Last Studio Project of the Semester!!

Our last studio project this semester was to design the children's room of the Chappaqua Public Library. I based my design off of the famous children's book, Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson.

Harold and the Purple Crayon is the story of a four-year boy named Harold who possesses a magical crayon that allows anything he draws to come to life. Harold soon finds himself stuck in an adventure drawn by his own crayon and realizes the only way he can get back home is if he can draw his bedroom window where it all began. With the use of Harold’s purple crayon, the Chappaqua Library’s Children’s Room aims to aid children in the development of their cognitive skills by providing easily readable wayfinding tools while also providing a comfortable and nurturing learning environment. At the Chappaqua Library, all children are welcome to find their own window.

Goals & Factors of the children's Chappaqua Library Design:

• To facilitate exploration by supplying circulation paths and sight lines

• To create a homogeneous space for children five and under so that they can more easily use categorical information to organize the area, such as spatial boundaries
• Children ages 6-8 scan vertically when wayfinding while children ages 8-12+ are capable of scanning horizontally

• Color aids wayfinding for young children
• Children prefer semi-enclosed, small spaces which fulfill their need for both seclusion and exploration

Conceptual Model

Floorplan.
You will notice a purple line flowing through the floorplan. This purple line guides children through the entire library from the moment they walk in. The line does not always remain a line on the floor (as you will see in drawings and renderings further below), at times it becomes table legs, lights and reveals within the librarian's circulation desk, neon floating fluorescent lighting, power strips on the computer workstations and even windows within bookcases.

The space has also been divided by age groups; children ages 0 - 2nd grade are in one area and children grades 3rd - 5th are in another. The custom seating I have provided mimic some of the shapes seen in Harold and the Purple Crayon, namely the moon that followed Harold in every step of his adventure.

Sections.

Here in section, you will see the older kid's seating area, a bit of the avenue of computer workstations and a small glance at the younger children's seating area in front of the glass facing the courtyard (designed in order quite the louder children). You will noticed the middle window of the courtyard is in purple. This is where the purple line ends. It travels through a series of custom bookcases with purple windows cut out and ends at the biggest window of them all ( as seen in sketch in beginning summary). This big final window represents Harold's window that he finally finds once again.

 Renderings.

Entrance into Library

Computer Workstations

Big Kid's Seating Area (walls of the custom seating are actually white board walls so that kid's can write and draw their own adventures just like Harold. Younger kids also receive these writable wall seating areas, but their walls do not reach the ceiling. They are given less privacy due to safety issues.)

Furniture. Materials. Finishes.

Knoll graphic ink collection wallpaper and Kravet ultrasuede eco-green fabrics

Panton chairs for computer workstations and work tables

Seating for adults in young children's section

Additional soft seating for younger children.