Puddleducks Nursery & Preschool – Gladstone St
Hamish Davidson is the Managing Director of Puddleducks Nursery and Preschools, a high-quality childcare organisation based in the Manawatu. In January, Hamish had a design challenge on his hands: the creation of learning environments at a new purpose-build childcare centre in Feilding. Play’n’Learn were chosen to help make this a reality.
World-class, fit-for-purpose design, and NZ-made quality were the two primary factors in Hamish Davidson’s mind, in deciding to partner with Play’n’Learn to design and deliver the interior learning environments for their latest childcare centre. There was also a strong value alignment as two whānau owned and operated companies, that value community and long-term partnerships, and have been working together for over a decade.
Having ticked the design, and quality boxes, the Play’n’Learn design team needed to establish a vision for this project. Enabling concentrated, personalized, and predictable care for each child was to be the main concern in any decision made on Puddleducks Gladstone Street. With these elements in mind, the vision became: “To design and deliver an environment where children can learn at their own pace; with furniture that envelops an atmosphere of calm and quality, that reflects the personality and philosophy of Puddleducks. This will help attract talent, amaze families, and truly help the children in our care to learn and prosper.”
This vision can be seen throughout the completed environments. An open layout, with ample ‘pockets of learning’ and retreat spaces, allows children to self-regulate, and helps teachers ensure concentrated, personalized, and predictable care and learning for each child.
