A nursery school with a capacity of 60 children is located in a suburban residential area in Tsurumi Ward, Yokohama City. The planned site area is located in a region designated by Yokohama City as a “priority development area” due to the high demand for nursery schools. However, in densely populated residential areas, there are few opportunities to have a site large enough for a nursery school. For this site as well, the area designated to the playground was kept to a minimum by satisfying the relaxation requirements, thus the plan was approved.
Since it was impossible to secure a playground of a sufficient size, and considering the site being on a slope and surrounded by a terraced streetscape, we decided to integrate the playground and the building into a stepped terrace that echoes the above mentioned streetscape, and expand the activity area three-dimensionally to create a play environment that is highly grounded and full of activity.
The stepped terrace is covered by a curved roof made of curved beams made of laminated timber. Children can climb the terrace up to a level close to the roof surface, and the roof is physically close to them, so we thought it would be appropriate to create a warm look with the softness of the curves and the texture of the wood exposed by the moeshi design. In addition, the curved roof emphasizes the broken lines that divide the roof, and the large roof area is transformed into a series of small roofs, bringing it closer to the scale of the surroundings.
The hall located in the center of the first floor can be used flexibly in a variety of ways: it can be combined with the playground and nursery rooms, it can be a space for parents to interact with each other when they come to pick up their children, or as a venue for annual events involving local residents. Additionally, the hall is adjacent to all the nursery rooms and stepped terraces through the atrium, providing plenty of opportunities for contact with children of different ages, parents, local residents, etc., and is a place where various activities in the child's development process can be viewed in a multi-layered manner.
Each of these orderly structures in the construction of the building aims to create a connection with the community. By defining the space in relation to the surrounding environment and opening the building to the community, we hope to create diversity in the quality of the space and the experiences that can be obtained, and to create a place that stimulates children's sensibilities.
