Ehab Kamel Ahmed

advisor

University of Nottingham, Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Nottingham

United Kindgom

Contextual ArchitectureArchitecture of the Middle EastArchitecture for Cultural Heritage… more

The project proposes a design for a kindergarten. The proposal develops a two-storey building with an open courtyard. There is an obvious effort put into developing the functional plans but unfortunately, the resolution of the drawings plus the intensive technical dimensions included made it unclear to read. Yet, it is clear that the designer put the effort into clustering the classes and their accompanied services/facilities.
It is not clear where the main entrance is (where do children enter from?). The entrance can be a very important psychological element that improves the whole experience for children.
I can see from the general plan that there are external outdoor spaces (outside of the building) for children's activities; is there a reason not to accommodate all activities within the courtyard? may this affect the safety of children? and how can this be controlled? I would also recommend considering getting rid of hard finishing materials as much as possible for the safety of children.
There are many pieces of research and precedent buildings that explored the development of educational spaces (and educational systems as a whole), especially at such a young age, and how buildings/spaces can improve children's experience and awareness of their surroundings (for example, see this article: https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/designing-for-typologies/a4113-nursery-design-how-child-psychology-plays-a-major-role/). I encourage you to further study good examples of buildings and spaces that explore non-standard class formats.