When anySCALE took on the MIKA Kids English School project, the entire project was almost complete however not to the satisfaction of the board members. Therefore the requirement was for anySCALE to change the project’s feel through modifying only the surface materials, colours and details, without changing the layout, ceiling structure or architecture.
The School accepts children from the ages of 2 to 6. Use of colour as part of the design is hugely beneficial for learning at that age, making the boring classroom space come alive with interest. Using the themes of colour, travel and planets, lead project designer Tom Chan developed the design concept of “Fruit Planet”. Tom introduced the idea of travel through the use of a special passport and stamp. Every class was a different Fruit Planet and in total there were 8 planets. Every planet adopted the colours of it’s corresponding fruit. Every child was a citizen of a Fruit Planet. All the children had badges and passports for their corresponding planet classroom. When moving up a grade, the child received another badge and passport; and he/she would graduate once all 8 had been collected. This teaching idea was entirely consistent with the design of the space, completely overturning the former teaching model. “Rainbow Bridge”- bright rainbow lines painted on the walls - created a pathway that connects the Earth to the Fruit Planets. Like a way-finder, each colour of the rainbow leads to a different classroom.
