on educational designs - Pictures and videos were taken when he visited there on October 2012)
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