The Usage of School Open-Air Spaces Throughout Different moments of Child Development

Abstract

The present text is a result of an undergraduate level research carried out between 2006 and 2007, in the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Fábio Mariz Gonçalves. The research verified the importance of the existence of open-air spaces in schools and, through case studies, analyzed the users’ – students and teachers – demands and preferences concerning such spaces. This article intends to identify – based on the research results – the various possibilities of activities to take place in the schools’ open-air spaces, and how the children’s interest in them changes throughout their development, especially between the ages of 7 and 17 years old. That way, we expect to point out the aspects that should be considered in the design of such spaces in order to guarantee that it caters for the users’ needs.