Abstract
Today, there is an increasing focus on the well-being and learning of children with the goal of nurturing our young for the future. Greater efforts are being placed on the quality of education so as to accelerate the learning of children in order to better prepare them for higher education. Beyond the classroom, more playgrounds are being designed to promote adventure and freeform play, as play has become an important element in children’s’ learning. For this thesis, we adopt an ecological approach to the human environment. We view the built environment as an integral part of learning and space as a tool to stimulate the development of children. This thesis hopes to draw influence from ecological psychology, a discipline that is heavily involved with childhood development, into the designing of playscapes. Within the domain of ecological psychology, we seek to understand the term affordances. Studies suggest that there is an untapped potential in designing our environment with affordances in mind. Hence, this thesis aims to combine the disciplines of psychology and architecture to create better spaces for play and learning. Through a focused study of children’s perceptions and behaviours towards the environment, as well as body movements through the environment, new approaches will be formulated to design an environment that is exploited to promote learning and curiosity.