Archinect - News

A flexible Japanese nursery school that functions like a village

2023-06-07T15:12:00-04:00

Takeru Shoji Architects has designed a nursery school in Niigata, Japan, that forms a seamless connection between its rooms, the building, and the surrounding area. Called The Center for Early Childhood Education and Care, the school is dedicated to the principles of engaging “naturally with nature.”

Image © Koji Fujii (toreal)

The single-story wooden building was designed to establish a mutual relationship between it and the surrounding village, in which the village is involved in the children’s learning and play, and the nursery functions to revitalize the village.

Image © Koji Fujii (toreal)

A series of workshops, including childcare researchers and workers, parents, and local residents, was conducted to discuss the potential of hosting a school that would serve an area with an aging population and declining birthrate. The participants decided on a vision to create the nursery school to work like a village and for the village to function like a nursery ...

SYN Architects reactivates rural Chinese village hall through an elegant vaulted extension

2023-05-03T10:58:00-04:00

Beijing-based SYN Architects has offered a look inside their recently-completed Tiangang Village ‘Living Room’ in Baoding, China. The project saw the renovation and expansion of an existing village committee building, as well as the reactivation of surrounding buildings and outdoor spaces.

Image credit: ArchiTranslator

The original committee building was comprised of five single-story arches and porches, as well as sloping roofs and brick walls, all of which were largely hidden from public view. Taking the arches as inspiration, the design team expanded the building through an extension of the arches, creating a series of trumpet-shaped volumes with a thin, curving concrete shell structure.

Image credit: ArchiTranslator

In addition to the enlargement of the original five arches, the team also created a similarly-scaled arched volume along the wall facing the street, creating a public space adjacent to the building, and providin...

Foster + Partners creates interactive architectural activities for kids away from school

2020-05-01T17:37:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has released a collection of at-home activities for kids while they're away from school. Called #architecturefromhome, The collection includes tasks related to drawing, making, playing, thinking, reading, watching, and other activities to keep the kids entertained.

All of the offerings provide free downloadable templates that can be printed and used for the project. Two of the activities include foldable structures that allow students to create their own city or skyscraper.

Check out the Foster + Partners website for the full list. While many are looking to keep the kids busy and entertained right now, exposing them into some of the architectural creativity and thinking many of us experience everyday can be a refreshing way to get their minds working.

The Danish Architecture Center presents "Kids' City," a child-centric exhibition looking at Copenhagen's architecture

2020-01-29T16:32:00-05:00

The Danish Architecture Center will open its doors on February 7th to an exciting exhibition on innovation in child-centric architecture and construction called Kids' City. With Denmark ranked as one of the best countries to raise a child and Copenhagen as one of the best places to live in the world, the exhibition will spotlight the architecture of the city and explore the question of what a "good city" looks like.

Bike Snake, Copenhagen V, 2014 DISSING+WEITLING

Of the exhibition, Dorthe Weinkouff Barsøe, COO and VP of the Danish Architecture Center, said:

“Kids’ City is in line with our ambition to open the world of architecture to an even broader audience. It is a multi-faceted and active exhibition for the entire family, where we strive to make communication about architecture more accessible. We present new views of livability and the framework for the good city life, interpreted in a way that makes sense to the local residents, including children, as well as to the increasing n...

Risk-Averse Design: What would Aldo van Eyck think of playgrounds today?

2019-11-01T10:28:00-04:00

Going to the park and playing in the playground is a memorable childhood past time. However, with the increase of risk-averse design, have these beloved spaces for children to frolic, climb, and fall become too dull for children? Oliver Wainwright of the Guardian addresses an excellent perspective towards these "risk-averse" play areas, outlining how "architects are taking issue with risk-averse playgrounds full of sluggish roundabouts and tiny climbing frames."

Regarding this specific subject, it's difficult not to think of Aldo van Eyck and his iconic playground designs found throughout Amsterdam. The famed Dutch architect played a pivotal role in transforming Amsterdam's playground landscape for children after World War II.

Image courtesy of WikiCommons

Thanks to Mariabruna Fabrizi of SOCKS, her informative piece on van Eyck analyzes details highlighting his 30 year research and its relevance to urban design for children. Fab...

How Canadian designer Eric McMillan redefined the way we play through the Ontario Place Children's Village

2019-08-01T19:33:00-04:00

Watching the way children used his equipment, often in ways he could never have anticipated, made him more and more certain: play wasn’t a frivolous distraction from learning, but something essential to childhood and indeed humanity. [...] According to his design philosophy, each park wasn’t just a place to jump on a shockingly large air mattress. It was “a place where a child can ask questions of what it means to be human.”

Journalist Nicholas Hune-Brown profiles Canadian designer Eric McMillan, who started out his career as an exhibition designer and was then thrown into the spotlight after he designed the Ontario Place Children's Village in Toronto. Suddenly becoming the expert on children's design, McMillan incorporated elements that aimed to help kids learn through play — which includes helping create the world's first ball pit.

In the piece, McMillan looks back on those years — from the thought process behind the iconic Toronto playground, to how changing attitudes towards playgrounds led to the end of those glory years, to what he thinks should be done with the now-defunct site.

“The key was to build things that sparked interaction, between kids and the equipment, but especially between the kids themselves,” Hune-Brown writes in the piece.

Olson Kundig's Alan Maskin on Icons and Architecture for Children

2019-04-30T12:48:00-04:00

This week Ken and I are joined by Alan Maskin, partner and co-owner of Seattle-based Olson Kundig. Alan shares his story growing up on the East Coast, working as an artist and arts educator before moving onto architecture school in his 30s. He tells us about how he finally landed a job at Olson Kundig after 4 failed job applications, and then strategically moved his way out of his initial role of IT manager. He provides insight into what it took to move up in the firm, eventually becoming a partner and co-owner, and what kind of qualities Olson Kundig looks for when hiring new talent that fits well with time-crafted firm culture.

The Century Project for The Space Needle | Design Principal, Alan Maskin | Project Architect, Blair Payson, LEED AP. Photograph © Nic Lehoux

Of course, we also talk about his work, including the highly publicized renovation of Seattle’s iconic Space Needle, and some recent projects he has designed for children and families. We even get his thoughts on two to...