This new preschool in Japan understands kids and was designed to accumulate puddles so the kids could play in them indoors! Usually when it rains, kids aren’t allowed to play outside, but the new Dai-ichi Yochien in Kumamoto City is designed to make sure the puddles stay exactly where they are. And yes, the kids play in them. And what better way to foster fun and learning than to let kids be kids and to live out their fantasies of having puddles indoors?!
Taku Hibino, the lead architect at Hibino Sekkei designed the courtyard so that on dry days it can function as a badminton or softball court and in the winter it can even be converted to an ice skating rink. Fantastic innovation and the architecture is clean and beautiful.
Hibino Sekkei, and their Youji no Shiro brand, specialize in designing early education facilities. You can read more about them here.
The school itself was designed with an open floorplan in order to foster learning that’s flexible and unconstrained. Furniture is used as partitions and teachers mix up different classes. Parents provide their kids with their own desk and chair, which they keep and eventually take home after graduating. How’s that for a valuable and touching heirloom. This keeps a continual flow of new furniture into the school, which maintains a fresh and clean aesthetic.
When are they going to have a school like this in New York City? Because we are in!
