The Paradise of Color – best schools in BeijingNo.12 Middle School is one of the best schools in Beijing. There is a strong need from the neighborhood to have the School incorporate kindergarten education in their curriculum. The Paradise of Color.
The Paradise of Color kindergarten, school strives for building the best school in the neighborhood, and the architecture of it reflects its ambition. On top of that, the architecture aims for shaping a unique character for the school while enlivening the area of the city.
This is a rehabilitation project. The structure sits in the expanding area of the city. Surrounded by residential blocks, the site is in need of human-scale cultural facilities. The architecture design tries to create a pure and simple paradise with memorable spaces for children
. The kindergarten is composed of clean lines and shapes of primary colors. By looking through the lens of a child, the purity of childhood is well preserved in the architecture.
The Paradise of ColorCourtesy of Atelier Alter
Our project begins with converting the scale from a grown-up to a child. We use building blocks as the inspiration, by incorporating the openings of the original building, we create large color blocks that pop-up from the facade as gigantic building blocks for the neighborhood. The simple color block stands out from the vernacular housing construction and creates a dialogue with the children of the neighborhood.
The Paradise of ColorCourtesy of Atelier Alter
Our use of primary color starts with the understanding of perception in a child. As the vision of a child starts to mature gradually after six, children’s understanding of color is not as completed as the grown-ups. So we use a variety of colors in the elevation as well as the interior and exterior environment to stimulate the senses of children and encourage them to explore the spaces and shapes. Thus their role play in the space would be more memorable. We use blue for the nursery, green for toddlers, and orange for preschool kids, with different emphasis on keeping them calm or making them more activated.
Facade Analysis – Courtesy of Atelier Alter
By combining the brilliant colors, we also try to bring some vividness to the city of Beijing—the city de-saturated by winter smog. In perspective, the architecture creates a surreal image of 2-D cookie cutter in the concrete forest of the modern city. The two sides of the pop-up volumes are lighting panels. The lighting design makes the pure color block looks richer at night. It turns the architecture into a gigantic modern art of light and color.
Architects: Atelier Alter Location: Beijing, China Photographs: Courtesy of Atelier Alter
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Paradise of color …section and elevation