PLAYHOUSE began with an exploration of our role as designers in creating a home centered on play and learning. Research into childhood development shifted the idea of designing prescribed places for play towards design that provides the framework while leaving its interpretation to the imagination. The research also revealed the instinctive tendency of children to circulate in loops, change levels, retrace paths, and seek alternate ways through space. These observations became organizing principles for the home, creating an architecture defined by choice, open-ended interpretation, and multiple ways of experiencing the same place.

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Two three-story towers, a ramped play floor, lofts, tunnels, hidden passageways, secret rooms, and unexpected doors transform circulation into exploration.

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The front exterior elevation abstracts the familiar single-pitched roof house of a child’s drawing into a refined composition of elemental forms. Inside, off-white surfaces and light woods create a quiet backdrop. At its center sits Manny, a monumental artist mannequin waiting to be awakened. His awakening begins a transformation of the home, revealing another world through unexpected color, characters, and hidden discoveries.

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PLAYHOUSE is designed for the child-like curiosity within all of us, inviting people of every age to explore and interpret the home in their own way.