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Architects: IARC Architects
- Area: 4998 (Site)
- Year: 2010
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Photographs:Youngchae Park
Text description provided by the architects. The Howard Center of Paichai University is positioned at the long and narrow site located in the eastern end of the campus and creates boundary with surrounding buildings; 21th Century Hall, Woo Nam Hall, Appenzeller Memorial Hall and International Hall. The linear mass is placed on the street side going along with the site morphology while the outdoor space for the children located at the rear side of the building has the minimum effects from the campus.
The Howard Center is basically an education center from the Department of Early Childhood Education, and four institutions which are kindergarten, nursery, nurturing school and Institution of Childcare Teacher occupy this building. Using the existing topography, four different programs have their own entry levels. The main entrance creates the outdoor gathering space using the different levels which makes the smooth connection towards outdoor space. The section reflecting the tight/loose relationship between the programs and the inner circulation is projected through the transparent façade skin while it is maximized on the West side of façade with vertical louvers.
The main entrance between the main building mass and the separate mass at the back side of the site leads people to the courtyard which was created by restoring the small hill on the South side. The in-between space of the two buildings has the light and transparent spatial condition with the construction of polycarbonate and glass panels. It allows the kindergarten, playground and nursery to have optical connection and mutual relationships. It is also intended to make a space as the urban square in the middle of the six classrooms so that the children could create their own space by gathering, scattering, looking, associating and communicating each other.
