SHIZUOKA NURSERY
Architecture should be didactic, in a way that it provides opportunities and conditions for learning through interaction with the building. This thesis is an exploration of how architecture could record and reveal the passage of time.
The qualities of natural daylight in a building, including its depth, angle, brightness and reflection, constantly change as time passes on a daily scale. The goal is to design a building that weaves the conditions
together so that it becomes a space where people could experience and understand
the passage of time.
Instead of a monumental building, the large volume is broken down into small ones according to the different programs. The nursery school materialized as a village for the children to explore, a place that feels different from their own houses and the world outside, where there is a sense of surprise and possibility.
The proposal here is to place the playground in the courtyard while the building volume encloses the space as a protection. The playground could also potentially be elevated to the rooftop, which is an area of limited access by its position relative to the ground. A combination of the two approaches ends up to be a building complex as shown in the diagram.
The three exterior spaces, the playground, the tree courtyard, and the pool area are designed as single volumes but without a rooftop, placed in between the solid volumes as connection spaces. With no prescribed circulation in the building, children could choose their own route from one point to another, to wander and explore the space as they would.
