Big Smile Project 2| Children Rehabilitation Center | Former Pikpa Chamber in Voula, Athens, 270 sqm, 2013 |
The initiative of the restoration “Big Smile Project 2,” is a sequel to the excellent work of NGO Tandem and courtesy of Mattel Children’s Foundation. The aim of the proposal was to create a pleasant, warm and safe environment within the context of an economic and feasible implementation. The chamber accommodates eighteen children of various ages and difficulties, thus the spaces created, serve their special needs.
The sleeping spaces were approached in two different directions; the hiding spaces and the nooks. In “hideouts” perforated wooden panels created rooms that offer, both, isolation and optical continuity, while in “nooks” the bedside façade wall has been fattened in such a way that the beds enter deep in this wall embracing it, allowing privacy within a common room.
The public areas were treated as places of concentration and play, reorganizing substantially the different functions, while the ramp that connected the different levels, became a unifying element that symbolized sky, earth and seabed.