Podgorje TimeShare Kindergarten and School / Arhitektura Jure Kotnik

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Text description provided by the architects. New TimeShare Kindergarten and School is located in the central area of small Slovenian village settlement Podgorje as an extension of the existing primary school. The kindergarten’s special feature is its open plan approach with unified play space, which covers as much as 85% of the entire surface. Children here are encouraged to be physically and socially active with a series of inviting design elements. One of such is meandering road between playrooms, which visually connects different spaces and invites children to follow it (walk, run, ride their kick scooter or bike). Special road signs have been designed, encouraging children to mimic movements of a particular animal (butterfly, crab, lizard, etc.), and go either fast (cheetah) or slow (snail). Various thematic play nooks (there are as many as 42), numerous blackboards, sports equipment of all kinds, and the accessibility of equipment encourage children to be active, discovering and pursuing their passions. Research showed that the this open principle in kindergartens boosts social contacts by more than twice, children’s access to equipment increases threefold and their physical activity is seven times that of their peers in traditional kindergartens in the region.