Kobato Nursery School
KOBATO NURSERY SCHOOL
so1architect
AREA
1098 m²
YEAR
2011
PHOTOGRAPHS
Kai Nakamura
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Nawaken-jym
MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Shimazu Design Office
LIGHTING
muse-D
This is an extension project of an existing nursing school building, which was partially demolished. The plan of the existing building was that an outside corridor enclosed a courtyard. I placed a new outside corridor as it was.
At the same time, I tried to create it more open to connect outside and inside, and warm and protective for children.
Small boxes, 1.8 meter on each side, are placed in order, and gaps in between them are large rooms, so that the plan arranges alternative rooms of small and large.
The small boxes support a roof instead of columns. To enable large space, beams extend in an oblique direction from each box and are connected above.
The interior walls and ceilings consist of pentagonal and square surfaces. These generate unique polyhedron spaces like honeycomb.
The small boxes not only support as a structure, but also contain necessary functions for nursing such as a storage space for chairs and tables, restrooms, shoe cupboards and so on. They also contain playrooms with books and toys, and children love such small spaces.
The large rooms are bright open spaces with top lights, and allow dancing in a circle and drawing pictures. These rooms are connected each other, and only separated with sliding doors. By keeping sliding doors open, children can run around within the connected rooms.
Under the top light, there are aluminum louvers to make a face of polyhedron. In summer, the warm air is discharged through the top lights, and fresh and cool air is provided from windows below. In between top lights and louvers, LED lights are installed, so the spaces receive light from same place as daytime.
The repeatedly placed small boxes and large polyhedron rooms can be extended anywhere. Therefore same system will be installed at the time of building extension.
