View of EXPECTED CHANGES IN SPATIAL DESIGN OF PLAY SCHOOLS POST COVID-19

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING

Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal, ISSN NO. 2456-1037

Available Online: www.ajeee.co.in/index.php/AJEEE

Vol. 06, Special Issue 01, (IC-RCOVID19) April 2021 IMPACT FACTOR: 7.98 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 291 EXPECTED CHANGES IN SPATIAL DESIGN OF PLAY SCHOOLS POST COVID-19

Mrs. Afroz Adil

Lecturer-Architecture and Interior Design Dept., Govt. Women’s Polytechnic College, Indore

Abstract: Play schools have been a preschool for toddlers where they learn to speak, read, write, eat and socialize. It’s like a second home to the little ones. They play and interact with their teachers and peer friends. Since the age group of these children is too less their safety and security is of utmost priority.

Post Covid-19 it becomes a challenge to design a play school for the toddlers where they can safely indulge themselves in physical activities and socializing with their friends and teachers. Drastic design changes have to be made for schools post Covid-19. The entire premises have to be designed in such a way that the little ones keep safe and this may come naturally to them, followed by the design. Millions of young children are affected by this pandemic as they are not allowed to go to their favorite place that is their school. This restriction is due to lack of safety in the design.

More space will be required for the schools and interiors will have to be flexible and convertible. Few areas like the canteen, gym will have to be omitted and larger classroom have to be designed for the kids. More concentration on the outdoor activities will have to be laid and less space for the staff have to be designed.

A play school is a place where young ones learn to socialize and learn while playing with their peers and teachers. A play school needs more of physical interaction within students.

It’s a place where classrooms, common rooms, libraries, play areas are always full of lively little ones keen on learning new things by touching, feeling and observing their surroundings. The surroundings of these kids should be functional as well as comfortable to replicate their home atmosphere that provides them a relaxed and homely feel.

Things now have changed much post Covid-19. We have been living in lockdown since almost a year now and schools are still struggling to reopen. Indeed with the same setups and same spatial design it is really difficult for parents to send their young ones to school. A much more safe and secure building environment is needed for assuring the guardians a healthy come back of students to the school atmosphere.

For this the complete designing of the building and the interiors has to be rethought about. The designing of the classrooms has to be changed to a staggered arrangement for maintaining proper physical distancing. Entry and exits have to be kept separate with different stairways for climbing up and climbing down. Walkways can be marked with different colors for entry and exit thus visually creating bifurcations and making the kids understand it without even forcing them to do so.

Bigger classrooms with lesser seating and lesser number of students have to be planned. Classrooms can have steps for demarcating the seating of all the students. Radial seating arrangements can be designed with the teacher being in the centre. These alternating arrangements provide social distancing while creating a interesting learning environment.

Shows radial classroom arrangement

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING

Vol. 06, Special Issue 01, (IC-RCOVID19) April 2021 IMPACT FACTOR: 7.98 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 292 The seating area of the young ones can be marked with different shapes and colors and thus confining them to their own territory without making solid walls or boundaries.

Smaller height partitions or movable partitions can be designed for the classrooms to recreate their ambience and generate curiosity in the young minds. Proper ventilation in the classrooms has to be provided for good air and light ventilation. Less door and more doorways will have to be designed to make the premises touchless.

Touchless bathrooms and other common areas will have to be designed to avoid the spread of virus. More open areas have to be designed with more outdoors activities in the curriculum. Toddlers love being outdoors and so more teaching and learning have to be designed in the open areas. Temporary structures like tents and pneumatic structures can be designed to keep the toddlers out for longer durations.

Shows tensile structures for outdoors

The future play schools will be a mix of online and offline classes. Separate training rooms for online classes have to be designed for training of the staff and parents. Smooth and glossy surfaces have to be provided for walls, floors and furniture which can be easily disinfected and cleaned easily. Soft furnishings will have to be avoided as it is a breeding place for the virus. Extra, adjustable and flexible spaces have to be planned for maintaining better physical distancing.

Entrances can have a temporary shade where kids can line up to get inside maintaining social distancing; also this area can be used for temperature checking and hand washing. Multipurpose areas have to designed for the new normal spatial planning.

Many such design adaptations have to be taken into consideration for the new post Covid- 19 schools.

CONCLUSION

No thumb rule can be applied for the spatial design of a play school. It will all depend on the locality of the school, the number of students, their social and economical background, etc. But yes a few design changes are certain which need to be taken care of while redesigning or new designing of a school. Flexible, movable and multipurpose spaces have to designed. More amount of outdoor staggered spaces have to be planned out for the physical activities of the young learners. A lot has changed and still needs to be changed for a better and healthier learning atmosphere. School authorities will have to adapt the new strategies and planning ideologies for keeping themselves in pace. Yes school life will return back but with a change, change for the better future.

REFERENCES:

1. https://www.steelcase.com/research/articles/topics/education/designing-post-covid-learning-spaces/

2. https://www.hamessharley.com.au/knowledge/post-covid-school-design

3. https://www.ribaj.com/intelligence/post-pandemic-school-design-drmm-ahmm-van-heyningen-and- haward-hampshire-cc-property-services

4. https://www.fohlio.com/blog/adapting-school-design-covid-19-keep-students-teachers-families-safe/

5. https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/the-back-to-school-facilities-toolkit-helps-visualize-school- design-after-covid-19_o

6. https://www.gensler.com/research-insight/blog/6-considerations-for-transitioning-back-to-school 7. https://nyrej.com/architects-and-engineers-help-schools-envision-safe-designs-for-covid-era 8. https://www.archdaily.com/942114/aia-releases-design-strategies-for-safer-schools-post-covid-19 9. https://www.archdaily.com/939683/clth-proposes-adaptive-design-for-schools-post-covid-19 10. https://www.dezeen.com/2020/06/17/education-design-post-coronavirus-roar-studio-report/

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING

Vol. 06, Special Issue 01, (IC-RCOVID19) April 2021 IMPACT FACTOR: 7.98 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 293 11. https://www.dezeen.com/2020/06/05/unit-fabrication-social-distancing-furniture-school/

12. https://www.steelcase.com/research/articles/topics/education/designing-post-covid-learning-spaces/

13. https://spaces4learning.com/articles/2020/05/11/schools-in-focus-impact-on-school-design.aspx 14. https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/schools/socialdistance.pdf

15. https://thehill.com/homenews/news/515906-teachers-in-at-least-five-states-have-died-with- coronavirus-since-fall-semester

16. https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/covid-19-least-third-worlds-schoolchildren-unable-access- remote-learning-during