Duke Street Nursery School, Liverpool Part 1 Project 2006 Declan Shaw University of Liverpool | UK A child raised in an ‘artificial reality’ will not develop an adequate sense of spirit or ‘Place’. His alienation may cause erratic behaviour throughout life. It is my aim to provide an architecture which will fulfil a sense of world ‘Place’. Social interaction, space appropriation, organic substance, seasonal change and physical exercise are all vigorously brought to the children through architecture. The building separates the robust and public external realm and the soft and subtle child spaces. The elegant timber day rooms represent mans organic occupancy amid the colossal monolithic steel cones; they represent a spiritual comfort amid the elements. Declan Shaw This project explores the tactile and temporal dimensions of architecture. The building offers children numerous possibilities to use its spaces creatively as seasons change. To achieve this, the building is turned into succession of gardens, each related to a specific time of the year and located at different levels throughout the building. Interior space exists only in relation to the adjacent gardens and all, interior and exterior spaces, are intricately connected either visually or physically. This makes experiencing the building exciting and non-monotonous. Furthermore, children can experience nature while being in the centre of a harsh urban environment like Liverpool.