We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Sun Hu about their original and creative Kindergarten design work. Sun Hu is an award-winning architectural designer, that makes our world a better place with their original kindergarten works.
Sun Hu ("SH") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work CIFI Donut Kindergarten. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
SH : The main principle is the attention to human demand and individual destiny in the process of urbanization. Our design idea is ‘looking for the lost children's interest and childhood perspective’, to create a playful and educational site with children's positive growth, to help build children`s colorful mental space and psychological development. Inspired by the childhood perspective that is often used by the famous director - Kosturica, the design is to use the concept of childhood perspective to lead children into the air, creating many scenes beyond the daily.
SH : The main concern is the nature of children's education. Landscape architecture has its educational and social significance. To educate kindergarten children into a positive group that meets the standards of the world's citizens, more active and healthy outdoor spaces and places of enlightenment should be created.
SH : I hope that the place is dynamic, if the kindergarten has positive potential chemical changes during the long-term use, child will benefit from this time segment, that is what we want to achieve most, we will maintain continuous attention and research on this topic.
SH : In China, we always deal with the balance between the development demand and the design itself in a very short time, and the concept is generated to the initial design completion in one month.
SH : The client didn't interfere with the concept. They just asked for a kindergarten with some local influence. In China, most of the kindergarten space is relatively limited and not positive enough, we hope that this can be the beginning of children's dream memories in their life, and they will be more creative and mentally free in such environment.
SH : The scheme will be built by the developer and provided to the local educational department for further use.
SH : This is probably because I am a father, and the education of my children is an important part of my daily thinking, this identity contributes a lot to sensitivity on the project.
SH : The continuous spatial organization from the atrium to the roof wilderness of Lisbon Music School has influenced me in a certain extent.
SH : I think the target users are children and teachers here, not developers.
SH : In particular, the soul of the project is driven by the formation of landscape design and contributes to a complete system of spatial experience from the ground to the roof, as well as the output practice in the concept of children's education.
SH : We want to return to the interesting and natural childhood scenes of the past era, which is called sweet rejuvenation, and the building itself looks like a donut, so we call it ‘the donut kindergarten’.
SH : AutoCad Photoshop SketchUp Lumion
SH : The landscape makes the building itself a huge toy, children can run from the ground to the roof, feeling the magic of the space. Break the traditional single narrow ground space and goes into a three-dimensional space experience system, I think this is the most unique point in the design.
SH : In the process, we worked with different technical industries. For example, we had collaboration with children's equipment manufacturers to complete the children`s slide, and worked together with ornamental grass suppliers to complete the cognitive rooftop garden.
SH : Many spaces require complex structural support, such as the design of the flying bridge and the aesthetic and functional balance of the children`s slide. Nowadays, many unique design performances are increasingly dependent on the support of structural technologies.
SH : The most advanced design is research, to fully understand the needs of children's education. Design is not only creating beauty and function, but also a rigorous application technology. The contents of our survey include: the lower limit of functional space demand of kindergarten, the statistics of traditional curriculum design and outdoor activities, the essential cognition of parents and schools education, the most memorable childhood scenes and so on. These basic data are the original logic of the design.
SH : Under the condition of short construction cycle and less developed construction technology, it is necessary to fully coordinate the professional relations and field problems, and sometimes more appropriate field technologies are needed to achieve the goal.
SH : I think as a developing country, landscape architecture in China should be fully linked to sociological relations, and should also present our efforts in public space to the world.
SH : My strongest feeling is that the project seems to be a space design, but in fact, it contains more profound social significance. Focusing on inner needs, perceptive discovery and attention is the core relationship that we have to deal with in any project.
SH : In fact, there are many other good design in China, hoping that the wishes of each project can be conveyed and widely recognized.
