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Public Realm

Foshan’s “fairytale village” by GeeDesign

Everbright Kindergarten was founded on the idea of being environmentally friendly to the Chinese city

by Georgina Johnston 25 September 2020

The Beiwei Industrial Area is a focal point of urban living environment improvement and renovation, relying on the construction opportunity of Leshang Town and integrating diversified industries, public services and intelligent living. Located at the intersection of Chuangfu Road and Chuangxing 7th Road in the south of the area is the Everbright Kindergarten, surrounded by a water network and criss-crossed by a natural landscape. It is a high quality residential area under construction, though there are plans for it to introduce the best quality education resources in the region.

Due to the boundary restrictions of the residential areas and the control of the multilayer retreat boundary in the intersection zone, it was extremely difficult to plan construction. As of consequence, the community was in great need of a kindergarten, one that would accommodate 12 classes, a super sized music-event room and two activity areas. The occupied area was only 5,400 sq m, and the cramped space still needed to coordinate with the various interfaces of the city.

Due to these many limiting conditions it has become a fundamental problem faced by architects to create a humanised, natural and childlike educational space. At the beginning, GeeDesign extracted the space, liberating it from its multiple constraints, and combined the educational concept with its positioning within the community. Based on the idea of being environmentally friendly to the city, they put forward the design concept of a "fairytale village" as the basis for the space design of the kindergarten.

The functional layout of this "small village" is quite exquisite, and the topological relationship between the activity place and the architectural space subtly resolves the dilemma of the limited land conditions. This form effectively promotes the "here while faraway" between each unit, maximises the richness of the urban interface from the perspective of the street and forms a sense of rhythm with gradual ups and downs.

Given the advantages of the landscape resources of the urban park and water system in the south, the design echoes the characteristics between the city and nature on the facade; matching the bamboo and wood materials on the basis of the pure white paint. This was the way to adopt the natural method by embracing the original environment and strengthening the sense of family and permeability. In terms of visual attraction, the architectural space stimulates children's yearning for the natural landscape, and they can still pursue the natural wild interest in the city.

According to the actual needs of the class quantity and space capacity, the whole will be divided into approximately proportional units. Through the interspersion and dislocation between the main block and the small volume, the outdoor space would be transferred to the building, forming an interesting and changeable landscape platform and ‘gray spaces’. Considering the practicability of children's activities and the permeability of sunlight, GeeDesign scattered the inner patio of each room on the slope roof to create a colourful light and shadow experience.

From the building to the interior, the independent and continuous unit modules can become a "home", encouraging children to explore freely in the lively and warm space and build a sense of belonging in the garden.

The selection of building materials is based on the original intention of the design of the kindergarten itself, that the building should present the natural texture of the family members; so as to select the bamboo and wood with natural and original properties, and organically integrate with the surrounding environment from the user's considerable and perceptible experience.

A white coating implies purity and can maximise warm colours. The process of transforming materials into architectural entities requires application and practice; through the combination of real and virtual materials such as bamboo, white coating, aluminum plate and glass, GeeDeign repeatedly made samples and explored the field comparison. The bevel connection between the aluminum plate of the front facade and the curtain wall adopts the imitation copper profile to receive the edge. Under the premise of not affecting the overall atmosphere, the node is rich in the texture of modern technology. 


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