Client: WA Dept of Finance

Overview

A tree house, a free house,
A secret you and me house,
A high up in the leafy branches
Cozy as can be house.
Decorative 5mm Corten screens with a “bush cubby” theme – Australian wildflowers, local birds, sticks and pioneers’ bricks form the curved walls of a series of four elevated yarn circles.

Goals

Within the patterns and imagery is an invitation to the children to enter a New World. Artworks in the school context should become a portal to a new or different life experience, something akin to Alice’s rabbit hole. Young people enjoy elevated play spaces. Elevation can provide a sense of removal from the ordinary world, a special imaginative place, or a different perspective on the environment. These little mini-stages / yarn circles create complimentary creative play spaces to the more physical nature playground areas. The enclosed, protective circle creating intimate spaces for children to come together, interact and engage with each other side by side. Enclosed, protective, intimate, nurturing... Community building - ‘student wellbeing’, ‘cultural and social inclusion’ and ‘community partnerships’ aspects of the Social Handprint.

Process

The Art of paper cutting is having a resurgence in popularity. I have enjoyed using it as a means of design development when working with community participation due to the simplicity and effectiveness when working with a big group. However this has developed as I have found there is something intrinsically softer when using scissors to snip away at paper as a means of design development rather than designing digitally.