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Overall view of the building. Large zelkova trees penetrate the oval-shaped roof.
This project called for the construction of a new kindergarten building for "School Corporation Minnanohiroba Fuji Kindergarten" in an educational district in suburban Tachikawa in Tokyo, while keeping the Musashino scenery intact. This kindergarten was established in 1971, and currently has an enrollment of 530. Based on the Montessori method of fostering independent children, the kindergarten is carrying out characteristic infant education. After the kindergarten principal said that "here, there are only trees and soil," popular art director Kashiwa Sato put together the concept of "the entire kindergarten building should be a giant toy." This lead designer Tezuka to come up with various ideas to realize this concept in the building. The single-story donut-shaped building encloses a central courtyard, and both the roof and the ceilings have a slight inclination toward the eaves gutters in the courtyard. With the interior, the ceiling height has been made somewhat lower for the infants, and the columns, which have been designed as thin as possible, follow the oval-shaped roof around on both sides in a regular layout, ensuring a wide space which can be used flexibly. The basic tone for the interior is white, with solid wooden flooring throughout and skylights allowing bright sunshine to pour in. The donut-shaped roof is a wood deck that stretches around for 180 meters, and provides space for the infants to play. Various designs have been used throughout the kindergarten to please the infants, such as a "slide" from the roof to the ground, and zelkova trees which the infants can climb, penetrating through the building.
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