Kindergarten as an Open System

2011. Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

Our kindergarten project aims at turning the facility into an “open system”. No more is kindergarten a place to “store” children while parents at work. Instead, the facility is transformed into a day-care center, providing control over a child’s health. It can equally well serve as a social hub for parents. More effective layout creates extra space for a swimming pool. The pool could be attended by expectant mothers and parents with small children. Meeting the needs of a neighborhood would be yet another income source for the kindergarten. The reinvented kindergarten project extends the conventional functionality and serves as a community center — a perfect transitional place for children to discover the world.

master plan

general view

concept rationale

existing kindergartens

northeast facade within axes 9–1

southeast facade within axes А–Н

southwest facade within axes 1–9

northwest facade within axes Н–А

plan

interior

If we consider a preschool institution as a children's center, as a system open to the residents of the district, then the kindergarten and its staff have an opportunity to sell qualified services to the population. Medical consulting and diagnostic services (defectologists, psychologists, speech therapists, etc.) can be attractive, and such facilities as a swimming pool, sports and music hall, and circle rooms can be used on weekends for various activities with both children and their parents.