Exterior becomes interior, public space overlaps with private space, and society is integrated into nature: or is it? These are but a few of the concepts seemingly behind the design of MAD's Clover House, a Kindergarten adjacent to a Japanese rice paddy field that also serves as a private residence for the teachers of the school at night. The house had its official groundbreaking on May 13th, and has attracted international press attention for its undulating paper-like shell and innovative spatial configuration.

Built over a pre-existing 105 square meter row-house, the MAD design incorporates the existing wooden mass-produced home by removing its walls and draping a new exterior over the frame. This purposefully fosters a sense of community among the schoolchildren, which is in keeping with the school's stated mission to create openness and emotional bonds between its students.

But is the design itself actually articulated and reflective of its surroundings, or is it just another flashy looking concept? We decided to ask MAD directly about their thinking behind specific elements of the design.

Archinect: The exterior facade is a "sheath of paper-like pieces" which the children will later be able to draw on. How did this element become a part of the design, and will the pieces become part of a mural, or can they be easily replaced to accommodate different drawings from different classes of children?

Yosuke Hayano, partner at MAD and lead architect on this project: The wall covered with asphalt shingle is an architectural facade with white color. Actually kids can only draw on the walls on some special occasions and special school activities. On those occasions, they can put their names or draw something special to memorize their time into architecture. And we won't replace it time by time but will keep it as the memory of their time being there. Besides being a kindergarten, this school also provides language education for children and youths ranging from elementary school, junior high school to high school. So many students will come back after they graduate from kindergarten to study languages. So the drawing from their time back in kindergarten will become a precious witness and emotional bond between the kids and the clover house. 

Archinect: MAD's design ethos includes developing an affinity for nature. The Clover House is located next to a rice paddy field. How does the design respond to this field and/or enable the children to interact with their natural surroundings?

Yosuke Hayano: The client bought the piece of rice field that locates diagonal opposite to the building site and transformed it into parking/playground for the clover house. In Japan, it is strictly regulated to keep rice field not to use for any building site, so we will have very beautiful rice field surrounding the place and its playground, and the field will change its color as seasons switch showing the agricultural scenery. We will cover this playground with clover for kids to run and lay down on, and will borrow neighbor's rice field when it's not used for agriculture so kids to go inside to play with mud. Nature is seamless and soft itself which is naturally connected into architecture of the Clover House.

All images courtesy of MAD.