Forest Kindergarten, Bailuwan, Shandong, China
The project intends to create an architecture like a forest that will connect children with their surrounding natural environment, offering the possibility of outdoor education while reflecting their perspective of the world.
Courtesy Junya.Ishigami+Associates
Forest Kindergarten, Bailuwan, Shandong, China
The spatial composition of the building was planned as little as possible in order to allow freedom in the children’s play and activities.
Courtesy Junya.Ishigami+Associates
Forest Kindergarten, Bailuwan, Shandong, China
Most of the space is designed at the children’s scale, however a range of architectural scales was considered to think about the different spaces: classrooms include the scale of an adult, some outdoor spaces can only be used by children, and others are places where even children crawling or crouching cannot reach.
Courtesy Junya.Ishigami+Associates
Forest Kindergarten, Bailuwan, Shandong, China
As a result, the project’s diversity of scales and spaces inspires and accommodates a multitude of activities. A reinforced concrete roof with large openings covers the building and merges with the ground in many places, creating spaces for play and other activities.
Courtesy Junya.Ishigami+Associates
Forest Kindergarten, Bailuwan, Shandong, China
The roof is supported on slender steel pillars, which transfer the vertical load, while the horizontal load is carried by the contact points with the ground. The roof design has followed a development process comprising a series of collages, each gathering images such as animals, plants and children’s illustrations.
Courtesy Junya.Ishigami+Associates
Forest Kindergarten, Bailuwan, Shandong, China
These studies have been progressively stylised to create the shape and contours of the building. Emerging from no longer recognisable figurative imagery, the architecture uses form to allow children to perceive and imagine a multitude of visions and possibilities. For instance, where the roof dips downwards, children feel as if they are falling on top of a flower or sliding down an elephant’s trunk.
Courtesy Junya.Ishigami+Associates
Forest Kindergarten, Bailuwan, Shandong, China
Abstract and concrete, giant and minuscule, interior and exterior combine so that each space gives every child the opportunity to explore their boundless imaginations, thanks to the creation of an architecture entirely composed of non-architectural elements. This architecture is designed as a landscape, made of children’s scales and based on their unique way of seeing the world.