Kindergarten Design | Aslıhan Dökmeci

SUMMARY OF DESIGN PROCESS

Objective

The objective of the design was to find a concept, first and foremost, which could serve both functionally and aesthetically for the purpose of a kindergarten building. On this course, the concept had been shaped around the dense wooden area on which the building was going to be exist on. This neighborhood and the domain was chosen for such reasons below ;

Existence of Apor Catholic School nearby the project domain, this school has a connected kindergarten right across my project area,
Colourful and relatively silent neighborhood
Dense woods
And overall the residential occupancy throughout the area

Goals

When creating the first sketches my main idea was to connect, inspire, interact and effect the area I was intended to build on. I thought about using the trees not only as three dimensional but also 2 dimensional elements on the design by working on facade sketches.
The goal was basically to let children have a big garden and common rooms which are directly connected to there.

Solution

In order to achieve functional and aestheticall design needs, different module of masses were proposed, each were to represent the functional orientation inside the building.
The final design contain one long mass in the middle which was formed in order to create a more open space than just a room. In this case the big mass connects and mix the functions of other masses. It is mainly used as dining area, storage for chairs and such furnitures which can be easily stored under the playground elements.

Transparent Facades
On the wooden side of the area where the group rooms of the children are, the facades were made as transparent as possible in order to take the view inside the classrooms and create a peaceful atmosphere. This also allowed the group rooms to have a direct access with the garden area.
On the road side of the area windows were used only at places where direct daylight is needed. However the big mass has glass facades on both side because the facades are cut out with other small masses.
This also caused a need for a small interior garden inside the big mass and also added up with the ambiance of the central circulation space.

The orientation of the rooms made by three main functions ; management, service and group rooms. To let the group rooms be on the wooden side, management and service areas were designed on the road side which also allowed them to have direct access with vehicles. ( Close to the open car parking lot there are service and management entrances which are the two other minor entrances of the building other than the main enterance.)

Morphology kept simple on most part to follow the other buildings on the area, only the group rooms were changed in order to give a playful affect and compositional balance.

Project Outline

The design’s aim was to create flexible, multifunctional, rearrangeable spaces rather than closed rooms. Also by doing that, try to solve connection issues between different functions alongside the interior-exterior connections and circulations.

Design Program

Group Rooms 75 m2
Director’s Room 20 m2
Office 20 m2
Meeting Room 25 m2
Special Treatment Room 20 m2 Doctor’s Room 20 m2 Logopedia 20 m2

Heating Kitchen 50 m2 Mechanical Room 20 m2 Maintenance Room 20 m2 Special Movement Room 20 m2 Sport’s Store 10 m2

Gym 80 m2
General Circulation, Dining and Storage Area