design: BIRO
project team: Hrvoje Arbanas, Saša Košuta, Mario Kralj, Dora Lončarić
client: City of Zagreb
location: Sesvetski Kraljevec, Zagreb
status: architectural competition, 4th award
project year: 2017
exhibitions: 4th Award
Both the scale and the matrix of the daycare center units follow the existing urban context of detached or semi-detached single-family homes, a typology that currently accommodates several existing local daycare centers. All of the units face south, and follow along the section of a road that tangentially touches the center’s lot in a southwest direction.
The units are positioned to form a trapezoidal void to the north of the lot, which is filled by the volume of a trapezoidal footprint that integrates the daycare center’s common areas. The common areas are connected to the individual units via a system of interrupted horizontal communications, which form smaller plazas. The communication extends through the east-west axis and passes through the common volume to the north.
At the same time, it initiates the gathering of the existing neighboring units into the daycare center’s common areas.
The main access road is formed to the east towards the gravitational center of the community in the axis of the trapezoidal volume.
The position of the daycare center in the southern part of the lot opens the possibility for the creation of an outdoor ground for nature exploration, with two additional exercise grounds located in the northeastern and northwestern parts of the lot.