National Day Nurseries Association

Mark Dudek

Description

The National Day Nurseries Association is a charitable organisation responsible for the welfare and support of private nursery providers. They commissioned the architects to work on two of their new regional centres, which combine both private and public childcare support services within this deprived urban community. The building combines private and public funding to provide a balanced high quality environment on a site adjacent to the local state primary school. Part of the provision includes a ‘Sure Start’ centre, with spaces for training and support to adults within the community. This is a speculative model for early years which attempts to integrate welfare and education services in a new way.

The centre at Grantham is predominantly for preschool age children and includes the provision of full daycare for up to 100 children. Here, the NDNA’s remit also includes training and outreach work for its members. There is a study and seminar area which is used by the local university, training future care workers. The end result is a complex building with a main nursery section comprising units for children in groups aged 0-1, 1-1.5 years, 1.5-2 years and finally preschoolers aged 3-4 years with administration all organised around a tapering play corridor (with children’s cloakrooms) which leads onto a secure U shaped play courtyard.

This is the interface between all age ranges, and provides a theatrical space for a variety of activities. Included is a detached free form ‘story-room’ which helps to terminate the open end of the courtyard. It is a reference point for children within the main building, a special place for special times. The design develops the constraints of the room schedule by adopting a metaphor of growth. The idea is that as children grow, so the building should grow; this was taken as a key design idea, with the gentle tapering of the building’s form in plan and in section. At its lowest and narrowest point, there is the baby room, an intimate enclosed zone appropriate for the youngest and most vulnerable; the children’s activity rooms are arranged in ascending age order around the courtyard, so that the final room for the oldest preschool children is a lofty spacious area, symbolically encouraging children to be more active and adventurous.

It gives a subtle twist to the entire building form, within the framework of tight budgetary constraints. The possibility to be different with the new generation of childcare buildings is often limited by both the constraints of the budget and limited aspirations of many client bodies involved with the development of these buildings. It is often viewed as a hospital type environment with a strong emphasis on security and functionality. This approach tends to exclude the possibility of fantasy and imagination. Here the designers have introduced a clever twist to the design which has a subtle effect on those using the building. There is something not quite right about the rooms, yet this spatial twist is one which switches children onto the space where they reside, often for long periods of time. It is a ‘home from home’, yet it is also an inspiring place, elegant and designed with the perceptions of young children in mind.