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An often-overlooked aspect of modernism is a concern with childhood education. Architects and designers from Isamu Noguchi to Harry Weese and psychologists such as Maria Montessori and Loris Malaguzzi reconsidered how kids should play and learn. This broad movement helped to dismiss formal and authoritarian ideas on parenting favored in the Victorian area to a friendlier and more egalitarian model. However, there have been wildly divergent ideas on what environment best suits these ideas. In contemporary kindergarten design, distinctive colors and playful flourishes proliferate. Spaces are brightly lit, often with skylights or glass curtain walls. These six kindergartens bring a sense of playfulness to the stark minimalism of contemporary architecture.
The Reggio-Emilia region has long been a world-leader in new approaches to childhood education. After the devastating May 2012 earthquake, Mario Cucinella Architects proposed a bold vision for rebuilding damaged facilities in the small town of Guastalla, located by the Po River north of Reggio Emilia. The kindergarten was designed as a laboratory that would allow for exploration and curiosity. Each classroom is separated by a glass wall, connected by a segmented vertebrae-shaped wooden tunnel. The interior is bright and open, with an accordion-like appearance from the exterior.
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Wood is integral to traditional Japanese architecture. While planning a new kindergarten design in Chiba, S.O.Y. LABO. investigated how precision technology could help to create new forms for wooden construction. While the Lunch House may appear as a standard a-frame, the plan is asymmetrical, with a gently curved edge. This detail necessitated precise calculations and careful selection of the correct pieces of timber. On either end, the hall opens to floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
A local furniture company commissioned this kindergarten for their employees’ children. The structure is one-story with a large roof overhang supported by a row of slanted joint columns. The vivid color palette includes mint green, magenta and teal. Space allocation within the kindergarten was influenced by available sunlight, with well-lit spaces for studying and darker spaces for nap time. In addition to the school, there is a large playground with a sandpit.
A rainbow of dyed planks cascade over a corrugated polycarbonate core in the Little Hall at Prestwood Infant School. Each plank is differently sized to create an organic landscape around the edge of the structure. The interior is more muted, but maintains a connection to the hues of the facade with colorful storage boxes. The space has an assortment of windows and skylights, letting in plenty of sunlight that bounces off the plywood paneling. As the interior space is composed a single hall, one cement slab covers the floor.
Just outside of Paris, SCHEMAA designed an addition for a local elementary school to house recreation facilities. The new wing helps to create a distinct space for students between the roadway and the main school building, with concrete courts in the middle. The wood-clad extension references the school’s geometric wall of windows with framed segments. The shed-style architecture calls to mind Sea Ranch and the architecture of the 1970s. Skylights and ground level windows contribute to the luminous interior.
Providing ample space for play while meeting stringent energy efficiency measure was the intention behind Abar Arquitecto’s kindergarten design in Sant Pere Pescador. In addition to a green roof, there is a rolling shade that provides solar insulation in the summer as well as shade for the broad courtyard. In contrast to the building’s pre-cast concrete, the fence surrounding the school is in vibrant shades of green.
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