Naf Architect News Today

Completed in 2022 in Sagamihara, Japan. Images by Toshiyuki Yano. This kindergarten opened in 1979 and is located on a hill in the Tsukui district of Sagamihara City, a commuter town of Tokyo. It has accepted many...

© Toshiyuki Yano Text description provided by the architects. A house with 9 jo (approx. 30 m2) courtyard surrounded by three-story walls with large fixed windows. The courtyard provides visual continuity to rooms through glass windows and the family to feel presence of each other sterically. © Toshiyuki Yano In the courtyard, deciduous trees reaching third floor are planted with lower trees and undergrowth. Four rain chains are hanging from the roof where rain is collected for irrigation. A ...

Diagram Due to aging population, the number of residents has decreased to roughly 60% of its peak and there was a time the number of children going to Seiwa Kindergarten largely dipped below its capacity before rebuilding project started. In recent years, the number of children coming from the apartment complex has been less than ten, and the rest were coming by kindergarten bus or parents’ cars outside the apartment complex. The kindergarten was no longer serving exclusively for the resident...