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Architects: HIBINOSEKKEI + Youji no Shiro
- Area: 94 m²
- Year: 2022
Text description provided by the architects. This is a newly constructed childcare support facility built across the road from an existing kindergarten that has served the local community for 65 years. Continuing the long commitment to the local community, this new childcare support facility will connect children, parents, and the local community and work towards an environment that comprehensively supports parenting to a greater extent. The facility is free of charge, open every day except weekends and holidays, and accessible to the public.
The facility's name embraces multiple layers of meanings. It could, for example, mean "a place to meet" while also signifying "a place to support each other." The latter definition of helping each other is especially important to the facility, and the idea comes from the local market "Ainoura-Chaichi", where people used to barter for local products from the nearby mountains and sea. In the community, everyone "supported each other" in their daily lives. Such a shared moral value, "A Place for sharing," is deeply ingrained in the community. A variety of collaborative activities, such as reading books with parents and the local community and sharing personal stories, all contribute to the formation of a mutual learning environment, "A Place for Collaboration and Co-Action," where people sharpen one another's skills.
The facility offers a variety of spaces. The entrance, "Doma Space," invites parents they casually drop in. The raised platform, "Koagari Space," engages children's senses. The "Atelier Space" flourishes children's imagination. The "Play Space" strengthens children's physical health. The "Multi-purpose Space" lets parents and children encounter various topics that they may never have known. Since the building is dedicated to childcare support, it is always available to the public during open hours, and the full commitment by staff members with specialized qualifications in child-rearing is always available to guide people in need. With that, people can freely come in and make full use of the facility.
Here, rather than raising children alone, children have the chance to play with other children, and parents can connect with each other, making parenting less burdensome. "Aeru Basho" encourages interactions beyond the immediate community. Through that interaction, children expand their horizons, imagination, and capabilities, and thereby, the facility becomes "A Place to Be."
