Baisha Kindergarten

Concept design for a kindergarten complex within a residential development containing 9 classrooms for 180-200 children, ages between 4-6 years of age, with an emphasis on art and music as a major pedagogic foundation.

Inspired by a playful children’s toy, the Baisha kindergarten articulates a simple idea of a colourful ribbon twisting into multiple functional and spatial facets. Organized in a functional linear manner, the principal concept is to deploy this ribbon into a playful and functional form by rotating it into a 3-dimensional overlapping spiraling loop. Coiling clockwise and then counterclockwise into two distinct circular forms each containing an outdoor courtyard, the first circular form is dedicated to the administration and staff, and the second is dedicated to the classrooms with a large courtyard designed as an outdoor leisure playground featuring soft undulating landscape mounds and jungle gym. In-between the two-functional zones lie the reception hall that serves as the gathering space for children, parents and staff. It opens out towards the playground courtyard and green undulating landscape, protecting and nurturing the children’s social and physical developments.

Each classroom module is organized into a pedagogic and rest zones in a split-level layout, allowing for privacy and calm in the rest zone. Each module is placed one after another along a covered outdoor circulation promenade that gently twirls around the outdoor courtyard. Circulation movement is ever so gentle and terminates at the end with a multi-functional space for special pedagogic program such as theatre, music and art.

The kindergarten is intimate in scale and an educational edifice that anchors the community. The functional clarity and spatial organization adapts the pedagogic program into an iconic form that points to an optimistic future.