An investigation into the functional design of daycare centers.
Abstract
Day-care centers are the new “nannies” and homes during the day and sometimes night for
majority of the parents in Kampala, Uganda. The concept of day-care centers as been understood
along the lines of the curriculum set up, but unfortunately the spatial layouts have not been well
set up to accommodate the development needs of the children fully. Day-care centers have been
set up without consideration for all situations that come with children like; disabilities, special
needs or different development speeds.
The ever-growing demand for nursery schools of different price needs is continuous and this means
that the development of spatial considerations must be taken up, to ensure that they are all inclusive
for all children that require that service. Whilst setting up the day-care centre there is an extensive
need for properly designing them in a way that all children of all “situations” are carefully catered
for in their different age ranges. With a visit to different day-care centers and the experience that
the researcher had with my now ten-year-old son the consideration for the setup is allocation for
space and economic gain within the societies that they are setting up in. Though it is important that
the designs suit both the parental and child needs for development.
This research aims to assess the appropriate exterior and interior functional design of day-care
centers in Uganda, the researcher is using the Kampala Kindergarten Association in Nakasero –
coordinates 0.321657901769265, 32.58200516886137. The exploration of this facility to be used
by the children and certified by the parent to impact on the most important years of their
development, with great focus on internal and external spatial layouts, spatial functionality and
spatial quality rather than quantity.
Since day-care centers are referred to as the child’s first or second learning environment after the
home, the simulation and instructiveness should be clearly portrayed within the designs of the
centers so that the parents and teachers can track, measure and improve constantly to ensure
maximum satisfaction. Main focus has been put on the teaching aspect, rather than the creation of
the environment. Evidence based results are to be collected from a couple of nursery schools;
children are very different and over the time the built environment (external and internal) is a
different experience for them. The report will cover studies, research, precedents and
recommendations for how best to go about the designs for day-care centres