Folded mat - an indigo kindergarten for Zagreb

How to design a kindergarten on a too small plot? What if the plot is overshadowed by a massive nine-story block on its south side? What if the plot is surrounded by heavy traffi c? The kindergarten is initially conceived as a single-storey mat building —compact, introverted, autocatalytic, with clearly defi ned borders. Due to the context, the mat is pushed away from the shadow and folded up towards the sun.

Local suburban matrix is echoed in the repetitive small-scale structure of units and patios. This chequered board of solids and voids is bent into a vertical plane —gardens become terraces, corridors turn into staircases. The outline of the building is continuous and closed, except on the west side which is “stripped” and treated like a glazed section to interact socially with a frequent neighbourhood path. An homage to the American artist Dan Graham in his work An Alteration to a Suburban House (1978).

Such a layout offers a variety of open-air spaces—patios, covered (winter) terraces and a rooftop garden. There is a big playground in the nonbuildable area to the back of the house.
The interior is organized as a sequence of spaces linked with “The children’s street.” Its meandering character and a multitude of in-between spaces, supported by intensive transparency and colour coding, attempt to create a scenery
of a true “urban” experience for the child.

The children’s and staff premises are completely intertwined. This typological innovation mirrors a series of didactic relations. A child can see women typing on a computer, others counting money, sewing linen or cooking their meal. There is a man who receives the new goods, another who controls the heating or repairs the furniture. This is the major contribution of the project —the whole spatial setup is to be understood as a specific educational device. Walking down “The children’s street” and seeing all the professions lined up left and right —like an everyday situation in the city; an introduction to real life.