The Young Child's Experience of Space and Child Care Center Design

A Practical Meditation

Abstract

The physical, perceptual, and cognitive differences between adults and young children have significant implications for the design of child care centers. This article considers first how architecture influences children's development, then the differences between how young children and adults experience and use space and then the problem of designing collective space for young children that is responsive to those differences. Four broad, qualitative characteristics ofoptimal child care centers are identified: that they be homelike, have an unfinished character, have an open relationship to the natural world, and provide an overall variety and balance of kinds of spaces.