The Nursery School Building at the Ziridis school complex at Spata Attica. (1998-2001) Not Implemented.
This most critical building was specially located and designed with very young children in mind, aiming to most comfortably surround them during their first years of school life. It was also most conveniently located within the school campus in the position closest to the parking of the school buses, while at the same time it was sufficiently isolated by its design from the rest of the school and circulation through administrative – control spaces and an after-hours museum located on the first floor with separate entrance, while the children enjoyed the privilege of a completely isolated and protected common yard, with covered peripheral loggias for the occasional rainy days.
The design of every detail was conforming to the needs and preferences of young children, including specially lowered windows all around in their classrooms. The building was designed for them, and of course their section of the building and the courtyard were one storey high only, with the declining roof over the lower presenting an even lower building height towards the children’s central courtyard.
It is most unfortunate that this most carefully planned and designed building could not be implemented in the end for financial reasons. Instead the youngest children were housed centrally where the 1st and 2nd grade primary school children were originally supposed to. At the same time as the very critical laboratory buildings and administration buildings at the periphery of the campus were also not implemented, it was deemed necessary to construct a basement level to house there most of these most critical functions. Last minute changes assured this possibility but this was a very important compromise to the original campus concept, that both architects and school owners so passionately advocated. The reasons for this were economic, as housing various activities in basement levels reduced overall construction cost. Temporary or not, this deterioration conceals part of the original magnificence of the low-rise, school campus concept within the mild soothing temperate Mediterranean climate of southern Greece.