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| 09:13 Tue 13 May 2008 |
Tag: Schools
These items have all been tagged with the tag "Schools", You can see other tags in the Tag Cloud| Taka-Tuka-Land Kindergaten - Berlin |
| 2008-04-30 17:25:31 |
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Yummy! Wow! Ooops! The playful, colorful and juicy Taka-Tuka-Land kindergarten in Berlin evokes a rambunctious reaction. You hear the kids at play. You see the bright colors. You sense the kids are happy. So it is no wonder that the students who designed and created this funhouse call their approach “sensuous architecture.” Baupiloten is a group of architecture students who during their studies at Faculty VI, Institute for Architecture at Berlin Technical University (Technische Universität Berlin) develop their own projects from concept to implementation under professional guidance. Architect Susanne Hoffmann founded Baupiloten (Bau=build, Piloten=pilot) in 2003 and has headed it since 2004. The Taka-Tuka-Land kindergarten was originally erected as a temporary solution, but with the fantastic Baupiloten approach to the refurbishment, it has become a permanent place for children. The Taka-Tuka-Land is part of the Pippi Longstocking lore created by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Pippi in Taka-Tuka Country is a movie based on one of her novels. The children at the kindergarten and their teachers created collages, models, drawings and ideas based on Taka-Tuka Land with bridges, huts, merry-go-rounds made of blossoms and thrones made of seashells. The Baupiloten students then spent several days with the children observing their daily routines, their schedules and their ways of communication. From this extensive groundwork, the design story for the space was developed. The building itself is Pippi’s old oak tree that contains a lemonade factory. The lemonade breaks through the bark of the tree and flows outside creating padded play areas. The story of the building is a trip through the seven stages of the lemon tree, each facilitating a different activity: The lemonade tree, Glittering lemonade in the sun, Lemonade drops, The lemonade island, Waiting for the parents, Lemonade gallery, The bark breaks open, and Delving into lemonade. Pippi’s most likely verdict would be “Jätte god!” By Tuija Seipell |
| ROC Apeldoorn classroom by Jurgen Bey |
| 2007-10-17 14:06:34 |
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Poetry and storytelling help us understand the world that surrounds us. Visual imagery allows the mind to draw parallels between what we see and how we think. Dutch designer Jurgen Bey has created a classroom that will inspire young minds to think beyond the realm of what is traditionally asked of school children. The classroom interior project is part of the ROC training school at Apeldoorn in the Netherlands. Practically every surface of the room is covered with images found in books used at the school. Centered around a palate of white and grey, Bey selected graphics then placed them around the space on walls, furniture and even the floor. Moveable screens allow the room to open completely or divide space depending on the activities taking place. One key feature, the highly wear-resistant flooring system made with Senso Freeze, contains a transparent resin that allowed Bey to embed digital photographs onto the surface. Inspiration and creativity seeps from every surface – it’s impossible to imagine what will be generated from the minds as they pass through this space. By Andrew J Wierner. See also Kool Kids Spaces |
| A CHANGE OF TUNE - Kingsdale School, Dulwich, South East London |
| 2007-08-01 16:38:47 |
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We don’t know about you, but school wasn’t exactly the most inspiring of places. Concrete bunkers for buildings, concrete tennis courts for ‘recreation’ and food that tasted, well, like concrete. Yes, school did sound like a brutalist architects dream. But, Reynar Banham was nowhere to be seen. This is much the same story for most schools under the comprehensive banner. Kids are taught in buildings resembling cell blocks. The only exceptions coming from the private institutions Britain is famed for. Education it seems, is taught from books not experienced by what surrounds you. Recently however, there has been a change of thought when it comes to school design. De Rijke Marsh Morgan Architects (dRMM) are adding the final touches to their overhaul of Kingsdale School in south east London to dazzling effect. Rather than the standard dreary courtyard favoured by modernist architects of the 1950s – a giant atrium now sits under the worlds largest EFTE variable roof – which has the ability to be cooled and heated to insulate in winter and cool in summer. The result is a new space for dining, assembly and a new auditorium sat inside a giant octahedron. A vast improvement on the cruel inhuman space that stood there previously. dRMM have also built a new music hall and gymnasium to accompany the now iconic central space. In the music hall, windows are etched out of the wooden interior with the material then used to form tables below. The effect is a wonderful mix of shapes and rays of light that change and move with the sun. While the sports hall’s dramatic beams rotate around an invisible axis resembling an Escher drawing. All achieved without compromising the space’s purpose as a place of play. What this school was designed to do was illustrate the importance of the spaces people exist in. Education for most of the twentieth century was bereft of any debate about where children should be taught. Hopefully Kingsdale School will start to change that. By Matt Hussey Related Link: The Designer Super Gym Has Arrived Kids Kool Spaces |
