Category: Kids In Space

KIDS IN SPACE: Documenting the Child’s Perspective of Architectural Design

No. 5 – Greater Cleveland Aquarium

When I first moved to New York in 2002, I used to chat with architect friends about the frequency with which spaces are “recycled.” Someone new to a neighborhood would point out a hip new bar, and someone who’d lived there a few years would nostalgiacally recall when it was a pet store or a bakery. The flagship Apple store in New York’s SoHo was once a traditional American post office. The idea of space being used for different purposes fascinates me — the energy that ebbs and flows between four walls can be transformed again and again with design, usage, and the cast of characters occupying the space.

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KIDS IN SPACE: Documenting the Child’s Perspective of Architectural Design

NO. 3 – Downtown Cleveland

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architect  Humans – like all animals – possess an exquisitely attuned spatial sense. Unfortunately, because we are so caught up in own inner worlds, most adults are not very observant. Children instinctively know how to inhabit space. An enormous, ornate space like this one can be overwhelming at first. Wisely, Evelyn holds to the edge, placing herself squarely in the floor pattern that rings the space. While an adult would stride right over it, never noticing the difference, Evelyn senses the power of threshold, even when marked only in the ground plane.   She is captivated by the metal grating, perhaps by the way her own shadow dances on its slender bars. Or maybe she’s curious to catch a glimpse of what lies below.   Evelyn climbs the stairs with determination and daring, delighting in this chance to move vertically rather than horizontally. Each step is huge and must be negotiated with care. The railing is higher than her head yet she gamely makes use of it. Imagine yourself scaling two-­foot high steps clinging to a six-­foot railing! –Julie Gabrielli, Go for Change

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KIDS IN SPACE: Documenting the Child’s Perspective of Architectural Design

NO. 2 – PUBLIC, NYC

public restaurant nyc

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architect The design for Public was partially inspired by buildings of the FDR-era Works Progress Administration, constructions which tended to have the same effect as medieval European cathedrals or mosques had on their constituents – they provided the common man with a belief that there was an institution larger than themselves they could have faith in.  We’ve never seen this idea epitomized so clearly as in some of these photos, the sense of solidity and scale relative to our wee man Bruno is completely intoxicating. – Adam Farmerie, AvroKO

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KIDS IN SPACE: Documenting the child’s perspective of architectural design

No. 1 – GREEN DEPOT

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architect At only 19 months of age, Wyatt is still free of the socially constructed barriers we see all around us on a day-to-day basis as adults. Some of these pictures illustrate how the intuitive explorations of a child could certainly help designers critique these invisible barriers as superfluous (crawling in a small space) to necessary (toilet explorations). –Caleb Mulvena, Studio Mapos
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