Our kindergarten building:
A haven for childhood
Children absorb – and imitate everything around them. As they are so open to the qualities and messages of their surroundings, an underlying requirement for any building for small children is that it is harmonious and gentle, has a ‘life’ to its forms, spaces, textures, colours, light, materials and so on, and that it is as magical and full of reverent wonder as an ancient fairy tale.
– Christopher Day, ‘ A Haven for Childhood’
When Christopher Day, an award-winning eco-architect turned his focus to his children’s Steiner school, Nant-y-Cwm in rural West Wales and the construction of an adjoining kindergarten building in the late 80s, his considerations were not only for the environment but also the benefit of the children’s physical and mental well-being.
Day imagined a space where the environment, students, and teachers could all thrive harmoniously, and every inch of the building was deeply considered towards this objective. His design philosophy, deeply influenced by Rudolph Steiner’s teachings, envisioned buildings as sensorial spaces capable of uplifting the human spirit. The building which was completed in 1991 has now, over thirty years later, been listed by CADW for its significance as an eco-architectural build.
Small children, their bodies still forming, their state of soul a reflection of the experiences around them, need to live with one foot in the world of imagination. Straight lines, and the harshness, imposed organization and imagination restriction that these bring are harmful
– Christopher Day, ‘ A Haven for Childhood’
In his book, A Haven for Childhood, Day tells the story of the highs and lows of Nant-y-Cwm’s kindergarten project and explains the principles that lie at the heart of his work.
His intent was to create a building that would ‘blend seamlessly with its surroundings’. A building after all, is no mere response to physical necessities but must answer the inner needs of the whole being. When small children are to be the occupants, how much more vital are these principles?
The kindergarten’s irregular, curved building structure was decided upon as ‘surroundings of unremitting straight lines sap energy, those made up of curves reinvigorate’.
”With children’s health in mind, we naturally chose non-toxic materials wherever possible. We also sought actually to stimulate life. This needs artistic measures. Throughout the building, from classrooms to toilets, light, texture and form gently stimulating the senses. Qualities of line, shape and form are specifically chosen for gentle energizing effects.”
– Christopher Day, ‘ A haven for Childhood’
The kindergarten which is surrounded by forest, field, and river achieves Day’s ambition to echo this rich natural environment by incorporating an undulating grass roof.
Living roofs promote biodiversity and provide thermal protection, retaining heat and insulating which reduces energy use. A turf roof can also improve the air quality and filters rainwater. This living, breathing roof gives life to the building, and inspires all those who look upon it.
…these socially unifying spaces are balanced by the corner nooks into which children like to disperse during free play; like behind-the-sofa and under-the-table spaces at home, these are the places children seek as ‘houses’ for the worlds they construct in their imagination.
– Christopher Day, ‘ A Haven for Childhood’
The rooms inside the kindergarten were carefully considered by Day to enhance the children’s early development and learning. The handcrafted, cedar windows and door frames throughout are as beautiful as they are sustainable. The rounded shape of the rooms allows for several alcoves where children can play safely uninhibited and independently, without feeling observed.
In Steiner schools the colour of the walls is intentional to facilitate the optimum learning environment; early childhood rooms are painted a soft pink which is felt by the young children as warm and calming. Non-toxic paint was used at Nant-y-Cwm’s kindergarten building wherever possible, providing a truly safe environment for child’s play.
From car-park to classroom – both outer (physical) and inner preparatory journey. From tree-arch through woodland path, portal, play-yard, narrow entrance and passage, golden cloak-lobby, classroom thresholds to the rooms themselves, the space, gestures, light, colour and mood continually expand and contract.
– Christopher Day, ‘ A Haven for Childhood’
Even the journey to school was considered:
”Almost all children come to school by car. Car journeys are kaleidoscopically visually stimulated with little link-up with the other senses. Moreover lift sharing usually means that as many children are stuffed into a car as will fit. Thus the journey is usually overcrowded, hurried and fractious.
Children need to leave the aggressive over-stimulating vehicular world behind them so as to be ready to enter into the mood of quiet wonder appropriate to a Steiner kindergarten.
So we take them for a walk along about a hundred metres of twisting woodland path. In the process, they cross several thresholds:
First a leaf archway; then a sun-dappled cliff edge above the shining, singing river; then shady woodland. The path finishes with an uphill slope. This brings you more into yourself, whereas a downhill one would do the reverse: children (and even some adults) would break into a run.
As they pass under an overhanging roof ‘archway’ , they see for the first time their destination. The boundary gate opens to a sunlit brick play-yard with sand-heap – the first stopping place on the journey. Here they see the entrance invitingly gestured.Deliberately slightly asymmetrical to invite, not compel. ”
Our deepest gratitude, to Christopher Day MBE (1942-2019) for his huge contributions to Nant-y-Cwm. Children to this day still benefit from his thoughtful, child centered design – and so will many generations more
