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Abstract
Increasing efforts have been made to engage children in the design of the built environment, and several participatory models have been developed. The aim of this paper is to propose a pedagogical model for children's genuine participation in architectural design, developed in an architectural education context. According to this pedagogical model, children (primary school students) and youth (university architecture students) work in teams to develop the architectural design proposals. This model was developed through a joint educational project between Deakin University and Wales Street Primary School (both institutions are based in Victoria, Australia). In the four-week duration of the project, first year architecture students worked with Grade 3 and 4 primary school children to design a school playground. The final product of the project was a 1:20 scale model of a playground, which was installed and presented at the end of the fourth week. The project received positive feedback from all the participants, including children, architecture students, university lecturers, primary school teachers and architects. In addition, it achieved a high level of children's genuine participation. This model can be refined and applied in new situations, and potentially with other primary schools working with Deakin University.
Acknowledgements
We want to thank the children and architecture students for their enthusiasm and participation in this project. We also want to thank Wales Street School Principal Neil Barker and teachers, and Deakin University staff Leonie Leathers, Andrew Perez and David Beynon for helping to organise the project. Appreciation also goes to the architects who reviewed the students' work. All the photographs used in this article were taken by Leonie Leathers.