Teaching Their Eyes to Swim
A Finnish-style water play nursery in the Woolwich Dockyards.
January 2023 - July 2023
MA Interior Design
Royal College of Art
Water within the built environment is typically seen as an excess. Observations I made of its presence dripping and pooling within the Junction Box, a disused industrial site in Woolwich, demonstrate its ability to erode and take control, subverting the way we treat water within architecture.
In response to a lack of suitable nurseries in Woolwich and the increase in need due to the Faraday Works redevelopment, my project proposes a water play nursery on the ground floor. The current nursery education structure was originally intended to bring up Victorian children to work in factories such as those on site. At a time where this approach is being revised, there is potential to use the nursery as a testbed for the more creative education style of the Finnish system which champions learning through play.
Adopting three design strategies that stem from the qualities of water – materiality, water play and scale – space becomes an implicit teaching tool for the Finnish curriculum. Water is also used throughout the project as a co-author, challenging my autonomy as the designer and allowing it to once again take control.
In response to a lack of suitable nurseries in Woolwich and the increase in need due to the Faraday Works redevelopment, my project proposes a water play nursery on the ground floor. The current nursery education structure was originally intended to bring up Victorian children to work in factories such as those on site. At a time where this approach is being revised, there is potential to use the nursery as a testbed for the more creative education style of the Finnish system which champions learning through play.
Adopting three design strategies that stem from the qualities of water – materiality, water play and scale – space becomes an implicit teaching tool for the Finnish curriculum. Water is also used throughout the project as a co-author, challenging my autonomy as the designer and allowing it to once again take control.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ba8ba57cd5ed2f655b4eb158677b509d94e392572576dd067059715713e9ae31/circle-time-copy-2.jpg)
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![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1d23cc3c29ec7a434ec14f22ebe58e7f055b313f4da718028a823ca3b2b5c157/napping-copy.jpg)
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Early Development
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9fb3524bed2170646ceaf45d6b39d517c250aaea1a5b1f275ab3eac32cfadb89/joints-copy.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/da7558e3223483e8db9f1569dcf322e66cb024c564acec0eb2ce5d019a81cb29/water-mapping-copy.jpg)
Mapping of puddles within the Junction Box and the shifting reflection of the building within the puddles.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6129884b80c765df7b86bbbac59b58661e7a1c5d5615f1fa28a0340e441db2c3/IMG_9426-copy-2.jpg)
Models depicting a section of the building and its reflection in a puddle.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b28e420f4d71e13538aab707fbfc4013de64c1e0a741aac8de80458743e83abd/IMG_9479-copy.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3bd06cf4d791e39f783fc84e2d2150892f7994cda4d814482db8a136d69ff01c/IMG_9486-copy.jpg)
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![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/17052e2b573e8de8548876c6f8fc796ce6e5b639f21ba3b943054d987c933d5a/waterascoauthor-copy.jpg)