Spanish firm Zooco Estudio completed facilities that help reconcile family life with work life. The nursery is located in the Brookfield Place shopping complex, a building near the World Trade Center and with views of the Statue of Liberty, in the New York district of Manhattan. This is the third Big and Tiny location, being the first to be located away from the initial two in California.

The premises respond to the ideals of the company and are proposed as a response to a new lifestyle that allows combining work and life with the family, creating a synthesis between these two worlds. The plan of this corner of Manhattan rearranges and adapts this local complex so that it is open and transparent from any corner of the interior.
Zooco Estudio proposes an organization that adapts the space to five classrooms that allow compliance with the regulations and the m²/student ratio. The project is organized in classrooms with irregular polygonal shapes, on a single floor. Irregular polygons are created to raise a third dimension in the form of "houses", with sloping roofs referring to "home" and "domestic".

The remaining spaces between the classrooms and the glass façade serve as access to them and to the students' playground, which always looks outwards. A Strip of glass serves to favour the entry of natural light, complemented by the finishing of a skylight on the ceilings that imitates natural light.


Big and Tiny NYC by Zooco Estudio. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal.
 

Description of project by Zooco Estudio

This project is the third location of the American company Big and Tiny.  

Big and Tiny, was born as a commitment to a new lifestyle for families. A unique place where family and work life can thrive. Big and Tiny, NYC is an early childhood preschool.

This third one is located in New York, instead of California like the others. Located in Manhattan, within the Brookfield Place shopping complex and near the World Trade Center with great views of the Statue of Liberty.

The floor plan language arises from the attempt to adjust the area of the 5 classrooms to the sq. feet required by the regulations.

Due to the morphology of the premises, we opted for a language of irregular shapes, a sort of Voronoi geometry, with which by displacement and rotation of the sides of these shapes, we achieved the sq. feet required by the regulations. The remaining space between the classrooms and the glass façade will serve as access and playground for the students.

Big and Tiny NYC by Zooco Estudio. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal.

This geometry rises in its third dimension as "houses" with sloping roofs, as a metaphor for the "domestic", and the "home" as it is our original educational system.

The volumetric result is a heterogeneous elevation formed by these "houses" of different sizes with access from the playground, towards the outside. Finally, the volumes are torn from side to side, creating a glass strip that is able to introduce natural light. Moreover, a skylight is included at the top of the interior ceiling to mimic the natural light.

Therefore, the roofs are separated from the lower wall of the classes that house everything needed for the kids.

More information

Zooco Estudio is a young architectural firm founded in 2008 by Miguel Crespo Picot, Javier Guzmán Benito and Sixto Martín Martínez, with head offices in Madrid and Santander. Zooco Estudio´s philosophy is facing each project, from interior interventions to large structures building, through the same creative process.

Developing projects with different scales, they realize that architectural decisions are always the same: to create spaces that give response to needs and environment, always based on the generation of a clear concept as the base of the project.

This vision of architecture and the flexibility to adapt to different projects, has made them understand practice at a time of social and economic crisis.

Zooco Estudio tries to project with fine materials and simple shapes to achieve a timeless and functional aesthetic. They always search for neutral spaces and projects that last over the years. With this objective, they combine the research into new materials and systems, with the knowledge of traditional processes.

Throughout their professional career they have won different prizes and contests, among which the Civic Cultural Center of Soto de la Marina (Cantabria) and the Performing Arts Center in Verín (Galicia). They combine large-scale works with the creation and renovation of spaces in the contract, retail and residential sectors, highlighting projects such as the restaurant La Maruca, Orgaz and Atrapallada, or hotels such as Hotel Azul or Flamingo.
Published on: March 18, 2023
Cite: "New lifestyle for families. Big and Tiny NYC by Zooco Estudio" METALOCUS. Accessed February 23, 2025
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/new-lifestyle-families-big-and-tiny-nyc-zooco-estudio> ISSN 1139-6415
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