OSTROVA School + Kindergarten

Ostrova Znanij (Islands of knowledge; named after the developer’s brand Ostrova = Islands) project is a complex of two buildings for school and preschool children. The project aimed to create learning spaces that focus on modern, informal, and creative ideas. Here, each element of the school and garden easily adapts to different activities and age groups and develops with the children.

The development of such a project requires a thoughtful approach and skillful analysis. Therefore, in the first stage, we held an in-depth study beginning with the design thinking method. Such an approach helps to understand respondents’ requests better, process information, analyze the situation, and identify important details.

The conclusions of design thinking, design task, regulatory documents, and our experience helped to study the problems of ordinary schools and kindergartens deeply and offer the customer economically feasible and at the same time original solutions.

We have developed two prototypes of the Ostrova Znanij complex based on general principles: a combined version and a version with detached buildings.

The first prototype is more reasonable. Both the school and garden are a single complex with a set of premises in two blocks: we made a shared kitchen, loading area, first-aid post, carpentry, inventory storage room, ramps, staircases, and elevators for people with disabilities and other similar areas. Duplicating the premises we did keep to the sanitary standards and rules for the design of educational complexes. This way we managed to reduce the cost and increase the area of ​the site for the implementation of full-fledged landscape architecture.

However, at that time, the state program for financing educational institutions assigned the school and garden to different stages of construction and did not provide for their simultaneous implementation. We had to separate the school and the garden.

Despite this fact, we have managed to partially implement the unique solutions and ideas of the combined option without significant losses in detached buildings.

The school is a complex-shaped building with a variable number of stories up to four. The planning was challenging due to the construction site limitations and targeted multifunctionality. The site is limited by the street on one side, the protected area of ​the forest on another side, and the territory of the kindergarten on the third side. There is a traditional square for school events in front of the main entrance to the building, which is formed by two protruding units of classrooms.

Passing inside the school, students and guests enter a spacious lobby first; it has a bright atrium with an upper light on the roof. Here, streams of students go to different stories and classes through spacious corridors, stairs, and elevators that provide barrier-free access to any story of the school. And intuitive navigation secures that you will find your way and get to the classes on time.

We were designing a place where a child would feel comfortable and could use all his five feelings for harmonious development. The kindergarten space encourages children to explore and act in different variations. So, in our proposal, children of different ages communicate, play, and watch cartoons together. They are in constant motion and open to different emotions. They always have a choice: run or draw calmly, communicate or stay alone — after all, they are not all extroverted.

Based on our experience in designing kindergartens, we had already understood what elements both adults and children would certainly appreciate. So in the project, there was a space for 3D games, a slide in the zone of control of parents, and navigation with elements of the game, which develops abstract thinking. We have designed an individual recreation room with glass walls for a teacher. This allows educators to relax during breaks and not leave children unattended. After all, comfort is important not only for children but also for teachers.

We have designed facade solutions for the school and kindergarten to be in harmony with the residential area and used overlapping design elements. One of the unusual techniques is playing with window openings. Different sizes and rhythms of their location form a recognizable image. Alternating windows and extensive glazing give lightness to volumes.

Hung facade panels made of fiber cement and metal cassettes are used as the main finishing material since they are reliable and durable. The coloristic solution is tied to monochrome colors — white, light gray, and dark gray, with accent inserts of terracotta and coral.

We have combined the schoolyard and the open part of the kindergarten. Their functionality takes into account the interests of different ages. It was important for us to create an atmosphere where children could learn from nature and understand the value of green spaces. Therefore, we carefully treated the existing relief and fit not only the necessary economic zones and sports grounds into it, but also provided for eco and ethnic pathways with recreation grounds, a tactile garden, and educational and experimental zones with greenhouses. This way children will be able to discover new knowledge not only inside the school and garden but also outside them.

The territory is available 24/7 to residents of the residential quarter and serves as a venue for exhibitions of educational work and experiments. For example, tactical improvement.

Ostrova znanij project combines our groundbreaking solutions, the customer’s readiness for experiments, and many years of experience of Akhmat Chugalaev’s participation in the development of modern schools in Russia. It was dialogue and joint work of people that formed the basis for the formation of the school and kindergarten project, which promotes the ideas of freedom, experiments, and discoveries

* Chugalaev Akhtam Khabibzyanovich — Principal of the school of the highest category, teacher of mathematics of the highest category, Honored Worker of Public Education of the Udmurt Republic, Honorary Worker of General Education of the Russian Federation, Winner of the First All-Russian competition «School Director — 2010,» Awarded with a Certificate of Honor of the Udmurt Republic, President of the Association of the Best Schools.