This brief relates to a specific project we are working on in the town of Jurgow, Poland. There is not – or should not be – a standard brief for every nursery; each is specific to a particular site, relating the prevailing environmental conditions to local needs, and to the specific requirements of those who are going to be using the facility. Nevertheless, it is valuable to bring the experience gained working on other early-years projects, to inform the development process and to promote the highest standards of environmental quality here in the Tatra Mountains. In practice, what works and what does not work has been tested and evaluated by the authors within the framework of numerous other projects currently in use. Designing for children is an evolving science which is usually constrained by practical issues and requirements, which we set out systematically below. Needs change and evolve over time, and the mark of a good kindergarten is its capacity to develop along with its users with a loosefit, long-life concept. It should be capable of adaptation, change and growth over time. Most early-years buildings are usually a grand compromise and this should be borne in mind when reading this generic brief. Often, decisions will be based on the careful ordering of competing priorities; sometimes it is simply what we can afford. However, it should not be an excuse for poor decision-making at the development stage. Here, one also has to take into account the cultural background of any new development, what parents have been used to, and what they are prepared to ‘buy’ in terms of the hopes and aspirations they have for their children. For example, we recently visited a centre in Viborg, Denmark. On entering the children’s garden we were quite surprised to see 4-5-year-old children playing with a bonfire, throwing leaves and twigs on top, in a totally relaxed way. I asked the centre manager about this: wasn’t it dangerous for such young children to be left tending a fire? She responded that because they had a long 30-year tradition in Viborg of daycare for early years, parents, even grandparents had attended and engaged with similar activities, so the children saw it as normal and behaved responsibly. This, she believes, is part

of the culture of Viborg families; in other towns and cities without this heritage it would take time to subsume an early-years culture into normal family life. This brief deals almost exclusively with what might be described as the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the new childcare building. Subjects such as the ideal centre size, the precise contents of rooms such as toilets and kitchens, are all described systematically. Details such as the position of toilet soap dispensers and the height of the kitchen servery are presented, to provide a comprehensive list of items to be considered. You also need to match the list to what is available locally. For example, is it even possible for you to get hold of a macerator for the disposal of soiled nappies in Jurgow right now? It is a starting point for further discussion, where high aspirations should be tempered with financial stringency. However, the proposals must be fully understood. Often the problem with such detailed and precise guidance is that it suggests

there are no local decisions to be made. This is not the case, and these recommendations must be considered carefully to ensure that they suit you, the users. This brief should not just be concerned with functionality. One must also consider important child-oriented spatial concepts. Things are in reality never straightforward when designing for children. For example, it is now widely accepted that the level of spatial complexity within the building aids the development of the young child. It works like this: a complex scene invites exploration more than one which is simple and immediately readable. Just as we experience reward when doing a brain-stretching crossword, a play room with corners and hidden places will hold more fascination for the young child than a straightforward one. A complex scene invites exploration and fascination more than one which is simple and easily readable. From this state of fascination the child learns. In their studies, researchers have proved that by varying a room’s features, aspects such as the ceiling height, its slope, fenestration and colour significantly aid the fascination and engagement of young children. Solid research indicates that if it is possible to engage several of the senses, the greater will be the positive effect for children using it: the use of multisensory materials with a variety of colours, textures, lighting effects, sounds and aromas make the building a true learning environment, because the children’s development is significantly advanced as a result of this richness. In child development circles it is often referred to as ‘affordances’, because it describes our ability to see what an object or a surface or a fixed or moveable feature within the environment can offer the child in play terms. Children learn through play. That cardboard box isn’t just a discarded container, it can be successively part of a den, a fire engine, a spaceship, a climbing obstacle, etc. The pattern of young children’s play, as opposed to older school children’s, is often characterized by free flow from activity to activity, transforming as it goes. Robin Moore, accompanying young people through ‘childhood’s domain’ in the city is struck by the level of discrimination and

inventiveness they show in using resources.1 Watching children at play in a kindergarten, he observes, one sees this same psychic complexity at work. Younger children tend to play independently of each other while in the presence of others, moving from project to project. Cooperative play emerges later, but can be as early as 16 months. There are clear implications for the design and running of the kindergarten, to foster and afford this fluidity and ingenuity of play and exploration and to realize that for much of the time, young children will not necessarily spend their time in long periods of focused activity. This is normal, expected and positive. Therefore, play items and resources should be readily available. They should be changed and amended frequently. Even the most inventive interactive water feature will lose its appeal after the fourth or fifth experience if it is fixed and incapable of change. It is also a great advantage if the building itself has an in-built flexibility. We imagine that the three home base/activity areas at Jurgow might be dedicated and designed for different activities. For example, one might be for wet, messy play; another for more contained, clean activities such as reading, computer work and dancing; while the third might be used for quiet floor activities, with a sleeping facility for younger children. They can move through these themed areas in controlled groups at different times of the day. Sometimes quiet separation is desirable, hence the enclosure of space to form dedicated rooms (see the schedule of accommodation later in this chapter). However, spatial fluidity is also enhanced wherever it is practical, hence the large openable doors between the home base/activity areas and the mini piazza, and similarly between the training room and the parentinfant rooms on the first floor. Visual transparency is also an important concept as much for child protection issues as for the overall semi-open ambiance required architecturally. The client specifically asked for views of the adjacent public park through the activity areas on entering the mini piazza. So,

for example, large openable door/window panels with glazed clerestory panels above will aid the desired lightness and transparency. Similarly, we indicate vision panels between activity areas and children’s toilets, which is common practice in most European centres. However, there must be order amidst the spontaneity of play desires. Child-accessible storage is a must, so that children can take things such as paper and paints and, most importantly, learn to put them away after use. The so-called HighScope curriculum, which we understand will be adopted here, has well-established requirements which will be specified in storage terms.2 There will also be storage for non-child accessible resources and for larger play items which may not be in use all of the time. Often, a toy library will be included. Hence we will not refer to the early-years home bases as ‘classrooms’; rather, we will use the term ‘activity area’, which reflects this fluidity as opposed to the more static nature of older years school ‘classrooms’. Jurgow is high up in the mountains, at least 2,000 metres above sea level. It is very cold during the winter, with high levels of snowfall. Therefore the roof profiles for the new building are to a certain extent dictated by the weight of snow, and should be not less than 25° in pitch. Because of the extreme winter cold, the children tend to stay indoors for much of the time, although technologically advanced winter ski clothing as seen previously in many Scandinavian projects may, if provided, help to modify this behaviour to some degree. Nevertheless, the need to provide as much internalized space as possible was a primary requirement in the client brief. Therefore the overall form of the building is compact and highly insulated, with a large internalized children’s playground, the so-called ‘mini piazza’. Providing the right environment for a child is vitally important, since young children require support of a very particular type in order to develop as happy, confident individuals. What may appear as a gentle flight of steps to adults can seem like a rocky mountain face to a small child – and while this

may be a welcome challenge to bored three-year-olds, if the feature is unsafe it will simply alarm their parents and carers. On the other hand, an early-years environment with few level changes and no stairs is a dull, anonymous and even unnatural landscape. Stairs are, after all, frequently experienced by young children in the home and in other buildings such as libraries or shops. Climbing on and around a staircase can be a pleasurable experience for young children and, if designed safely, will enable the building to be planned over more than one storey, minimizing the built-site space. In addition, stairs and other architectural features can really help to develop the child’s physical awareness and their mastery of the real world and all of its unevenness. For financial reasons there is no lift/elevator in this two-storey building. Most children’s centres within the European Community would not by

law be allowed to function without a lift. However, it is simply not possible in this situation to provide one and consequently the design of stairways takes on more significance. They should be gentle, broad and easy to use, with both child-and adult-height handrails fitted. They should be well lit and colourcoded to provide child-oriented legibility and easy wayfinding. Thus the stairway should become part of the ‘promenade’ and add to the general enjoyment of the building in use. Similarly, it is important to provide the environment with other childfriendly features which help them in wayfinding, which is important in environmental awareness development; put simply, being able to remember their way around the building. Note the playfully curvy bench in this nursery. Some centres adopt symbols to denote three different types of child-or non-childaccessible rooms: the doors might be painted green to denote full child access (or a circular window is sometimes used); rooms which are accessible with adult supervision would be painted blue (or have a triangular window) and rooms such as the kitchen which is non-child-accessible at all times would be painted red (or have a square window). Aiding wayfinding and legibility for children (and adults too) through child-centred design is an important requirement. There are many ways in which this legibility can be promoted through architecture. As with any public building, and particularly one for young children, security is an important obligation for those who run it. Therefore the main entrance at Jurgow Nursery is secured by locks which can be remotely released by a supervising person inside the building. It is anticipated that the administrative office, which is adjacent to the main entrance, will be constantly manned and will maintain visual control over these entrance doors. There are views from the office to the entrance doors and there is a reception desk outside the office immediately adjacent to the main entrance in the mini piazza. Parking will be located in the square close to the main entrance, which is positioned on the west side of the building. The street which runs parallel

to the west façade is wide and will provide good, safe short-stay parking for parents dropping off or collecting their children by car. The fortunate proximity of Jurgow Park, which is adjacent to the site, together with the magnificent views of the surrounding mountains, presents the opportunity to frame this outlook in the form of large picture windows on the south façade. Famously, environmental psychologist Roger Ulrich found through his research that well-being and recovery rates in (adult) hospital patients allocated to wards with a view over parkland (as opposed to a dull view overlooking other hospital buildings), improved more quickly.3 Not only that, patients’ self-reports of their well-being and contentment were far more positive than those who had no view. Green views were good for them, therefore the decision to locate four of the five main children’s rooms on this main façade oriented to the park was based on well-founded research around the nurturing aspect of the ‘green view’. Normally nurseries and kindergartens will be located on generous sites where the children will have their own dedicated and secure outside play spaces. However, in this case the site is confined and the available outside play space is restricted to an area of only 35 m2 on the south side of the plot. Given that there may be at least 72 children on-site at any one time, this gives a ratio of half a metre per child of usable secure outside play space. The ratios recommended by European guidelines is in the order of 9 m2 per child. However, it is often the case in urban situations like this that children will be able to use nearby public parks for their outside play activities, accompanied at all times by adult carers. The sight of groups of toddlers walking down city streets tethered securely together by purpose-made reins is commonplace, particularly in France and Spain. Here, Jurgow Park provides the ideal situation for the controlled use of the existing play areas within the adjacent park. Playing outdoors is key to developing young children’s bodies and minds and, according to children themselves, it is what they like best at kindergarten. Easy run-in-run-out access between indoors and outdoors extends the child’s field of learning, and can help them develop an appreciation of the natural world. In the best possible environment, access doors lead directly from inside onto gardens. A level threshold encourages circulation between the indoor areas and protected external areas, allowing equipment to be wheeled or carried outside so that activities can continue in both environments and children feel free to move between the two. At Jurgow Park Nursery, the internal floor level is approximately 600 mm above the external ground level. The two main activity areas which overlook the external space will therefore be provided with a level threshold by way of an elevated timber board-walk plinth with a sunken sand-pit in the centre. This level gradually steps down, providing ‘affordances’ for the children with the use of a variety of floor finishes – stone, timber and rubber compound, for example. Small areas of planting are provided for the cultivation of fruit and vegetables, with stepping stones that enhance the child’s sense of their proximity to nature. A raised platform with a mini-den constructed along two sides of the existing walls to Jurgow Park, one metre above ground level, provides views into the park and den areas beneath. There will be an area for water play. Secure, well-designed activity corners provide opportunities for

children to ‘withdraw’ from the main play space and develop their own sense of community with other children. Unfortunately there is little space for challenging gross motor activities and no climbing frame will be included. Activities will be limited to small motor play, with different materials such as sand, water, soil (for digging) and timber blocks. Jurgow Park itself will provide areas for running, jumping and climbing. Nevertheless, this space will be a valuable and complementary asset to the internal learning environment. The floor is the main activity surface that young children mostly use, although it is fair to say that children under the age of about two years

will begin to use child-sized tables and chairs for some activities. Nevertheless, the floor will remain the main place for play. We will explain the thinking on the floor finishes, and the provision of raised plinths and sensory materials in our home base/activity area sections. Developers and managers should bear in mind that hygiene is important and protecting the floors from potentially dangerous bacterial matter brought in on the soles of shoes is important. The removal of all outdoor shoes will be rigorously enforced, with the provision of plastic hygiene shoe covers if required. The kitchen is an important part of any early-years environment. It symbolizes the homely quality of meal preparation common to any social group. Furthermore, a readiness to provide good, wholesome food and a wellbalanced diet for growing children is integral to good practice. We therefore provide a full catering kitchen. It is always useful to involve parents in planning menus. The layout of the areas around the kitchen should encourage

staff to sit with children, the grouping of children for mealtimes at dedicated tables if possible, encouraging independence, choice and social interaction; thus we meet the needs of children, especially those who arrive early in the morning and who leave late in the afternoon. For them the nursery will become their ‘home from home’.