From the Series
Ineke Hans triggers the imagination of school children through extending a primary institution’s library throughout its hallways and corridors.
Dutch designer Hans collaborated with De Windroos, a special primary school in the Netherlands for children with concentration difficulties, to design an installation for their newly built premises.
The main challenged Hans faced was transforming the stimulus-free building into an educational facility that would help children deal with the world around them but that is also clean and clear to navigate at the same time.
We all agreed that the school should not be a sterile cocoon so that children are able to learn how to deal with the world around them outside of the school, says Hans.
Hans’s design solution came in the form of an extended library. As children love books and they provide an excellent educational tool, the Dutch designer lined books along hallways and corridors, transforming these areas into tempting worlds that charge imagination and creativity.
The Wonderwoud, a curiosity island, reveals bookcases filled with books of different genres. To separate the genres, Hans designed big icons that clearly divide the books into categories such as nature, friendship, love, school, fairy tails and history, that children are familiar with.
An example would be the ‘Adventure’ bookcase that children recognise by an icon of a bicycle, a globe and a sailing boat, says Hans.
Each bookcase is made interactive to ensure they are used and not just looked at. An Info-showcase allows children to pin up their self portraits and birthdays, allowing them to interact with information about themselves and their classmates.
