Participatory Desing of an Outdoor Classroom and Play Area in Lagunillas Elementary School , Chile

Daniela Casanello Frisius (Ecoplan)

Most Chilean school have concrete surface in their open play areas, as a consequence of safety and maintenance issues. These issues affect most Chilean schools, thus having fewer opportunities to have contact with natural elements and restricting their possibilities to learn and play in those environments.

The elementary school of Lagunillas, rural town in Casablanca Valley, is facing part of the same problem. The school, with 120 students, has a concrete sport area and a ground open patio that only afford ball play. The aim of the project was to transform the school ground patio into a play, and an outdoor learning space incorporating the culture and the surrounding landscape trough a participatory process. Children and teachers from the school participated in the design process of their patio, which considered workshops, interviews and drawings. Teachers participated in workshops which helped them to understand the importance of incorporating nature into the school. The student school council was asked to name the project and also to be responsible for the “pot of ideas”. In addition, teachers ask children to draw a new patio. Finally, children from different grades worked in small groups to design their patio through collages. At the end of the workshop groups were asked to do a final presentation, displaying their design. Design elements and concepts of collages where discussed with the groups to discover their preferences and to obtain a final design.

Results of the benefits and challenges of co-designing with children using multi-methods are discussed in this paper. The final design was presented to the whole community and gave a first step to raise funding for the construction. This stage has been one of the most difficult from the whole process. After two years, finally the school will have the Patio de la Alegría.