LIKU - Building through motions
Abstract
LIKU: Building Through Motions project explores the method
of designing that is born through children’s performative body
movements. It is an attempt to combine child culture design with
elements of bodily movements found in the performance art field.
This project addresses the lack of movement-based play done by
children in indoor environments. The widely-known perception
today is that children commonly engage in quiet, sedentary play
while staying indoors such as playing with building blocks and
drawing, whereas they play more actively in an outdoor environ-
ment. (Sandseter, Storli, Sando 2022).
In some countries where outdoor play is more restricted be-
cause of the lack of space and/or safety reasons, playing indoors
becomes the main option for children. The existence of indoor
playgrounds allows children to have physical play while being in-
doors. However, the play situation presented by these indoor play-
grounds is a predetermined play, where play structures are made
to accommodate certain play activities. As a result, even though
the body movements aspects are fulfilled, children lack the ability
to nurture their own play culture.
Facing this problem, the project aims to provide affordances for
children to do full-body movements play in an indoor context with
the use of designed objects, which is framed with the research
question:
How can indoor objects encourage full-body movements and free play
interaction?
This project starts by investigating the myriad of possibilities a
child’s body can both influence and be influenced by objects with-
in an indoor spatial context. It is then connected to the exploration
of the design of objects that accommodates such movements and
in return, allow children to said movements.
A designed object will be the outcome of this project that creates
the full-bodied action capacity of children’s play while also pro-
moting free play that let children decide how they want to play,
giving children the agency to decide what kind of active play they
can do with it.
Degree
Student essay
Collections
Date
2023Keywords
Indoor environments
full-body movements
free play
Child Culture Design
Language
eng