building as playground: imagination versus reality

EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT CENTRE, HEIDEVELD

BAS(Hons) simulated office project

Simulated Office Project

 

This project is designed to simulate a real office project. Students are put into groups and are teamed up with quantity surveyor students and professional engineers in order to experience the collaborative nature of architectural work in reality. All design stages - design development, local authority approval and working drawings - require submission of the relevant drawings and documents.

 

Simulated office group members:

 

Clint Abrahams (leader)

Christos Simos

Hayley Mouton

Ekin Thompson

 

Building as Playground

 

Changes in levels in the internal spaces and external courtyard creates a floor plane of constant discovery.

 

Rooms within Rooms

 

Child centred discovery spaces within classrooms allow for spaces of imagination above the level of reality. These are articulated through different structural methods and the use of cladding. The plan also follows a 'room within rooms' concept with a 'children's room', 'adult room' and 'community room.'

 

Surveillance

 

Horizontal degrees of transparency are arranged in order to allow for maximum surveillance of children by adults throughout the centre which is increased by the design of classrooms around a central courtyard, insuring constant surveillance during playtime. The use of different levels, separating the worlds of imagination and reality, provide vertical opportunities for surveillance.

 

 

Internal Street

 

The internal street connects the building to its context and allows for services to be more easily accessed. The street provides a mediatory space between the adult world of reality (administration spine) and the childrens'world of imagination (classrooms and play courtyard.)