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The word ‘transition’ has multiple meanings
for an architect, most being opportunities to
create something unique, driven by climate
and place. For example, the transition
between outside and inside enable veranda
spaces; transition between outdoor spaces
create gateways; transition between indoor
spaces create doorways. These may sound
functional in today’s terms, but older
cultures celebrated these spaces - verandas,
gateways and doorways can be found as
special features on all old Kiwi Villas, on
300 year old Wharenui, on 500 year old
Indian Palaces and on 2000 year old Greek
Temples.
Within early childhood educational contexts
however transition has a very different
meaning, often associated with anxiety
and stress for the user group. For example,
transition to school, transition between
age groups, transition between centres,
transition between activities, transition
between outdoor and indoor play. While the
ministry website does provide advice on
transition this still remains one of the most
stressful periods for a child and parent to
go through in the early learning education
context.
Whilst architecture cannot cure all
educational transition issues, it can have
far more of a positive impact when it is
understood how architecture can influence
the behaviour of people.
Firstly – transition into a centre. What feels
right when you walk in to a centre for the
first time? Is it close to home? Is it a friendly
and familiar face? Is it the smell of fresh
baking or the day's lunch? Is it the sun
streaming in from high level and touching
your skin? Is it the glimpses of the outdoor
playground with mature trees dappling the
sunlight? Our experience has shown that
these kinds of experiences are the kinds
that define a beautiful human space that
both parent and child want to be in – and
with advances in neuroscience today there
is much evidence to support these old
architectural ‘feelings’. Centres need to
have the things that make human beings
feel at ease, as does any good building or
environment.
Transition between age groups can also be
another highly stressful time for children, as
they leave behind strong friendships and
teacher bonds to go on to the next room. We
have tried many different configurations in
the design of centres to ease this – having
larger groups in one big room broken up into
smaller groups by furniture or low dividers,
joined up veranda spaces to join ‘rooms’
together when outside, configuring rooms
around a courtyard or dining space so that
all share common space and face each
other to give visual connection. While these
designs go a long way to support transition
they don’t seem to fully resolve the issue
entirely. There are however examples around
the world where architecture has resolved
such issues by innovative thinking combining
pedagogy with building. The best example
we know of was a German kindergarten in
Bavaria which had no age group breakdown.
The centre was split into activities, arranged
around a central indoor space – it was based
on the idea of shops around a marketplace.
Each ‘shop’ housed one activity – art and
craft, dress-up / family play, construction,
etc and the children could pick the activity
they wanted to do most every day. If
everyone wanted to do the same, then the
marketplace also allowed expansion! With
no age barriers, there were issues such as
younger children smashing older children’s
work, though once the teachers found
ways to embrace these as development
opportunities instead of issues to overcome,
the positive outcomes way soon resolved
any issues: older children engaged more
with the younger ones leading to less
teacher input, younger children progressed
in their milestones quicker, bonds were
formed across age groups which carried
on into school and there was no transition
anxiety as there weren’t any transitions!
It’s interesting to reflect that transition
issues, as with so many modern problems,
have been created by the way we now
operate and design our centres. When
reflecting on the centres we went to as
children they had no such issues as it was
multi age group and housed in two large
rooms close to home. We may be advancing
more rapidly than ever before as a species,
but you cannot take human nature away – it
still takes a village to raise a child.
HOWARCHITECTURE
SUPPORTS A CHILD
’
S TRANSITION
Collingridge and Smith Architects (UK) Ltd
(CASA) has specialised in designing world
class education architecture for over 20
years, both in NZ and the UK. CASA’s
believes in creating beautiful human
spaces based on research that brings
together architecture and evolutionary
psychology. CASA has been recognised for
their achievements in sustainable early
childhood architecture with their designs
achieving many local and international
awards. Website:
www.casa-uk.comNew Shoots Pakuranga - Outdoor centre activity space
with shared veranda across classrooms
North Auckland Kindergarten - Indoor centre dining room
December 2017
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