King’s Kindergarten: Designing Tomorrow’s Education

Situated in the Xiangmihu area of central Shenzhen’s Futian district, the King’s Kindergarten is nestled amidst luxury residential complexes and abundant natural and cultural riches. Despite the bustling city surroundings, it provides a serene sanctuary. Leveraging its unique natural conditions, King’s Kindergarten has sought the expertise of Manfred Yuen and the Groundwork team to design the facility.

King’s Kindergarten

King’s Kindergarten, a beacon of innovative design in the urban landscape by Groundwork Architects

From late 2016 to 2018, the Hong Kong Architectural Services Department commissioned Groundwork to draft design policies and guidelines after researching the future development of public children’s recreational spaces in Hong Kong.

Over the course of 18 months, the Groundwork team remained dedicated to a single question: “What constitutes excellent spatial design for children?”

Adopting “participatory design” and “strategic questioning” methods, the team interviewed over 500 children, uncovering unexpected new insights:

  1. Children prefer natural materials and environments over vibrant buildings and spaces;
  2. Environments that spark children’s imagination not only amplify their enthusiasm but also cultivate their creativity in utilizing and developing those spaces;
  3. Children possess an inherent appreciation for nature, embracing elements such as light and shadow, wind and rain, sand and soil, etc;
  4. While children naturally enjoy adventure and challenge, they also possess an instinctual sense of self-protection when faced with unsafe situations;
  5. Children also require personal space and time for solitary play on occasion.

Incorporating educational philosophy into their research, the Groundwork team developed the design concept for King’s Kindergarten. Their objective was to adopt a human-centric approach, utilising the perspective of children to create an internationally modern kindergarten that transcends conventional boundaries and fosters limitless creativity.

King’s Kindergarten

King’s Kindergarten – Top View of Interior Design

Designing Spaces that Reflects Children’s Preferences and Nature

Crafting an environment that satisfies children’s innate longing to engage with nature, the kindergarten’s semi-enclosed architectural layout establishes a natural, inviting, and dignified atmosphere. The design not only embraces the surrounding park landscape and sunlight but also seamlessly integrates the outdoor scenery with the bright interior. The use of wooden materials for walls and floors aligns with children’s affinity for nature, seamlessly blending the outdoor surroundings into the kindergarten’s vibrant interior. Groundwork Architects intentionally selected a natural palette of concrete and wood, skillfully layering light and shadow to create a respectful and harmonious ambiance.

King’s Kindergarten – Top View of Interior Design

Curiosity Extending Beyond Walls

Children’s creativity, adventurous spirit, and love for challenges flourish beyond the confines of the classroom, particularly within the corridors. Serving as a bridge between the natural outdoors and indoor learning environments, corridors become vibrant areas where children engage in playful exploration daily. The Groundwork team reimagined the lines of the walls adjoining indoor spaces and corridors, breathing new life into once monotonous straight-line areas. By introducing curving and dynamic lines, they transformed these spaces into flexible and engaging environments. The innovative design of the “soft space” fosters interaction, encourages exploration, and ignites the imaginative spirit of children, stimulating their curiosity and creativity.

King’s Kindergarten

Indoor spaces and corridors adjoined by curvy lines

Connecting Spaces and Children through Light and Shadow

Groundwork’s design shines with its innovative use of light and shadow to infuse interior space with elements of intrugue, exploration, and mystery. The interplay between light and shadow evolves organically, crafting a dynamic and ever-changing landscape that amplifies the spatial depth of the area. This infusion of the unknown adds a multi-dimensional layer to the sensory experience for children, granting them a heightened perception of their surroundings.

In addition, outdoor areas have intentionally integrated materials such as mirrored steel, aluminum panels, and stainless steel. This intentional choice creates sporadic reflections of light onto walls, floors, or seating areas, introducing a delightful sense of fascination. This arrangement allows children to revel in the joy and excitement of playful interactions with light, both indoors and outdoors, enhancing their overall experience.

Curved interior learning area and exterior playground design

Embracing the Adventurous Spirit within Educational Play Spaces

Nurturing children’s innate love for play involves incorporating a playground-like attribute into an organized educational environment. The ground floor corridors seamlessly merge with the outdoor activity areas, creating an immersive playground-like experience for the children as they navigate through. The arrangement resembles a vibrant playground, catering to children’s playful instincts with a variety of recreational facilities, such as slides, sand and water pools, climbing rope nets, crawlable small hills, and curved walls that lend themselves perfectly to games like hide-and-seek.

King’s Kindergarten

Created the colour contrast with the black circle framed glasses on the white walls

King’s Kindergarten

Overall design of the King’s Kindergarten

Groundwork upholds a commitment to preserving humanistic values and social responsibility, seamlessly integrating architectural aesthetics, social consciousness, and artistic elements to create exceptionally imaginative spaces for children.