YNS Yamaikarashi Nursery School / Takeru Shoji Architects

The Center for Early Childhood Education and Care (nursery school) aims to achieve the principles of engaging “naturally with nature”. Located at the end of a winding pathway atop of a sand dune, this single-story wooden building provides a diverse base for children filled with characterful rooms and recesses. The "construction of a large childcare environment" that extends beyond the nursery rooms, the building, and the nursery yard to the surrounding area as a single continuum, and the "establishment of a mutually watchful relationship” in which the whole village is a part of there for the children's learning and play, and while the children revitalize the village. That is what was aimed for.