Jiadu Aesthetic Community Kindergarten
Jiadu Aesthetic Community Kindergarten program was designed and accomplished in cooperation with OBRA Architects, US and China Architecture Design Group.
Completed in autumn, 2016 and opened in September, 2017, it covers a floor area of nearly 60 thousands sq.ft and is capable of accommodating about 540 students.
The main building of the kindergarten, a concrete building covered in bricks, is entrenched on the north side of the community.
The architectural plane is shaped like a planar arch; it faces an enclave with a southern aspect, encircled by a garden overgrown with ailanthus and cotoneaster trees – plants that are local to the city of Beijing. This huge venue between the building and the garden is at the core of the entire basement.
Windows of the same size on the building facade endow the building with a style marked by simplicity, clarity, and candor. Homogeneous facades function as a foil for the space sequence of open staircases and platforms, while outdoor space and the path connecting it to classrooms creates a fascinating special order based on the overall homogeneity.
The design also reduces huge building mass into smaller blocks with the intention to soften its impact on people. The seemingly inaccessible public buildings thus become friendlier, while the children would be able have a pleasant and enjoyable experience among them.
The building layout follows a basic concept of “Trinity”, a concept that the children might be familiar with and one that is easy to memorize as well. The main building of the kindergarten has three flanks, while there are three classrooms in each flank; each flank has three floors and three internal staircases as well. The concept of “Trinity” echoes with many other details – such as left/right/middle, yes/no/maybe, space/time/object, to name a few – and functions as the basic logical structure of design.
In 2014, Jiadu Aesthetic Community Kindergarten won the AIA New York Design Award issued by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). In the same year, it was awarded the Kim Swoo Geun Architecture Preview Prize. In 2016, it attended the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale upon invitation.