proposal - 2021-2022 

construction - 2024

author -  TERRA FLORIDA and ateliér Jasné

collaboration - Johana Passerin from Asociace lesních mateřských škol

project documentation - ing. Petr Slavík

photo -  Martin Micka

Award from company Velux - 2025

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The Forest Kindergarten of Milíč House is a small yet significant intervention with environmental, educational, and community impact. It was established on the site of a previously underused and neglected area beneath St. Cross Hill in Prague’s Žižkov district, which forms part of the planned Zahrady pod Parukářkou park based on a study by the team of architect Jiří Pleskot. This very location — lacking a clear identity and shaped by landfill terrain and spontaneous vegetation — became the setting for the creation of a forest kindergarten within the context of so-called urban wilderness. Although it is not located in a deep forest, as one might expect from a “forest” kindergarten, its principles and mission remain preserved: to provide children with daily contact with nature, foster a relationship with the environment, and allow direct experience of seasonal cycles.

The project was commissioned by the Prague 3 Municipal District, which supported the kindergarten from the beginning as part of the transformation of the entire area. The director of Milíč House Kindergarten also played an important role in shaping the project. One of the key aspects of the design was the close collaboration between the architect and the landscape architect from the very beginning of the project. This interdisciplinary approach enabled the sensitive integration of the kindergarten into the planned park — both compositionally and functionally. The forms of the buildings, the orientation of the pavilions, the choice of materials, and the associated landscape design were all conceived with regard to the future character of the public space, respecting existing natural elements, pathways, and views.

The kindergarten grounds, covering 800 m², are conceived as a natural garden into which three wooden pavilions — a dining pavilion, a sleeping pavilion, and toilet facilities — are freely placed. The buildings are not permanently heated and serve only as temporary shelter during unfavorable weather. The dining pavilion is the only structure equipped with a wood-burning stove, allowing occasional heating during colder days. The pavilions are constructed from untreated larch wood, with green roofs and provisions for climbing plants, enabling them to gradually blend into the surrounding landscape. Their arrangement creates a protected communal area — a small square — which naturally becomes the center of life within the garden.

The garden is composed exclusively of natural materials — stone, compacted gravel, sand, and wood — without decorative elements, with subtle terrain modeling that encourages free play, movement, and exploration. It includes spaces for morning gatherings, a fire pit, planting beds, and quiet or working areas. The planting concept follows the species composition of the surrounding steppe landscape and contributes to increased biodiversity, improved microclimate, and the visual regeneration of the site. Mature trees were largely preserved, while newly planted trees and shrubs will in the future provide natural shade and protection from disturbing urban influences. The kindergarten is currently temporarily fenced for safety reasons, but even the fencing serves as support for climbing plants and will gradually become part of a living green structure.

Water is supplied to the site but used very sparingly, with an emphasis on reuse — for example for irrigation through rainwater collection in retention tanks. All paved surfaces are permeable. The toilets are composting and independent of the sewage network. The kindergarten is therefore almost self-sufficient and operates outside conventional technical infrastructure, in keeping with the principles of forest kindergartens.

From a pedagogical perspective, the kindergarten builds upon the environmental education concept of Milíč House Kindergarten and is operated in cooperation with the Association of Forest Kindergartens. It provides facilities for 18 children and their guides, while the majority of the day takes place outdoors, in direct contact with the surrounding environment. The simple interiors serve only as functional shelters, leaving room for the development of children’s imagination and independent activities.

An important part of the kindergarten is also its collaboration with the parent community, which actively participates in the operation of the facility, the maintenance of the garden, and the organization of celebrations and events. This dimension contributes to the creation of social bonds, local identity, and a long-term relationship with the place. The forest kindergarten thus becomes an initiating point for the overall transformation of a neglected site into a valuable part of the urban landscape — a small yet significant drop of sustainability in the center of the city.

The kindergarten is built on the principles of forest kindergartens — children spend most of their time outdoors, maintain direct contact with nature, and learn to perceive seasonal cycles, plants, and the landscape. Yet despite its name, this kindergarten is not located in a forest. It does not exist in deep wilderness, but rather in its urban counterpart — a space that is undefined, overgrown, and long overlooked. It is a steppe kindergarten within the city, among acacias, poplars, piles of fill material, and views toward the Žižkov Television Tower. From the site, one can see Central Park as well as the urban structure of Prague. This kindergarten represents a different type of wilderness — one that belongs to the city while still retaining the potential for nature, play, silence, and growth.

Through this approach, the kindergarten not only continues the idea of forest kindergartens, but expands it — showing that nature can also be perceived where it is not taken for granted. It educates children toward sustainability directly within the urban environment, in a place that can become their natural landscape of childhood. It teaches them that a relationship with nature is not formed only in forests, but also on a stony path between shrubs, by a fire pit in the garden, or in the shade of a newly planted tree.

In this sense, the kindergarten becomes a point of initiation for transformation — not only physical, but also value-based.