Abstract:
The world of construction toys is fascinating, intriguing and magical in a sense that it provides open-‐ ended possibilities to construct the object in respect to a subject built by the creator. The child builder in this sense is the author of the subject, and the creator behind the object, which lies upon the types of practical construction method of the toy. Jean Piaget (1896-‐1980), a Swiss philosopher on child psychology once suggests “if you want to be creative, stay in part a child, the creativity and invention that characterises children before they are deformed by adult society”. Some adults see toys as childish play; however, it is the lack of curiosity of discovering and innovation that lays that thought. The changes in the idiom of the toys are no longer just for children as the benefit of the toys creates new possibilities for architectural design. The translation from the toy to architecture is evident in the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, and Japanese architect Takefumi Aida. The purpose of this research is to examine the “playfulness” that is inspired by the toys as an inspirational tool to propose a scheme children’s architecture. Many theorists and educators proved that the toys are the language of children. Following up Woodhams’s approach and using Caroline Pratt’s unit blocks, the researcher further investigates the built relationship between representational models and physical structures through play from architectural perspectives by examining the spatial configurations between the unit blocks through shifting its scale. The researcher also intends to bring children to the conceptual stage in a design process and let children “speak” with the blocks. The blocks are a system of free thinking geometric forms and it introduces variations of compositional architectural spaces. The child builder and the architectural designer therefore describe about it, feel it, and see the possibilities for fresh inventions.