p l a y s p a c e | l e g o

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p l a y s p a c e
n a d i n e z a z a
05.12.15

Play is the medium in which object and brain connects.It is the when curiosity and creativity fire up the cerabelum and when constructivist learning in my opinion truly take form. I studied the enviornment in which play takes place and that began with what we most commonly associate play with, which are playgrounds. When we play we design and designers we manipulate our environment in analog and digital.

Molding clay In analog we create in reaction to materiality. Our abilities as humans to imagine and manipulate is clearly represented through this interplay since analog has a comparable physical visibility. your’e ale to work your imagination into it.
However we are restricted. the work which we are creating is scale bound, as there is only so much we can imagine with the objectivity of the physical world and the subjectivity of our design that we project onto this environment.

In the digital we create without the constraints of reality unlike molding clay we can manipulate in self guided design in a scaleless medium

Being able to fully imagine and explore a creation regardless of materiality.

However as designers we have difficulty realizing our body of work in comparison to our literal bodies. Leaving these designs as complex and beautiful as it may be, to only exist in the digital environment without any spatial cognition.

there are definitely advantages and disadvantages to the physical and digital. As of now we can physically create from the digital by 3d printing - which it limited. And we can digitally alter (like photoshop) from the physical - which is also limited.

I’m proposing we allow for an equilibrium of play and design between and with the digital and analog to fully explore and understand our play

Recorded final presentation to the Lego Education team + Esteemed critics

The Adventures of Zaina and Luca in the Big Metropolis | by: Nadine Zaza
A Cartoon reflecting the scenerio in which placespace could take place, showing the capabilities of playspace

This conceptual and possibly far fetched idea of play space allows for a combination of the digital and physical manipulation, in real time of our play environment, allowing for fuller spatial comprehension and thus a fuller imaginative quality.

Through a digital interface, something we have adapted to so well. you are connected with what you and friends are creating and it would appear before you and you are able to interact with it

Equally you are able to react with playspace outside of this digital interface in a physical way.

Similar to clay. Allowing children to move outside of the “screen”, something we all have trouble with now a days.

There’s possibilities for playspace to exist through a leveling or gamified process. where at a certain age much like our imagination and abilities as humans to create we “level up” or become better thinkers along the way. possibilities are more possible with your growth and similar to how we grow and create of our play environment does as well.

I had studied fractals because they are self similar across different scales, which was a serious motivation in designing Playspace and how the digital and physical interact. In trying to understand HOW this system could possibly work I realized i should use fractals as a metaphor in how they are scaleless to WHY they should exist. Playspace can be the enriched environment that can contribute to the 25% increase in the number of brain connections and number of imaginative qualities that it can bring to a child.