Archinect - News

andblack designs prefabricated preschool with a distinctive undulating roof

2024-08-12T13:01:00-04:00

In Vijayawada, India, multidisciplinary design studio andblack design studio has delivered a unique preschool of organic forms and integrated landscaping that aims to reflect the school’s forward-thinking approach to education through its design.

Image: Vinay Panjwani

Called Cocoon, the facility is an extension of the Bloomingdale International School. It occupies a 4,000-square-foot area within the campus, adjoining the existing school building.

Image: Vinay Panjwani

A sunken courtyard connects the two buildings. It follows the site’s topography, ascending towards the new extension. This site arrangement provided the architects an opportunity to develop something unique for the institution. The result is a structure that deviates from typical school design through the coalescence of the built form, landscape, and interiors, where spaces are fluid and interconnected.

Image: Vinay Panjwani

The line between spaces for playing and learning is blurred. The courtyard reflects this as it ca...

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...

A flexible Japanese nursery school that functions like a village

2023-06-07T15:12:00-04:00

Takeru Shoji Architects has designed a nursery school in Niigata, Japan, that forms a seamless connection between its rooms, the building, and the surrounding area. Called The Center for Early Childhood Education and Care, the school is dedicated to the principles of engaging “naturally with nature.”

Image © Koji Fujii (toreal)

The single-story wooden building was designed to establish a mutual relationship between it and the surrounding village, in which the village is involved in the children’s learning and play, and the nursery functions to revitalize the village.

Image © Koji Fujii (toreal)

A series of workshops, including childcare researchers and workers, parents, and local residents, was conducted to discuss the potential of hosting a school that would serve an area with an aging population and declining birthrate. The participants decided on a vision to create the nursery school to work like a village and for the village to function like a nursery ...

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...

"How does one teach urban planning to pre-schoolers?"

2016-02-09T12:55:00-05:00

Young children read books and watch videos about doctors, builders, chefs, mechanics, pilots, and businesspeople. But not urban planners. Why? [...] why is urban planning so under-celebrated, and why doesn’t it emerge as a field of study prior to the college level?

Pete Sullivan, a planner in Chapel Hill, NC, shares his experience explaining his job to his son's preschool class. Initially worried about communicating a profession as abstract and complex as planning to an audience of squirming five year-olds, Sullivan finds a simple engagement strategy – kids like stuff that moves, and Legos.

More on early education efforts for our future planners and architects: