A Hill Kindergarten in Japan / STUDIO YY
A Hill Kindergarten in Japan / STUDIO YY
Studio YY reimagines kindergarten as a hill in the forest – This is a project to reconstruct a 50-year-old kindergarten into a certified childcare center in a one-story wooden building. The site is surrounded by a number of apartment complexes.
The west side of the site is the only place opened up to green space. Studio YY designed the kindergarten building as if it were built on a hill overlooking the green space so that the children would be surrounded by greenery, where they could learn through play and where they could be nurtured to be energetic children.
For children who love to run around and climb up, a hill-like single-sloping roof facing the green space is designed. The playgrounds are scattered on the roof, and it is penetrated as if caves connect the interior and exterior spaces.
Under the roof, the nursery and the forest hall are arranged side by side toward the green space, so that the environment is as if it were built in a forest, even though it is located in a housing complex. The hall was placed in the center of the preschool building to provide a place where local residents and parents can also interact with each other.
A playful hill that induces learning – A hill-like roof in the forest was laid to connect with the playground filled with sunlight. For children to learn and grow through play, the playground as if it is in the forest is scattered over the hill-like roof which stimulates their imagination and allows them to run around and run up. Besides that, there are places such as cave walls and climbing pillars, that induce children to play and learn with curiosity all over the kindergarten.
