Social and Educational Centre for kids

Authors’ Comment

The project proposes the revitalization of the former Elisabeta Stirbey Institute in the Antim neighborhood of Bucharest by transforming it into an educational center for children. This area, heavily marked by large-scale communist-era interventions, benefits from an initiative aimed at restoring its cultural and social identity while highlighting the historical value of the site. Once a symbol of Romanian-language female education, the institute is now in an advanced state of decay. Its restoration seeks to reintegrate it into contemporary urban life.

The proposed social and educational center is structured around four modules that support children's holistic development: psychotherapy (including counseling rooms, sensory areas, art and movement therapy), the social component (spaces for communication, socialization, and free expression), the educational module (classrooms located in the historic building, using play as a learning tool), and the nature-related module (a series of exterior courtyards at various levels, visually and functionally connected to the interior). All spaces work together as a unified whole, carefully integrated into the neighborhood’s scale, breathing new life into its cultural and educational character while complementing the traditional school system.