Satsuki Kindergarten

This reconstruction and relocation of an existing kindergarten is located in a hilly area about twenty minutes by subway from the center of town. We organized the terraced lot into three levels and arranged the classrooms by age group around central courtyards, with distances and heights in each area adapted to the age of the children who would be using it. One-meter-tall walls and storage cubbies divide the classrooms while leaving the upper air space completely open. On the outside of the building, broad eaves create a wide hallway that links exterior and interior into a single space for the children to use. A large roof stretches over the whole complex, with posts that branch at the top supporting the latticed girders. The shape of the posts mirrors that of the trees outside, so that they melt into the natural environment as if they were a continuation of the forest.