Introduction

FUNCTIONAL INTERIORS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS 4(2+2)
Lesson 18 : Design Features for Designing Interiors for Children

Introduction

Designing for children enquires many not-so-subtle accommodations relating to size, physical ability, safety, and human scale. Size and scale are the most difficult of these accommodations because of the difference in size and scale between, say, a toddler and an elementary school child. Designing for children is also complicated by their ever-changing psychological development and their uninhibited perceptions of their environments.

When accommodating children, designers should keep the following in mind:

  • Anthropometric and ergonomic statistics must be considered for children at various age/grade levels. Designs have to meet the physical size of the client.
  • Children’s spaces must meet their physical abilities. For instance, young children cannot read; therefore, graphics help them to understand the spaces they are entering and assist them in way finding. Symbolism is their visual communication.
  • Safety is critical in the design of children’s spaces. Because children are naturally inquisitive and active, places need to be designed to accommodate their activities – safely. For instance, duplex outlets at standard height have no place in the child’s play area . Bookshelves displaying toys must be within children’s reach or children will invent a way to reach them. Plants must be nontoxic.
  • Children’s area must also be durable and easily cleaned. For instance, children will climb onto furniture. Their shoes may have come into previous contact with grass, dirt, used bubblegum, and so on.
  • Design intended for the user must meet the scale of the user. For instance, what one views at a 3' – 0`` eye height is remarkably different from what one views at a 5`- 6`` eye height. Crawling is an excellent mental (and for that matter, physical) exercise for adult designers attempting to view the world from a child’s perspective.

From the floor a designer can look at all the opportunities to play with objects: light switches become toggle toys, electrical outlets are places to hide little things, drapery cords are for wrapping around, and end tables and chairs are for climbing. The designer is now thinking like a child and has entered the elusive arena of child development.

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Last modified: Monday, 9 July 2012, 6:34 AM