The Growth Paradise of Instinct Perception
Located in the heart of Weinan’s urban center, adjacent to the municipal government and cultural arts center, this project combines early childhood education facilities with a street park. It serves as a nurturing space for 12 classes of children to live, learn, and grow.
What defines a “good” kindergarten? Child education expert Ling Mikawa once said, “No matter how luxurious the design, if children cannot instinctively connect with it, it holds no meaning for their development.” From the outset, we focused on designing an environment that stimulates children’s senses and emotional resonance, exploring an ideal model for their growth paradise under relaxed and open design conditions.
Distributed Layout | The Natural “Four Leaf Clover” Concept
Nature is the best teacher for children’s early learning. Balancing rigid architectural structures with flexible, natural environments was the core of our design philosophy. We believe architecture and environment should integrate seamlessly, with blurred boundaries rather than clear separations.
Embracing this approach, we adopted a “four leaf clover” inspired design strategy—breaking the project into smaller parts. Functional blocks were created and integrated according to the terrain, extending into surrounding areas to increase the building’s contact with nature. These extensions act like tentacles sensing the environment, resulting in a dispersed, point-like layout.
▲ Distributed layout
The functional zones are arranged following the hierarchy of landscape resources, organized between dynamic and quiet areas on the east and west sides. The western side, away from busy city roads and facing the tranquil street park, hosts children’s activity rooms, enhancing their interaction with nature. The east side, adjacent to the main urban road, contains the public activity room near the southeast pedestrian entrance and office and logistics spaces on the northeast side for convenient vehicle access. A shared corridor links the five functional blocks fluidly, strengthening connectivity and creating flexible interfaces that engage with the natural surroundings.
▲ Overall bird’s-eye view
This decentralized layout not only creates semi-open, undefined spaces but also uses physical form changes to stimulate educational progress. It encourages more life experiences outside traditional classrooms and shifts early childhood teaching from a one-way, teacher-led approach to a multi-point, interactive style involving nature, students, and teachers—redefining the educational interaction model.
Multidimensional Activity Space | A Boundless World of Movement
Physical activity is vital for children’s healthy development. Historically, kindergarten designs have often separated architectural space from sports areas. We envision an integrated design where activity paths and spaces blend, shaping the future of preschool architecture.
Our design employs a dual-layered strategy—inside and outside, upper and lower—highlighting three key elements: climate adaptation, vibrant themes, and a mix of lines and surfaces. This approach offers children diverse and engaging play environments.
The first floor’s outer perimeter primarily serves as activity zones to fulfill basic movement needs. The west side of the main entrance square includes class-specific activity and running areas, facing south to maximize sunlight. The collective activity space on the west is split into two parts based on terrain: a sunny southwest corner ideal for winter use and a shaded central west area suited for summer activities.
▲ First floor peripheral activity venue
The shared corridor organically connects class units, embedding three outdoor courtyards, each with unique themes. The southeast courtyard, the largest, adjoins the public activity room, encouraging indoor-outdoor educational interaction and serving as a summer gathering space. The northeast courtyard features a jungle wooden house with a spiral staircase and climbing ropes, creating playful dialogue between the second-floor platform and ground level. The northwest courtyard doubles as a botanical exhibition garden, showcasing interactive crafts like plant specimen displays and seedling cultivation to foster children’s understanding and respect for nature.
Southeast Courtyard – Diverse Activities
▲ Northeast Courtyard – Jungle Wooden House
▲ Northwest Courtyard – Botanical Garden
The shared corridor’s roof serves as an activity platform for children on the second and third floors, providing quick access to outdoor play areas and enabling effective teacher supervision. The platform’s design blends scale, lines, and surfaces to support both running and resting behaviors, forming a free-flowing, circular path that creates a sense of endless running. Hidden spaces add playful excitement. Together with the first floor’s inner courtyard, the rooftop platform forms a visual interplay, encouraging children to “see and be seen,” amplifying their joy within the park.
▲ Shared activity platform
Recreating a Fairy Tale World | The Origin of Form and Color Inspiration
Whether concrete or abstract, colorful or elegant, preschool architecture faces diverse design choices. Guided by the principle that “children perceive by instinct,” we extracted geometric shapes and colors from children’s artwork that resonate emotionally, translating them into abstract architectural language. This collaborative design process transforms the kindergarten into a magical space, akin to the divine brushstrokes of the mythical Ma Liang.
▲ Children’s artwork (sourced from the internet)
The western façade echoes forest elements, featuring decorative branch-like lines, glass decals, and wooden grilles that weave together an organic “natural skin,” creating a lush woodland atmosphere. The flowing façade contours, combined with staggered oval windows, give the building the charm of a cabin sailing on dreams. On the east façade, free-form circular bubble windows of varying sizes lighten the building’s mass, with tilted walls that evoke bubbles dancing in the wind.
▲ Forest
▲ Cabin
▲ Bubble
Color is the primary medium through which children perceive the world. Wood tones dominate the main activity areas, fostering a natural and forward-looking atmosphere. Accents in the three primary colors—red, yellow, and blue—are strategically placed with moderate saturation, helping children build basic color understanding while energizing the space.
▲ The three primary colors of red, yellow, and blue
Our commitment to nature extends beyond the exterior to the indoor environment. Interiors feature pure white and wood tones, creating a warm and natural ambiance. Soft, undulating wave patterns on walls continue the space’s flowing feel. Circular structural columns, wrapped in wood-grain panels resembling forest trees, minimize collision risks. At the entrance, an “Exploration Tree” invites daily jungle adventures, while the multi-purpose room’s ceiling simulates rolling clouds, adding whimsy to children’s dreams.
▲ Indoor spaces
Reflecting on the initial design phase, multiple options were considered. When we invited children to choose their favorites, most immediately gravitated toward the “four leaf clover” concept. This interactive design represents a shift from an adult-centric perspective to a child’s viewpoint, serving as an exploratory model guided by changes in perspective and form. Children’s instinctive responses are the most authentic, and we hope this emotionally resonant dream world offers them a wonderful childhood and supports their growth.
Project Drawings
▲ General layout plan
▲ First floor plan
▲ Second floor plan
▲ Third floor plan
Project Information
Project Name: Weinan Municipal Government Kindergarten
Designer: Zhonghe Yuanchuang Architectural Design Co., Ltd
Company Website: www.jointhorp.com
Completion Date: December 2017
Building Area: 6,217 square meters
Location: Weinan City, Shaanxi Province
Principal Architect: Yan Xiaobo
Design Team: Xia Yan, Liu Xia, Ma Rui, Zhang Dingchun, Bai Guanghui, Zou Yanrong, Xu Kai, Feng Chuan
Client: Weinan Urban Investment Group Co., Ltd
Construction Contractor: Shaanxi Construction Third Construction Group Co., Ltd
Written by: Li Zhe
Photography by: Feng Wei
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