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Shuoji Kindergarten, Jiangsu

The architectural form imitates the local village dwellings around it and at the same time stands out with its simplified volumes.

``It takes a village to raise a child!`` – An African proverb that underpins the value of a community being engaged in a child’s upbringing. The diversity of people and places that create it, offering them experiences to grow in safe and healthy environments.

It takes a kindergarten to wake up a community

Visiting Shuoji the strong recognition from the design team that what was needed here was not just a kindergarten building, but a facility that delivers child-centered spaces that are anchored in the values of a “village”, the responsibility of family, community and society to offer the richest concern on raising a child.

The architectural form imitates the local village dwellings around it and at the same time stands out with its simplified volumes. Our design from the outside standing as a symbol reminding that the future success of the “village” is a collective effort, and focused on the inside from the perspective of children as the primary user.

Children learn by doing and in the case this means learning through a lot of play. Each building houses a self-contained community for smaller groups of children. Throughout the central outdoor environment the arrangement of buildings and yards entices inquisitive exploration and free play, weaving through the contracting and expanding spaces between the buildings, making visual connections and multiple options for circulation.

DATA

Project: Shuoji Kindergarten, Jiangsu
Client:
Education Bureau of Fu’ning County, Jiangsu
Program: Educational
Location: Shuoji Community, Fu’ing County, Jiangsu, China
Building area: 3141 m2
Completion Date: Aug, 2018

CREDITS

Partners in charge: Binke Lenhardt, DONG Hao
Design Team: Tracey Loontjens, Alan Chou, Andra Ciocoiu, HAO Hongyi
Photographers: WU Qingshan, HAO Hongyi, Mini LIU

AWARDS

2021 DAM
(DEUTSCHES ARCHITEKTUR MUSEUM)
Nomination for Shuoji Kindergarten