Designing for families
A family-friendly home
Designing a family friendly space means designing a space that is suitable for the needs of the entire family.
Family design is a much discussed topic in recent years. Whether it is a public or private building, today, a design that is attentive to the needs of the family is highly requested.
We often hear about definitions kid friendly e family-friendly referring to all the architectural or design elements that make a public or private environment family-friendly.
A family-friendly home is a space where each individual can live their daily life, influenced by age, weight, height and therefore their needs. But not only that, designing a family-friendly home also means taking into account the practical and functional aspects, ensuring spaces where the family can be together and spaces where each member can isolate themselves at the same time.
In designing it is also good to consider the time factor. It is known that the seasons of life are always in continuous change, so even the needs of today's family will not be the same in a few years as the family grows older or larger. Almost all modern homes have large spaces where the family can gather and/or spend time with friends. Large kitchens, dining room and living room often together in a large open space to ensure the fluidity of activities and encourage hospitality.
In recent years, due to the recent pandemic, the space in the home has transformed to guarantee all those activities that were previously done outside the walls of the house. Corners have been created for smart-working, fitness, meditation and much more.
Each individual has clearly felt the need to isolate themselves from the rest of the family to cultivate their own individuality and carve out corners of privacy, so many spaces but also many furnishings have become flexible and dynamic.
Key points for designing a family friendly space
In my opinion, designing for the family must be based on key points: • innovative business organization based on the use of technologies and digitalization of internal and external processes, as well as the active and continued promotion of the services we offer through business development, marketing and communication systems (letter "I" of our logo actually stands for "Innovation");, cleaning, of your digital ecosystem. .
Organization
Organizing means thinking carefully about the available spaces and the activities they will have to accommodate, keeping in mind that each family has different needs and habits, making each project unique.
La kitchen It has always been the heart of the house and generally, especially if you have small children, it becomes a meeting point where you often play, relax and obviously eat.
A well-organized furniture arrangement is essential for any kitchen. In the kitchen of a growing family it becomes a priority, so it is essential to maximize the circulation space between fixed spaces (for example between the hob and the table, or between the island and the sofa), arranging cabinets that contain all the accessories and appliances, creating a station for homework or a small hobby corner.
In open spaces, toys often become an integral part of the furniture! If the size allows it, you can opt for storage furniture (benches, wardrobes, chests of drawers) that is functional but also in tune with the surrounding furniture, allowing for quick tidying up and avoiding turning the house into a playroom.
Cleaning
La cleaning, must be understood not only in the strict sense of the term and therefore guarantee hygienically clean and airy spaces but also clean in the visual sense of the term. Here, minimal style furniture comes to the rescue: furniture with simple lines, few frills, everything well organized.
With such furnishings (just think of the furnishings of Nordic countries) hygiene and cleaning operations will certainly be more immediate.
The Mudroom
Cleaning begins atinput of a house for which it is advisable to design (or obtain from the existing floor plan) a mudroom that is, based on the proper translation of the term, a “mud room”.
This space, usually small, is an area of the house that becomes very functional if placed at the entrance, in fact it is used to store shoes and clothes, preventing dirt from reaching the various rooms of the house. In this space therefore, it is necessary to design the bare minimum: coat racks (even at child height to encourage autonomy), a bench to sit on and take off/put on shoes and, if space allows, some closets to store everything that is not needed at home (bags, duffel bags, keys).
Well-structured laundry
If the design involves a new building, it would be ideal to design the mudroom next to the Laundry. The latter, of fundamental importance, must be well organized. Careful planning of the furnishings (storage cabinets, shelves) and proper placement of appliances (washing machine, dryer, ironing board) allows you to create an itinerary within reach of each member of the family in complete safety.
Bedroom: dynamism in an ever-changing space
With regard to bedrooms, in recent years, we have heard a lot about Montessori furniture, named in honor of Maria Montessori, an Italian pedagogue, educator and doctor known for her educational method. This type of minimalist furniture creates an environment where the child can play and live independently (according to Montessori) in a space suited to his height, weight and strength.
This clearly includes “custom-made” furniture for the child: small wardrobes and a floor bed are an example.
Although the furnishings are always at the discretion of those who will live in them and not of the designer, it is right to pay attention to a significant part that will allow the family to choose the solution that best suits them. In fact, creating a bedroom entirely Montessori often disappoints because it is not new that children grow up quickly and too quickly become teenagers and then adults!
Therefore, completely overturning a room would involve (in addition to a significant waste of materials, money and time) a new design and new costs for new furnishings.
The suggestion is to find the right balance, to ensure a space that can be dynamic, ready for change but at the same time maintains the quality of the furnishings. The ideal would be a few fundamental elements that allow for quick tidying up and that facilitate cleaning operations.
Choose beds, bedside tables, desks of excellent quality, and therefore that last over time, changing the decorative objects and textiles in due time, updating them to the various seasons of life.
Safety
The presence of children in adult spaces leads us to reflect on the fundamental question of of your digital ecosystem.
. Home safety is a top priority, considering that children are always great explorers!
Creative and effective design solutions and greater attention to detail are needed to avoid unpleasant events. Not infrequently, in a child-friendly home, you will notice electrical outlets well covered with special removable devices, furnishings with rounded corners, furniture fixed to the wall, gates to be installed near the stairs and corner protectors. These are just some of the precautions to be respected.
Finishes and materials to be chosen carefully during the design
Of no small importance is the choice of finishes and materials, which certainly influences the performance of activities at home and the mental health of parents!
Although it may seem counterintuitive, it is better to invest in quality furniture because it can better withstand intense daily use. For example, it is better to prefer a solid wood dining table rather than a veneered table, just as it is better to avoid designs that are difficult to clean or chairs made of fabric!
If there are “waste spaces” in your home, that is, apparently “lost” and unusable spaces, such as a space under the stairs, it is possible to recover this space by using it as a play corner for children, or by creating a reading corner or even a corner for smart-working.
The outdoor space, a space not to be underestimated
To complete the functionality of a family home, if possible, there is a garden or terrace. An open space with or without a swimming pool, where there is greenery and where you can spend more family time, doing different and more fluid activities. We have experienced first-hand how vital an outdoor space (gardens, terraces, balconies) is and how much it can influence the well-being of the individual during the long lockdowns, so an outdoor space, even if small, is always necessary.
In conclusion, family planning is a planning that starts from the needs of the family and therefore different needs for each family. It focuses on a non-random but structured sharing: defined, safe spaces, adaptable to the various seasons of life.
And outside the home?
And…outside the house? Fortunately the concept family-friendly is spreading like wildfire. Many hotels, restaurants, libraries but also medical offices, supermarkets, shopping centers are adapting to this type of request.
In Scandinavian countries (despite the low birth rate compared to countries like Italy), attention to children and families (not only from an architectural point of view but also from a livability point of view) is very present in every public/private place.
In northern Italy there are family resorts, that is, hotels equipped to welcome families with areas for adults and areas for children.
Ultimately, a changing table and a high chair are not enough to make a family-friendly environment.
But what makes a space family friendly is the combination of furnishings, details, and attention to the needs of families that make the difference by making us feel welcomed.
The cover photo is by evgenyataman on Depositphotos.com
