Design for Early Learning Symposium 2021

In September 2021, I had the pleasure of participating in the Design for Early Learning Symposium.

It was organized as a conversation between designers, educators, administrators and other interested in environments for early learning. Here are some of the things I took away from the symposium:

• We need to find the time to be able to include educators and children in the design of their spaces - this is a tricky one for architects, whose work is fee- and time-based, and for educators, who are very busy with their day-to-day teaching. Once a project is on a development schedule (permits! contractors! final decisions!), it is hard to find the time for a meaningful back-and-forth of ideas.
• This work requires a serious commitment to empathy
• As designers, we can create affordances; for example, a window ledge at child sit height affords the possibility of sitting and looking out.

I am looking forward to continuing the conversation, and continuing to do independent research. Here are a few books mentioned as inspirational by early childhood educators at the Symposium that I am enjoying, which go beyond 'architectural' design and engage with ideas around design more generally:

The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald A. Norman
Children, spaces, relations, edited by Giulio Ceppi and Michele Zini
Natural Playscapes by Rusty Keeler