The nursery has been designed as a single open plan space which can be broken up using large table games. These have been expressly designed for the areas, and are used to sub-divide them depending on the type of activity in progress (motor games, static games or relaxation).
The pre-school, in contrast, has been designed around a large central space for the motor activities that are emphasised in the sections for teaching and table work. There is also an art area for creative activities, a library and a room for sensory discovery and experience.
Central to the design is the colour scheme: this has created an environment that is as neutral as possible but one embellished with touches of colour chosen specifically on the basis of the most up-to-date theories. The same is true of the lighting system: in the nursery, this is made up of large discs of different widths (similar to flying saucers), while in the pre-school there is a series of neon tubes set at different angles 300cm above floor level (like a kind of illuminated game of pick-up sticks).
Massimo Adiansi
Massimo Adiansi was born in Cremona in 1974 and graduated in architecture from Milan Polytechnic in 2000. After a period working with a range of studios, he began his own in 2006 in Brescia. Since 2008, he has also worked in Greece, maintaining a small studio in Athens. Main works: BMW dealership in Verona (2006), MINI showroom in Verona (2006), Maggi 9 office block in Brescia (2007), two sea villas on the island of Koufonissi in Greece (under construction), nursery and pre-school in Brescia (2009).
Little England nursery and pre-school
Collebeato, Brescia
Architect: Massimo Adiansi
Client: Kidspace s.r.l.
Surface area: 880 sf (inside) and 450 sf (outside)
Cost: € 380,000
Construction: February - August 2009
