Works

Kindergarten loved by children, their families, staff members, and community

Kusunoki Kindergarten has been well known to the community for more than 40 years in a leafy environment surrounded by nature in the southern part of Osaka. This is a plan for relocating and building a new kindergarten building allowing this kindergarten to be reborn as a "Certified Center for Early Childhood Education and Care (Kindergarten Type)" with a nursery school newly added to the kindergarten department. Despite the trend of a falling birthrate, this is a large building that can accommodate 337 children. Consideration was given to alleviating its oppressive impression on the community by giving the outer walls a soft, round form. The building is composed of elements that allow children to freely move in the kindergarten, around the stairs designed in the image of a camphor tree (Kusunoki) trunk, and to enjoy repeating various experiences. This kindergarten building will hopefully take deep root in the community, like a camphor tree, to allow many children to keep growing in it.