Collaborator: Christos Ivopoulos

This project is about a kindergarten in Chania. Central design axis of the complex is creating transformable spaces that aim at a pleasant learning process through play. Space is activated with the action – organizational, aesthetic, functional – of children. 

More specifically, the kindergarten is located in an olive grove. The central core of the composition is the foyer. This space during the day hosts various activities; in the morning it functions as a foyer, later it is converted into a lunch room, while there is and it has the possibility to be used by the neighborhood in the afternoon hours, it has the potential to be used by the neighborhood during the evening. Part of it is occupied by a sliding volume that include teacher’s office and also the staircase that leads to one of the classrooms, depending on its location a children’s pool is revealed. At the exterior of this building are created two dynamic axes that lead to the other three classrooms, which are directly related to their surrounding space. 

Buildings are allocated in the space in such a way that children discover them, this feeling is enhanced as there are multiple ways of entering each room. In addition, it is possible to isolate-cooperate the classrooms in pairs with the use of fabric, that is placed on the metal beams of the corridors, but also with the transformable elements of rooms and the sliding volume.

Each classroom is defined by a topology, there are representations of a city, a forest, a beach, a mountain. Each one is consisted of a solid wall which also carries the library-storage space. In the ground floor rooms there are 3 sides which can be opened and the classroom can be expanded in its surrounding area depending on the course. The mountain room as it is located on the floor can only expand to one side, but students can also climb on its roof. At every classroom there are transformable elements, that can be handled by children producing areas literally mobile. This happens since the modification and arrangement of space contribute finally to associate the space with their own centers of interest. An additional element that aims to enhance the cooperation of children is a cable car that can manually lift children from the yard to the “mountain”.