A Natural Childhood: How Architecture Connects Landscape, Culture, and Play

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How do nature and landscape dialogue within spaces designed for children? How are architecture and urban design capable of shaping natural atmospheres that integrate practices of play, participation, and exploration? From participatory projects that involve children in the design process to built environments that incorporate furniture adapted to their needs, the conception of spaces for childhood entails the creation of places for encounter, learning, and coexistence. At times, these spaces are able to strengthen the relationships between interiors and exteriors, connecting their users with nature and the surrounding environment. Depending on their cultures, customs, and histories of attachment to place, several contemporary projects deploy tools and strategies that integrate architecture, nature, and pedagogy to form broad experiences of learning, play, and discovery.

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450 Gore Street, Fitzroy / Edition Office + Neometro

This new limited series of 18 apartments, designed by award-winning architects Edition Office and one of Australia's longest-standing design-focused development groups, Neometro, is set in the leafy streets of Fitzroy, Melbourne. The project, at 450 Gore Street, sits quietly between three of Fitzroy's liveliest thoroughfares: Gertrude, Smith, and Brunswick streets.

Learning Center at the Central Campus of USTC / Atelier Heimat

Located at the Central Campus of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), this project addresses the challenge of providing multifunctional spaces for self-directed learning, activities, and communication. The university selected a neglected corner at the easternmost edge of the campus for the site. The site is bordered by boundary walls to the east, south, and north, with a commercial building to the south, residential blocks to the north, and an elevated expressway to the east. An underground tunnel underpass connects the East and Central Campuses beneath the site.

Hygge Cafe / Dhanie & Sal

The renovation of the Hygge Cafe pavilion focuses on making the most of the existing structure while introducing new materials and design elements to give it a new identity. The circular shape of the pavilion, which is its most striking feature, has been emphasized through the use of marble tilework that wraps around the exterior.

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