Play Garden for Yuecheng Kindergarten 屋顶游乐场景观

Press Kit

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

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