Uto Elementary School

2011

ID: 00000030

It is located in the south of Japan, near Kumamoto City. It is very close to the mountains and it is in the center of a small town called Uto. Rather than over-determining the organization of the school, we aspired to design an accommodating and liberating space amongst the trees in a forest to nurture a healthy environment. Various sizes of courtyards and L-shaped walls become a device of gently articulation and connection of spaces allows for reversing “in” and “out”, “class rooms” and “corridor/workspace”. In this area the trees have a vivid green color. Impressed by the rich green, we wanted to slip the classrooms between these trees and designed the school as if it is completely outside.