Traces of Machland
Open-air nature school
The project’s aim is to design a nature school prioritizing children’s behavioral tendencies and freedom of choice on an educational landscape where the river, nature and local culture are connected. The site is Machland Floodplain, where seasonal floods have become a challenge for settlements and river has been highly engineered as a result.
The strategy is to re-connect the students with nature and local people with the river in an educational landscape. The architectural interventions are located at the old line of the river thus marking the memory of land and water. On the horizontal and vertical routes with the infrastructure, towers, landmarks and community centers students and local people are navigated, invited to explore the nature and learn.
The education program is designed for children between the ages 2-12. This is real life learning. Children are facing real issues in real places. Activities are authentic and encouraging students to engage with their five senses. In this school, students are becoming the discoverers and creators of their own paths. In the end, our aim is to define an educational program that is multi-dimensional and multi-generational that is bringing children, nature and society onto focus.
The Lodges are spreaded along the territory of Machland. The pavillion like volumes have enclosed periphery for compulsory needs, Apart from that the exterior environment defines the function of the lodge. There are functions such as garden, playground, market, sports center, observatory and animal shelters. These functions also let the public use the open-air facilities after school hours, thus enabling a multi-generational continous education. The education model is hands-on and lets the younger generation connect to land through plantation and knowing the local vegetation. Different smells, colors, and attracted fauna is observable through the seasons. Thus nomadic essence of the school is also refelcted here to observe these changes.
The design is a balance between open-air and enclosed volumes. To let the children embrace the nomadic culture and the survival skills, the spaces employ different agencies. The enclosed volumes offer refuge from harsh weather conditions of cold and flooding. Materiality is inviting, tactile and vibrant. It invites calmness. The special niches accomodate the kids and the educational events during flooding.