Nurture
Confidential Client
Location: Somewhere in Texas
Area: 96,000 SF
Year: 2020
Role: Design Director
Team: Tuner Ramirez Architects
Luis Ayala Studio
As parents, we understand the over-protective nature with which we nurture our children. They are our most precious treasures. Overzealous, we are constantly checking on them, caring for their wellbeing even more than ours. Thinking of this condition, we drew the shapes of the arms of a mother embracing her child. The sinuous shape of her arms tendering, protecting, and creating a haven was an indication of how an Early Childhood School could be shaped. We also thought of this project from the perspective of a child. From birth, they are surrounded by their parents, protecting them, keeping an eye on them. Going to school is perhaps the first time they are detaching from mom and dad. Imagine if we could provide a space where they could experience, possibly for the first time in their lives, the most extensive area to roam freely on their own?
The answer is a courtyard.
An open space where they can play, learn, experience, and have fun. At the center of the composition, we propose a media center. A shared space where children of all ages meet. Classroom buildings are set in a perimeter defining the courtyard’s boundaries as the mother’s loving arms do. We envisioned these repetitive structures to be prefabricated and assembled on-site, reducing costs, and overall construction schedule.
