Kids are curious, so the Kids Science Labs team believes learning should develop through exploration and experience, not explanation. The company’s Learning and Discovery Lab is a 7,900-square-foot, hands-on complex in Chicago's South Loop for children aged 2-12. It’s a place where kids can wonder about how their world works and ask why, and the architecture serves as participant in that discovery.
This novel approach actually derives from a 20th-century teaching philosophy. The Reggio Emilia and Montessori methods allow children control and freedom over their learning, and also view the physical environment as another teacher in the process, explained Andy Tinucci, principal at Woodhouse Tinucci Architects, designer of the project.
“The space is intentionally flexible and very open-ended because it’s begging for students to ask questions and find the answers for themselves,” he said. “It helps students by getting out of their way, while also forcing them to stumble upon unique experiences. It’s not over-determined like a room that has all the desks pointed in one direction at a blackboard.”
Occupying a loft building, the center offers two kinds of spaces—one for independent discovery and the other for interactive learning. The first features an interlocking blackboard question wall, a corrugated orange container for guessing what’s inside, and tall windows for seeing what’s outside. The second comprises a laboratory pavilion with glazed garage doors that unlock the space. It also includes plywood-clad writable walls and suspended felt acoustic baffles, upon which pulleys, Coke and Mentos rockets, and homemade catapults can be hung.
“The plywood with writable paint is an interesting material. Whiteboards and blackboards are everywhere now, but it’s really neat to allow students to literally draw on the walls here, because they can’t at home,” Tinucci said. “And with plywood, it’s not damaged like drywall if kids screw something onto it or throw something against it.”
But around the corner is where students really let loose. The Accelerator Space is an elongated room where they can run, play, and experiment. “The spaces help kids discover their creativity,” said Tinucci. “We let the architecture become a primary protagonist in that story. It’s not just the shell of our environment. It’s a character. It’s a player.”
Woodhouse Tinucci Architects designed the space in conjunction with Kids Science Labs staff, which is a primary reason it’s been such a success. “The proprietors came to us before they even had teachers yet, so we were working with them from the outset. We designed this hand in hand,” Tinucci explained. “We told them the space would be successful if it was incorporated into their curriculum. And it has been.”
Although inspired by past philosophies, the Kids Science Labs aims to be a pioneer in education and design.
“Those historic approaches value independence and interaction, but that’s not what education has become, which is actually this ugly, efficient focus on test-taking,” Tinucci said. “Here architecture is playing a role in the educational process that it probably always should have played, and hopefully will in the future.”
