Liben Design Office · CLIENT: Liben Design Office
Pod House is a kindergarten interior created inside a former laundry building in Xuhui district, Shanghai. The interior covers an area of 120 square meters. The original L-shaped enclosure is retained, and an irregular arc-shaped volume is added within it. The curved form recalls a pea pod, which gives the design its name. Two central skylights bring daylight inside, while the roof holds a circular track and a play area. Round openings and stainless steel surfaces soften the indoor boundaries. Storage, changing and washing areas occupy the space outside the curved walls.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The project is located at a kindergarten in Xuhui district of Shanghai with enclosed L-shaped. The south and west sides of the base are intensely close to the wall and adjacent to the residential area. The internal facilities are placed at the east side, while the north side is the internal road of the kindergarten. The original function of the project is the abandoned laundry.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Covering an area of 120 square meters, this is a typical project like casting masterpieces in the pigeonholes.
- Tags
- Interior, Commercial, Kindergarten, Nursery School, Modern, Simple, Natural, Art
- Production Technology
- The roof has kept the shape of pods, setting up a circular roof track and a playground for children. Two center skylights provide sufficient lighting for the pea house. A small climbing slope is designed around the circular skylights. A pod-shaped skylight serves as a glass path for children to explore. The relationship between the sight lines from skylights also makes the dialogue in the space more vivid and interesting.
- Design Challenge
- It is asked for making the laundry be rebuilt into a space for students' demands of learning and dancing. Complying with some requirements, the building boundary is not allowed to be over the original campus wall, and the height is not allowed to be out of the original building height. Those external pools, rockery, and other facilities are needed to be retained.
- Project Duration
- The project started in January 2018 in Shanghai and finished in August 2019 in Shanghai.
- Operation Flow
- Those indoor different-sized round holes together with the specular reflection of stainless steel and circular skylights of furred ceiling blurred indoor boundary, meanwhile increased dimensional interest.
- Research
- Urban renewal is becoming one of the important roles in urban development. In addition to community and business renovation, some schools in the city center are also faced with the problem of land shortage and unable to expand. Therefore, it is worth thinking to solve the problem how to make effective transformation and utilization of the existing campus site for extension of functions and more spaces under constraint conditions.
- Inspiration
- How to outline a fun space for activities and class of children and teachers in this small venue is the initial starting point of the design. Children are lively. They are good runners and explorers. Therefore, the design attempts to build a space that satisfies the curiosity of children and taps the potential of sports based on their activity and psychological characteristics.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Lei Dong, Pod House, 2019.
Image #2: Photographer Lei Dong, Pod House, 2019.
Image #3: Photographer Lei Dong, Pod House, 2019.
Image #4: Photographer Lei Dong, Pod House, 2019.
Image #5: Photographer Lei Dong, Pod House, 2019. - Patents
- Copyrights belong to Name Lei Dong, 2019.
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