Blackfriars Children’s Centre celebrates the beautifully naive depictions of houses by children. Each playroom is in the form of a house as might be drawn by a child; a box with a pitched roof. A sense of home in both scale and materiality encourages a sense of the familiar.

The overall form of the 80 place Children’s Centre is a series of small ‘houses’ continuously connected along the street, each varying slightly in pitch and scale to create an animated streetscape of pitched roofs. Gable roof ends are clad in translucent sheet and are illuminated from within, further highlighting the form of the roofs. The external materials of glass, translucent sheet and metal are contrasted internally with the use of timber for floors and walls. The building’s appearance on the street is at once striking and transparent; the playful use of colour and historical graphics engages children and adults alike.