Our implication in “Ana & Copiii” Center began in 2016 and since then, we’ve been voluntarily helping “Ana & copiii” NGO design and build a home of their own, fulfilling their spatial needs and attempting to create a model for contemporary education both for children and young adults alike. The challenge generated a dynamic building which we’ll see developing through the next months. You can see more about “Ana & Copiii” here: https://anasicopiii.ro/This is a project CUMULUS is doing pro bono, out of a strong desire to contribute and give back to the community. It is a day center for disadvantaged children. The center’s main mission is to keep the kids in school and all the activities are directed towards this goal – children come here, they eat, play, do their homework and get involved in activities together with the volunteers. The center rewards children with good results with camps to keep them motivated.In building up the edifice we focused on creating open multi-functional spaces in the interior, therefore the ground floor and the upper floor have wide rooms. The walls were designed with alcoves and exposure spaces for displaying children’s works and presentation materials when fundraisings and auctions occur. Transparency was key in designing the interior so that the little ones would be easier to supervise.The NGO realized that it needs to provide more dedicated rooms in order to accommodate the children’s various needs and activities: a dining hall, rooms for both big & small kids, a library, a math-informatics lab, a photo studio, a psychology and a medical cabinet. Having children in mind and their restlessness, we have also built terraces which expand the existing space, thus giving them more room to play & experiment.We have been committed to this project from the very beginning in all its stages: from acquiring the plot, to the technical project and looking for draftsmen and builders, to carrying negotiations with suppliers. The cost increase of building materials has had a major impact, and the team had to rethink alternatives to the construction systems originally proposed. The major challenge was to find a builder for this investment.Our aim was to let the building itself tell a story, and that also meant exposing it’s inner workings. Even though initially our project was meant to have a prefabricated exposed structure, the current design will also leave pillars, walls and ceiling exposed in their raw form. The metal roof framing will also be visible,whilst polycarbonate panels will give a diffuse interior glow.
