This is a new Integrated Elementary/Junior High School for over 1000 children in new town of Nagareyama City, Chiba prefecture (30 min from Tokyo by train).

We suggested the concept: “Activity between the trees, an architecture responding to wind and light”. The school building is placed according to sunlight and the prevailing winds – at a 45 degree angle to the nearby city blocks – and attempts to utilize natural surroundings, wind, light, trees and activity in a continuous manner. Various trees outline the school building and fill the courtyards, and by the help of a subtle façade, the houses in the area will connect with the forest.

For the class room-zone, we have used L-walls to articulate classrooms and workspaces, and this way produce places for the children, thus create a flexible room layout for multipurpose use. The wide-spanning decks and the foldable doors which make connections with the outside, create a space entire school ignoring difference between inside and outside

We are aiming that this new learning field including residents’ communication spaces will connect forest with people smoothly and activate the region.