THE CHILDREN’S VILLAGE
by Stephanie Wong
Zoe is a 10-year-old who is new to the village. with her nuclear family as the only child. Despite living together, her parents seldom pay her enough attention. She is regularly sent to daycare centre and strictly supervised. The rigid rules at the daycare centre gradually discouraged her self-expression, and she becomes wary of socialising. In face of this situation, her family decided to move into the 'Children's Village', a child-centred institution, in the hope of encouraging Zoe to open herself to others through collective living with other children as well as enacting freedom in the Village.
Otis is a 6-year-old who has been living in the ‘Children’s Village’ since he was born. As an orphan, he never experienced love from his biological parents. Yet, he experiences a sense of home and love in the Village, and is able to roam freely without much supervision by the care takers. The architecture in the village become a voyage of discovery of the self. Hence, an optimistic and explorative spirit is nurtured from the collective living and he is courageous to manifest his own ideas.
Elise is a 16-year-old who has spent her whole childhood in the ‘Children’s Village’. She is enthusiastic about carpentry work and loves to stay in the workshop. Recently, she moves out of the youth dormitory and starts a collective living with other two similar-age children. The collective apartment allows the older children to experience and establish skills for individual living in advance before they have to leave the ‘Children’s Village’ after turning into adults.
Well... maybe we could have a children meeting at the communal decking 15 minutes later?
Good Morning! Do you guys remember today is the monthly Adventure Day?
8:00AM
preparation work?.
Of However,Course! it is my first time to join, are there any
Sure~ I amhavetoo.starvingLet’s breakfasttoo!together
Elise’s Apartment
Collective living with another two similar-age children
Communal Area:
Living Room and Kitchen
Ah.. its time to wake up.
Three individual Rooms with balcony
I really enjoy having a cup of coffee in the balcony before staring my day.
Shared bathroom
Otis’s Dormitory
Collective living with children under 15 years old
Girls dormitory
Collective Inner Courtyard
I wish I could have five more minutes nap..
Kids! It is time to WAKE UP.
Sleeping Area
Caretaker Room
Play Area
Boys dormitory
Lets go to the communal decking together
Sure
Zoe’s Family House
Apartment for a nuclear family
Working Area for the parents
Zoe...its time to wake up. You are gonna late for the communal breakfast.
Yes Mom.
Sleep Area for the parents
Sleeping Area for Zoe
We need to go to work now. Enjoy your first adventure day!
Living Room Areas
Byebye.
Foldable doors could be opened up to the communal decking area
See you tonight Zoe.
Due to the good weather, children decided to have breakfast outside the communal dinning hall, meanwhile discussing about the preparation work for the Adventure Day.
8:15AM
Wow...it seems to be a big event for the children in Antwerp
I am really excited. Do you still remember the tower we build last time?
Of Course..I really enjoy building our own playground with other kids.
Maybe we should think about what to prepare later.
I have a half-day school later, however, I could give help in collecting materials for the Adventure Day when I come back.
Maybe I could gain some playground inspiration from the supporting centre Great!
I could also prepare some tea time snacks from the grocery store
Oh..I also discover the children's village playground is dissimilar to the conventional playground nearby. The playing equipment is not fixed and we could alter it according to our needs and desires.
Exactly. Children here are encouraged to express themselves by realizing their imagination in the playground. Not only do I like to build things in the empty area, but also enthusiastic about occupying the niche spaces with various playing elements..
In my view, I really love living here since it is really a child-oriented architecture and it strikes a balance between playing and living. The void space of the ground floor is opened up as a children's playground and provided supporting programs such as workshops. Meanwhile, the living blocks are lifted up and surrounded the dormitory for the young children, which formed a protection boundary, allowing children to roam freely and safely in the complex.
Oh wait. It is almost 9am. I am gonna be late for school. Lets meet up later and see you.
Argh.. the mathematics lesson is boring. I really hate these kind of formal learning. I wish I won’t miss any part of the Adventure Day.
9:15AM
Oh no! I should have a better time management next time.
Still have 3 euros left. Lets get some drinks too.
9:15AM
1...2...3...Oh I have 10 euros for this week pocket money. Maybe I could buy some ingredients to bake a cake later in the communal dinning hall.
Hmm.. what should I buy for the tea time snacks.
Wow. Zoe, you become more independent now, you could do your own grocery now.
9:15AM
Otis found a children book about different adventure playground in the world...
The supporting centre is one of my favourite places, which allows me to self-explore and gain inspiration.
See! This is the Otis Tower. Do you guys like it? It will be nice if we could build it together after lunch.
Nice. There are some waste material in the workshop. You could ask Elise for help too!
This playing tower looks so nice, maybe I could design my own tower and gather some waste material to build a new one for the village.
Sure!
12:00pm
The soup smells so good!
No.. It is prepared by myself. I no longer live in the kid dormitory since I am over 15 years old. I have to take care my own living now and the caretaker will only come and visit us bi-weekly.
Zoe is preparing food for the communal lunch with the caretaker. She also plans to bake a cake for the Adventure Day and share with other kids.
Wow Elise. Your lunch box looks so nice. Did your caretaker prepare it for you?
1:00pm
Oh my god. The boss from the store is so generous and he gives me so many wooden pallets. Otis and Zoe gonna likes it a lot, however, it is really heavy to move it back to the village.
Elise is coming back with the materials along the water side.
Zoe and Otis would like to build a tower in the empty space, however they have different ideas and decided to play hide and seek to decide.
IDEA B IDEA A
3..2...1... I am coming for you Zoe. I know the playground better than you do HAHAHA.I have been living here since I was born.
No worries, you could join us once you grow older!
Are you finding Zoe? She is not here. But I had gathered some materials for you guys, let me show you after I finished my carpenter workshop session.
Thanks!
Hey... do you see a girl with braided brown hair name Zoe?
I think she goes that way.
Sure.. I wish I could also attend the workshops.
These swings are made by us and the tyres are donated by Zoe’s father from his broken car. We are gonna build a new tower later, are you guys interested to join?
Zoe... I saw you!
No more hiding and let’s build the Otis Tower.
Sure, sounds interesting. We have never experienced it in other playgrounds.
I really like these swings.
I never imagine these columns could facilitate as a climbing net.
Fine... I lose the game. I will build my tower next time. Let’s gather other kids in front of the supporting centre.
HAHA indeed, this is my masterpiece.
3:00pm
I really like this village since I could play unrestrictedly. This is a place where I could create and shape, dream, and imagine a reality.
I never imagine I could use nails and hammers to build my own playground. Those equipments are forbidden by my parents at home.
5:00pm
Woohoo.... the waste materials are transformed into a new playing equipment
See you guys next time. It is so nice to meet new friends
5:30PM
Sure! The Adventure Day is one of the best kid events in the town.
Do you want to cook together tomorrow?
Sure! Kids, the food will be ready in 5 minutes.
It is so good. I really enjoy the life here compared to the days staying in the daycare centre.
How is Adventure Day today?
After dinner, the children are having their own bonding time in their respective spaces.
1/F Family House
G/F Grocery Store
1/F Boys Dormitory
G/F Supporting Centre
1/F Girls Dormitory G/F Supporting Centre
It is really fun to have an inner courtyard between the two dormitories.
I really enjoy the communal time on this rooftop since it is a more private space for our age group.
11:30PM
The communal decking is such a nice outdoor space for family bonding time.
The status of children is paradoxical and often questions how much protection/freedom should be given to the children. Hence, there are various child-rearing approaches in the world, the west advocates individualism meanwhile the east believes in collectivity. What if these two elements appear in the village concurrently? And is it possible to foster individual autonomy through collective living?
‘Children are the boss’
Freedom to children is about self-exploration and manifestations. In this children’s village, it co-habitats children from various backgrounds and age groups, experimenting with how to form a safe platform to facilitate children from different stages to play and grow up to become independent. Children in the comics possess most of the decision-making, hence, the imaginations and ideas shall not be restricted due to their ages.