Rashmi and I visited the Museum of Solutions in Mumbai last week — a magical children’s museum I wish every child in India could go to at least once. Tanvi Jindal‘s brainwave, the museum invites kids to think about, play with, invent and design solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems.
Rashmi and I went there looking for ideas for our own building – graphics, bathroom signs, displays and fun things for kids to do. The place is bursting with them and our expert guide – Simran Kaur – made sure we saw everything.
Dozens of things appealed, but somehow my favorite were these two: an art room where kids were creating masterpieces and a tiny little “Editing Studio” where I found Maahir Sarkari working away at his own project. A “Learning Designer” (what a job!), he said he needed a quiet place where he could concentrate and the studio (though at the moment more of a store room) at least had a door and was located down a corridor from the art room and several other zones where 130 children were shouting and whooping with excitement.
Funny, because there was a very, very quiet library too, but sometimes our best work happens on the edge of chaos, down a short corridor, behind a glass door – half aware (those shouts and whoops!) of who you’re designing for yet still able to focus on the work in front of your face.
