I. Restrictions & Requests The project is a kindergarten situated at Yorkville North, a residential compound developed by Hongkong Land in Liangjiang New District, Chongqing, China. It was built on a smooth and level site, near an urban road and built residential high rises to the south, a green park to the west, and residential blocks under construction to the north and east. With a land area of 3,330 m2 and construction area of 2,701 m2, it will accommodate 9 classes. The site is relatively cramped from the perspective of the quantity of classes. For a kindergarten, providing a pleasant space and environment is very necessary, so the key issue that IDO had to think about was how to create a safe, healthy, human-oriented and playful educational space on the limited site.

This project, as a supporting facility for the residential community, will be operated under the collaboration between the property developer and a prestigious school. It's a public kindergarten that welcomes private sponsorship. Therefore, it's very important to keep close communication with the property developer as well as the kindergarten team at the early design phase. The architects wanted to listen to the requests of the kindergarten and work on the design based on its teaching concept. The kindergarten adheres to an open teaching concept of “love and fun” which emphasizes embrace of nature, personality development and cultivation of exploration spirit, and hopes that children will feel and touch nature rather than grow up in a “greenhouse”. Combining this with site conditions, the architects proposed to create an “urban-village” where kids can explore freely.

II. Concept & Space The "village" features a vertical layout, allowing kids to enjoy distinctive views at different elevations. The superposition of architectural blocks and activity spaces perfectly overcame the site restrictions, realized the separation of unit blocks, and formed a "neighborly relationship". In order to take advantage of the surrounding landscape resources, the overall building was given a U-shaped courtyard-style layout, facing a park to the west. Each classroom is an independent volume, which overlaps another one while leaving gaps in between to ensure natural ventilation. The architects wished to make every unique and abstract classroom a “home” for children in which they can build a sense of belonging. Independent of each other in shapes, the classrooms also differ in material palettes, so that each one is more personalized and identifiable.