Jablonec nad Nisou Kindergarten

The phenomenon of the town of Jablonec is the reservoir and the close proximity of the extensive Jizera Mountains Protected Landscape Area, including the surrounding urban orchard landscape. The land itself is in direct contact with these external influences and the design of the kindergarten building with garden respects and absorbs them into the design. For the design, we therefore propose an inspiring environment for play and learning, which we have embedded in a garden full of trees. The compact volumes of the separate classrooms face the garden in different directions, opening up views through large windows. These boxes are interconnected by a spacious corridor that integrates the play functions and on whose roof the garden space is extended by another dimension.

The specific environment of the dam’s edge is the site of a quiet neighbourhood of multi-storeyed, solitary villas set in the ubiquitous greenery. The mixed woodland is part of the surroundings of the reservoir as well as the nursery school site itself. The spacious building, divided into volumes of individual classes of smaller scale, does not stand out visually from the surrounding development. The kindergarten is set in a garden with planted mature trees and is almost entirely engulfed by a ‚forest‘ of trees around its perimeter. The theme of a forest nursery is noticeable from the entrance to the building, particularly through the retention of most of the existing trees.

The timber-clad volumes of the classrooms are set into the garden as separate houses. Connecting corridors are designed with glazing/overlooks around the perimeter and a garden above. The visitor thus perceives the classrooms as separate masses in the forest. Yet the main aspiration of the design is to offer children a place to build community and interact with each other, the residence corridor is thus one of the main residence spaces. It also extends further into the inner atrium and roof garden, providing spaces for the whole nursery at any one time.