Play Garden for Yuecheng Kindergarten 屋上プレイグラウンド・ランドスケープ by Ecoland is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award 金賞 in ランドスケーププランニング・ガーデンデザイン Competition Category.
金ランドスケープデザイン· 2021
Play Garden for Yuecheng Kindergarten 屋上プレイグラウンド・ランドスケープ
by Ecoland
Client: ECOLAND Planning and Design Corp.
A' Design Award 金賞 Winner in ランドスケープデザイン Category
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- Verified Award Winner
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The Design
About Play Garden for Yuecheng Kindergarten 屋上プレイグラウンド・ランドスケープ
「Play Garden for Yuecheng Kindergarten（悦成幼稚園のプレイガーデン）」は、中国・北京市朝陽区に位置する屋上の遊戯ランドスケープである。この遊び場は、保存された歴史的な中庭とその古木を取り囲むように建てられた新しい幼稚園園舎の屋上に設けられている。遊戯空間を屋上へと持ち上げることで、非常に限られた敷地の中に、子どもたちが走り回り、よじ登ることのできる開放的な場を生み出した。屋上は柔らかな樹脂系素材で仕上げられ、低い部分の濃い赤から頂部の淡いクリーム色へと移り変わるカラーバンドによって、高低差が視覚的に表現されている。丘状の起伏、円形のライトウェル（採光井）、そして環状の三輪車用トラックが、活発な遊びと発見を促している。
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award 金賞
Play Garden for Yuecheng Kindergarten 屋上プレイグラウンド・ランドスケープは、まさに素晴らしく傑出した第一級のデザインに授与される、計り知れないほど権威ある評価である A' Design Award 金賞の受賞作品です。金賞の受賞作品は、きわめて革新的で、先見性に富み、きらびやかに輝く創造物であり、デザイナーの天才性、叡智、卓越した技量を映し出しています。Play Garden for Yuecheng Kindergarten 屋上プレイグラウンド・ランドスケープは、最も称賛される、流行を牽引する記念碑的な発明であり、前例のない価値をもたらすことが期待されます。この A' Design Award 金賞を受賞したデザインは、壮観で尊敬されるプロジェクトであり、芸術・科学・デザイン・技術の境界に大きく寄与し、それを前進させます。Play Garden for Yuecheng Kindergarten 屋上プレイグラウンド・ランドスケープは、強い欲求を生み出し、情熱を呼び覚まし、創造性を促し、私たちを引きつけます。
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- The bold rooftop playground atop the Yuecheng Kindergarten, is a new outdoor discovery area for an international kindergarten institution that aims to encourage early childhood learning and appreciation of nature during play. The landscape architects worked closely with the architects to utilize the contemporary 43,800 square foot roof that is perfectly attuned to top off the newly constructed annex building to the kindergarten, enveloping a historic courtyard on site.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The project covers a landscape area of about 9,275.14 square meters. The ground floor of the landscape area is mainly paved with 200×100×50cm gray permeable bricks, and the edges are finished with 200×200×50cm machine-cut sesame gray granite. The roof area uses edible-grade plastic ground as the paving material. The plastic material is environmentally friendly, and the upper and lower layers are closely adhered, and are not easy to deform and collapse.
- Tags
- Kindergarten, Culture, Play Area Design, Rooftop Garden，History Heritage
- Production Technology
- The innovative decision to elevate the play space to the roof tops accomplished the goal of preserving the integrity of the existing historical courtyard building, respecting the memory of the site, while providing children valuable space to play and run freely within the very tight constraints of the site.
The use of a dominant and stylized Chinese cloud motif not only act as an interplay between the contemporary building rooftop and the historic building, it also unites the ancient and ultra-modern design philosophies of the complex to serve as a bold, intellectual and design statement for the children to appreciate the harmonious co-existence of their cultural, historical and natural heritage. - Design Challenge
- The landscape architects were involved early in the conceptual process of the project, collaborating with the architects on how best to use this site. With the building footprint utilizing most of the site area, little room was left for outdoor activity areas for the children attending the school. It was decided to go up and let the roof top of the newly constructed building create an expansive and imaginative play space for the 400 school children. The determination of placing open play spaces on the roof lead to an inundation of imaginative ideas and designs. It was established early that the space would encompass a broad spectrum of diverse and flexible spaces offering tactile experiences and play, without over prescribing the use of the areas.
- Research
- The lively roof atop the Yuecheng Kindergarten, located in a densely urban residential area of Beijing, China, is a unique and fresh concept in early childhood education outdoor play facilities. The 99,830 square foot site itself is unique. It is comprised of an old courtyard home carefully preserved from the Qing Dynasty and a modern three-story office building built in the 1990s. The new one-story kindergarten building, interwoven between the historic and contemporary buildings, fills out the entire site. The traditional courtyard home preserved in the center of the new construction was built as a gift for a Qing dynasty Emperor’s favorite nanny. It is comprised of 3 courtyards with the original trees planted over 300 years ago.
- Inspiration
- Discovery, imagination, and exploration were key concepts in expressing the design intent for the rooftop. The design immerses the young children into a variety of outdoor experiences that include inquiry-focused learning and play. Meanwhile, the openness of the traditional courtyards provided inspiration in the new contemporary building for three ''Bubbles''that envelope existing ancient trees and provide important connection points between the ground level and the roof play area.
- Project Duration
- The project started in April 2017, and was completed in 2019. It is located in Chaoyang District, Beijing, China.
- Operation Flow
- The roof area offers different zones for play, a dominant stylized motif unites the entire area as a singular space. The subtly undulating forms are punctuated by color bands that changes color as the landform elevation increase. The colors transform from a rich red at the base level up to a soft cream color on the peaks of the landforms. This approach is not only aesthetically appealing but also functions as a visual learning tool for the children, illustrating in a fundamental way, topography and changes in elevation.
The wide, open character of the roof play area was specifically designed to meet the playing needs of children across age groups, and one of the innovative offerings is a continuous loop that wraps around the historic buildings to serve as a tricycle track.
''Hills and Plains'' in the southwest corner of the roof creates a high and low landscape that encourages children to climb, jump and crawl. Circular light wells punctuate the tops of several of the hills allowing views into the building below, purposely encouraging children’s exploration and curiosity. Functionally, these light wells funnel light into the rooms below but also bring about intrigue and teach children about depth perception.
Molds and bumps surreptitiously erupt from the smooth surface in unexpected areas of the roof creating a multi-dimensional tactile experience and provide a gathering space for an informal outdoor classroom. - Patents
- Copyrights belong to ECOLAND Planning and Design Corp., 2021
- Team Members
- William Vince Abercrombie, Xiaolin Xu, David Yuezhong Chen, Xuesong Li, Yanhong Tang, Huiqun Xu, Fanyu Yan, Tian He, Jianjun Hu, Shuang Zhao
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Arch-Exist Photograph, Contrast，2020
Image #2: Arch-Exist Photography/Ecoland Planning and Design Corp., Tactile, 2020
Image #3: Arch-Exist Photograph, Shade Pockets, 2020
Image #4: Arch-Exist Photograph/Ecoland Planning and Design Corp.，Experimental Garden, 2020
Image #5: Arch-Exist Photograph, Bird’s Eye View, 2020
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