Educational Passion in the Explorer Xichang Mountains
This project is nestled deep within the expansive Daliang Mountains, a region characterized by winding terrain and limited transportation, marking it as one of China’s most impoverished areas. The Daliang Mountains boast stunning natural beauty, where the harmonious coexistence with nature fosters a deep connection to the land. The terraced fields cascade in rich layers, and at night, the Milky Way stretches endlessly across the sky. This environment is both powerful and gentle—a feeling rarely experienced in urban settings.
At the project’s inception, investor Mr. Ma was profoundly moved, asking, “How could such a beautiful place not have a beautiful kindergarten?” Motivated by his dedication to his hometown’s education, Mr. Ma envisioned investing in building a kindergarten. Encouraged by the support of his family and friends, he remained steadfast. Our goal was to undertake projects that would positively impact our hometown. After thorough discussions and planning with Mr. Ma and his network, this project commenced.
The Current State of the Daliangshan Area: Remote Yet Full of Hope
The investment team, led by a successful entrepreneur born in 1987, is deeply involved in business and education. He recognizes that while his hometown harbors dreams, it lacks a nurturing educational environment and qualified teachers to cultivate them. His vision is to introduce modern educational concepts and build high-quality campuses in Daliangshan, providing mountain children with better learning opportunities and empowering more people to shape their futures.
Education has always been a noble and straightforward ideal throughout history. Despite Liangshan’s remoteness, hope remains alive.
After visiting many renowned kindergartens nationwide, we quickly connected with the Dika design team, creators of the “most beautiful kindergarten in China.” Their shared values of truth-seeking, careful consideration, and warmth resonated deeply. Behind every emotion lies love, and behind love is a shared dream. Through the Explorer Kindergarten, we aspire to bring support and positive influence to this mountainous region, opening a new chapter in the Liangshan Growth Story.
△ Xichang Satellite Launch Base
The project site is in the Daliangshan region, neighboring the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Xichang symbolizes the remarkable rise of China’s aerospace industry from humble beginnings to global prominence. We aim to blend the spirit of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center with the curious and exploratory nature of children in the building, embracing the theme of the “Explorer” to inspire dreams among mountain children. Together, we embark on the first step toward realizing these ideals.
△ Architectural Model
This ambitious vision began with the concept of mountains as places of life, sustenance, and breakthroughs. Positioned at the northwest edge of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Huidong County embodies the cultural fusion of Sichuan and Yunnan, east and west. Drawing inspiration from abstract geometry, local culture, and contemporary art, we crafted a design that sparks curiosity, symbolizing space capsules linking planets across universes. It unlocks new chapters for children lacking educational opportunities, encouraging them to face future challenges with courage.
Most importantly, this project aims to uplift mountain children, helping them emerge from past shadows and strive confidently toward their futures. We encourage every child to engage with the world, appreciate life, and become explorers in their own right.
△ Project Model Production Center
Our involvement represents a deep commitment to advancing education in Liangshan. We envision the kindergarten’s architecture to be as pure as its mountainous surroundings, preserving a valuable childlike charm. It does not mimic a typical “mountain kindergarten” but boldly “invades” the environment with a futuristic, contrasting form—sparking familiarity and curiosity among children, quietly igniting rich imaginations.
△ Building Model Refinement
Dutch architect Herman Hertzberger once said education should inspire curiosity and open up the world—not confine it to a small room. At Explorer Campus, we integrate the local topography, site conditions, and the “Explorer” theme to create an open, empowering space. This openness is not just physical but spiritual.
Wang Junbao, founder of Deca Architectural Design Center, outlined five pillars guiding the design:
- Extremely futuristic
- Extremely natural
- Extremely artistic
- Extremely educational
- Breaking narrow worldviews by embracing humanity’s shared past
△ Design Manuscript
The architecture boldly contrasts with the monotonous surroundings, like sunlight illuminating the campus from multiple angles daily. By balancing nature and artistic expression, it empowers preschool education and fosters a nurturing environment for children’s growth.
△ Working Model
Breaking Barriers with Love to Build in the Mountains
△ Aerial View of Buildings
Explorer Kindergarten, covering 4,950 square meters, is situated along Provincial Highway 310 in Huidong County. The unique architectural layout shaped by terrain and transportation presented an initial challenge: how to harmonize the building with surrounding mountain scenery and cultural identity.
△ Building Components
Ethnicity, ecology, and locality define Liangshan. The architecture disrupts traditional linear forms, creating a striking contrast with its surroundings. Designed in accordance with the plateau’s terrain, the “Explorer” encloses the campus within an arc-shaped zone, adding a new functional focus to the region.
Explorer in the Blank Space
The next challenge was to use the most natural local materials to embody the most futuristic educational ideals. The “natural feeling” is ingrained in the bones of Liangshan’s people: blue skies, white clouds, green grass, and mountains. What you see is what you get, and the simplest colors provide the most authentic expression. Without words, a new world awaits exploration, where time itself fades away in the journey.
△ Material Stacking
Starting construction in Daliangshan presents both beauty and challenges. The terrain survey left a strong impression, and the journey from the airport to the site takes over four hours on rough mountain roads. Being in a remote and impoverished area, the construction team faced manpower shortages and had to rely on local solutions. Equipment was scarce and precious.
From Mr. Ma and his friends to the driver who picked us up, every worker was responsible and dedicated, building the kindergarten without complaint. Their commitment amazed us. For them, witnessing the birth of their hometown’s “most beautiful kindergarten” is a unique joy, sharing the hardships and triumphs closely.
We hope this kindergarten will become a spiritual sanctuary for local children—a center that uplifts the mountainous region rather than feeling like an unwelcome intrusion.
4. Fostering Curiosity and Nurturing Dreams on Campus
Guided by modern educational philosophy, the Daliangshan Kindergarten integrates space as a teaching tool, shifting from rigid structures to diverse, human-scale learning environments. Beyond knowledge acquisition, the campus offers a safe, open haven.
Designers have included various sports facilities to fulfill children’s needs for outdoor activities and experiential learning. Artistic elements subtly introduce aesthetic education, turning the campus into a joyful paradise. As children, teachers, and visitors move through, they become part of the flow of time, embracing beauty early in life and enriching their personal growth.
Sunshine Fills Every Corner
Upon entering the kindergarten, clouds appear to “float” on the ground, cascading along the blue walls, as if stepping through a magical gateway that unlocks the universe and stars. The story of endless exploration unfolds here, honoring the marks left by curiosity and discovery.
△ Spaces Designed for Fun and Free Exploration
The outdoor environment supports all sports activities, continuously stimulating children’s curiosity and engagement. Planting zones, soft and hard play areas, and forest experience spaces surround the teaching buildings, ensuring safe movement paths and efficient management. Children enjoy simple joys like hopscotch alongside climbing, sand play, mazes, and water pools.
Breaking Boundaries with Form and Volume
△ Imagination Unleashed
Using structured abstract shapes inspired by mountain curves, natural craftsmanship, and cosmic bubble associations, the design forms three distinct architectural volumes with different functions. This approach avoids monotonous teaching blocks, creating visual clusters that resemble condensed space corners. From different angles, these forms invite children’s curiosity and exploration.
△ Clouds and Buildings Harmonize from Distance
The three-story teaching building features a rooftop green lawn that serves as a natural playground, offering ample sunlight, ventilation, and lighting. This space allows teachers to navigate efficiently between classrooms. The building’s square form supports an efficient layout with varied spatial scales, integrating the curriculum into the physical environment to inspire creativity, focus, and individuality.
Creating Dynamic Spatial Interfaces
The streamlined design offers numerous semi-outdoor spaces that shield from rain, responding effectively to Huidong County’s subtropical monsoon climate by creating multiple levels and a lively environment.
Outdoor Terrace
△ Close-up of Irregular Facade Openings
The facade of the teaching building continues the signature style, featuring windows of various shapes inspired by “bubble associations.” A spacious slide emerges gracefully from an unknown depth, inviting a new generation’s fascination with time travel and exploration.
△ Play of Light and Shadow
Through every possible journey of light, architecture blends seamlessly into the air with magical shadows. These beautiful shadows may hide a profound question: “Where do we come from?”
Natural Light Penetrates Deep into the Space
△ Light, Shadow, and Circular Corridor Details
5. Preserving Mountains and Seas, Embracing the Future of Education
The main building, painted pure white, stands out among surrounding structures shaded in blues and grays. This contrast reflects a harmonious renewal, symbolizing a positive transformation in the city and a sense of detachment from worldly constraints. The sky and plant greens are essential accents—blue and green, sky and earth—interspersed with touches of red that break convention.
Children roam freely through this environment, connecting with mountains, forests, the ideal future, stars, and seas.
△ Architectural Appearance
△ Comfort and Nature
The boundary between realistic depiction and abstraction dissolves deliberate spatial composition, enhancing charm and uplifting the atmosphere. The multifunctional hall stands as a unique element, its overall form mimicking a hill’s contour or a flat boat on the sea. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows flood the space with sunlight, creating an artistic sanctuary where children can discover the timeless beauty left by past generations.
△ Building Appearance Creates New Possibilities
△ Construction Progress
Exterior Views
△ Platforms and Corridors
Rich Pathways and Connections
Besides the multifunctional hall, resembling an art installation, a corridor on the second floor connects the main teaching building and the administrative hall, offering barrier-free access. This passage feels like crossing a cave, redefining the relationship between play and outdoor education.
Educational architecture aims to reveal the essence of its site, serving as a cultural exchange space and a dialogue between landscape and children. It fosters creativity and ecological awareness through play, nurturing the next generation of creative artists.
△ Multifunctional Hall Exterior
△ Floor Details
△ Creating a ‘Surreal’ Atmosphere Through Architecture
6. Collaborative Efforts to Bring Dreams to Life
Breaking conventional abstract forms, vivid colors create dynamic facades symbolizing vitality and imagination. Varied scales and backgrounds allow the unique facades to express seamless transitions between interior and exterior spaces.
Explorer fosters a lively and relaxed campus atmosphere. The use of red enhances recognition of different areas, while large patches of red, blue, and green improve spatial awareness. Children can navigate the campus confidently based on color cues.
Irregular Facade
△ Teaching Building Facade Details
△ Construction Progress
△ Vision
Outdoor Courtyard and Platform
Terraced Fields Concept Implementation
7. Emotions Flow Freely Within the Space
Despite being situated in a remote mountain area with numerous challenges, the investors aimed to provide children with the highest quality educational experience, respecting their needs deeply. Every element—from the space itself to furniture, benches, toys, and equipment—meets China’s top-tier quality standards.
The Deca design team dismantled barriers between teaching and play, classrooms and amusement spaces, focusing on human-scale environments that enrich personal learning experiences. These spaces encourage interaction, discussion, and foster a deeper appreciation of nature and human beauty.
The architecture acts as a dreamlike spaceship of imagination, with classrooms offering a lullaby to the realization of ideals. The hall features expansive French windows that flood the teaching spaces with natural light, nurturing every seed of curiosity comfortably and naturally.
Within the independent dome-shaped structure resembling a spacecraft cabin, children’s “picture books/small cinemas” begin the story of the “Explorer” interstellar shuttle, with light strips connecting stars. Under these bright orbits, stories unfold gently through books, images, and the air itself.
A Vibrant and Fun Children’s Reading Area
As traditional classroom discipline fades, what experiences do children require in limited spaces? The answer lies in integrating community life into teaching environments. Children gain not only knowledge but also a living laboratory where learning, life experiences, interests, and exploration merge.
△ Indoor Construction
The classroom’s functional layout includes music and dance rooms, pottery and art studios, LEGO practice spaces, and more. Immersive play experiences help students develop various skills. Each little explorer may discover talents as a singer, dancer, craftsman, or math genius.
Classrooms feature ample height and wooden furniture emphasizing naturalness, safety, and eco-friendliness. Color tones and materials harmonize with the surrounding environment to establish a space attentive to emotional well-being. The ceramic art studio’s bold blue hues and playful toys ensure the space feels welcoming and comforting—a place where children can relax, think, and create.
△ Skylights Introduce Natural Light into Public Spaces
Viewing these young lives as individuals, we foster positive interactions among people, nature, geography, and knowledge. This space serves as the first step in inspiring personal growth and offering an ideal lifestyle.
Amid towering mountains, only ideals unite us. The educational spirit in Xichang’s mountains has made its first breakthrough. The ‘Explorer’ Kindergarten has set sail toward a promising future.
Project Drawings
△ Project Location Map
△ First Floor Plan
△ Second Floor Plan
△ North Section Elevation View
△ North Elevation View
△ East Elevation View
△ South Elevation View
△ West Elevation View
Project Information
Project Name: Explorer Kindergarten
Project Type: Architecture/Interior
Location: Xichang, Sichuan
Design Unit: Deca Architectural Design Center
Office Website: __AI_ST_URL_0__
Lead Architect: Wang Junbao
Design Team: Tian Jiabin, Ou Jiyong, Wang Yaguang, Tan Huimin, Fu Huiming, Zhang Qi, Lu Qingyin, Tu Xueliang
Construction Drawing Deepening: Zhang Jiexia, Guoyong, Tu Xueliang, Wang Peng, Wang Yangxia, Haiyang, Tang Ling, Li Dong
Rendering Deepening: Tu Xueliang, Lu Qingyin, Wu Lin, Cui Yingnan
Status: Built
Design Period: 2020
Construction Period: 2021
Building Area: 4,950 square meters
Photographers: Leon Wang, Yaguang Tu, Xueliang
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