Principles of forest kindergartens in comparison to traditional kindergartens: A psychological and spatial design approach in interior architecture.

Abstract

The research investigates methods to merge forest kindergarten design principles with urban building structures which create better conditions for child emotional and intellectual growth. It investigates how light, together with air, movement and material choice, impacts children's independence and creativity and their overall well-being. The thesis demonstrates that architectural design functions as an educational resource instead of a basic physical enclosure through its connection between environmental and developmental psychology.

To identify emotional and sensory variations between natural settings and institutional environments, five educational facilities are compared, which include Hakusui Nursery School, Ring Around a Tree, La Milagrosa Kindergarten, Bazuba Kaminka Kindergarten and Waldkindergarten Fuchsbau. Forest kindergartens enable children to develop freedom, exploration skills and build resilience through natural environmental patterns, but urban kindergartens restrict sensory experiences through their structured designs and manufactured materials.

Through its investigation the research approaches the Urban Forest Kindergarten, developed through the redesign of the Rathenau-Hallen in Berlin. A transformed industrial building through natural light integration, airflow, seasonal adaptation and material texture selection to establish an environment which promotes children's independence and growth. The project establishes its own building within the Rathenau-Hallen to promote the children's security, variation, and openness of freedom but still structure through the connection by overlapping transition areas and layered thresholds. The research establishes that blending natural settings with structured learning environments creates a fresh educational framework which promotes emotional balance and creative thinking and healthy child development in densely populated areas.