Motomiya preschool aims to develop children’s “minds” and “bodies.” It is a small preschool but children benefit from their involvement with both people and a wider range of different creatures. The architectural design coexists with people, as well as with local nature and society.

1. We chose a flat, black steel roof (or low-pitched roof) in consideration of the form of the adjoining shrine with its copper-dressed dutch hip roof. The height of the eave was kept low so that it could not be seen above the trees from the shrine side, and so that the shrine’s green landscape would not be disturbed when viewed from the surrounding residential areas and fields.

2. The patio and large canopies along the outer periphery of the building enable children to enjoy their activities while moving between the inside and outside, and to play in the preschool site as well as the shrine’s grounds. The single large roof with large canopies encloses children’s various activities within a space featuring a loose boundary between the inside and outside, and that includes a skylight showing the different scenery.

3. A large enclosure with hard-packed earth middle space (between the inside and outside) allows the children to enjoy playing with mud outside even when it is raining or snowing. The hall can be used to display vegetables and fruit collected from the neighborhood’s fields, nuts from the woods, and insects and fish, just like in a traditional Japanese farmer’s garden.

4. We used plenty of local building materials for the structure, foundation, and finishing to aid in forest conservation, increase activities in the local industry, and to reduce transportation costs and energy. The beams and columns for the main structural materials are all dried naturally, which serves to retain their strength, stickiness, and oil without destroying the fiber in the wood. It is a highly durable building that demonstrates the natural capabilities of wood.

5. In order to ensure comfort and in consideration of the environment, we worked according to the traditional arrangements of a Japanese house. This included the siting of the middle space, provision of ventilation via the double roof (often used in Japanese warehouses), shading and ventilation from the large canopies, air ventilation from privacy window shutters, the use of natural materials to control humidity conditions, and trees to keep out the late-afternoon sunlight.

This is our proposal for an unprecedented preschool and space that is rooted in the community.