EKYA EARLY YEARS / COLLECTIVE PROJECT

Ekya Early Years: Kanakapura Road reconceives an abandoned watch factory and overgrown two acre site into a lush, colorful and immersive environment for learning. Designed as an exclusive preschool for both Montessori and Kindergarten environments, the new design capitalizes on the beauty of an old industrial building, repurposing the existing shell as a framework for spacious, naturally ventilated and sunlight filled classrooms.

The primary goal of this project was to provide a constant interaction between students and nature; a design requirement of the Montessori brief and an ever rarer experience within the rapidly growing city. To achieve this, the boundaries are blurred between inside and outside with the 13 learning environments (classrooms) accessed from a covered walkway circumnavigating a densely planted central “Jungle” courtyard. Conceived in a “pinwheel” formation from the courtyard are four controlled access points to

the exterior recreational and learning landscape. Features including an outdoor art room, amphitheater, playground, sandpit and individual classroom gardens radiate around the existing building footprint allowing for easy access, supervision and maintenance.

The strategic and consistent use of color establishes a stimulating and playful identity for the campus, acting as a visual connective tissue throughout the children’s daily experience. A soft gradient of coloured louvers highlight the covered office and student entrances. This gradient then changes frequency around the central courtyard walkway providing a single colour-code for each room. The same identifying colours continue inside each classroom to highlight special library reading niches and primary teaching surfaces.

Construction Notes:

This project is the first stand-alone Montessori school for the Ekya Early Years brand and the prototype for future locations. The program includes a full office/reception suite, 13 learning environments, art room, AV room, flexible common areas and outdoor recreation/learning spaces. One of the major challenges of this project was stabilizing the existing building, which was in major disrepair, so that it was suitable for a school. Due to cost and major structural constraints the existing building frame and shell were left intact though exceptions were made to create additional links between interior and exterior spaces and to highlight the main entrances. Within this predefined framework, playful architectural interventions occur at the children’s scale, creating reading nooks between classrooms, formal/impromptu seating areas and sculpted terrain.

 

Project: Ekya Early Years: Kanakapura Road

Design Team: Cyrus Patell, Eliza Higgins, Ajantha S., Grégoire Rossignol

Photography: Tina Nandi Stephens

Location: Kanakapura Road, Bangalore, India

Program: Boutique Montessori and Kindergarten

Design Scope: Architectural Renovation, Interiors and Landscape

Status: Completed July, 2014

Area: Approx. 25,000 sqft