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| navigate: home: magazine: spring/summer 1998: article | |
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Architecture Professor wins first Award for Faculty Outreach By Deborah A. Benedetti | ||||||
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Children instinctively like to play. Child’s play is metaphorically work. It’s the way they learn about themselves and their environment. Dr. Jawaid Haider’s research on how children perceive and experience space is guiding the national efforts of architects and designers as they create children’s museums and other children’s spaces that encourage play, imagination and fantasy. Haider, professor of architecture and interim head of the Department of Architecture in the College of Arts and Architecture, worked with Penn State Public Broadcasting’s WPSX-TV to develop two video documentaries on spatial design for children in 1994. The documentaries have been seen by millions of people throughout the United States and around the world. He is being honored for sharing his pioneering research with architecture professionals and the public with the first Penn State Award for Faculty Outreach. A Penn State nominator wrote: “Through the national dissemination of his research on children’s museums in publications, public lectures, consulting and documentary videotapes on public television, Dr. Haider’s work is having a far-reaching impact on the architectural design, interior plans and presentation of exhibits in museums for children. . . . He has brought the psychology of children to bear on his exploration of the architecture and the kinds of spaces, forms, colors, proportions and interior environments that appeal to children.” In her nomination letter, Leslie Beers, president of the Children’s Museum of Centre County, wrote, “Since late 1995, his professional expertise has been given freely to our nonprofit organization. . . . Dr. Haider was one of three key speakers at my first community presentation, where his documentary film on the architecture and use of space found in children’s museums excited the public’s awareness of bringing such an institution to Centre County. He then served on the original steering committee as vice president for two years, connecting us with national organizations and leading us to a feasibility research study through the [The Mary Jean and Frank P. Smeal College of Business Administration at Penn State].” “The Award for Faculty Outreach is designed to recognize faculty members who make significant contributions to outreach,” Dr. James H. Ryan, vice president for Outreach and Cooperative Extension, said. “It consists of a cash gift of $1,000. Provost John Brighton endorsed creation of the award, which is supported by the Coordinating Council for Outreach and Cooperative Extension and the University Faculty Senate Committee on Outreach. We are delighted to recognize Dr. Haider as the first recipient of this award.” Haider said, “The two principal purposes of my research were to explore architectural design issues for children’s museums and contribute to a body of knowledge that would enhance our understanding of spatial design for children, and to communicate the results to the general public and professionals through documentary films.” “Being involved in architectural education and being an architect, outreach is very important to me. When I first started working on this project, dissemination of my research findings was important. I wanted to talk to a general audience, as well as architecture professionals, to sensitize them to children’s spatial needs and how buildings should consider these needs,” he said. “I find I cannot separate outreach from the research and teaching I do. It all works together. As I have developed methodologies to explore relevant issues in my research, I have transferred these methodologies to my teaching. I also involve students in my research projects, which provides them with valuable experiences. That’s why we do research; it enhances our knowledge and teaching.” For more than 10 years, Haider has focused his research on designing buildings and spaces for children, particularly children’s museums. They are places that stimulate and educate children through hands-on exhibits that use all of the senses in the learning process, he explained. “It’s something I enjoy doing and something I feel is not really being addressed,” he said. The first part of his research, funded by a Penn State Research Initiation grant in 1991, involved a detailed study of more than 30 children’s museums in the United States and abroad. The second part involved creating two video documentaries to disseminate his research findings. Haider received $108,000 in grants for his research from the National Endowment for the Arts, the College of Arts and Architecture, the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, Penn State Public Broadcasting and Outreach and Cooperative Extension. “Architecture and Play: Learning from Children’s Museums,” a 24-minute video, is for architecture professionals and is designed to help them begin an effective design process for a children’s museum. “Architecture and Children’s Museums: Through the Looking Glass,” a 30-minute video, is aimed at a general audience and focuses on creating awareness of the importance of thoughtfully designed spaces for children. To date, the general video has been aired by more than 60 public television stations around the country. It is distributed by American Program Services. The video for professionals is available for purchase from Penn State Media Sales (800-770-2111) and the American Institute of Architects Library. Haider is now working on a book, tentatively titled Designing Children’s Spaces: Practical Lessons from the World’s Most Successful Youth Museums, which will be published by John Wiley & Sons Inc. in 1999. He has received a grant to complete the book from the Graham Foundation. His research has served as a catalyst for a group that wants to create the Children’s Museum of Centre County. Haider is a design consultant and member of the museum’s board of trustees. As planning progresses, he noted, there will be opportunities to involve other Penn State faculty members from various disciplines in the project. He also has published his research in the quarterly journal of the Association of Youth Museums in America, which reprinted his article in its book Collective Vision: Starting and Sustaining a Children’s Museum, edited by Mary Maher. Before receiving his doctoral degree from Penn State in 1986, Haider earned a bachelor of architecture degree from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, in 1974 and did graduate study there before joining an architectural firm in Germany. He spent three years as a practicing architect, working on designing large-scale housing projects and elementary schools. He also taught architecture at the NED University of Engineering and Technology and the Dawood College of Engineering and Technology, both in Karachi, Pakistan. He returned to Penn State in 1989 as an associate professor of architecture. Dr. Robert F. Nicely Jr., associate dean for outreach and faculty development in the College of Education, chaired the Selection Committee for the Penn State Award for Faculty Outreach. Committee members were from the Coordinating Council for Outreach and Cooperative Extension and the University Faculty Senate Committee on Outreach. The award, to be presented annually, is open to full-time faculty members at all locations whose primary responsibilities are teaching, research and service. The Selection Committee is interested in initiatives that generate, transmit and enhance knowledge between the University and external audiences within the Commonwealth and beyond. |
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