Kibikougen Elementary School is the first elementary school plan in Kibi Kogen city located in the center of Okayama Prefecture. It is a participating project of CTO (Creative TOWN Okayama). I thought that it would be a place where rich nature surrounded by China's mountains would remain, and that architecture would not create a place where children's activities could be seen and hidden from the gaps of trees.

First, arrange the blackboard wall and trees that form the classroom zone. A roof frame made of laminated wood will be built where there are no trees, and it will be an internal classroom.
In the approximately 80m square, the activity place of the children is sprinkled, and the classroom, work space and the courtyard are connected continuously. The children are free to cross the boundary and run through without being bound by the name of the place.

A school building with a high degree of grounding is ideal as an elementary school, and the whole area aims to be barrier-free as a welfare town, so we made a plan of a flat house. The south side is the classroom zone, and the north side is the regional open zone, with the central path serving as the main school traffic line for children bordering on the border. The gymnasium is united with the pool and the courtyard by opening the police shutters at the foot. In addition, by using the part that becomes RC by regulation of the fire compartment as the upper level road, to the gymnasium's catwalk, the courtyard, the ground, and also as the outdoor flow line, it superimposes different routes and viewpoints from everyday life ing.

In such an open school plan, it is important to create a place where activities can not be hindered even in severe winter temperatures. Warm air is also blown below the floor and blown out from the perimeter zone to warm the entire zone including the work space. By reducing the temperature unevenness as compared to the oil stove, the environment becomes comfortable even if the temperature setting is lowered, and the running cost can be suppressed.

The school was initially opened with one class in one grade, with the number of children less than 70 at all schools. However, children's energetic activities far beyond the expectations of us and the teachers are full of liveliness that extend to the people of the region beyond the framework of the school year and school.