Richmond Hill Pre-school

Richmond Hill Pre-School - concept & approach in collaboration with Alma Holm

ordering principles

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ordering principles

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BRIEF

A Group of friends who all have young children and live in Richmond Hill , Port Elizabeth, have decided to come together to establish a pre-school and pre-primary facility to accommodate their children and the children in their community owing to the lack of a quality facility in the area.

Together they have a broad range of skills and expertise allowing them to successfully realise the project and with the help of the community sustain it in the long term. They have acquired an appropriate site in Richmond hill and have arranged financing for the project.

SITE

The Site itself is a small park, generously planted with maple trees, in the historic suburb and close to the popular restaurant precinct of Stanley street. A clearing is formed in the centre of the park with the tree canopies creating a sense of enclosure and comfort from within. Furthermore, the particular light conditions of the park became a major informant in the design of the preschool.

pre school activities	site analysis	site response
programme and site

The design intention was to create settings in which children could have a variety of physical and and sensuous experiences of their physical surroundings.

- Light as medium of discovery: Experiencing light conditions and change in light (seasons, hours,)

- To be able to be 'above', 'below' ,'close,' 'faraway'

- To experience to 'hide',or be exposed, to be alone or with others, quiet or noisy etc.

-To have a connection to 'outside'

These settings/spaces would provide for their shifting needs,

APPROACH

CONCEPT & STRATEGY

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The natural order of the site(maple trees) and the notion of light as the medium of discovery in early childhood development led to a response which is highly connected to the experience of place. A series of ordering principles are superimposed on the spatial field and respond to dominant energies; a 'forest of structure', 'served and service' space, 'storage as space making elements', 'envelope and response to light' and finally an holistic ecological/energy strategy for the building and its occupants.