INTRODUCTION

Problem

The majority of people (even the ones who didn’t live under Soviet Union pressure) grew up in a built environment formed without a human-centric approach. The impact of this physical environment can be still recognised on a social level.

Hypothesis

Despite the fact that the places, time and people differ, the main impressions will be the same due to the standardised building system.

Objective

To understand the unconscious impact of typical spaces to our memory, well-being and habits.

FRAMEWORK

Methods

People were invited to document their personal memories from the time they attended kindergarten. After collecting the drawings and written (or verbally explained) experiences from various people, the results and conclusions were made.

Task given to the respondents: 

To draw a plan of the kindergarten from your memory. To indicate specific memories by drawing or leaving notes in order to reflect the emotion and feelings that are associated with the spaces of kindergarten.

RESEARCH

H type kindergarten in Mažeikiai, Lithuania
memories from 2007-2012

“I added a lot of spruce trees, because we had such a small forest of spruce trees, but such big trees. They were so old and dead. We used to play inside them – it was like a natural playground.”

“The corridors were small, but very colorful – yellow, green, pink – there were lots of drawings everywhere.”

“In the last few years I went to kindergarten on my own because it was very close to home. I remember my parents used to look out of the window for me to go and then come and pick me up.”

Eimantė

H type kindergarten in Kaunas, Lithuania
memories from 1976-1979

“Each group of children had a room where they played, ate and slept… because the beds were folded and placed in wall cupboards.”

“All the groups had their own playground outside, with a shelter and sandpit, which was refilled once a year. The new sand was a great joy!”

Živilė

H type kindergarten in Vilnius, Lithuania
memories from 2002-2006

“I used to love being in the kindergarten, despite the childish sadness that came with having to say goodbye to my parents in the morning.  The entrance to the kindergarten was very dark. Although through the dark stairwell and corridor I entered the already lighter changing room. There were two main areas in my group – the play room and the sleep room. Both spaces had windows facing the courtyard. My teacher Roma had her own room in the group, which we were very curious to enter, unfortunately, the children were not allowed there. Sometimes all the teachers would go there and chat in private.”

Aistė

H type kindergarten in Vilnius, Lithuania
memories from 2007-2012

“I was a kid who loved going to kindergarten. I used to go every morning, I used to run to get ready for kindergarten. I had a very dear teacher there and I have a very fond memory of being greeted by the smell of pancakes in the kindergarten. There were these big long corridors, and they were quite dark, but there were drawings and pictures of the plays or the different kindergarten shows.”

Laura

I type kindergarten in Kaunas, Lithuania
memories from 2003-2007

“The most anticipated parts of the day: going to the gym to dance, rehearse for plays, sing; going outside and getting involved in the game HOUSE. The yard had strictly agreed boundaries as to where the space for the little ones and the space for the big ones was, so over the years I was looking forward to going from the nursery area to the big part of the yard. The backyard was used to collect the leaves when we went outside, and then I learned that if you scraped your knees, you could use the veins to stop the blood.”

Guoda

I type kindergarten in Kaunas, Lithuania
memories from 2003-2007

Eglė

C type kindergarten in Kaunas, Lithuania
memories from 1995-1999

Agnė

CONCLUSIONS

Everyone is more than welcome to complete this task individually and send a scanned drawing to info@rebuildwonderful.com