Relocation project to the premises of Yuwaki Shibahara elementary and junior high schools

The facility:
A private preschool was relocated to the public elementary and junior high school premises to create a unique place for a child’s education from preschool, through elementary, and up to junior high school, in cooperation with the schools and local community. Initially, the relocation was a remedial action taken to recover from damage caused by the flood in 2008, but is now expected to become a model case for maintaining a facility for infants in rural areas such as mountain villages, where numbers of children are steadily falling.

Approach to renovation:
There was only a limited, 250-square- meter space available for two classrooms for the preschool, with no playrooms or playground. The ceiling, half-wall panelling, and partitions that were not essential to the structure were removed, in order to make the most of the available space. Children can play in the unrefined area where the structural framework is exposed and that serves as an outer ground, while the wooden-framed small space finished with diatomaceous earth and handmade Japanese paper serves as an inner space. The building’s interior has also been designed to create a contrast between the outer and inner spaces. The outer space extends to the wooden deck terrace where children’s attention will naturally shift to the area’s mountain scenery. We hope this will help the children to develop during their time at the preschool while also ensuring they are familiar with the surrounding area.

Floor planning:
We did not use fixed walls to divide the preschool area for different age groups, meaning the children are free to play around as much as possible within the limited space, in addition to on the wooden-decked balcony. They can experience the spaces with different feelings in sequence, without any dead ends, including square, long and narrow, round, and open and closed spaces. In terms of access from the outside, the preschool area in the middle can easily bring people together through the front entrance, the service door, and the corridor to the elementary school, each of which can still be used independently.

Spatial design:
Preschool serves as a second home for children, and is often where they will spend more time than at home. While dealing with architectural forms, including floors, walls, ceilings, and openings, we considered the spatial design to provide an experience in itself, created with light, shadow, wind, and a sense of the seasons produced by relations between objects as time passes.