Author: fatura

Our primary objective is to create a model nursery that features interlinked indoor and outdoor spaces, projected in the city as a complex pre-school education unit. Our proposal and its architectural solution promote the educational and social dimension of the building. Education and care for the mental and physical development of children coexist in a space that remains alive and dynamic, a field of rest, well-being, and recreation, designed with infants, toddlers, and the staff who work in it at the center. Special care is given to the design to obtain the optimal functional organisation of the complex, ideal bioclimatic and environmental conditions, and pleasant and generous spaces that are friendly and efficient for both young and old users of the building, as well as visitors.

Thus, the nursery becomes a paradigmatic new pole, a social condenser for the neighbourhood that, in turn, joins the wider network of collective infrastructure of the city, a network of daycare centres, schools, parks, playgrounds, recreational areas, and sports facilities.

The central idea of our proposal was to create a compact building that, while taking advantage of the available coverage, is placed centrally in the plot and leaves most of it unbuilt. In this way, the largest possible uncovered spaces for outdoor activities and play are created in contact with the building, extending its functions and opening it up in all orientations.

The unified architectural approach towards both the building envelope and the boundaries of the plot, using as a material the energy efficient, ceramic, heat-insulating bricks, creates a direct integration of the demanding functions of the Nursery school into the dynamic everyday life of the neighbourhood and the building block. In this way, the further correlation of the new building in the building block is achieved, as the material of the bricks is in dialogue with that of the adjacent Cultural Center.

Our proposal allows maximum flexibility, desired correlations, and potential separation of program modules, sections, and inputs of the overall structure.

Our aim is to create an urban network of intertwined interior and exterior spaces that, in turn, constructs a complex infrastructure of care, health, wellness, play, rest, and coexistence of the various groups that inhabit the city. The three main programmatic clusters of the nursery, the day centre for the elderly, and the neighbourhood park form a centre for care, during but also outside the regular working hours. We imagine the overall site as a collective community garden that promotes participation and accessibility for all.

The arrangement of the distinct built volumes in the plot encourages the dialectical relation between the nursery and the elderly centre; a relation of a balanced coexistence, which, at the same time, provides the potential of their distinct use. Along these lines, the nursery building is located on the north side of the plot, far from the street noise. The spaces for infants are organised in a linear volume, while the spaces for toddlers around a courtyard; both meet in the central – compositionally and programmatically – dining area, which becomes the nucleus of the nursery and the neighbourhood life. The elderly centre is located on the south east corner of the plot and is designed as an easily accessible ground-floor level pavilion. The centre of the site is thus freed and dedicated to   the creation of the neighbourhood park that acquires in such a way a primary symbolic, functional, and sensory role.