by Keith Struthers, architect
Robins Nest Kindergarten will be the end product of the design and building process, but not the end product of the creative process as a whole. The design is really focused on how the structure can nourish and hold the ongoing living experiences of the children. So the building is really a carefully fashioned vessel designed explicitly to nurture the development of the children.
Interestingly Rudolph Steiner characterises architecture of the future as being able to directly influence our development through the sculptural quality of its forms. He says, “The plane with its dual curvature is the simplest archetype of inner life, but also the way a plastic surface can be made to talk’. (15-17 Feb.1918)
The Robins Nest building is replete with doubly curved surfaces: the overall roof shape, the supporting rafters simultaneously curving up and around, the front wall that enjoys the dynamism of being a singly ruled warped surface, and the window frames that subtly curve in two directions simultaneously. Technically this is plausible; it begins with the design adeptness and imaginative dexterity required to originate these sculptural forms, careful documented and then implemented with skilled craftsmanship.
These forms stretch us inwardly because they embody an inner sense of liveliness. Their dynamism can only be experience ‘in time’ as it is with all thing living. This quality of conjoining space and time in form facilitates an inner process that stimulates the kind of mental flexibility prerequisite to an active inner life.
The children’s inner responses to this building are the ideal ferment into which the seed of a healthy inner life can be planted. Inasmuch as the intention of the teacher of early childhood is to facilitate the harmonious incarnation of the young child, this kind of building is a spiritual ally in a time coveted by materialistic intentions.
The sculptural quality of the building, coupled with our ecological commitment to the overall design and use natural materials are exemplary of the kind of architectural most needed in the world today. And at Emerson College. I believe Robins Nest Kindergarten is sourced from a place in our hearts that is true to our times.
To learn more about Keith and his architecture work, visit: https://www.naturalarchitecture.co.za/
Comentarios