MAD Architects has designed a "Courtyard Kindergarten" for its home city of Beijing.
The project is located on the site of a traditional courtyard that dates back to 1725, and encloses it with a new building and a "dynamic floating roof" that forms "a multi-layered urban narrative, where old and new coexist".
The roof will swirl around the "siheyuan" courtyard, and a playground and sports arena. The southwest side undulates to create multiple "hills" and "plains".
Ma Yansong, MAD Architects’ founder, said: "There is a saying in old Beijing when children are naughty, if you go three days without being punished, the roof will cave in."
MAD says it envisions the space underneath the "Courtyard Kindergarten" rooftop "as a place full of magic – a playful escape for the children that is a symbol of freedom and endless imagination".
Beneath the roof, the open-concept kindergarten interior contains a teaching space, library, small theatre, and gymnasium.
Four hundred children between the ages of two and five will attend the school.
MAD Architects says the mixture of buildings on site will "offer them an understanding of history and place, and the preservation of nature, bringing an inclusiveness between the old and new design".
The kindergarten is under construction and is expected to open in 2019.
Images courtesy of MAD Architects
