Ani Ardehali

Teaching Their Eyes To Swim

Water within the built environment is typically seen as an excess. Observations I made of its presence dripping and pooling within the Junction Box, a disused industrial site in Woolwich, demonstrate its ability to erode and take control, subverting the way we treat water within architecture. 

In response to a lack of suitable nurseries in Woolwich and the increase in need due to the Faraday Works redevelopment, my project proposes a water play nursery on the ground floor. The current nursery education structure was originally intended to bring up Victorian children to work in factories such as those on site. At a time where this approach is being revised, there is potential to use the nursery as a testbed for the more creative education style of the Finnish system which champions learning through play.

Adopting three design strategies that stem from the qualities of water – materiality, water play and scale – space becomes an implicit teaching tool for the Finnish curriculum. Water is also used throughout the project as a co-author, challenging my autonomy as the designer and allowing it to once again take control.