The site is located in part of the quiet residential area in Atsugi city in Kanagawa Prefecture. HIBINOSEKKEI + Youji no Shiro designed the existing building of the kindergarten 42 years ago, and the building has been watching how many children have been growing.
Photography: Studio Bauhaus
However, as a variety of educational needs have been produced along with consideration for earthquake resistance and change of age, we were requested to change the kindergarten to the type for the next generation that is appropriate for the current days and accepted to design it again.

As there was a large corridor as wide as 5 meters in the middle of the existing building, we decided to design by arranging the building in modern style and flow planning while taking over the memory of the existing building in the new building. Photography: Studio Bauhaus
To improve the point that they cannot see each other since the 1-floor building is transformed into a 2floor building, we set a number of open ceiling spaces.

In addition, for the purpose of reducing lighting and use of air conditioning during the day in Japan where the building by energy saving has been a theme since the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, we set a large opening in the common area to have a high sidelight where the sufficient sun hits indirectly and to cause the air to flow.
First Floor Plan
This produced a space bright enough without using the light and they can remove heat from the high sidelight and opening. In Japan...