Girod + Anton Arquitectos designed the Nuno Nono preschool in Valencia [2011] to be a blank slate that doesn't overwhelm children's innate power of imagination and creativity with the kind of representational fun/whimsical design that adults mistakenly think kids need. It's the architectural embodiment of the supposed Picasso quote, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."
Valencia is the region of Spain most known for blowing enormous amounts of borrowed government dough on flashy architecture, to the point of insolvency. So it's unclear to me whether whatever miraculous pedagogies at work inside this light-filled modernist paradise have survived the country's financial implosion. Or whether the money kept flowing long enough for the preschool to buy more furniture than the one Ikea swivel chair in the picture. But good luck.
Nuno Nono Nursery by Girod + Anton [architizer.com]
That kid looks like he's in an airport smoker's lounge.
ha, now it can be revealed that the rooftop design's central outdoor courtyard is actually for the teachers to step out for a smoke.
I think the "blank slate" gets a lot less blank once you put stuff on the shelves and floors. Then it starts to look a lot more like every other preschool. Except for the glass walls which will require teachers to wear tool belts holding paper towels and Windex.