Big and Tiny NYC

Description:
This project is the third location of the American company Big and Tiny.   Big and Tiny was born as a commitment to a new lifestyle for families, a unique place where family and work life can flourish.  Big and Tiny's third project is an early childhood education centre located in New York, not in California like the previous ones. It is located in Manhattan, in the Brookfield Place shopping complex, close to the World Trade Center and with a spectacular view of the Statue of Liberty. The floor plan design distributes the space in 5 classrooms, following the required regulations of sq. feet. We opted for a language of irregular shapes, due to the morphology of the premises. The displacement and rotation of the sides of these shapes allows to achieve the sq. feet required by the regulations. The open space between the classrooms and the glass façade serves as an access and play area for the pupils. The interior is characterized by the Voronoi geometry. In its third dimension, it depicts “houses” with sloping roofs, as a metaphor for the “domestic” and the “home” as the original educational system. The volumetric result is a heterogeneous elevation formed by different sized “houses" with access from the playground to the outside.  The volumes are torn from side to side, creating a glass strip that allows the passage of light inside the classrooms. Moreover, a skylight is opened in the top of the interior ceiling to mimic the natural light. Internal roofs are separated to the lower wall of the classes which houses everything needed for the kids.

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