THE NEST

Silver Prize Winner of the Kaira Looro International Architecture Competition, with a nomination recognition from Kengo Kuma. Our proposal for a Children’s House, called Nest, first and foremost addresses the need for a functional center for medical treatment by creating a simple-to-build, thermally comfortable, and spatially generous place for mothers and children to receive care and grow in health and strength. An inner courtyard is a space for recreation, where children and their families can easily access a place for leisure and relaxation. A strawbale roof & façade envelopes the entire structure, protecting little ones from extreme weather conditions year-round. Nest’s second responsibility is to show the community the impact of these services and what healing from malnutrition really looks like, as a means of communicating the importance of proper diet and nutrition and the good it can do to children and their families. The administration / educational classroom component sits across from the hospitality area, connected by the inner courtyard. Simple pivoting partitions provide a soft division between these spaces – allowing for some flexibility in privacy as needed from both areas. It is in the architecture of such a space that the capacity lies to serve as both a practical and educational means of care for the larger community, in service of both treating those in need of care and educating others about how malnutrition can be prevented and what the image of care can be.