Marion Zirngibl and Carlotta Frank-Hakimi

Designing sustainable open spaces with experience

“Making – that’s not like school. That’s imagination.” This is how one young person describes his experiences in the school’s own makerspace. Marion Zirngibl and Carlotta Frank-Hakimi from Save the Children will demonstrate at SCHULBAU Berlin how such learning spaces can be designed together with children and young people.

Their presentation “Makerspaces – participatory and child-friendly – at your school too!” presents examples from Bremen, Berlin and Hamburg. The spatial range extends from a single cupboard through solutions in listed buildings to 1,500 square metres. The focus is on the question of how digital education can take shape under different spatial conditions and how children’s rights can be realized in everyday educational practice. Young people also explain the role of building blocks.

Marion Zirngibl is an ethnologist, sociologist and educator with more than 15 years of experience in the education sector. She heads the Education division of the German Programmes at Save the Children Germany. Carlotta Frank-Hakimi, as a consultant for digital education in the project “MakerLabs – Die Macherinnen von Morgen”, supports children, young people and schools in designing creative learning spaces.

Both place the perspectives of young people at the centre. Their joint contribution combines digital education and spatial design with participation, children’s rights and equal opportunities.