Introducing our collaborator!

Matt Lawrence: Governor, the Deputy Head Teacher.
Jade Shotton: Year 4 Teacher.

St Cuthbert's is a GOOD school - Ofsted February 2019. Where provision for children's personal development and welfare is Outstanding. They are a vibrant thriving community where their wonderful children are at the heart of everything they do. They offer a curriculum that blends knowledge and skills with first hand experiences. The school is in the midst of lots of new and exciting developments on their improvement journey.

This year, St Cuthbert's RC Primary School will be awarded a ‘Silver: Rights Aware’ Rights Respecting Schools Award which is granted by Unicef UK to schools that show good progress towards embedding children’s rights in the school’s policy, practice and ethos.

Inspired by this achievement and in collaboration with MSA's 1st, 2nd and 5th-year students, The Right Space project is aiming to design a recreational space in St. Cuthberts Primary School that would encourage interaction and create awareness of ‘Rights of the child’. It is an intervention that provides EDUCATION, ENGAGEMENT and VALUES for all pupils.

Introducing our team members!

We are Group 12 of EVENTS 20, which is made up of six March 1 student from the MSA. We are a variety of people from different backgrounds. We welcome every one of you to study with us and get inspired by this meaningful project. Here is some information about us:

Solomon Adebiyi
Atelier: Advanced Practice
Graduated from: Manchester School of Architecture
Worked at: Atkins
Skills and interests: I specialise in 3D computational design and visualisations, my interestest Is in biomimicry and parametric architecture as well as photorealism portraits.

Niall Coleman
Atelier: Continuity in Architecture

David Faminu
Atelier: Advanced Practice
Graduate from: DeMontfort University
Worked at: Franklin Ellis Architects, Nottingham
Skills: Visualisation, Revit, Indesign, Photoshop, 3DS Max, Lumion and Organisation
Interests: Visualisation, Architecture, Anime, Reading, Music, Basketball and football

Wojciech Jankowski
Atelier: Continuity in Architecture
Graduate from: Manchester School of Architecture
Worked at: lk-architekci
Skills and interests: ArchiCAD, Twinmotion. Interested in technical design and visualisation.

Adil Mulk
Atelier: Continuity in Architecture
Graduate from: UCLan
Worked at: R. T. Lucas Architects
Skills: Revit, Sketchup, twinmotion, Adobe suite
Interests: Painting, Badminton, reading, writing

Haocheng Zhong
Atelier: Urban Spatial Experiment
Graduate from: SHANGHAI UNIVERSITY
Worked at: FUDAN ARCHITECTURE DESIGN
Skills and interests: ADOBE SUITE, RHINO, SKETCHUP, DRAWING, MODELING, VISUALISATION, SPORTS, GAMING

Introducing the site!

St Cuthbert's RC Primary School provided a vacant space of their play garden for our project to design a recreational space which would encourage interaction and create awareness of ‘Rights of the child’. You will have time to go to the site and survey it. Let's get some amazing ideas from you!

What is the UNCRC?

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, or UNCRC, is the basis of all of Unicef’s work. It is the most complete statement of children’s rights ever produced and is the most widely-ratified international human rights treaty in history.

What makes the UNCRC so special?

The Convention has 54 articles that cover all aspects of a child’s life and set out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all children everywhere are entitled to. It also explains how adults and governments must work together to make sure all children can enjoy all their rights.

Every child has rights, whatever their ethnicity, gender, religion, language, abilities or any other status.

The Convention must be seen as a whole: all the rights are linked and no right is more important that another. The right to relax and play (Article 31) and the right to freedom of expression (Article 13) have equal importance as the right to be safe from violence (Article 19) and the right to education (Article 28).

We are the only organisation working for children recognised by the Convention.

The UNCRC is also the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world – it’s even been accepted by non-state entities, such as the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), a rebel movement in South Sudan. All UN member states except for the United States have ratified the Convention. The Convention came into force in the UK in 1992.

We’re there for UK children throughout childhood

Life for children in the UK can be tough. Almost 4 million live in poverty, obesity and mental health problems are rising, and many experience violence, abuse and neglect. So, here in the UK, we’re putting our years of experience working for children around the world into practice.

We’re there throughout childhood, making sure that every child has the same chance to shine. We work with the hospitals where they are born, the schools where they learn and grow, and the communities that shape their lives.

Helping to make UK schools safe, inspiring places to learn

Through our Rights Respecting Schools Award, we work with schools in the UK to create environments where children are respected, their talents are nurtured and they are able to thrive. By embedding these values in daily school life, we can give children the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives and to be responsible, active citizens.

Over 1.5 million children in the UK go to a Rights Respecting School and more than 4,500 schools up and down the country are working through the Award.

WHAT ARE THE SOCIAL IMPACTS?

The Right Space project is aiming to design a recreational space in St.Cuthberts Primary School that would encourage interaction and create awareness of ‘Rights of the child’. It is an intervention that provides EDUCATION, ENGAGEMENT and VALUES for all pupils.

We aim to create environments where children are respected, their talents are nurtured and they are able to thrive. By embedding these values in daily school life, we can give children the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives and to be responsible, active citizens.

WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE US?

During Events week we want you to create incredible designs for the kids and for YOU to gain or develop your architectural skills.

To do this:
1. We aim to have training in software, presentation and architecture in general. We intend to teach software like revit, sketch up and the adobe programs.
2. We aim to have seminars that will help stimulate your minds to create amazing outcomes.
3. Finally, there will be site visits and trips to various fun and inspiring spaces.

PRECEDENT!
Park Walk Primary School Playground / Foster + Partners

Continuing the practice’s exploration of play spaces for children that began with the Ashburnham school playground in 2017, Foster + Partners, in partnership with the Bryan Adams Foundation and playground designers Made From Scratch, has revitalised a tightly bound outdoor play area in West London. The aim of the project is to heighten the myriad benefits that outdoor free play gives kids, including the development of physical, emotional, social and cognitive skills.

The aim was to take a previously unloved place and turn it into a welcoming green space that encourages children to play outdoors in a safe and stimulating environment. We are sure this space will soon be filled with shrieks of delight and peals of laughter, which we would consider to be the best compliment we can receive for our work.”

The L-shaped site, adjacent to the primary school building, has been divided into two parts – an active physical play area and the smaller portion dedicated to imaginative play. The area dedicated to imaginative play, situated next to the refurbished library, is designed as a woodland garden with a treehouse structure, seating stumps, a play kitchen, and a sculptural living willow pod to create a calm natural sanctuary.

PRECEDENT!
“La Colline” by Appelle-moi Papa, A whimsical, technicolor land to play

La Colline is a landscape installation recently designed by Appelle-moi Papa Studio for the restaurant La Cantine du Voyage in Nantes, France. The "hills" build a whimsical world with its undulating shapes and lively colors. Both elderly and children can enjoy climbing and play in this colorful paradise.

In keeping with their desire to add colour and reaffirm La Cantine’s warm and convivial atmosphere, Appelle-moi Papa dreamt up La Colline (“the hill”). With its round and generous forms, La Colline is a whimsical, technicolor land where visitors from 3 to 77 years old are invited to climb, roll around, slide, play and lay around, all in a contemporary and colorful aesthetic.

The installation is based on a wooden frame and the “hill” is covered with EPDM. It is a work between playground and artistic installation.

PRECEDENT!
Ambulance Playground by Luc van Hoeckel&Pim van Baarsen

Dutch designers Luc van Hoeckel and Pim van Baarsen transformed a parking space into a playground for disabled Children in Malawi.In cooperation with Sakaramenta, a social business in Malawi, Pim and Luc designed this play area with the use of recycled materials. The intervention introduces a scrapped ambulance, repurposing it as a playground clubhouse – where paediatric patients (and grown-ups) can occupy their time.

Among the ambulance are other playground equipment which all are characterised by the creative use of old materials like car tires, springs and axles.The playground is located a the side of Beit Cure hospital Blantyre, specialised in orthopaedic treatments. Because of the public function of the play area the young patients of the hospital are able to get back in contact with children from the surrounding area.

The interior of the ambulance has been gutted and furnished with bench seating for children to hangout. Opening ceremony of the playground inaugurated by the hospital’s patients.

PRECEDENT!
Indigo Playgrounds, Beijing, China by BAM, A paradise for children in the city.

The playground appears as a perfect square set within the landscape. The square plan is carved into the earth framed by long wooden benches. This perimeter of parent seating creates a safe play zone for the little ones to run wild. To further enhance the sense of closure and protection, a tensile canopy of orange discs floats overhead. The discs cast a checkerboard of shadows across the soft play surfaces, cooling and shading the tots.

More adventurous children are welcomed further into the park to the ‘King of the Hill’ playground. Taking its namesake from the children’s game, a thrilling mountain occupies the center of the space. Arrays of pipes, climbing holds, and climbing ropes offer children a range of challenges to reach the coveted peak. A nest-like lookout on top of the peak is home to one Acer truncatum, the true king of this hill. Luxurious white marble slides offer summiteers an express routes down the mountain. Aside from the mountain the playground also includes islands featuring swings, spinners, and an additional climbing structure.

DESIGNING for CHILDREN’S RIGHTS GUIDE

https://childrensdesignguide.org/

The Designing for Children Guide was created by 70+ heroes – designers, psychologists, neuroscientists, health care specialists, educators, and children’s rights experts – during Talkoot, a 48-hour collaborative event in Helsinki in January 2018.

The aim of this evolving guide is to refine a new standard for both design and businesses and direct the development towards products and services that have ethics and children’s best interests at their core.

Key Principles 1-3

1. Everyone can use
I need a product that does not discriminate against characteristics such as gender, age, ability, language, ethnicity and socio-economic status. Support this diversity in all aspects of your company’s design and business practices (including advertising). Expect me to use your product in unintended ways and keep in mind that I might use your product even if it is not designed for me.

2. Give me room to explore and support my growth
I need to experiment, take risks and learn from my mistakes. If/when there are mistakes, support me to fix them by myself, or together with an adult. Encourage my curiosity, but consider my capabilities based on age and development. I need support to acquire new skills and encouragement to try self-driven challenges.

3. I have purpose so make my influence matter
Help me understand my place and value in the world. I need space to build and express a stronger sense of self. You can help me do this by involving me as a contributor (not just a consumer). I want to have experiences that are meaningful to me.

Key Principles 4-6

4. Offer me something safe and keep me protected
Make sure your products are safe for me to use and do not assume anyone else will ensure my safety. A marked path or ‘lifeguard’ can tell me why something is unsafe and informs me on how to stay safe. Help me to improve my digital literacy. Give me tools to distance myself from those I do not want to have contact with, making unwanted content or contacts easy to block. Do not expose me to unwanted, inappropriate or illegal content. Provide me also with a model for healthy behaviour. Make sure you equip my guardians with an understanding of this as well.

5. Do not misuse my data
Help me keep control over my data by giving me choices about what data to share, for what purpose and let me know how my data is used. Do not take any more than you need, and do not monetize my personal data or give it to other people. Care about me by respecting my data.

6. Create space for play, including a choice to chill
When using your product or service, consider different moods, views and contexts of play. I am active, curious and creative but guide me to have a break and do not forget to also offer me some breathing space. Foster interactive and passive time and encourage me to take breaks. Make it easy to set my own limits and help to develop and transform them as my understanding of the world around grows.

Key Principles 7-10

7. Encourage me to be active and play with others
My well-being, social life, play, creativity, self-expression and learning can be enhanced when I collaborate and share with others. Provide me with experiences to help me build relationships and social skills with my peers and community, but also give me the tools to distance myself from those I do not want to have contact with. Encourage equality in your product or service by not highlighting differences that can be used in discrimination, such as number of friends or likes.

8. Help me recognize and understand commercial activities
Label advertising clearly so I do not confuse it with other information. Transparently indicate when actions in your product or service commit me to download content or commit to exclusive use of your product. Make sure that I fully understand all purchases before I am paying for those in or through your product/ service.

9. Use communication I can relate to
Make sure that I understand all the relevant information that has an impact on me. This includes the terms and conditions of your product or service. Consider all forms of communication (visuals, sound etc.) and make it accessible to all. Keep in mind that age, ability, culture and language impact my understanding.

10. You don’t know me, so make sure you include me
You should spend time with me when you design a product or a service that I may use. My friends, parents, teachers, and communities also care about your product or service so include them in the process as well. We have good ideas that could help you. Also, ensure that you talk with people who are experts on my needs.

INSPIRATION!

Unicef launches video game to teach children about their rights

Unicef has launched a mobile game to teach children in Latin America and the Caribbean about their rights.

Right Runner has been designed by London-based design studio, Nexus (which also has offices in Los Angeles). Deborah Casswell, the studio’s creative director, says that the studio worked with UNICEF to work out an “engaging” way to educate children about their rights.

As 2019 marks 30 years since the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the game seeks to address children who are unaware of the rights enshrined in this agreement.

While Unicef chose to focus on five core rights for this game, Casswell says that that it is in talks for expansion.

INSPIRATIONS!

Unicef launches video game to teach children about their rights

Striking a balance between “realistic” and “fun”
The team worked to recreate situations that were “realistic”, as set out by Unicef and its youth ambassadors.

But it was a challenge to “make sure it was a game that was fun but at the same time representative of the very real obstacles that the players are experiencing in real life.”

INSPIRATION!

Unicef launches video game to teach children about their rights

And how do you balance those more serious concepts within a gaming format? It required a constant looking at the “bigger picture”, Caswell says.

On level four, the studio took a more “metaphorical” approach. The threats were presented through sound, as well as visual metaphors such as hands and chains.

“It’s clear that it’s a threatening environment which is realistic for the young people, but it doesn’t try to depict the actual acts of violence because it’s so different for every victim,” Caswell says.

The game’s illustrative style also allows for this “metaphorical” flexibility.