The child as an active participant: enhancing the child's attachment to kindergartens through architectural design
ISSN: 2631-6862
Article publication date: 11 October 2021
Issue publication date: 14 February 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Recently, children are no longer considered the passive users of their spaces; they are rather treated as active participants in those spaces design, with their own experiences. The present research aims to investigate the impact of selected architectural variables of kindergartens' design on the child's attachment to the place. It also examines the multi-complex approach in dealing with children in experiments.
Design/methodology/approach
Spatial analysis and photographing methods were used to analyse the educational spaces in two kindergartens in Greater Cairo, Egypt. In measuring children's place attachment, the research depended on a complex participatory approach, which comprised interviews with children, story completion, children's drawings and visual questionnaires.
Findings
The results of this qualitative study highlight that the design of a kindergarten classroom's details plays a significant role in strengthening the child's place attachment. The results also stress that connection and exposure to nature supports the child's spatial values.
Originality/value
The authors argue that this paper is considered a good basis for including children as the architectural design decision-makers for their buildings, by shedding light on the architect–user relationship and its impact on the design process. It demonstrates how architectural design of child-oriented spaces can promote a child's self-identity and perception.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper was part of a M.Sc. thesis by the first author under the supervision of the second author Prof. Dr. Hisham S. Gabr. The authors acknowledge Assoc. Prof. Aliaa AlSadaty for her valuable involvement in the research. The authors would like to thank the school administrations for facilitating matters related to interacting with children in the schools. Also, the authors would like to thank all the teachers and children who participated in this research.
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Conflict of interest: Declarations of interest: none
Citation
Beheiry, D.A. and Gabr, H.S. (2022), "The child as an active participant: enhancing the child's attachment to kindergartens through architectural design", Archnet-IJAR, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 46-68. https://doi.org/10.1108/ARCH-02-2021-0047
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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