The Little Phoenix Kindergarten / Architectural Design & Research Institute of SCUT - TaoZhi Studio

The Little Phoenix Kindergarten has 12 classes, and covers an area of 7776㎡, with a total floorage of approximately 7000 ㎡. Although the FAR is not very high, the land is narrow and irregular in the north-south direction (130m long in the north-south direction, and the narrowest in the east-west direction is 30m), which brings difficulty to the design.

The purpose of the design is very clear: how to create a comfortable space to meet the needs of children's daily life and learning, based on meeting the requirements of lighting standards, activity venue area, and floor number, with specially-designated land, limited investment, and tight construction period.

Building a framework - This is not only beneficial for construction, cost savings, and building effectiveness, but also provides a well-organized room with a high utilization rate.

Place the rooms - The spatial framework is similar to a storage box, on which various types of rooms in the kindergarten are placed within this standard framework. Due to the narrow north-south nature of the land, the design breaks down the most important and large class activity units and comprehensive activity spaces into five small-scale blocks and flexibly arranges them with the site conditions. These rooms are located in the south of the land, ensuring that each classroom faces south and has good lighting; The office buildings are also integrated to form an office area, located in the north of the land and facing south.

Vacate space - The entire framework, excluding the various rooms mentioned above, leaves space for children's activities, forming a topological relationship between the two spaces. The flexible layout creates outdoor activity venues with different forms and locations, which are not only close to the activity rooms of each class and convenient to use but also ensure a clear view and lighting, enhancing the sense of domain. The functional rooms and activity venues form a complete teaching space, with a close vertical relationship

Enrich forms - The activity venue only provides a platform, and in order to accommodate more teaching activities, each activity venue is designed to present different forms and themes. There are starlight stages and seats for students to perform, corridors with variable lighting, deep tunnels, and shared steps under the sun... These nodes make each venue unique, achieving the effect of changing scenery and enhancing the fun.

Scenario Assumption - The limitation of land use has led to the arrangement of activity venues on different floors, and the study of children has enriched the presentation forms of the venue. We imagine that children can freely move around here, observe the weather and time, explore the mysteries of insects and flowers, play, rest, and learn with their friends. These behaviors become an important part of their childhood and are also what this kindergarten education presents.

Postscript - The Little Phoenix Kindergarten in Simao District, Pu'er City is a highly rational and childish plan that has been designed under various constraints. After completion, it gained the love of the principal and children. We hope that teachers and children can explore new ways of use here, adopt innovative teaching methods, and form distinctive features.