This centre’s architecture illustrates the child’s need to actively explore and interact with their environment, creating a sense of adventure, and testing the child’s physical and imaginative abilities.
The Castle Child Care Centre, designed by Ton Venhoeven, in Souest, Netherlands in 1993 is perceived as a “day-care landscape” (Dudek, 2005: xvi).

Venhoeven deliberately incorporated ramps terraces, and level changes encouraging children to climb and explore, just as they would do in a natural landscape.

He also “tapped into” his own early memories of childhood as inspiration when developing the design, using as inspiration a memory of a wide rambling garden around his house which had a large wooden boat marooned there, here he would play in it, around it, and underneath it.

This initial inspiration led to the creation of an architecture for the children that provides them many ‘affordances’ (Heft, 1988) to test and develop their physical, mental and social skills.


Via DaF Architecten, Children's Spaces by Mark Dudek and VenhoevenCS.
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