PRESCHOOL PLAY: A GOTHIC GARDEN

Chicago, USA

Award-Winning Gothic Garden Rescues an Alley

Photo © © Doug Snower

Reading Circle

Photo © © Doug Snower

Quatrefoil Cutouts for Peek-A-Boo

Photo © © Doug Snower

Flower Ramps and Rollers

Photo © © Doug Snower

Garden Tunnels

Photo © © Doug Snower

Fire Stair as Performance Hall

Photo © © Doug Snower

Architects: Architecture Is Fun

Location: Chicago, USA
Year: 2008
Client: St. Chrysostom's Day School
Team: Sharon Exley, Peter Exley, Fun Finders, Architecture Is Fun

A GOTHIC GARDEN FOR ST. CHRYSOSTOM'S DAY SCHOOL:
A cathedral of trees rescues a dreary, urban back alley; converting into an uplifting 450 square foot Gothic Children’s Garden into a place of delight, inspiration, creativity, and sanctuary designed for children at play and prayer in the out-of-doors. Soaring arches, reaching up to embrace the sky, articulate a purposeful space that feels larger than its physical boundaries.

The alley is adorned with art-making, the fire stair becomes a performance hall, and lofty vaults create canopies of artful wind chimes. This endearing architecture with its award-winning tracery, arches, vaults, peek-a-boo quatrefoil cutouts, and modular grid establishes its functional importance as a landscape for reflection, seeing, storytelling, gardening, and exploration, while building upon the historic church’s gothic sensibilities and emotive beauty.