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Kéré Architecture breaks ground on new timber childcare center at the Technical University of Munich

2024-04-24T15:45:00-04:00

Kéré Architecture has broken ground on a new all-wood childcare facility at the Technical University Munich (TUM). The design of the Ingeborg Pohl Kinderoase an der TUM is 700 square meters (7,500 square feet) in total and will hold space for 60 children in service to faculty members and their families.

Image copyright Kéré Architecture

The building, made possible through a donation from philanthropist Ingeborg Pohl, is defined by its playful interior, which incorporates a variety of scales and unique circulatory features, such as slides that connect each of its five floors.

Image copyright Kéré Architecture

Administrative suites are placed at the ground level, with three floors dedicated to children and divided by age group. A green roof play area called the Himmelswiese (German for “field of the heavens”) completes the program above. The firm has emphasized its use of timber throughout is meant to “take the sustainability of the building to the extreme.”

Image copyright Kéré Archi...

10 new architectural spaces designed for kids

2021-03-19T13:26:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Kids Spaces.

Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles.

↑ Kids Barbershop "ByBliss" in Odessa, Ukraine by JK Lab Architects; Photo: Natalia Nagorna

↑ NLL Children's Library in Riga, Latvia by GAISS; Illustrations: Rūta Briede; Photo: Ansis Starks

↑ Playground in the outdoor gallery "Walking in the Clouds" in Suwon, South Korea by EUS+ARCHITECTS; Photo: Myungho Kang

↑ Bookend House in Santa Monica, CA by ORA (Oonagh Ryan Architects Inc.)

↑ Park School in Mortsel, Belgium by Binst Architects; Environmental Construction: TV Thiers – Dujardin Landschapsarchitecten

↑ Peninsula Residence in San Francisco, CA by Richard Beard Architects; Interior Design: Kelly Hohla Interiors; Pho...

10 fresh architectural spaces designed for kids

2019-09-27T13:06:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Kids Spaces.

↑ Nook, a new children’s play and learning space in Ballston, VA by Mickus Projects; Photo: Abby Jiu

↑ Kindergarten & Nursery in Linz, Austria by lobmaier architekten zt gmbh; Photo: Kurt Hoerbst

↑ Plainsboro Public Library in Plainsboro, NJ by BKSK Architects, LLP; Photo: Ruggero Vanni

↑ Avenues: The World School, New York Expansion in New York, NY by Eleven of Eleven Architecture; Base Building Architect: Morris Adjmi Architects; Executive Architect: Murdock Solon Architects; Photo: Ernst Fischer

↑ Nakuru Children's Home in Nakuru, Kenya by Orkidstudio

↑ Children's Museum of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA by Koning Eiz...

First look: MAD Architects' “floating” roofed Courtyard Kindergarten in Beijing

2018-11-13T22:19:00-05:00

MAD Architects unveiled their scheme for the upcoming “Courtyard Kindergarten”, which will be located within a traditional siheyuan courtyard in Beijing that dates back to 1725. Currently under construction, the kindergarten is expected to be operating by fall 2019.

Rendering by SAN.

The new kindergarten revives the site while preserving its cultural heritage. Envisioned as a “magical escape” for about 400 children ages 2-5, the building's most striking feature is its bright-colored “floating” roof, whose design is a play on an old Beijing saying. “There is a saying in old Beijing when children are naughty: ‘if you go three days without being punished, the roof will cave in,” explains Ma Yansong, principal of MAD Architects.

The roof functions as a playground where children can engage in outdoor sports and activities, and let their imagination run free. The southwest side of the roof has a subtly undulating surface of several small “hills” and “plains” that form a playful landscape.

...

Zaha Hadid Architects: a robot will help build the vaults of Lushan Primary School

2018-04-19T16:07:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects just revealed a design proposal for Lushan Primary School, a new learning center for 120 children from 12 local villages in a remote rural area of Jiangxi Province, China. The campus is designed as a network of intersecting barrel and parabolic vaults that accommodate various school, housing, and utility spaces.

Image courtesy of ZHA.

From the project description: "The school’s curriculum is a synthesis of Chinese and international academic systems; combining an education in the creative arts with a comprehensive syllabus of STEM subjects that also includes advanced internet-based learning technologies. Visiting teachers and artists will make the school a focus for the community it serves."

Rendering by VA. Image courtesy of ZHA.

"Surrounded by mountains as well as the rivers and lakes fed by the Zhelin Reservoir, the school is within an agricultural region that also has a rich tradition in the production of ceramics. [...] The campus includes the school, dormito...

First look at MAD's newly built Clover House

2016-08-24T18:02:00-04:00

Over one year after its groundbreaking ceremony, MAD's Clover House is now complete. Built next to a rice paddy field in Okazaki, the family-run kindergarten marks MAD's first project in Japan. Siblings Kentaro and Tamaki Nara, who originally operated the kindergarten from their family's two-story house, commissioned MAD to redesign the home into a new kindergarten that can provide a nurturing learning environment.

Wrapped in a white exterior shell, the Clover House's organic form and haphazardly placed windows are meant to evoke a sense of playfulness, as if it were “designed from a child's point of view,” stated MAD founder Ma Yansong. “We wanted to create a playful piece of architecture that would stay in the memory of the kids when they have grown up.”

During special occasions and school activities, the kids can doodle on the exterior shell as a way to create memories of their time there, MAD partner and Clover House lead architect Yosuke Hayano previously told Archinect. Students...

MAD blurs boundaries with the Clover House kindergarten and teacher housing

2015-05-23T11:06:00-04:00

Exterior becomes interior, public space overlaps with private space, and society is integrated into nature: or is it? These are but a few of the concepts seemingly behind the design of MAD's Clover House, a Kindergarten adjacent to a Japanese rice paddy field that also serves as a private residence for the teachers of the school at night. The house had its official groundbreaking on May 13th, and has attracted international press attention for its undulating paper-like shell and innovative spatial configuration.

Built over a pre-existing 105 square meter row-house, the MAD design incorporates the existing wooden mass-produced home by removing its walls and draping a new exterior over the frame. This purposefully fosters a sense of community among the schoolchildren, which is in keeping with the school's stated mission to create openness and emotional bonds between its students.

But is the design itself actually articulated and reflective of its surroundings, or is it just another flas...

PIXY HALL by Moriyuki Ochiai Architects

2013-09-24T13:54:00-04:00

PIXY HALL by Moriyuki Ochiai Architects is an engaging multi-purpose space in Kanagawa, Japan for kindergarteners to play and learn. The project won the Japan Kids Design Award in 2010. The playground's brightly colored shapes and tiny spaces to climb under and over look like plenty of fun for the little ones, while its overall clean and simple aesthetic would probably look cool to anyone at any age.

COBE and NORD Architects Win Copenhagen’s Prinsessegade Kindergarden

2012-11-07T19:05:00-05:00

Danish architecture firms COBE and NORD have won the competition for the largest daycare center in all of Denmark. The complex "Prinsessegade Kindergarden and Youth Club" in the heart of Copenhagen wil be second home to 618 children and young people. Landscape architects PK3 and engineering firm Grontmij collaborated on the concept.

Winning Kindergarten “Mavrica” in Brežice, Slovenia

2011-05-13T13:59:17-04:00

Among 64 submissions, a team of Slovenian architects was assigned the 1st prize in the open competition for the kindergarten „Mavrica“ in the small town of Brežice, Slovenia. The municipality of Brežice in cooperation with the Chamber of Architecture and the Spatial Planning of Slovenia had invited applications for this public project. The winning team comprises Ljubljana architects Breda Bizjak, Lidija Dragišić M.A., Katja Florjanc, Emir Jelkić, and Ajda Vogelnik Saje.