| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/C513797/1 |
| Title: |
The view of the child: visual culture and the made environment. A Designing for the 21st Century research cluster |
| Principal Investigator: |
Torrington, Ms J |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Architectural Studies |
| Organisation: |
University of Sheffield |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
14 January 2005 |
Ends: |
13 January 2006 |
Value (£): |
50,016
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
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| No relevance to Underpinning Sectors |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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Visual culture is the way we give meaning to things that we see, particularly the things made by people. It covers everything from paintings and sculpture to buildings and the things we use in everyday life. How a child views the man made world is obviously of interest to designers of school buildings and teaching materials but there are a lot of more fundamental questions that can be thought about such as:Does the design of the buildings and the outside areas affect the way a child sees the world? Does good design make people feel more comfortable, or work better?Should the design of a building and the things in it reflect the culture of the children who use it? How does someone become interested in design?Does having a good visual environment help people to develop into good designers themselves? Can there be too much visual stimulation?In a school can the design of the building and outdoor areas effect learning and the way that learning is organised?This project is trying to find out what people think are the most important questions and how we can investigate these and find some answers. It has to be done by a team of people with very different points of view because it involves many subjects, like teaching, architecture, IT design , psychology, history and of course children and their families.The project will take a year. In the year there will be a series of events called exchanges in which a whole range of different ideas will be discussed by people from many different backgrounds. Some of the events will be quite informal, and will involve children in activities like building their ideal environment using models (both real models made from things like cardboard and paint and virtual models using computers). Some will be discussions around a particular topic, for instance one of the researchers has over 20,000 drawings and pieces of writing done by children who entered a competition called 'The school I'd Like' in 2001. Different experts like designers and psychologists will look at these drawings and talk about the things they find most interesting. One event will be to draw together all the ways that could be useful for doing research into visual culture.All these events will produce a lot of material, some of it in pieces of writing, some as films, videos and photographs, and some reports of discussions. These will all be published on the project website as the year progresses.The final event of the year will be a meeting of everyone involved when we will bring together all the ideas. These will become a list of projects, and we will decide which are the most useful and relevant ones, as well as ideas about how they could be paid for and who would be needed to carry them out.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.shef.ac.uk |