半岛鲸山幼儿园 · 奇幻学习空间的诞生

Lobby

Entrance

Lobby

Lobby

Lobby

Entrance-Lobby

Lobby

Lobby

Corridor 1st Floor

Corridor 1st Floor

Corridor 2nd Floor

Classroom

Classroom

Kitchen inside the classroom

Kitchen inside the classroom

Kitchen Furniture designed for kids

Kitchen designed for kids

Kitchen designed for kids

Sink designed for kids

Kitchen Furniture designed for kids

Kitchen Furniture designed for kids

Bathroom inside the classroom

Bathroom inside the classroom

Bathroom Furniture designed for kids

Bathroom Furniture designed for kids

Bathroom designed for kids

Bathroom Furniture designed for kids

Bathroom doors designed for kids

Corridor 3rd Floor

Corridor 3rd Floor

Corridor 3rd Floor

Art Room

Art Room

Art Room

Art Room

Music Room

Multifunctional Room

Multifunctional Room

Exterior Staircase

Facade

Once in south China’s Shenzhen, Peninsula Education Group (Peninsula) came forward with a visionary idea of creating a new learning space to help foster the next generation. Peninsula felt the necessity to build a magical place that belongs to children themselves. They believed that a novel and free environment is essential for children to learn new things actively and develop their social skills.

One day, among the wild forest of the Whale Mountain, Peninsula had found the perfect place to make this new learning space a reality.

There were two identical old apartment towers with 4 floors, and each tower was immersed in Shenzhen’s tropical nature with ample space for a playground between the two buildings. Peninsula had decided to name the place Peninsula Jingshan Kindergarten, and that was when the real adventure started.

The challenging project was granted to ArkA, a bold and creative design team. Under the direction of Italian architect Michele Lanari, ArkA’s team took on the proposal to create a new education facility for children in the residential complex.

ArkA designers restructured the interior space, transforming each of the old apartments into a classroom and adapting the functions of a house to a single space.

The apartments had many rooms. The new design kept part of those layouts, using them as an advantage to optimize the space. It aimed to create a cozy home environment where children feel at ease and comfortable to avoid feeling the shocking jump from home to classroom.

The new design took into full consideration the teachers’ needs to guide the children easily and practically. New windows were built inside classrooms, allowing the teachers to observe children’s activities. Internally, aligned arches were installed to reduce obstacles and ensure freedom of children’s’ movement, meanwhile solving the problem of lack of lighting and creating a clear bright space.

The texture of natural materials like wood could stimulate children’s sense of touch, and white paint on all walls generated comfortable ambience. In addition, ArkA designers selected pastel color palette for the bathroom and kitchen furniture which matched with corridor’s tiles to create a delicate balanced environment to relax the mind and inspire children’s creativity.

By upgrading detailed components, the interior design intended, based on the usual sober style of schools, to build a dreamy palace for children.

A new facade was installed on the structure of each building with a second layer of aluminum panels in a red brick hue, serving as shelter solution to improve the buildings’ isolation and maintenance, which protects them from Shenzhen’s humidity and high temperatures.

Panels were connected to a decorative moulding in white metal, dividing each floor and integrating windows to the frames. Playgrounds were planned in terraces and gardens to enhance the magic appeal in a learning environment and to bring the children closer to nature.

Year 2019

Work started in 2018

Work finished in 2019

Client 教育集团 · Peninsula Education Group

Status Completed works

Type Kindergartens / Schools/Institutes / Interior Design / Custom Furniture / Restoration of façades