CollectiveProject

Ekya Early Years: Kanakapura Road reconceives an abandoned watch factory and overgrown two acre site into a lush, colorful and immersive environment for learning. Designed as an exclusive preschool for both Montessori and Kindergarten environments, the new design capitalizes on the beauty of an old industrial building, repurposing the existing shell as a framework for spacious, naturally ventilated and sunlight filled classrooms.

The primary goal of this project was to provide a constant interaction between students and nature; a design requirement of the Montessori brief and an ever rarer experience within the rapidly growing city. To achieve this, the boundaries are blurred between inside and outside with the 13 learning environments (classrooms) accessed from a covered walkway circumnavigating a densely planted central “Jungle” courtyard. Conceived in a “pinwheel” formation from the courtyard are four controlled access points to the exterior recreational and learning landscape. Features including an outdoor art room, amphitheater, playground, sandpit and individual classroom gardens radiate around the existing building footprint allowing for easy access, supervision and maintenance.

The strategic and consistent use of color establishes a stimulating and playful identity for the campus, acting as a visual connective tissue throughout the children’s daily experience. A soft gradient of coloured louvers highlight the covered office and student entrances. This gradient then changes frequency around the central courtyard walkway providing a single colour-code for each room. The same identifying colours continue inside each classroom to highlight special library reading niches and primary teaching surfaces.