TINY TOTS, NURSERY SCHOOL

Location : Reliance Greens Township, Jamnagar

Size        : 3500 sq M

Year        : 2015 – 2017

For twenty years the Nursery School at the RIL Township at Jamnagar was run out of re-converted sheds inherited from the original Construction Project. Over time, these were maintained and modified to address the increasing number of families residing at the Township. However, the continual expansion of the Township, from the original 1800 odd families, to its current 6500 + has finally exhausted the further expandability of the erstwhile Project Sheds.

The new facility is a green field’s project located across the Bus Park from the Township K-12 CBSE School.

The plot is a Triangle, flanked on its longer side (hypotenuse) by H-T electrical lines and their statutory no-build--margin.

The brief was to create a contemporary, future-ready, Nursery School for 900 children between the ages of 2½ to 4½, along with Admin. Office, Staff Rooms, Library, Multi-Purpose Hall, and semi-outdoor & outdoor spaces, within a safe environment.

The facility is structured around three courtyards, with an open-sided large multi-level gathering space at the fulcrum heart of the assemblage. Two sides flow into the gently curvilinear profiles of the two courtyards flanked by the animated fenestration of the classrooms.  The two ‘closed’ sides allow for a multitude of possibilities to interact with the centre, from various levels, emerging from variously articulated sectional profiles.  Each is presented merely as an array of architectural backdrops to encourage interplay & interpretations of the possibilities of their creative uses by both the tiny tots, and their teachers.

The courtyards, all covered with translucent sheeting, are filled with light.  At the ground floor their level merges with that of the surrounding passages to form a wider-multi-textured, multi-use space outside each classroom.

 The Multipurpose Hall can be operated in multitudes of configurations, with its Sliding Fold-away Partioning.

All Signages focuses upon Learning : all classrooms are numbers, and all other spaces are the first letter of the alphabet of their spellings.  Internal colours and materials are focussed upon being backdrops to the highlights of bright colours provided by the graphics & play windows.  External Colours are an inverse of those on the K-12 School across the road, and is the colour of the sky predominately seen in Jamnagar.