Auroville Kindergarten

Narratives

Architect Narrative

The Kindergarten is for 60-65 children of 3-7 years of age belonging to different nationalities. This is an International township in making in south India with residents from about 30 countries of the world. The kindergarten had functioned for almost 8 years out of temporary huts, so finally when a complex was to be designed there was an active input from the teachers and the children in designing process.

The children with the teaching staff prepared material
(written and visual) which was exhibited and debated on. As the architect of the project, I participated in some of these exercises. The main design guidelines that emerged was: the spaces of the classroom should allow multiple usage pattern as there was to be no teacher-student hierarchy, each class room should link to a central space that would act as a assembly and the circulation space between classrooms, and the third important element was that every space in the complex would physically link to the landscape outside.

The design that emerged was layout of rooms around a central space to the scale of a child to lessen the trauma on his/her first experience of spending time away from a non-domestic environment without an intimate adult around.
The sizes of the rooms were designed such that it allows the children to use it in a non-structured manner, allowing large or small groups to work. The furniture is all floor seating with cushions and low tables that could be moved around. The pin boards are placed between deep windows that double as seats where 2-3 children can sit, this makes these spaces become spaces of interaction rather than only display.

The teaching process as put forward by the teachers and the children when the design guidelines were formed was “the rooms should allow a free progress system of teaching which allows each child to learn at his/her own pace”. In this the design of the classrooms has fulfilled its brief as the users find flexibility within the built environment that allows them a wide range of usage.

The educational facility includes more than the reading/writing and play. The fact of having personalized green space attached to each classroom has allowed the kindergarten to develop further their program of gardening, building activity and nature projects. The craft and art areas have been successful, in fact they use the new art and craft room for marathon block building sessions organized by the children as they find the space challenging. The body awareness and expression activities of dance, music and theatre takes place in the multipurpose space that flows out through the little reading room to the central assembly. The theater and music activities in this space is easier on the child as the space is fully open to the gardens taking away the feeling of being watched by the rest of the class. In terms of accommodating the program of activities we have attempted to structure the whole complex into an informal layout for flexibility and this is well appreciated by the range of activities within the spaces.

Educator Narrative

Dr. Heidi Watts, Ph,D, Director, Education, Antioch university.
(She is a regular visiting advisor to the Auroville Kindergarten from USA)
The kindergarten is housed in a new building, designed to their specification,
and is located in the city area. It is a large, airy, one story building, with the
4 classrooms, dining room, library, a children’s toilet room and large open
activity area opening off a central, circular entrance cum assembly hall.
The building is of warm red sand bricks with deep window seats and
accents of wood, like the classroom doors, painted in bright colors.
Behind the orange door you will find the Orange group and so on.
The Auroville kindergarten resonates with the three simple but
profound principles: “Nothing can be taught. Work from the near
to the far. Mind must be consulted in its own growth. Children
learn by doing, not by being taught.” The atmosphere in the school
is warm and loving, the children feel very secure and at ease. A
natural friendship develops between children of different cultures
and nationalities thereby promoting a sense of human unity. All the
teachers get to interact with all the children at some point during the
day. This helps to create a sense of wholeness and integration in
the relationships between the teachers and the children. In the large
circular central space one wall is devoted to a large bulletin board
where volunteers arrange every week an attractive display to illustrate
a concept. On the other wall there is a very large aquarium at the child’s
eye level where fish float dreamily amongst the underwater ferns. The
physical activity and the energy needs of the young are well accommodated.
The large activity room sometimes has dance or movement class, otherwice
children may be in there playing their own games. The playground, in the back
of the building, has swings and a large climbing apparatus. There is a washing
area and a large contained outdoor sand area for sand play. A swimming pool
provides opportunity for welcome relief as the days grow hotter. Flowers and
small child planted gardens surround the buildings. It is truly a kinder-garten,
a children’s garden.