For the most part learning in museums was by inert looking and listening and not by doing. For a long time
traditional ideas of museums were conceptualized on an adult audience and children were expected to enjoy the
museum going experience like they were adults. Museum architecture and planning responded more to
grown-ups whilst children's needs and their engagement at a museum experience were never considered (see
Macdonald, 1996: 2; Fyfe, 2006:5). Museums are at a very exciting juncture in their history and this study has
examined these intricate relationships both internationally and locally. The findings is that museums, especially
in some developing nations like South Africa have been rather slow to keep abreast with new emerging trends
which focus on child education and how children learn in and from museums. This study puts forward the
notion of a new museum archetype for Durban, a Children's Museum, re-interpreting conventional ideas of
museums to one which places children and the community at the centre instead of the artifacts. In other
words "museums are about somebody rather than about something" (Cleaver, 1992:21). Without a doubt
children learn through play (Harris et al, 2003). Children view their spatial and social environments as a
playground of knowledge, a place to see, touch, feel, taste, listen to, socialize with and learn from. They see the
big world very differently as compared to adults and attach and take different meanings and experiences from
and to people, to forms, places, spaces and things. Very important is the symbiotic relationship between children
and the natural environment. Nature provides children with countless of natural toys interesting textures in the
form of stones, leaves and twigs and sensory stimuli in sounds and sensations. This means that the way
children learn through play the methods of facilitating this process and the built and natural environments
where learning may take place needs to be interconnected.
The position taken in responding through design is that there needs to be a holistic approach in responding to the
social, cognitive and multi-intelligences in the development of children. This then suggests that the architecture
and the landscape need to be integrated. Considering the close knit relationship children have with nature, the
concept for the design of the museum draws from traditional African culture and spatial planning. The concept
is based on the idea of PALAVER which in African culture is a traditional place of gathering in the
shade of a prominent tree canopy somewhere in the village where villagers get to be heard, where they are
able to express themselves freely without prejudice on life and on village problems. The design concept
builds on this idea drawing from context interpreting this idea of a Palaver Tree to mean a roof of a
building under which freedom of expression and exchange of ideas can take place. Hence the form of the
building draws on clues from the majestic baobab of Africa, the elegance of the tenere tree and the
qualities of a forest canopy.
Considering the close link between children and nature and the ways in which children learn from the
environment, teaching children about saving the planet, the symbolic imagery and qualities of a tree is an
appropriate response in creating a place meant for kids. Moreover, the changing qualities of light
through the leaves of trees are a subtle but most effective sensory experience which the design of the new
children's museum tries to emulate. In parts of Africa, unlike western ideologies the museum is richly
connected to the people and to the communities in which they exist. In fact it’s safe to say that the museum
experience was part of everyday life. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/7825 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Haq, Mohammad Bilal. |
| Contributors | Adebayo, Ambrose A. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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