Name: Vaishnavi Kulkarni

USN: 2GI15AT079

CHILD’S NOURISHMENT THROUGH SPACES

INTRODUCTION:
One-third of world population are children. Children are on consistent way of improvement
from origin to adulthood. Understanding kids from psychological point of view can be of an
extra ordinary help to adults, so as to strengthen the kids in their lives to create into
exceptionally working grown-ups. Development of a child is not just physical but emotional
and intellectual as well, and an effectively designed environment has a Major impact on it,
particularly since beginning when they start to see parts of their surrounding that they convert
into emotions(positive or negative). Child’s perception and that of an adults is completely
different in terms of scale, proportion, texture, color and other related elements.
A number of investigations into child behavior and its interaction with the environment, have
taken place in the last two centuries. Each child can be creative in one or the other manner.
It’s therefore vital for parents to nurture a child’s creativity. A child with a healthy relation with
the parents learn to control emotions in stressful circumstances. It supports mental, linguistic
and emotional development of the child. When the child has a favorable relation with family,
they acquire powerful problems solving abilities. Parents can readily ignite the imagination of
the child; they can unfortunately also eradicate the imagination of the child without realizing it.
In their early years the child’s experiences give form to shape the values, attitudes and
fundamental orientation towards the world that they carry with them for rest of their life. Their
greatest learning takes place through practical, interactive and self-discovery rather than the
attempt to teach them knowledge. The development of child’s creativity involves play as a
significant factor as it’s the main mechanism by which child gets to know their surroundings.
In the 21st century, technological revolution has impacted the human life, structured it, resulting
in globalization and cultural and social changes. Children living in big cities are unaware of the
benefits and the role of nature in their nourishment and development. Family is a major factor
in forming the character of the child. They spend sensitive years in the family and home
environment and these impacts in the actions and personality of the child. Earlier child lived
in joint family as a result they would get to learn emotional values from their grandparents but
nowadays joint family concept is vanishing and both husband and wife are working and
children are exposed to electronic gadgets severely and are losing on the needed qualities.
Today’s life style requires spaces where in children can spend time with their parents and
more exposure towards nature so the building should be designed in such a way that it
enhances the child’s experience, making them feel safe and secured and creating the home-
like environment. Various kinds of built environment can influence the growth of children.
As the initial development stage of child is vital, the concept of alternate schooling has been
introduced in some big cities. Children have different physical and mental needs depending
upon the age and developmental stage of the child. According to child’s development and its
needs and age groups, the child space must be designed in such a way that it meets the
physical and emotional needs and contributes to growth and creativity of the child.
Many research studies in developmental psychology of the child reflect the fact that the first
five years of child are of utmost importance to the child’s development. Children needs the
environment to rectify them, to challenge them and to provide them with something for
observation, thoughts, decision making, attention for them and participate in their favorite
activities. They also need opportunity to meet friends, explore and satisfy their interest about
the world.
For developing the motor and cognitive skills of children, interpersonal attitudes and emotions,
the differences in outdoor environments such as neighborhoods, parks, playgrounds, school
and nature can include rich resources of stimulation and child support. As the children grow,
they go through different phases where they explore environment, learning skills, reasoning
skills socialize with others and eventually mingle with the family and spaces.
The study focuses on the categorization of the child in different stages of age and investigation
of the characteristics of each stage by considering the psychology of the children from
adolescent phase (6 months) to preteen (12 years). This study will help in architectural solution
which will meet the child’s expectations at different ages and nurture the overall development
in the child.
AIM:
To create the architectural spaces which will enhance the child’s mental and physical growth
and explore the maximum potentials of the spaces thus creating comfortable and friendly
environment for the children.
OBJECTIVES:
1. To understand child’s perception towards built environment.
2. To understand how spaces can have positive impact on child’s mental, physical and
social development.
3. To build a solid and broad foundation for learning environment and well-being of the
child through architectural spaces.
4. To create environment which will build the self-confidence in the child and enhance
the child’s activity pattern.
5. To create the spaces which will enhance the bond between the child and its family.
HYPOTHESIS:
Architectural spaces can have positive impact on the child’s emotions, confidence and
creativity.
METHODOLOGY:
Literature review:
Key words:
a) Child - a person between birth and full growth; a boy or girl.
b) Psychology - the science of the mind or of mental states and processes.
c) Child psychology – the study of the mental states and processes of children and
the application of psychological techniques to children.
d) Built environment – refers to components of architecture that includes private and
public buildings as well as parks, urban squares and playgrounds.
e) Alternate schooling – any public or private school having a special curriculum,
especially an elementary or secondary school offering a more flexible program of
study than a traditional school.
 f) Developmental psychology – a branch of psychology that studies changes in
human behavior from early life to death.
g) Cognitive skills – relating to the mental processes of perception, memory,
judgement and reasoning as contrasted with emotional and volitional process.
h) Motor skills – it’s the ability to cause a predetermined movement outcome with
maximum certainty.
i) Historical aspect (background) - historical aspects will deal with the study of spaces
which are created for children in the past.
ii) Contemporary stands - to understand the present scenario of spaces which are
designed for the children.
iii) Expert’s opinion - to understand the expert’s opinion on the child’s psychology for
the mental and physical development of a child and on the spaces that can have
impact on child’s mind.
CASE STUDY
LITERATURE CASE STUDY:
LIVE CASE STUDY:
PROGRAM FORMULATION:
The program will be formulated according to the literature and live case study.
CONCLUSION:
The thesis is going to be an exploration of the relationship between child and space. Early
childhood development is an extremely important issue which needs to be recognized. The
study is being done so as to make the learning and understanding process influence the child’s
mental and physical growth. Children have the potential to think and play creatively and they
tend to be more creative when their parents are involved in their play.
BIBILOGRAPHY:
www.academia.com
www.related.webmd.com
www.psychology.com
www.wikipedia.com