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Rural setting, similar typology and scale. Also love the landscaping here

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Text description provided by the architects. This re-modelling of a greenfield agricultural site creates nursery provision for 70 children aged 6 months to 5 years in stunning Northumberland farmland. Given its sensitive context it was necessary for the building to merge into the landscape and reflect the rural aesthetic of the surrounding agricultural vernacular.

The building is arranged to frame the scenery while providing generous internal spaces and exterior play areas for. The scale and form aim to break up the mass to reduce the impact on the green belt and capitalise on solar gain and natural ventilation.

The crisp volumes are clad in carefully detailed natural materials that complement the rural setting while remaining contemporary. Ecological performance is enhanced by sustainable technologies including solar hot-water heaters, rainwater capture and ground source heating. The building and site layout is befitting of its context and reduces impact on the openness of the green belt.

The notion of house & home led the design to develop the formal concept around a series of nursery 'houses', each forming a space for the individual age groups. The new build part of the development is thus conceived as a cluster of three houses with children progressing gradually through the spaces as they grow up.

The existing topography and new planting helps screen the major new build elements from view and the overall layout allows the nursery spaces to continue to have a connection to a protected shared south facing garden.

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Text description provided by the architects. This re-modelling of a greenfield agricultural site creates nursery provision for 70 children aged 6 months to 5 years in stunning Northumberland farmland. Given its sensitive context it was necessary for the building to merge into the landscape and reflect the rural aesthetic of the surrounding agricultural vernacular.

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Teeny tiny nursery in London. Who knew classrooms could be this small?

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The corner site, at the junction of St. Matthews Avenue and Chamberlain Way and delimited by a garden with mature trees, is located in a tranquil and leafy area of Surbiton in Surrey.

Located in the north-east cusp of the site, the large two-storey Victorian suburban villa, with the Children's Nursery on the ground floor and the residential quarters above, is being extended by FPA to improve the internal layout and provide additional floor space for a dedicated kitchen and a canteen with multifunctional quality.

FPA developed a proposal for a side extension to replace a derelict garage, conceived as a subordinate addition to the host property. It is made up of two separate volumes facing Chamberlain Way: the smaller one accommodates the kitchen and the primary one the canteen.

The two volumes - rectangular in plan and both with a mono pitch roof - are set back from one another and are rotated so that their roofs slope in opposite directions, allowing the primary space to have the highest ceiling facing the playground.

The architectural language adopted draws inspiration from Froebel's gifts and wood blocs. A would-be architect who pursued education as a profession instead, Friedrich Froebel believed that playing with blocks gives fundamental expression to a child's soul, with blocks symbolizing the actual building blocks of the universe.

Although predominantly screened by existing boundary treatments and mature vegetation, the new brick building initiates a dialogue with the buildings at the opposite end of St. Matthews Avenue that employ similar materials and roof design.

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CHILD'S PLAY NURSERY | Francesco Pierazzi Architects | Archello

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The corner site, at the junction of St. Matthews Avenue and Chamberlain Way and delimited by a garden with mature trees, is located in a tranquil and leafy area of Surbiton in Surrey.

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Local example of outdoor learning

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Glasgow studio O'DonnellBrown has designed and built an open-air classroom, which will host learning workshops after the coronavirus shutdown is over.

The Community Classroom in Glasgow is an adaptable and demountable wooden structure, designed to encourage both children and adults to reconnect with nature.

Completed at the end of 2019, it had already hosted several community-based events before the coronavirus breakout in Europe. Once the shutdown is over, it will be erected at Operation Play Outdoors, an organisation that hosts learning activities.

There are also ambitions for it to tour local schools, so that as many children as possible can enjoy the benefits of outdoor learning.

O'DonnellBrown co-founder Jennifer O'Donnell believes the project has gained new relevance, as people stuck at home start to reevaluate different aspects of their lifestyle.

"Coming out of this, creating spaces that are connected to nature, and that can bring communities together again, will become all the more important," she told Dezeen.

"We know that learning does not need to take place in a traditional classroom, evidenced by all the children currently learning remote from their schools, and the outdoor environment has massive potential for learning."

A self-initiated project, O'DonnellBrown came up with the idea for The Community Classroom after completing its own studio, The Greenhouse. Occupying a mock Victorian conservatory, this space allows the team to directly experience the changing seasons.

Invisible Studio and students build Urban Room pavilion as event space and outdoor classroom

"As a team we quickly recognised the profoundly positive effect that our studio space was having on our collective sense of wellbeing, and seeing the crossover with our education and community projects," said O'Donnell.

"We wanted to push our ideas for what a healthy and inspiring learning space could be further still."

The structure comprises a simple kit of parts, made from standard timber sections bolted together. These form a series of two-column modules, which support the wooden roof above.

O'DonnellBrown has also designed a series of plywood modules that slot in and around this structure, providing seating, workshops, shelves and display surfaces. This makes it easy to adapt the space to different activities.

A lightweight sheet provides a waterproof layer on the roof, and can also fold down to create additional weather protection around the perimeter. This material is translucent, creating interesting lighting effects in the early evening.

Children's charity Barnardo's Works supported the project, helping O'DonnellBrown find young people to help build the prototype structure.

The Community Classroom is one of several recent designs for outdoor learning spaces. Other include Urban Room, built by University of Reading students, and Pinecone, a portable structure by Czech designers Atelier SAD and Mmcité1.

O'Donnell hopes that, as people "collectively find our way through the fog of Covid-19", projects like these will help to bring communities back to together.

"We hope that The Community Classroom can become an adaptable resource to help schools deliver progressive outdoor learning experiences, and with these experiences, give children and teachers the emotional and mental wellbeing benefits that can come from being outside in the fresh air," she concluded.

Photography is by Ross Campbell.
Project credits:
Architect: O'DonnellBrown
Structural engineer: Design Engineering Workshop
Collaborators and sponsors: Three Four Five Joinery, RIAS, St Gobain

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O'DonnellBrown promotes outdoor learning with The Community Classroom

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Glasgow studio O'DonnellBrown has designed and built an open-air classroom, which will host learning workshops after the coronavirus shutdown is over. The Community Classroom in Glasgow is an adaptable and demountable wooden structure, designed to encourage both children and adults to reconnect with nature.

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Great document about a primary school in Dumfries & Galloway with 36 students and a big emphasis on outdoor learning

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Similar needs and setting, simple design and most glazing on one facade

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The farm kindergarten with childcare centre accommodates the retreat area for the kindergarten as well as two groups of childcare. The pedagogical concept of the Hofkindergarten focuses on the outdoor area and the nearby farm. The design is closely interwoven with this adventurous and beautiful concept.
The project forms the edge of the open farmland on the one hand and relates to the farm where the kindergarten children spend their time. The mighty gable roof creates the presence of the building and leads over to the the much higher urban school complex on the other side of the road.
The exterior appearance of the building is consciously oriented on the traditional construction and appearance of the farms as a simple wooden construction. The accentuated gable triangle is a reminiscent of this typology and reduces the scale at the same time.
The special arrangement of the interior is consistently structured by two hallway and visual axes. The orientation of the main rooms is consistent in the direction of the agricultural zone in the southwest. In the group rooms, the relation to the outdoor area is staged. Children can sit inside as well as on the terrace by the window. The transition to the playing area is also solved via a seat step.
The materialization of the building, which was manufactured to the highest ecological standards, results from a close collaboration such as a simulation by building physics. The walls, which are concrete down to a horizon of 3. 15m, reduce the energy requirements of the building as a whole. They can cool down overnight and removed excess heat from the room during the day. The wood surfaces contribute significantly to the indoor atmosphere as well as to the acoustics.
The experience of consciously sequenced room sequences, the light and the haptic qualities of the brushed parquet, the raw spruce and the sandblasted concrete should sensitize and animate the children.

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MWArchitekten, David Schreyer · Farm Kindergarten Rheinhof

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The farm kindergarten with childcare centre accommodates the retreat area for the kindergarten as well as two groups of childcare. The pedagogical concept of the Hofkindergarten focuses on the outdoor area and the nearby farm. The design is closely interw

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Passivhaus precedent. Was thinking of something like this for the mass, lots of light from the south

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HLM Architects Ltd

Tigh na Croit, nestles quietly into an area of former crofting land. The fully certified, award winning, Passivhaus creates high quality contemporary, low energy, environmentally responsible house which takes highland and rural design as inspiration whilst achieving the PH standard to drive down energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

We proposed a contemporary architectural solution where the scale, proportion, openings, roof pitch and mix of materials are all contextually relevant to the rural landscape. The house was designed specifically for the site and demonstrates confidence, articulation and design quality to create a high quality, low energy design looking towards new successful precedents of rural, Highland Housing.

UK Passivhaus Trust Awards - Rural Category 2016 Winner Saltire Design Awards - Single Dwelling Award 2016 Winner Scottish Home Awards - Architectural Excellence Award 2016 Winner RIAS Special Category - RIAS/Zero Waste Scotland Resource Efficiency Award 2016 Winner Scottish Design Awards - Residential Category 2016 Commendation GIA Awards - Design Award Winner 2016 CIBSE Building Performance Awards - Project of the Year - Residential Winner 2017 RICS Awards 2017 - Design Through Innovation Highly Commended

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Tigh na Croit, nestles quietly into an area of former crofting land. The fully certified, award winning, Passivhaus creates high quality contemporary, low energy, environmentally responsible house which takes highland and rural design as inspiration whilst achieving the PH standard to drive down energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

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"Polyvalence - it could be argued - became a means to focus the idea of flexibility towards a targeted range of future interpretations. However, without at least a vague understanding of the future context within which a polyvalent design will be reinterpreted, or a timeframe, the designer is left with too many future possibilities. This results in designs that are either too focused towards an imagined future, or are so vague that they revert back to the tactics of flexibility that polyvalence was intended to avoid. Additionally, infrastructure may also be wrongfully designed as polyvalent in the case where reinterpretation is not likely within the lifetime of the project"

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Nice transitions from indoors to outdoors. Also the suspended netting is a cool gimmick!

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This is a facility newly built for 40 children who are from 1 years old to 2 years old in Maebashi, Gunma, with the concept 'Feel the change of seasons'. Maebashi city is located at the foot of Mt. Akagi and the weather changes a lot depending on seasons. For examples, in winter they have a strong and cold wind from Mt Akagi, called 'Akagi Oroshi' and they feel the change of seasons very well.

Recently monotonous nursery environment seems to be increasing. But in this project, we think it as a problem that rooms in many nursery schools is designed to be easy for adults to control children, so the facility where people spend a comfortable time in feeling nature.

As the environment to feel nature, some elements of Japanese traditional house are installed which has many ideas to face with nature and manage it. Deep eaves and large windows can take wind and sunlight which change depending on seasons. Mud walls have heat insulating and moisture buffering effect. In these ways children can develop physical function while feeling nature even inside.

In addition, two-adjoining room is also Japanese traditional house style. By making two rooms together, children can play around safely while teacher watch them over.
In such a comfortable environment, children can feel the change of seasons and cultivate their sensitivity by themselves and at the same time they can have chances to touch local materials and learn its culture.

Team:

Design and construction supervision: HIBINOSEKKEI + Youji no Shiro + KIDS DESIGN LABO
Photographer: Ryuji Inoue

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MS Kindergarten and Nursery | HIBINOSEKKEI | Archello

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This is a facility newly built for 40 children who are from 1 years old to 2 years old in Maebashi, Gunma, with the concept 'Feel the change of seasons'. Maebashi city is located at the foot of Mt. Akagi and the weather changes a lot depending on seasons.

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Maximises daylighting (for Passivhaus?), flexible classrooms, connection to outdoors

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hobsonville point early learning centre by smith architects

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Hobsonville Point Early Learning Centre by Smith Architects

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Provision for new early learning services is part of the New Zealand Ministry of Education's New School's initiative. All new school sites have a designated area for a new licensed early learning center. Hobsonville Point has recently acquired a new Primary School and selected the North Auckland Kindergarten Association (NAKA) to build, establish and operate an early learning service on the site of the Primary School.

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Honourable interior mention. Just lurvley

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The Learning Tree | Delve Architects | Archello

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Emerging architects Delve complete new nursery The Learning Tree in Romford, for leading childcare and education company, Storal Learning.