Flying Chess Kindergarten
FLYING CHESS KINDERGARTEN
Viascape Design
ARCHITECTS
Viascape Design
LEAD DESIGNERS
Sunyijia
QUALITY & SAFETY INSPECTION
Shanghai Zhongcehang Engineering Checking Consulting Co., Ltd.
OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT
Science & Technology Kindergarten Of Shanghai
CLIENT
Xuhui District Education Bureau, Shanghai
CONTRACTOR
Shanghai Dexin Construction Engineering Co., Ltd., Shanghai Nannong Greening Engineering Co., Ltd.
DESIGN TEAM
Ma Li, Wu Tingting, Ma Qiao, Ji Yuwei, Yao Weiyan, Lv Zihan, Zhou Mi
LDI
Dongda Design Group
PHOTOGRAPHS
CreatAR Images
AREA
2800 m²
YEAR
2025
LOCATION
Shanghai, China
CATEGORY
Landscape Architecture
English description provided by the architects.
After its completion in late 2023, Tianlin Park1 designed by VIASCAPE has been receiving positive public feedbacks.
Coincidentally, teachers from Xuhui Science and Technology Kindergarten2 visited Tianlin park multiple times during 2024–2025, both spontaneously and in organized groups. They found that the natural habitat design, which integrated into the holistic landscape experience, closely aligns with their ongoing early childhood nature education program.
This led to an initial contact with VIASCAPE through connections, in which they expressed a strong interest in collaborating on the landscape enhancement of their kindergarten's Wending campus (hereinafter referred to as "the kindergarten").
Following this initial contact in April 2025, VIASCAPE design team was invited to give a tour guide for the kindergarten teachers, introducing the landscape-oriented natural habitat design in Tianlin Park.
During the visit, design team also elaborated on the concept and value of "urban habitat," an integrated approach that combines natural, vibrant, and cultural elements. This process laid a solid foundation for the following collaborative design marked by mutual inspiration.
Preliminary work was essential in the design process. Through on-site survey, we quickly identified the landscape elements worth preserving.
In-depth discussions with the kindergarten's teaching team helped us understand the kindergarten's teaching program features in "Nature Awareness," "Sci-Tech," and "Sports," which led us to define the landscape renewal concept as an "Outdoor Learning and Exploring Space for Children."
Additionally, by reviewing the cost and plan of the kindergarten outdoor renovation3, we established a renewal design framework that features "natural habitat creation as the foundation, site renewal as the core."
In early May 2025, responding to the kindergarten's educational philosophy "Play+", we proposed the overall design concept and detailed scheme for the "Flying Chess Kindergarten". The scheme uses the Flying Chess game as a graphic prototype, projecting and adapting it to the site's conditions to form a spatial structure, while incorporating the "four-colored paths" from the original game into distinctive landscape design.
The blue path is designed as a "Journey of Strength", introducing Olympic sports to match the kindergarten's emphasis on sports education. The green path unfolds a "Nature Journey", illustrating food chains and ecological niches, physically speaking with adjacent water body and sand pit. The light purple path is a "Time Journey" reflecting the traditional Chinese "24 Solar Terms" for seasonal awareness.
The yellow path serves as a "Space Journey" with an astronomy-themed focus. The last two paths form a space–time exploration theme, resonate with the kindergarten's teaching emphasis in science education.
On the periphery of the site, we utilized existing green spaces and areas under existing climbing structures, where habitat observation points and optimized understory planting were created following the earthscape-oriented natural habitat restoration approach from Tianlin Park.
This created sufficient outdoor space for outdoor teaching that raises nature awareness. While the general design represents a significant redefinition of the original request, it also effectively constructs an outdoor learning-engaging landscape aligned with the kindergarten's teaching features and philosophy.
From a design perspective, the design of Flying Chess Kindergarten continues VIASCAPE's consistent concerns on spatial construction logic and landscape functionality. In this case we used a 2m×2m square modular grid as the basis for spatial organization.
A one-dimensional repetition of the module forms the main exploration path, while a two-dimensional repetition creates concentrated activity areas. This modular approach was furthermore applied to structures situated outside of the site, such as three-dimensional vegetable planters with rainwater harvesting features.
At the same time, we introduced a smaller module set that includes sizes of1m×1m and 0.5m×0.5m, trying to enrich spatial interfaces and generate three-dimensional spatial variations, which further created stepped seating around the central play area and integrated spaces for fun activities.
The central activity area incorporates the 2m×2m, 1m×1m, and 0.5m×0.5m in the modular system to combine diverse functional activities such as mazes, hopscotch, basketball, soccer, and group exercises.
This multifunctional design maximizes the use of limited outdoor space in high-density urban kindergarten. Another highlight is the "Solar System Gravity Field", which was transformed from the existing "Cave-Hill" play structure utilizing the same modular logic.
This space visually introduces concepts like gravity and the solar system, while parametric design and construction create a rich environment for spatial cognition. Moreover, the four themed paths of the "Flying Chess board" layout form individual loops and converge at the center, creating a spacious, safe, and distinctive circulation route. This resolves the issue of inaccessible pathways and supports the kindergarten's bicycle and balance bike training program.
Our landscape design for educational spaces have consistently addressed students' "personal growth"4. In the design of the kindergarten, we further focused on how the outdoor environment enhances young children's cognitive and exploratory abilities.
The "Flying Chess board" concept establishes a basic spatial system, helping children intuitively understand spatial structures and relations. The four distinct "Paths of Growth" not only align closely with the kindergarten's advanced educational philosophy but also enable personal development through simple play.
By incorporating appropriately non-linear layouts and designing flexible spaces, we actively encourage children to explore both the space itself and various spatial uses.
We firmly believe that the children learning and playing in the Kindergarten will grow into a new generation who cares for nature, passionate about life, eager to explore, possess sound character and healthy body.
