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Today In Play
In this episode we hear from Matt Springett and Fiona MacDonald, founders of MATT+FIONA, an award-winning social enterprise that asks young people how their built environment might be improved and then empowers them to bring that vision to life.
As an architect and educator, they’d seen children being asked to design but all too often it felt like a box-ticking exercise rather than an opportunity for young people to have a meaningful impact on the design process.
MATT+FIONA was born out of a vision to change this and give young people the chance to see their ideas and designs come to life, and to be involved at every stage – from consultation to build.
Through their work, BUILD, LEARN, CONNECT, the team at MATT+FIONA have worked with leading community and cultural organisations, universities and schools to create and deliver almost 40 buildings and installations, collaborating with more than 6,500 young people and almost 300 volunteers across the UK and beyond.
Here they give us their 5 Minute Mind on the child’s-eye view and why young people’s perspective and input should be an integral part of the way our spaces and places are created and developed.
“At Timberplay we believe children’s perspective and experience should be at the heart of everything we do and it’s been wonderful to connect with an organisation that embodies our own values and ethos. It’s led to some great collaborative thinking and inspiring ideas and we can't wait to see how we can put these ideas into practice in the future. ”
- Mark Grimshaw, Associate Director at Timberplay