Week 2; Abstraction, Metaphor and Scale(ing)

Note: This blog needs to be read within the March blogs.

When looking for some duirection about "learning spaces", I came across a project that outlines the Seven Principles of Learning Space Design.

http://www.skgproject.com/learning-spaces-toolkit/design-principles/

Directly from the website:

• Comfort: a space which creates a physical and mental sense of ease and well-being
• Aesthetics: pleasure which includes the recognition of symmetry, harmony, simplicity and fitness for purpose
• Flow: the state of mind felt by the learner when totally involved in the learning experience
• Equity: consideration of the needs of cultural and physical differences
• Blending: a mixture of technological and face-to-face pedagogical resources
• Affordances: the “action possibilities” the learning environment provides the users, including such things as kitchens, natural light, wifi, private spaces, writing surfaces, sofas, and so on.
• Affordances are the aspects or qualities of a space that allow actions or experiences. Donald Norman refers to ‘perceived affordances’ (1999) to emphasize the fact that it is not just the actual facilities or action possibilities of a space, but the users’ perceptions that matter.
• Repurposing: the potential for multiple usage of a space

While, most of these principles don't fit too well with our future learning space, I distilled them down to the following:

• Comfortable
• Interesting
• Has good flow through
• Possesses “action possibilities” - something to do or look at
• Looks good - has most or all of these qualities; symmetry, harmony, simplicity, is fit for the purpose.
• Equity - caters for age, ability, mobility

This gives me something to gauge my designs against, from an education point of view.

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Initially, my thoughts were for a quite structured Folie, aimed specifically at young children. Designed to create a play space that stimulated their imagination, as well as teaching them something.

The first ideas and doodles: