Two main ideas that existed at the start of the project are based on children’s special perception of the constructed environment. The first idea has to do with scale and tries to combine the general volumetrics of the public facility with the more intimate and domestic scale that must accompany the child. The second idea fulfils the conception of the centre (atrium) as a significant experience in spatial terms, related to the children’s creative world. The proposal has to do with the sensorial relationship between children and architecture, through the use of space, light, materiality and colour.
The New Kindergarten in Keratea is located in an area of residential growth at the southeasternn most tip of the Attica peninsula. The new kindergarten building is subordinated to the exterior space and skillfully designed in a form of a continuous spatial spiral which surrounds a central atrium. The atrium is the heart of the design and assures the feeling of safety and connectivity of the kindergarten’s departments. The experience of external space is graduated from the introverted central atrium and is suitable for the junior age groups and in accordance with gradual development of child’s consciousness.
