COCOON / POLYANNA PARAKSEVA

The Cocoon is a building complex for the accommodation of infants and toddlers aged up to 3 years, where they are engaged creatively and develop their skills under the supervision of qualified baby nurses and trained staff. It is located in Navarino Dunes, the first area of Costa Navarino, in Messinia, Greece. The two buildings expand in a total area of 1000 sq. m.

 

Inspired by the memory of the cocoon, as the space that carries life, the buildings include accommodation, spaces for creative and educational activities for toddlers, as well as areas of outdoor play. 

The soft shapes that surround, contain and protect life derive from the concept of birth. Fluid forms and carved underground spaces with green roofs surround a basin, from which organic forms emerge. The Cocoon creates a soft and secure environment for the accommodation of infants.

 

Eco-friendly materials, friendly to both humans and the environment, were selected for the construction, as well as the mobile and fixed equipment. The earth (green roof), the sun, the wind and the water surround, traverse, and define the building, thus comprising its inherent natural ingredients.

 

~This project has been shortlisted by SADAS-PEA (Greek Architects Association) to represent Greece at the Mies Van der Rohe Awards 2011 and was also shortlisted for  the 2011 World Architecture Festival prize, in Barcelona.