A Landscape of Growing

育ちの風景

子供達が過ごす時間は、一つひとつ異なる。
走る、遊ぶ、集まる、眺める、ひとりで過ごす。
同じ場所にいても、それぞれの興味や身体の動きによって、過ごし方は変化していく。
この幼稚園では、建築をひとつの大きな器としてつくるのではなく、さまざまな「小さな環境」の集合として計画した。
屋根に浮かぶ円盤状のスクリーンは、太陽の光を受け止め、足元に光と影の場所をつくる。時間とともに変化する光は、木漏れ日のように空間に濃淡を生み、その一つひとつが子供達の遊びや滞在のきっかけとなる。
それは農園にさまざまな植物が育つように、異なる個性や成長速度をもつ子供達が、それぞれの場所を見つけながら過ごす風景でもある。
建築が子供の行動を決めるのではなく、光、風、緑、人の気配が重なりあいながら、その時々の活動によって場所の意味が移ろいでいく。

The time children spend together is never the same.
Running, playing, gathering, observing, or simply spending time alone. Even within the same place, the way each child inhabits a space changes according to their individual interests and movements.
Rather than conceiving the kindergarten as a single, large container, this project is planned as an aggregation of diverse “small environments.”
Disc-shaped screens floating above the roof receive sunlight and create places of light and shadow at ground level. As the light shifts throughout the day, subtle variations of brightness and shade emerge across the space, much like sunlight filtering through the leaves of a tree. Each of these places becomes an invitation for children to play, explore, or simply stay.
Like a field where a variety of plants grow, the kindergarten becomes a landscape in which children, each with their own character and pace of development, can discover and inhabit their own places.
Rather than determining how children should behave, the architecture allows light, wind, greenery, and the presence of others to overlap. Through the activities taking place at any given moment, the meaning and character of each place continually shift.
The architecture does not prescribe a way of being.
It creates the conditions for each child to discover their own way of growing within the landscape.