Kalba Kindergarten

Located on a vast plot overlooking the Gulf of Oman and with a backdrop of the Hajar Mountains, Kalba Kindergarten illustrates a unique preschool typology that emerged in response to the UAE’s post-unification educational mandate in the 1970s. Developed by Beirut-based Rais and Tukan Architects, the modernist design comprises several clusters of small classrooms organised in wings that converge on a central open-air courtyard with pyramidal roofs and wind towers. The classroom spaces are modular, previously with foldable doors.

Location on map

Kalba is an exclave of Sharjah on the Gulf of Oman, flanked by the Emirate of Fujairah in the south and a second Sharjah exclave, Khorfakkan, in the east. According to the archaeological record, Kalba has been a site of human settlement since 2,500 BCE, its historical layers suggesting early contact with Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and the northern Arabian Gulf. Briefly under Portuguese colonial control in the seventeenth century, Kalba was recognised by the British as a sheikhdom in 1937 before it was integrated with Sharjah in 1951. Known as a biodiverse location, the city hosts two Biennial venues, Kalba Ice Factory and Kalba Kindergarten.

(Texts from the SB15 Guidebook)