Villa Aimilia, Preschool Interior Redesign in Athens

2020 • Area: 180 sqm • Services: Architectural Design (Concept, Outline, Detail Design) • Photography: Nikos Karampinis

Villa Aimilia, a historic Athenian preschool unit established in 1963, has attained an existing educational building in Psychico erected originally in the 1970s, formerly dedicated to children ages 12-18, and required a renovation of the building and the yard in order to accommodate young children at the age of preschool, kindergarten and primary school. Classrooms and common areas were thoughtfully redesigned to suit the specific developmental needs of each age group, creating safe, engaging, and flexible learning environments that support exploration, social interaction, and age-appropriate activities for preschool, kindergarten, and primary school children.

Color is a key design element throughout the courtyard and classrooms, shaping a vibrant spatial narrative and strengthening the connection between exterior and interior spaces. In the yard, a color gradient aligned with the surrounding greenery marks the transition from the deep-blue court for primary students to the sculpted playground for kindergarten children. Inside the classrooms, custom-designed furniture is integrated within color-defined zones, creating immersive environments that support play, exploration, and age-appropriate activities.

Open, flexible, aesthetically beautiful, and comfortable learning spaces that are connecting indoors to outdoors and can be organized in a variety of ways to support a greater range of teaching and learning experiences have been highlighted in contemporary school design philosophy.

Custom furnishings revise the experience of scale by creating structures of exercise, activities, and discovery while manifesting ideas such as inclusion and/or extension aligned with the student’s age skills.

The structures become the enhanced surrounding “walls” of the classrooms, facilitating flexibility with smart storage solutions, and creating a playful ambience to the space.

The color range of the interventions throughout the school is designed to create a vibrant spatial narrative. The color palette uses light grey as the back-tone in the entire building; the color feature blends dynamic tones and moves towards desaturation from side to side and from top to bottom, instigating live and vibrant amusement and inspiration of the social space.

Architectural Design: AVW Architecture • Authors: Angeliki Athanasiadou, Katerina Vassilakou • Architectural Design Team: Mara Petra, Giannis Galetakis, Annita Klemou, Aristea Talagani, Stella Korina Zaharia • Project Management: Vassilis Dousaitis • Construction: Simbraxis Spau, DPG Constructions