MAD architects는 일본에 자신들의 첫 프로젝트인 Clover House kindergarten를 완성하였다. 오카자키의 작은 마을에 위치한 이 유치원은 원래 Kentaro와 Tamaki Nara 형제가 운영하던 곳이었는데, 자신들의 교육적 목표를 확장시키기엔 너무 작고 적합하지도 않은 이곳을 개조하여 아이들이 집처럼 편안한 마음을 가지면서도 이 곳에서 성장하는 할 수 있도록 모던한 교육시설을 만들고자 했다.
그래서 2층짜리 주택을 개조하여 완전한 교육 시설로 탈바꿈시키기로 했고 주변을 감싸고 있는 다른 주택처럼 목조 건물이었던 이 집을 최소한의 공사 비용으로 개조하기 위하여 기존의 목재 구조를 재활용하여 새로운 건물 디자인에 융화시키기로 했다.
이렇게 새로운 주택의 표면과 구조는 오래된 목재구조로 감싸게 되어 마치 건물의 골격을 감싼 천조각과 같은 느낌으로 만들었고 이를 통해 새로운 것과 낡은 것 사이의 공간을 자연스럽게 무마시키는 역할을 하였다.
MAD architects have completed their first project in Japan, the Clover House kindergarten.
Located in the small town of Okazaki, the school’s setting boasts views of the paddy fields and mountains, characteristic of the Aichi Prefecture. The kindergarten was originally operated out of the old family home of siblings Kentaro and Tamaki Nara, which soon became too small and unfit for expanding their educational goals. The siblings desired to create a modern educational institution where children could feel as comfortable as they do in their own homes, allowing them to grow and learn in a nurturing setting.
Program: kindergarten
Architects: MAD Architects (Ma Yansong, Yosuke Hayano, Dang Qun)
Design team: Takahiro Yonezu, Yukan Yanagawa, Hiroki Fujino, Julian Sattler, Davide Signorato
Structural engineer: Takuo Nagai
Contractor: Kira Construction Inc
Area: 300 sqm
Completion: 2016
MAD was commissioned by the family to transform their old two-story family house into a fully developed educational institution. The transformation started with an investigation of the existing 105 sqm house. Like the surrounding houses, this wooden building was first constructed as a standard prefabricated house. To keep the construction costs to a minimum, MAD decided to recycle the existing wood structure, incorporating it into the new building’s design.
The original wooden structure is present throughout the main learning area as a symbolic memory of Clover House’s history. Its translucent and enclosed spaces easily adapt to different teaching activities. The windows, shaped in various geometries recognizable to a child’s eye, allow sunlight to sift through and create ever-changing shadows that play with the students’ curiosity and encourage imagination.
The new house’s skin and structure wrap the old wooden structure like a piece of cloth covering the building’s skeleton, creating a blurry space between the new and the old. The starting point of The Clover House is the signature pitched roof. This repurposed element creates dynamic interior spaces, and recalls the owners’ memories of the building as their home.
The form of the house brings to mind a magical cave or a pop-up fort. Compared to the original assembly-line residence, the new three-dimensional wooden structure presents a much more organic and dynamic form to host the kindergarten. The facade and roof utilize common soft roofing materials, such as asphalt shingles, to provide waterproofing, while wrapping up the whole structure in a sheath of paper-like pieces.
from domusweb