DOMA AWARD 2025: COMMENDATION PRIZE IN ‘BEST PROJECT’ CATEGORY

Participation in an architectural competition. In collaboration with Urban Radicals (Nasios Varnavas, Era Savvidi)

ELENION KINDERGARTEN is a school designed for children to learn through play,

fostering a sense of community for the many cultural identities which make it, and the city of Nicosia.

The design aims to create a welcoming environment open to all students from diverse backgrounds.

The main design gesture is that of an inclusion with a u-shaped addition to the existing listed building primarily made of local limestone. The ‘Tapestry of Learning’, a square grid on the site is a second main gesture that defines a playful chessboard for built and defined uses, as well as unbuilt and undefined ones. The design also explores both the importance of classroom learning as well as outward-facing learning in natural spaces: outdoor/ garden classrooms become equally as important as indoor classrooms.

These relationships between indoor and outdoor spaces, the promotion of structured and free play, and the educational role of the courtyard as a hub for free activities aim to simulate an environment of “macrocosm” that helps children develop skills of participation, integrating, at the same time, many “microcosms”—spaces, corners, and “pockets” of smaller scales, where children can seek ‘protection’ and develop inter-personal relationships.  

These we feel, are important for the development of creativity and learning whilst playing, stimulating curiosity and a sense of intimacy within the school community. A courtyard for sports and play sits at the heart of the proposal. A series of portable and playful smaller scale elements, plug into the u-shape to articulate and define ‘characters’ within the composition. An amphitheatre, library, and clock tower, as well as the colour coding of the structures become points of reference and orientation, allowing for the child’s imagination and wonder to develop.

At a small scale, ‘Microcosms’ of learning and play are embedded within the walls, constructing

intimate thresholds blurring inside and out.