client Kids Ahoy Childcare
contract value £149,000
area new build 180 sq. m.
site/playground 2,370 sq. m.
Kids Ahoy asked Halvorsen Architects to design a new outdoor nursery near Dumfries, on a brownfield site surrounded by shrubland and woodland.
The project, now called Land Ahoy Forest School Nursery, was to include an indoor classroom, staff room, toilets, cloakrooms and outdoor play and learning spaces.
The client had already used two other firms of architects, both of which had proposed a single large building in the centre of the site, with the remaining area split for outdoor play and learning in small fragments around the building.
We broke up the indoor spaces into smaller, individual units and moved them to the periphery of the site, creating a much larger playground, and forming a barrier between the parking area and the playground. Some of the indoor spaces are housed in existing timber pods, with others are in new, purpose-built, timber-framed buildings.
The main building houses a kitchen, large indoor space, boot and cloakroom, and has a large covered external deck.
A natural water treatment system, designed by Living Water, enabled the inclusion of a water feature that’s both instructive and playful for the children. The stone used for this came from a local quarry as described in the blog From quarry to waterfall. The waste water works its way through a reed-bed system and a willow copse, before ending up in a pond on adjacent land.
Instead of piping the water underground, a free-formed rill runs across the site, also collecting water from the steep banks above the nursery, thereby preventing flooding. It cascades down the steeper slope and meanders across the flatter area.
Locally fallen oak trees were cut up and used as natural climbing frames.
