Kai Early Learning Campus With Well Designed Communal Play Spaces | Educational Design Architects
Kai Early Years, an early childhood campus in Bengaluru, demonstrates a ‘third-teacher’ learning environment that nurtures the developmental needs of children aged two to six years through an engaging framework of consciously explorative and communal play spaces.
Visit : Education Design Architects
Located in Whitefield, an urban neighbourhood in Bengaluru that is home to a community of young professionals hailing from all parts of the world, Kai Early Years is spread over 1.8 acres – currently India’s largest early childhood campus. The campus consists of two independently functioning departments: the Learning Centre and the Community Centre – a large shaded play court between these two buildings forms the functional and social heart of the campus.
The Learning Centre houses learning pods, activity spaces, and administrative spaces. The learning pods and activity zones together form the School Block – a free-flowing expanse divided as per activity and usage, rather than typical age-based divisions. These permeable spaces or ‘pods’ comprise the ‘makers’ zone, the cognitive zone, reading and story-telling spaces, and art zones; situated peripherally are the music hall, the dramatics theatre, and the dance studio. The Community Centre houses day-care facilities as well as research spaces for early years education methodologies.
The two-storey structure is devoid of sharp lines and stark profiles, favoring curved profiles to envelope the interconnected ‘learning pods’; the undulating façade envelope also provides subtle cues for movement within the campus. A pergola with louvered edges forms the secondary envelope to the built form at the ground level, loosely following the building line and creating free-flowing circulation spaces below.
The design scheme is predicated on the dynamic interplay between the indoors and the outdoors to create a holistic learning environment: pods spill out onto learning decks and outdoor activity areas along the building periphery, low sill levels maintained across the structure ensure consistent visual interconnections, and glass-topped corridors and membrane roofing over shared outdoor spaces ensure that the students can venture outdoors at all times. This interplay is strengthened by the strategic use of indigenous flowering plants and fruit-bearing trees to line the circulatory spaces and outdoor play areas, as a teaching aid for children as well as for visual and environmental control.
The timber-and-white-plaster material palette continues in the interiors, creating a warm and congruous spatial experience with minimal physical or visual barriers; free-standing acoustic partitions and distinct ceiling and wall patterns mark the boundaries of each zone – building visual recognition skills among students without creating boxed-in spaces. The design is also sensitive to the emotional needs of children, and provides cozy nooks for solitary use that can be used for silent reading, individual play, or simply to withdraw from time to time.
Activity zones, whether indoors or outdoors, have been equipped with a variety of play structures to enhance kinesthetics intelligence. A highly tactile spatial experience combined with an open design format incorporated for the reconfigurable equipment encourages children to mindfully assemble play structures of their own imagination.
Fact File :
Architects: Education Design Architects
Area: 5202 m²
Year: 2019
Locaion : Bengalore
Architect In Charge: Mugdha Thakurdesai
Design Team: Shanti Jamoh, Abhishek Chopra, Sagar Vijaynidhi
Client: KAI Early Years
Electrical Consultants: SEED Engineering Consultants
Landscape: SEED Engineering Consultants
Photographs: Andre Fanthome
Source : Arch Daily
This bungalow style house influences the site context and can be visualised in multiple facades of sharp edges & cuboidal form. Her,e salient features like U-Projection are an expression of the bench on a level one. The house divides itself into three bays. On the ground floor, where first bay acquire all public activities like […]
Imagine yourself on the terrace of your hidden mountain retreat, drinking a fresh cup of coffee as you admire the sunrise emerging from behind the rolling hills across the valley. This serene atmosphere is exactly what Hello Wood’s latest project, the Console House, is designed to offer. The Console House showcases modern architecture design while […]
As cities continue to grow and evolve, there is a growing desire to incorporate elements of rural living into urban design. By embracing rural living principles, cities can create more eco-friendly and sustainable spaces. Rural living is not just about wide-open spaces and rolling hills. It’s also about community, sustainability, and a connection to nature. […]
Located in the thriving city of Ichalkaranji, this is an example of luxury residences is a seamless blend of timeless elegance and modern sophistication. The striking exterior, adorned with brick and natural stone cladding, exudes warmth, character, and permanence. These rich textures create a visually captivating façade, harmonizing tradition with contemporary design while making a […]
Throughout history, stone has embodied permanence, artistry, and raw beauty in architecture. From the grandeur of Roman amphitheaters to the earthy elegance of modern villas, stone remains a beloved material for its strength, sustainability, and aesthetic richness. As design trends evolve toward natural materials, eco-conscious decisions, and biophilic design, stone has found new expressions — […]
The space adopts a biophilic office design and climate-responsive approach, creating a workspace that reimagines urban interiors by deeply embedding them with nature. The style is earthy, minimal, and modern with a strong contextual sensitivity to its location. Also, a lush canopy surrounds the bare-shell site on the first floor, allowing for abundant daylight and […]
The design started from an old house where a family of seven stood, one yet to be born. Hari & Sreelakshmi, Usha-Hari’s mother, Malathi, teacher, Hari’s grandmother, kids, Sankari, Paru, and yet to be born Sreebala. Four generations living in a 60-year-old house that had begun to show its age with dimly lit rooms, leaking […]
The clients’ requirement was to create a wellbeing centre at Oleander Farms, Karjat, Maharashtra, that would be a tranquil sanctuary for their visitors. Walking through a dense canopy of trees, hearing the soft chirping of birds, we slowly embarked on an expanse of a 2-acre of land that was both open yet heavily tree-laden. This […]
The thought was to create a space which would act as a formal real estate workspace in the daytime and a family retreat in the evening. By its name, as it is, ‘Leveled. This office with a garden is defined using levels, in terms of volumes, surfaces as well as edges. These levels are rationalized […]
Nirmay (निर्मय) reflects purity and holistic well-being. Envisioned as a quiet sanctuary amidst the noise of urban life, these courtyard villas offer a way of living that is calm, conscious, and deeply connected to the land. Rooted in sustainability and ecological harmony, the design responds to both nature and the everyday rhythms of its inhabitants. […]