Hasta La Ideas

Asymmetric windows complete the angular timber-clad volumes of this nursery in Heilbronn, Germany, by local studio Mattes Sekiguchi Partner Architekten (photographs by Zooey Braun + slideshow).

Mattes Sekiguchi Partner Architekten designed the wooden Kleinkindhaus as a complex of playrooms and learning spaces for Heilbronn’s Waldorf School.

To complement the building’s green surroundings, the architects sourced Swiss pine to create an exposed wood-panelled facade and a bare wooden interior.

“The timber construction is a natural and elemental method of building,” architect Kristina Heuer told Dezeen. “The building is inspired by nature. It literally grows out of the site and unfolds like an organism.”

Situated between the existing school building and the kindergarten, the timber-clad nursery is inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s architectural theories promoting accessible spaces that open out to nature and are filled with natural light.

“The polygonal shape is a reaction to the surrounding landscape. It provides pleasant, sustainable and healthy space and therefore satisfies the social, physical, and spiritual needs of its occupants,” explained Heuer.

Angular windows puncture the exterior walls, while gill-like slits allow natural ventilation.

The elongated section of the building acts as a backbone for three protruding group activity rooms, connected by a long corridor. These rooms open out into an external play area and include areas for the children to rest.

“For us, it was very important to create a light and open environment for the children and nursery nurses,” said the architect.

The main entrance leads to a multi-purpose room and reception area for guests, while suspended orbs illuminate the way to the kitchen, office and storage rooms.

Other spaces include a computer room and a wardrobe where children can store their coats.

Photography is by Zooey Braun.

Here’s more information from the architects:

Kleinkind-house Heilbronn

The free Waldorf school Heilbronn is situated in a green oasis, between two poles: the large-scale development of schools and the university in the north and east, and the heterogenous housing development in the west and south. The new Kleinkind-house was built between the main building and the kindergarten in a confined area.

An elongated ridge, opened by a multi-purpose room, houses the administration and the secondary rooms. It points the way to the arriving people, guides and accompanies their way and protects the attached three buildings of the group rooms like a strong backbone.

Those three group rooms stick like fingers into the green space, joggle with it and form individual south- facing open spaces. An in-between zone is formed between the group rooms and the backbone, which self- evidently construes the situation of entrance. Insides, it sets the space for public and semi-public movement and communication.

The whole building is polygonal reshaped in ground plan and elevation. The resulting flowing spaces follow the anthroposophical architectural idea of Rudolf Steiner. It creates diverse and high-quality spacial situations with different connections of views and outdoor spaces. There are places, which invite to stay, to play, to move, to learn or to rest. An open, light and friendly atmosphere couples with good clarity and easy orientation.

Using the wood planking façade and wood panelling interior walls, the wooden frame construction is made visualised and experienceable. The choice of material follows the logic of organic construction. On one side the building is integrated into the surroundings and on the other side it is conform to the users need for natural and harmonic building materials.

Location: Max-Planck-Strasse 56/1, 74081 Heilbronn
Client: Verein für Waldorfpädagogik Unterland e.V.
Architects: mattes · sekiguchi partner architekten BDA
Project architects: Fabian Ehehalt, Ramona Schröder
Landscape architecture: Pascal Bauer, Heilbronn
Completed: 08/2013

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French office Périphériques has redeveloped a site in west Paris by adding apartment blocks with contrasting facades and angular balconies, as well as a nursery with stripy pink and green walls (+ slideshow).

Périphériques designed three buildings for the irregularly shaped plot between Fremicourt Street and Boulevard de Grenelle, accommodating 35 apartments for rent, 54 social housing units and a kindergarten for up to 30 children.

The nine-storey apartment block is positioned on the northern side of the site, facing out onto Boulevard de Grenelle, and its facade is clad with terracotta panels that have been enamelled to create an iridescent effect.

The south-facing rear of the building overlooks a large communal garden, so the architects added a series of protruding balconies that extend the living rooms of each residence. Contrastingly, this elevation is clad with timber slats.

The social housing block is positioned opposite, facing south onto Frémicourt Street. The facade of this building is glazed, while its rear wall is clad with anodised aluminium.

“The program’s particularity is that the same operation unites social housing as well as private housing units,” said the architects. “Thus, we have treated the facades in a common way but with some classification.”

The three-storey kindergarten is sandwiched between the two housing blocks but can be accessed via a passageway that runs along the edge of the plot.

This structure has a multicoloured facade comprising terracotta blocks enamelled in various shades of pink, green, yellow, red and white. Some of these block also function as louvres for the windows.

The main spaces of the nursery are located on the two lowest levels of the building, while staff rooms occupy the uppermost floor.

Photography is by Sergio Grazia.

Here’s more information from Périphériques:

Grenelle Frémicourt

Grenelle, 35 Private Housing, and Fremicourt, Immeuble de 54 Logements

The plot allotted to the project is situated between Fremicourt Street and Boulevard de Grenelle. It is exceptional by its orientation and its centre which is in continuity with the neighbouring gardens. In order to achieve a Low Energy Consumption Building in Paris, it is fundamental to recon on important technical plans of action.

The position of the building’s body on the boulevard (nine levels high) and on the street (ten levels high) is planned in a way to allow housing units with a double exposition. Their south end is extended by loggia spaces with pleasant views. Beyond the general implantation question, the proposed working drawing of the building is adapted to the context’s constrains.

The facades are creased in order to exploit at best its exposition and to mark the opening to the surrounding free spaces. The program’s particularity is that the same operation unites social housing as well as private housing units. Thus, we have imagined to treat the facades in a common way but with some classification.

The four facades, isolated on the interior, have been enveloped in an openwork horizontal sheathing elements – using glass for the Fremicourt side, anodised aluminium and wood for the garden side, and finally enamelled terracotta for the Boulevard de Grenelle side.

Nursery, 30 Cribs

The nursery capacity is 30 cribs. It develops as a 3-level superstructure with the first two floors accessible to the public. The ground floor houses the reception and premises for cradles, first floor houses premises for tall children then the second floor houses staff quarters.

The building is located in the inner courtyard of the passage along the west side of the operation. The volume respects the template imposed on street along the way. Inside the inner courtyard, the front of the nursery has inflection points in order to meet the size constraints imposed by the major sights in the lower levels of the building of social housing vis-à-vis.

The facades and garden will pass mechanical protection made with terracotta elements enamelled colour. This mineral cladding partially returns the roof. In front of windows, sunshades also in terracotta elements provide sun protection.

The outdoor areas are planted and bordered by a fence lined with a hedge shrub. A playground occasionally covered with a canopy containing the same elements as facade is provided along the building.

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apartment blocks and a colourful kindergarten appeared first on Dezeen.

Indian studio Khosla Associates used a modular concrete framework, bold colours and perforated terracotta screens to create this climate-sensitive kindergarten in Bangalore, which topped the education category at the Inside Festival awards earlier this month.

Khosla Associates designed the Delhi Public School kindergarten as a prototype for a series of school buildings that will be rolled out around southern India in the future.

“We were asked to create a simple and cost-effective language that could be adapted easily to different site conditions and slightly varying programs,” explained architects Sandeep Khosla and Amaresh Anand.

A modular concrete framework provides a standard size for the classrooms, which in some places are stacked to create a second storey.

There are 25 classrooms in total and they are arranged around a pair of courtyards that can be used as either playgrounds or outdoor learning spaces.

“The central linear open-to-sky court is the soul of the school and facilitates learning outside the classroom,” said the architects.

Rather than adding air-conditioning systems, Khosla and Anand wanted to make use of natural light and ventilation throughout the building, so they installed a series of perforated screens.

Constructed from two standard types of perforated brick, these decorative screens – referred to locally as jaalis – reduce the impact of direct sunlight and enable cross ventilation.

In places where more solid walls were needed, the architects added corrugated metal sheets in vivid shades, intended to reference the colours of traditional Indian textiles.

“The simplicity of the repetitive exposed concrete structure is what eventually dictated the design outcome as we added flexible layers onto it,” they explained.

Corridors run around the central perimeter of the school, while a bright red staircase connects the ground floor with classrooms on the upper level.

The kindergarten is the first of four blocks proposed for this site and will be followed by construction of junior, middle and senior school buildings.

Photography is by Shamanth Patil J.

Read on for a project description from Khosla Associates:

DPS Kindergarten School, Bangalore, India

The brief called for us to design a franchise for a popular north Indian school chain called Delhi Public School.

Since the model was to be potentially replicated across several schools in South India, we were asked to create a simple and cost effective language that could be adapted easily to different site conditions and slightly varying programs.

While the overall master plan currently under construction comprises a kindergarten, junior, middle and senior school block that will eventually cater to 4000 children; the current kindergarten facility has 25 classrooms, and with 40 children a class, a total strength of 1000.

The primary challenge was to design and complete construction of the first 35,000 sft. Kindergarten block within a 6-month time span at an efficient cost of Rs.1200/sft (USD $20/sft). The efficiencies of designing and constructing a building so rapidly had to be balanced with what we believed in; creating a warm, playful and welcoming environment for these young children that would be filled with natural light and ventilation. We set out to achieve our goal by creating an efficient modular system that we could use as building blocks. We looked at the basic module of a 700 sft classroom (35ft x 20 ft.) that could be repeated horizontally, or stacked one atop the other.

The classrooms on either side flank an 8ft wide single loaded corridor and open up to a central open-to-sky courtyard.

The simplicity of the repetitive exposed concrete structure is what eventually dictated the design outcome as we added flexible layers onto it. We added a corrugated metal wall on all corridors, which would serve a dual purpose; facilitate speed of construction and be durable for the wear and tear school corridors usually take. The corrugated sheets also gave us the opportunity to play with pattern and use tropical colours typical of the vernacular architecture of the region.

Other contextual references are in the vernacular terracotta jaalis (shading and ventilation screens used traditionally in India) that wrap around parts of the building and are included on both sides of each classroom to facilitate adequate cross ventilation from NE to SW. The jaalis cut down the sun especially on the western face of the building where we have effectively used them in breakout areas.

Judging the sun directions we played with a number of devices: horizontal and vertical pergolas and a combination of two different patterns of jaali on the exterior that create interesting patterns on the building at different times of the day.

The central linear open-to–sky court that runs the entire length of the building is the soul of the school and facilitates learning outside the classroom. The temperate climate of Bangalore allows for open to sky discussion on benches surrounding the courtyard trees or on the steps of the corridors.

In an age of air-conditioned schools becoming increasingly popular, we have attempted an energy efficient and cost-effective approach that utilises minimal electrical load during the day due to effective harnessing of breezes and adequate natural light during the day. It is our hope as architects that we are able to take this simple yet effective typology further to other franchises in the region.

Architects: Khosla Associates
Principal Designers: Sandeep Khosla and Amaresh Anand
Design Team: Sandeep Khosla, Amaresh Anand, and Bijeta Bachaspati
Structural Engineers: S&S Associates Civil
Contractors: Gomini Constructions Pvt. Ltd.
Project Management: Kris Cooper Pvt. Ltd.
Landscape: Garden World Pvt. Ltd.
Date completed: 31st May 2013
Area: 43967 sq ft

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by Khosla Associates appeared first on Dezeen.

A kindergarten play area shaped like a mountain surrounded by clouds has been completed by Japanese firm Moriyuki Ochiai Architects (+ slideshow).

Part of Piccolino Kindergarten in the southern Japanese prefecture of Kanagawa, the space was created primarily for art education and as a multi-purpose room for concerts, performances, exhibitions and children’s workshops.

Children can explore by crawling over and around the brightly coloured wooden seats and through archways and small passages. When seats are pushed against the mountain they form steps, allowing children to clamber up the mountain shape through the clouds.

The seats are also light enough to be picked up and stacked on top of or next to each other, creating new heights and spaces in the room.

Architect Moriyuki Ochiai said he chose the triangular shapes because they were the most simple and suitable for children to use safely. “The size of the equipment is a unit on which two little children can be seated together so they feel close to each other and can naturally be friends,” Ochiai told Dezeen.

Ochiai also explained that the height difference between adults and children brings about different ways to perceive and enjoy the environment. “A surface used as a counter by adults appears as a consecutive arch over houses to children,” he said.

“From a kid’s perspective, the mountain rises from the clouds changing gradually from white to brown, while adults looking down from the top of the mountain see clouds floating below,” he added.

Ochiai said he created the space to develop imagination, expression, communication and creativity skills for both adults and children. The renovated 90-square-metre floor space from an existing office building is in an area with lots of new housing projects where many families with young children live.

Other kindergartens featured on Dezeen include a kid university with a courtyard of mulberry trees in Spain, a small wooden nursery in a public garden in Camden and a doughnut-shaped kindergarten in China.

See all our stories about kindergartens »
See more architecture and design in Japan »

Photography is by Atsushi Ishisda/Nacasa & Partners.

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London studio AY Architects has constructed a small wooden nursery in a public garden in Camden. Scroll down to see a pair of cute axonometric drawings (+ slideshow).

The Montpelier Community Nursery provides affordable day care for children between the ages of two and five, so AY Architects had to design a building that would be inexpensive to both build and run.

The architects designed three large skylights to maximise natural lighting, then angled them across the roof to a north and south orientation.

“The building is more or less located on the footprint of the previous nursery building in order to not disturb the existing beautiful garden,” architect Yeoryia Manolopoulou told Dezeen. “We then decided to sculpt the roof diagonally so that we could get better daylight.”

The building has an all-timber construction, with slender columns both inside and outside. White-washed timber panels were used to build the walls and roof, while the exterior is clad with black-stained larch decking.

Floor-to ceiling windows stretch along the north-west elevation to allow the playroom to open out to an enclosed garden playground. There’s also a projecting canopy to permit sheltered outdoor activities.

“The design of the new building takes its inspiration from the unique setting within the public gardens,” say the architects. “Indoor-outdoor play is central to the design concept and the garden environment is considered central to the children’s learning experience.”

A layer of sedum gives the building a green roof.

The nursery was one of 52 winners of this year’s RIBA Awards, alongside a faceted auditorium and a shimmering seaside gallery.

Other kindergartens featured on Dezeen include one under construction in Vietnam that will have a vegetable garden on its roof. See more kindergartens on Dezeen.

Photography is by Nick Kane.

Here’s a project description from AY Architects:

Montpelier Community Nursery by AY Architects

Tucked away within Montpelier Gardens in Kentish Town London and surrounded by the rear of terrace houses, the new building is planned around a central flexible playspace that generously opens out to a garden of mature trees. Indoor-outdoor play, children’s learning through nature, the experience of a wonderful bright and airy space, and the architects’ continual engagement with parents, staff, children and the local community are central to the success of this project.

The nursery is a registered charity and voluntary organisation, providing the most affordable childcare for 2-5 yrs old available in Camden. Its size and low-budget limits did not prevent the architects from creating an imaginative and highly poetic space.

The nursery had been operating from a dilapidated and unsafe portakabin with a lifespan of only 15 years, originally built in 1983. AY Architects initiated a proposal for its demolition and replacement with a new building in an effort to secure affordable childcare and a sustainable building for the community for the long term. They worked closely with the neighborhood in their mutiple roles as local architects, former parents, trustees and voluntary members of the nursery’s management team. In January 2009 they coordinated a successful application for a Capital Grant which would cover the project’s costs and pursuaded London Borough Camden to give full support to their initiative.

The brief was for a larger and environmental friendly facility that could provide an increase from 18 to 24 nursery places. The footprint increased from 90 to 130m2.

The design of the new building takes its inspiration from the unique setting within the public gardens. It is planned around a large flexible playspace that generously opens out to the external green space distinguished by a concentration of mature trees. Indoor-outdoor play is central to the design concept and the garden environment is considered central to the children’s learning experience.

The superstructure is made up of cross-laminated timber panels with an exposed internal white wash finish. The exterior of the building is clad with ebony-stained fsc siberian larch decking to give the building a robust skin. The dark exterior allows the building to sit contently within the park and amongst the trees trunks.

A series of glue-laminated timber columns echoes the verticallity of the surrounding trees while the roof is designed to maximise daylight and allow natural ventilation. Three strip windows with north-south orientation span the plan diagonally. The orientation of the openings welcomes the sun to enter the building when it is low to take advantage of solar gain in colder months, while large overhangs block out the sun when it is hot to prevent overheating. The larger north-facing roof window brings in an abundance of daylight and facilitates cross ventilation.

The south wall of the main playspace includes a large window and shutter looking directly onto the public gardens, and also offers a slender low bench to be used by the neighbours. In this way the nursery gains a greater level of interaction with the community, contributing to a safer and more enjoyable green space.

The nursery is designed as an energy efficient building in operation and low carbon in construction. A mixed sedum blanket forms the roof finish, contributing to local biodiversity and water retention.

The building recently won an RIBA London Regional Award 2013 and an RIBA National Award 2013. It is listed among 52 buildings across the UK and Europe, competing for further special RIBA awards, including the Stephen Lawrence Prize and the Stirling Prize. It is one of 13 buildings in London competing for these awards.

Funding award: Early Years Capital Grant £476,000
Project Budget: £476,000
Area: 136m2 internal gross
Architects: AY Architects
Structural engineer: Price & Myers
Low carbon consulting engineers: King Shaw Associates
Main contractor: Forest Gate Construction Ltd
Timber subcontractor: KLH UK

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by AY Architects appeared first on Dezeen.