NEXT Architects . Claudia Linders

Hestia Day-Care Centre . Rivierenbuurt

NEXT Architects . photos: © Jeroen Musch . + archdaily

The Hestia Day-Care Centre follows the philosophy of Reggio Emilia.

This philosophy also contains a number of explicit statements on architecture, which have been translated into a spatial concept for the new building.
The building as a city, as a collection of rooms: the building becomes a collection of different spaces in which the children can discover new places all the time; may go on a voyage of discovery. All of the spaces are connected to each other just as they are in a real city and you can go from a big room to a small one, from a high room to a low one.
A framework of service modules provides structure: the various spaces are structured by being fit into a grid. The body includes all service modules, such as sanitary facilities, store rooms and bedrooms.

Interior-exterior continuity: the grid is not confined to the building but also becomes the design concept for the exterior space. The rooms may be decorated with different hard surfaces and plants. The exterior is extended throughout the building by designing various rooms like exterior space.
Different perceptions of scale: different scales can be experienced as a result of the subtle use of height differences between the rooms themselves. In the central space, the large scale is perceptible because of the way the group spaces are separated, a smaller scale is perceptible because of the height and an even smaller scale is perceptible because of the sheltered spaces.