Lumino was created to encourage outdoor play during the darker winter months in Lewis (Outer Hebrides) as a response to identify and create an opportunity which promotes and supports health and well-being for children in the Outer Hebrides. The Outer Hebrides are often cited as some of the happiest places to live in UK, but there are also paradoxically certain areas related to health and well-being that need serious attention. A report from January 2016 realised by Care Inspectorate (Scottish Government) covers a lot of expectations regarding the health of children and young people in the Outer Hebrides. One of the main issues, defined as a key priority for action, is childhood obesity which is higher than the National average in Scotland. Using an asset based approach that focuses on the positive attributes of the community and individual to promote and improve health and well-being amongst primary school children we set about carrying out secondary and primary research amongst our stakeholder groups in Lewis. Our stakeholders included local school children, school teachers, activity/PE leaders, parents, locals, other designers involved with play. Our engagement methods involved ethnographic observations and interviews and we also ran a series of workshops with local school children and local mothers too.

Lumino is a travelling, illuminated playground that involves modular furniture that children can assemble in different configurations to encourage outdoor play in the darker months. To offset the fact that sunsets are as early as 3pm in the winter months lights are set within the blocks and could be dynamo or sensor activated. A series of site specific workshops e.g. stargazing etc. could also run alongside the playground to get members of the community involved. The playground would travel round the north of the Lewis and could use existing infrastructure such as School playgrounds when not in use, church yards, existing car parks etc. If the weather is too inclement then it could be located indoors such as in a community hall/centre. We hope our service would add value by facilitating the parents’ lives to be able to let their children play outside in colder/darker months. Within the community, we hope it would provide a resource for skills sharing work and the opportunity for people to engage with children also providing them with a chance to discover new things about their area and ultimately have fun!

– Working alongside Yi Liu, Lisa Tomalek, –