Architecture for Children. Research of Selected Cases of Separated Play Zones for Kids in the Public Utility Interiors

Abstract The changing lifestyle makes that children become equal users of urban spaces and more and more often participate in social and business meetings. Shopping malls have long ceased have purely consumer functions, becoming places of entertainment and relaxation. This generates the need to provide child with at least a small recreational space and general adaptation of public spaces to their needs. The paper focuses on free children’s corners in the interiors of selected public premises, presenting the issues from the point of view of an interior designer, as well as based on interviews with their users, equipment manufacturers and owners of premises. The main aim of the study is to explore the issues of separate zones for children in public utility interiors and to define guidelines for the process of their shaping. For this purpose, field studies were carried out, on the basis of which the criteria for the evaluation of objects were prepared. Among others: safety, general impression, adaptation for children with disabilities, equipment, visual attractiveness, educational value, linking the play area with the location, the presence of modern technologies.