Tysværvåg Barnehage

Renovation, Addition and Rethinking of existing Kindergarten 

Tysværvåg, Norway
Client: Tysvær kommune
Size:    464 m2

Renovation of an existing kindergarten from the 1970s in this small community proved to be more challenging than it first appeared. We started with the desire to bring light and air into the gathering rooms and the kitchen, but ended up reprograming the whole kindergarten and its daily routines into a very dynamic and active organization. Storytelling and play became two means of organizing the spaces indoors as well as the outdoors. Conceptually, the place is loosely organized around series of stages that could be used by both the teachers and the students for play or putting on plays. We provided sheltered outdoor spaces responding to the weather in this region. This is more than just a pragmatic approach and takes on a pedagogic role in this educational environment.   

Conceptually we  explored three major ideas:

The first idea is the significant role Play plays in early education. We used the phrase “Play to learn, Learn to play” as a guideline. Here the word Play is used in its most extensive sense.

The second idea was that the built environment plays an active role in this program. The third and final idea is that the children would learn better when they actively participate in the programming of their daily activities.