Interval Architects 空格建筑事务所

Raffles Kindergarten

Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu

RAFFLES KINDERGARTEN

Interval Architects

PHOTOGRAPHS
Yunduan Gu

AREA
10594 m²

YEAR
2017

LOCATION
Zhangjiakou, China

CATEGORY
Kindergarten

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The project is located at Sha Cheng, the center of Hualai city in the province he Hebei, China.

Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu

120km way from Beijing and at an altitude of 550m above sea level, the site is at a place where there are great mountains, nice air and extremely bright sun.

The place is also famous its frequent and heavy wind.Instead of a single kindergarten, the project is actually a kindergarten complex consists of a kindergarten, a education center for children and residence for teachers.

Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu

COMPLEX PROGRAMMING AND SPATIAL ORGANIZATION

The design began with the intention to put together the above-mentioned programs into a unity while maintaining its operational independence.

We introduced a continuous volume that meanders on the site to divide up the site into various zones specific for different functions.

Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu

The education center, which are open to the general public, were put on the north of the site to allow maximum public access to the main street with heavy traffic.

Main entrances of the kindergarten were put on the east side of the site, facing a minor street with less traffic. Residences were put on the west side of the site in order to receive the best sunlight.

Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu

The building masses in brown houses programs with less publicness such as classrooms, residences, offices and utility spaces while the building masses in white house public spaces that connects other programs.

With the interwoven volumes of the brown and the white building masses. Courtyards at various scales were inserted into the building at various locations such as entrance courtyard, delivery back court, side courts and etc.

Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu

These courts performs as layers of buffer zones that mediates between the exterior and the interior spaces and established spatial sequence entering the building.

Pragmatically speaking they also provided outdoor playground for kids in the summer and also allowed sufficient natural lighting into the rooms.

BLURRING OF CIRCULATION AND COMMUNICATION SPACES

Since the project is located in northern China, it is particularly important to address the issue of playground spaces for kids during the winter season.

Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu

Instead of providing an outdoor playground, we proposed a 6-meter-wide-and-80-meter-long linear space that performs as an indoor multi-purpose playground for children and teachers. Instead of providing an outdoor playground.

We proposed a 6-meter-wide-and-80-meter-long linear space that performs as an indoor multi-purpose playground for children and teachers.

The conventional idea of small corridors were eliminated and substituted for a communal space that encourages communication and visual and audio connections.

Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu

This linear multi-purpose playground connects all the classrooms in the kindergarten and up across all three levels through atriums.

Kids can perform all kinds of activities ranging from badminton, dancing to riding bicycles. Along the two sides of this big linear playground, niches were created to provide space for kids to crawl, sit or read.

Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu


Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu


Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu
Raffles Kindergarten
© Yunduan Gu


Raffles Kindergarten
Courtesy of Interval Architects
Raffles Kindergarten
Axonometric


Raffles Kindergarten
East Elevation
Raffles Kindergarten
Section


Raffles Kindergarten
Plan
Raffles Kindergarten
Plan
Raffles Kindergarten
Plan

Interval Architects 空格建筑事务所
T +86 21 60483257
Interval Architects 空格建筑事务所
1/f, No.3, Lane 275, Shanyin Road, Hongkou District, Shanghai, China 上海市虹口区山阴路275弄3号1楼