Movement

A. Sheehan
ARC605 | Spring 2017

The built environment provides a sense of permanence and reliability to society. The architecture of the city accommodates the functions of urban life, while carefully curated concepts of architectural beauty dominate the design. Daily life bustles about carefully constructed streetscapes and buildings in routine patterns day in and day out, while society fufills the obligations of adulthood. The architecture of children, however, must be considered very differently. Children are not subject to the rigidity that adult society requires and the architecture designed to fulfill their needs must be as fluid as they are. Architecture for a child must not be prescriptive or dictatorial, but rather must reflect the energy of the children within it. While the rest of society functions within static spaces, a space for children should move and change as rapidly as their imagination does. Children should have the opportunity to manipulate design to suit their needs in real time. As children are allowed to express themselves through the architecture, their energy and imagination can reignite the child within the adults of society.