Kindergarten, elderly care centre and park
Welfare, Education, Healthcare, Public Space - Chania, Greece
2021
Competition
Structural engineer: Giorgos Somarakis
MEP Engineer: Basilis Mastrogiannis
Images: Oleg Stathopoulos
Located in Chania, this project brings together a kindergarten, elderly care facilities, and a neighbourhood park into a single, cohesive civic environment. Rather than treating these programs as discrete functions, the proposal reimagines them as an interconnected social infrastructure - an architecture designed to foster continuity between generations.
The design is informed by a reinterpretation of the archetypal “brick” - not as a literal construction unit, but as a spatial and organizational principle operating across multiple scales. From the overall massing to individual rooms, furnishings, and play elements, the building is conceived as an assemblage of interlocking volumes, forming a composition that is at once rigorous and playful. This approach allows the architecture to engage directly with the imaginative world of children, while maintaining the clarity and dignity required of a public institution.
The resulting form is a carefully orchestrated aggregation of volumes, articulated through a palette of clay brick and timber. These natural materials are deployed with precision, introducing tonal variation through different clay mixtures and timber species, and reinforcing the building’s tactile and environmental qualities. Colour is not applied superficially, but emerges intrinsically from materiality, lending depth and authenticity to the architectural expression.
Organized across two primary levels and a basement, the building’s porous, brick-derived massing creates a central public square - an internalized civic void that anchors the project. This space operates as the social heart of the development, extending seamlessly into a network of outdoor environments that include a neighbourhood park, planted terraces, and a dedicated playground for the kindergarten.
The landscape strategy is integral to the architectural concept. Accessible roofs and terraces are conceived as extensions of the ground plane, planted with dense vegetation to create a layered, inhabitable topography. Together with the park, these elements establish a continuous system of multigenerational public space - encouraging interaction, movement, and shared experience among users of all ages.
This project proposes more than a welfare facility; it defines a new civic landscape. Through the synthesis of form, material, and program, it seeks to recalibrate how communities engage with care, education, and public space - transforming them into a unified, elevated everyday experience.
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