Kid Pod: Outdoor Classroom

Kid Pod featured, facilities for independent and group learning with water play, wet and dry sand pits, plant and food growing areas. The main features were crawl tubes with slides, positioned over a planted perimeter wall punctuated by spherical dens. A geodesic glass house, also linked by the crawl tubes functions as a small teaching space for stories amidst growing tomatoes and cucumbers.  The wet-pour rubber safety flooring provides a warm safe surface for play and provides ramped access to the adjoining indoor traditional classroom.

“It was perhaps one of the most imposing buildings for early years learning we have come across.”

Maddi Nicholson

Sacred Heart Primary School in Barrow-in-Furness projected a rather austere facade into a featureless playground.

Kid Pod was developed in partnership with a variety of industrial manufacturers who were willing to embrace a creative approach and stretch the application of their products. The structure illustrates Nicholson and Bastik‘s approach based on an in-depth understanding of the client resulting in socially responsive design.

 

“It was interesting to realise that the space was only truly completed when animated by the children”

Maddi Nicholson

 

At the time the school was experiencing a falling intake which rose dramatically after the completion of Kid Pod.