Motoyasu Muramatsu Architects

Higashimurayama Musashino Kindergarten is located in a residential area on the Sayama Hills in the west of Tokyo.

Ten years ago, when we began designing the building, the trees planted in the yard at the time of the kindergarten's establishment had grown over the passage of 40 years and were already covering the sky.
In planning the nursery and the kindergarten, we response to the school's educational policy that "a rich environment in which nature is woven around the four seasons is an important element in nurturing sensitivity and spiritual richness," we planned the facilities with the hope that the spirit of discovery and ingenuity will grow in the heart of each child as they live their daily lives.
The overall layout is centered on a wooded area where children can experience the diversity of nature under the sunlight filtering through the twinkling trees, with the nursery surrounding a courtyard on the south side, a lunchroom with full glass on both north and south sides between that courtyard and the wooded area on the north side, and a school yard with both the wooded area and the ground to the north of that.
The kindergarten is surrounded on three sides by a two-story building with deep eaves, and on the west side of the west wing of the building is a large biotope over 60 meters long.

The plan, which takes advantage of the characteristics of each site location to create a variety of spaces, maintains the transparency of each location and allows visitors to experience the expansive spatiality of the entire site and the world beyond the site from wherever they are inherited in this area for a long time is utilized in the planning of the project.
The plan is to create a creative environment that integrates architecture and landscape, a place where people can continue to live together for a long time as a place where they can experience the scenery created by nature in each of the four seasons, the daily weather, the movement of the sun and clouds, and the sound of insects and birdsong, thereby encouraging their growth as people with rich sensibilities. We have tried to create a creative environment that integrates architecture and landscape.

The east wing of the kindergarten building has a hall that can be used as a gymnasium with balcony seating on the second floor, a multipurpose room, an audio-visual room, and a library corner facing the rooftop garden; the west and north wings have nursery rooms; and the staff room is on the first floor of the north wing overlooking the entire school garden. The kindergarten building surrounds the school garden.
The second-floor exterior hallway surrounding the kindergarten garden is used as a spectator seating area during sports events and festivals. On the first floor of the west wing, there is a pilotis that can be used as a shelter from the strong summer sun and as a playground on rainy days.

The plan, which takes advantage of the characteristics of each site location to create a variety of spaces, maintains the transparency of each location and allows visitors to experience the expansive spatiality of the entire site and the world beyond the site from wherever they are inherited in this area for a long time is utilized in the planning of the project.
The plan is to create a creative environment that integrates architecture and landscape, a place where people can continue to live together for a long time as a place where they can experience the scenery created by nature in each of the four seasons, the daily weather, the movement of the sun and clouds, and the sound of insects and birdsong, thereby encouraging their growth as people with rich sensibilities. We have tried to create a creative environment that integrates architecture and landscape

Principal Use: Kinder Garten
Site area (m²) 9,165.16 m²
Building area (m²) 2,276.90 m² (Kindergarten-type Certified Children's Centre), 3,644.33 m² (Total)
Total floor area (m²) 3,188.39 m² (Kindergarten-type Certified Children's Centre), 5,008.61 m² (entire building)
Structure and scale: Steel frame construction, two storeys above ground