City for children blurring the boundary between learning and play
The concept of ‘Interior City-Making’ attempts to connect the relational principles of city and interior architectures. Particularly when the scale is for young children, such as in the Dulwich College Seoul Inquiry Hub Library, the definition of what is ‘large’ and ‘small’ loses relevance. Instead, what is important is how spaces interconnect, support diversity, and present memorable architectural form. For obvious safety reasons, children are typically led by their guardians when encountering the city. However, recent research indicates that to develop a sense of personal freedom and thus self-esteem, children should have experiences that give them a sense of self-efficacy. Where the previous children’s library at Dulwich College Seoul was built to a standard where teachers guided children, our immersive renovation allows them to invent diverse ways of interaction.
How then is City-Making produced at the Inquiry Hub Library? Just as a city is an aggregation of architectural elements and open spaces, we abstract urban typologies and redeploy them at the children’s scale: Upon entering the library, a series of book-stacks with gabled ‘roofs’ echoes a dense streetscape. From the ‘alley-ways’ between them, children glim pse an arcaded mezzanine that spans across a backdrop of books. Additional experiences unfold into vertical learning and play experiences: The library’s central orienting figure is a two-story ‘tower.’ A hammock mesh is suspended from its midpoint to create a public ‘terrace’ above and a canopied ‘porch’ below. Opposite the hammock, a stepped ‘landscape’ book-stair defines the boundaries of a central ‘plaza.’
If the city inspires individual agency, how are hierarchical relationships redefined? The typical learning environment imposes a socio-spatial hierarchy because adults stand over children and thus speak down to them. The city-like section of the Inquiry Hub forms a ‘synapse’ between children and teachers where they can converse eye-to-eye. This subtle, but powerful shift offers more interactive communication. The hierarchy between children and learning materials is also reestablished: Standard library shelving only displays the spines of books, presenting a challenge to children just gaining literacy. Instead, the Inquiry Hub’s mezzanines display books in a more immersive and tactile front-facing format. Finally, traditional furniture that limits children’s postures to sitting at a desk is replaced by areas where children lounge on the hammock, gather inside the tower, or recline on the terraced steps to invent their own way to read and socialize.
Project: Dulwich College Seoul Inquiry Hub Library / Location: Dulwich College Seoul, 6 Sinbanpo-ro 15-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea / Architect: John Hong / Project team: Hoseung Lee (team leader), Yeongshin Sim, Eunseob Suh / Constructor: Yewoon ID&C / Client: Dulwich College Seoul / Use: Library / Interior Area: 194m² / Meterials: KCC (ceilings), LPM carpet tiles (carpets) / Completion: 2021 / Photograph: ©P:A (courtesy of the architect)
