An Analysis of children's Interaction and Memory in correlation with Plan Design and Digital Space

Nowadays designing open plans, as a legacy of modern architecture, is still common. With the everyday expansion of digital appliances and their importance in daily life, the usage of this facilities can also be observed in spacial designs. But what is crucial today is user-based design. Minding childhoods considerable part in developing one’s personality, it is required to pay special attention to children and their needs as main users of the design. This research addresses the correlation of common features mentioned, in design for child users. After studying the fields of children's psychology and environmental psychology, it was revealed that interaction and memory are important variables in childhood. The correlation of these variables with the type of plan (open or divided) was measured in two stages of experiment with two children in each stage. Using digital features, the correlation of these variables with the design was also tested. In evaluating both experiments, variables such as the level and type of interaction, children’s interaction with the environment and space, and the activity, as well as recollection and recalling the details about the activity, space and level of pleasance were included as factors. After analyzing the data it was found that there was a positive correlation between the divided plan design and and interaction in children as well as the memory of the activity, which seems to be due to a more appropriate scale and also stimulation of curiosity in children. Positive corrections were also found between the environment with digital facilities, memory of the activity and the children's interactions. However digital devices and facilities are a new phenomenon, and younger generations are accustomed to it in a different manner than the previous. Therefore, the positive correlation may be due to the relationship of recent generation of children with digital appliances.