We’ve all heard the stories about kids not knowing where milk and cheese comes from. And in an age of fast food and supermarkets, it’s not surprising that children aren’t sure about the origin of their foods.
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And so a group of Rome-based designers have embarked on an innovative way of reconnecting kids with their natural environment: by combining urban farming with a preschool education.
The proposal — called Nursery Fields Forever — recently won an architecture competition, and is the brainchild of Edoardo Capuzzo Dolcetta, Gabriele Capobianco, Davide Troiana, and Jonathan Lazar.
Learning at Nursery Fields Forever is from nature, technique, and practice.
Children are taught to grow and harvest their own food, as well as interact with animals. They also learn about the renewable energy that keeps the school running.
“We think that kids should enjoy nature,” Dolcetta told Fast Coexist, “So we designed this strange school: No classrooms, but open spaces where vegetables grow inside and animals can come in too. It’s a mixing of the two things, school and nature.”
“With this model, children are engaged in learning that will inspire them to think differently. A typical school has desks and chairs — in our school, there are not these things. And there’s the freedom to stay inside or go outside.”
To find out more about this brilliant idea, visit the AWR International Ideas Competition website.