Shining a Light on the Orkelljunga Preschool Community

Sammanfattning: This thesis contributed to the regional Health School project, specifically informing the community- building efforts of a preschool in Örkelljunga, Sweden as they seek ways to improve communication among immigrant families and teachers. Using a co-design process with stakeholders including a preschool teacher, architects redesigning the school, and a health sciences researcher, this research investigated how a welcoming atmosphere could be created to act as a social intervention in the redesigned school. Interactive ambient light installations are proposed as a way to create this welcoming atmosphere. Installation design was explored through the lenses of multicultural makeup; play behaviour; accessibility and lighting design. Concluding the design research process, which used methods of participatory design, experience prototyping (Buchenau and Fulton Suri, 2000), and live prototyping (Horst and Matthews, 2016), a set of design principles were distilled for stakeholders.