the paraguayan reverie

so the last post i didnt quite finish my ideas about the problem of understanding the needs of the people who will eventually use a design. Ive since finished going through all the surveys from the ninth graders, and ive realized that they are quite aware of the things that they want, perhaps more than I gave them credit for. One question the gave me some great responses was one that I never would have asked had i not been observing their habbit throughout the year.

Each day at recess, most of the older kids leave campus to a small chapel across from the school. They usually sit over there and just talk with each other on these two old benches and drink terere. But their responses to why they value the space were great. Some of the highlights were that they 1. Appreciated the silence away from the school, 2. They felt like they were closer to nature, 3. They really liked the benches 4. It was a space separated from what goes on at the school that they could essentially claim as their own.

In comparision to other slightly more generic questions, this one gave me the information I wanted. Why was that? I believe it was because the kids didnt have to make any abstract connection to a place they could not readily conceptualize. They saw the place, they understood their rational for going there, and they wrote their responses. Simple.

Then going to the question which asked the kids to identify their ideal colegio (whose responses were almost not worth using) where the students had to draw only on their preconceived notions, students named teetertoters and slides as desired items. I asked them later about this, and they all laughed and said that this is completly not related to what they kids actually want.

Thinkings about it though, when you have no way to base your ideas on anything else then what you know (which is one elementary school) im not totally surprised at the non-sensical responses.

As a closing to this segment of the design story, i will be hosting the first of my design workshops this sunday with the profesors that will be teaching at the school. We will be setting their educational goals and how they relate with the design of the school grounds. Ill be setting up the building footprints so they can conceptualize the space, and also having them fill out a survey to identify their goals for the students and the teaching space. It will work out i hope.

Also, Ive read most of the letters from spreckles school (!) and will try to respond to those as soon as possible. I really enjoyed reading them, and should give responses that are equally enjoyable. Till later then!