naf architect & design Inc.

「上町しぜんの国保育園（small pond）」は、2014年に竣工した「しぜんの国保育園（small village）」の系列園としてつくられた。

small village では町田市忠生という地域の将来を見越して、様々な世代や文化の人々が集まって交流できる、小さな村のような保育園として設計した。それに対して今回の世田谷では、設計初期段階で地形・歴史・都市計画の成り立ちを調査するフィールドワークを行い、一帯が１００年前は河原の雑木林だったこと、雨が流れ込んでくる谷地で前面道路の下には今も暗渠として川が流れていることなど、昔から親水性の高い土地であることがわかった。おそらく川が流れていたのが理由だと思われるが、都市計画上の主要道路ではなく商業地域でもないのに道路幅が広く、昔のままで空の広がりを残した貴重な土地であることもわかった。この場所で子供がのびのびと育つことを、水が湧き出るイメージに重ねつつ、系列園であることもふまえ、small pond というコンセプトが決まった。

設計に大きな方向性を与えた出来事の一つに、横浜市都筑区にある「りんごの木子どもクラブ」という認可外保育所で保育士を務めながら、子供に関わる様々な活動（講師、イベント企画、執筆など）をしてこられた青山誠氏を、社会福祉法人東香会の齋藤紘良理事長が園長として招いたことがあげられる。「本来、保育園はなくてもいい。子どもは自分で育つ力が子どもにはある。地域で群れて育っていける場がないから保育園が必要なだけ」という青山氏の言葉から、今回の保育園の存在価値とは何なのかを考えた結果、「子供を地域で育てる」ことができる場づくりを目指すことにした。

子供同士によるミーティングが特徴的な青山氏の保育手法へのヒアリング、それが実践されている「りんごの木子どもクラブ」への見学、近隣住民への訪問と保育士との対話、それにフィールドワークで得た情報を整理する過程で、重要なのは保育の質の向上と良好な近隣関係づくりだとわかった。そのために、まずは子供や大人が「安心」できる場が必要であり、土・緑・光・風・暑さ・寒さといった「自然」と触れ合う機会が必要と考えた。

「安心」を生むためのデザインとして、
・近隣との緩衝帯となる建物配置
・空の広がりが将来も確保できる園庭配置
・歩道の見通しを生む外壁後退
・住宅スケールの建物間口や軒高
・圧迫感を減らす寄棟屋根
を採用し、

「自然」との多様な接点のデザインとして、
・保育室毎に異なる光や風を感じられる空間構成
・建具を解放すれば屋内外問わず敷地全体で繋がるゾーニング
・自然と共存できる耐久性のある素材
を採用した。

この環境下で、全国的にも珍しい０〜５歳の全年齢縦割り保育が行なわれ、近隣住民を招いた地域活動や、外部ゲストを招いたイベントなどが開かれている。

敷地自体はカギ型に曲がった六角形でデッドスペースが生じやすく、南側には３〜４階建ての住居が立ち並んでいるため、その影が常に敷地内に伸びてくる状況だった。さらに設計過程で、近隣住民の要望から保育所の建物を一部セットバックさせる必要がでてきた。そういった様々な制約はむしろ受容して空間的特徴に置き換えることで、変化のある全体構成としている。

一方で部分詳細としては、以下のような素材と表現を取り入れている。
・高耐久フローリングを保育室だけでなくトイレにも使い、子供が怖がらないようにする（小さな子供は床材を切替えると違和感を覚えるため）
・屋根板金の割付をあえて近隣住宅でも使われているコロニアル屋根の縦横比とし、さらに拡大して、錯視効果で大きな屋根の圧迫感を軽減する
・園庭で子供が触れる壁は怪我しにくい木板張りとし、危険な場所は登れないように縦張り、それ以外は横張りとする
・縦張り横張りの隙間を調整（道路側は広く、隣地側は狭く）することでプライバシーや地域との距離感を調整する
・園庭樹木にはジャム作りができる果樹を選び、枝張りは木登りしやすいものとし、下に柔らかい芝生を敷く
・デッキや木板張りは数年かけてゆっくり退色して馴染んでいく無塗装木材、屋根はメンテナンス不要で経年変化するチタン亜鉛合金を採用する

こういった全体構成や部分詳細も、長い目で見たときに、保育の質の向上と近隣との良好な関係づくりの下地になればと考えた。

たった１年間で、保育園の子供達のコミュニケーション能力は格段に向上し、遊び方も変化する。子供たちが、まさに湧き出る水のように自在に変化することを前提としたときに、その受け皿としての保育園とは本来どうあるべきか、設計者として問い直すきっかけになった。

－中佐昭夫－

Name of the Project : small pond
Location : Setagaya ward, Tokyo
Category : nursery
Zoning use district : –
Fire protection specification : –
Structure : Reinforced‐concrete + Wood construction
Number of stories : 2 floors above ground
Maximum height : 9.290 m
Maximum eave height : 5.540 m
Frontal road : 12.36 m on the north , 9.09 m on the northeast
Site area : 770.12 m2
Building area : 462.03 m2
Total floor area : 747.86 m2
Completion : January 31, 2019
Architect : Akio NAKASA(Principal Architect) , Teppei AMANO
Photographer : Toshiyuki Yano

Kamimachi SIZEN-NO-KUNI Day Care Center “small pond” is an affiliate of Day Care Center “small village” completed in 2014 by the same client.

“small village” was designed to serve as a future small village where people of various generation and culture gather and mingle in the context of a local community in Tadao, Machida city, a suburban area in western Tokyo.
In this project, we conducted a fieldwork to study geography, history and urban planning of the vicinity, a densely populated residential district in the central Tokyo, which used to be wooded area by a creek one hundred years ago. The premises is on a lowland where rainwater streams in and a creek runs in culvert under the front road. We found out that this area has always had hydrophilic nature. The width of the front road is wide although it is not a principal road in terms of urban planning nor the district is not commercial (most probably because it used to be a creek), leaving rare open space toward the sky around the premises. Likening the name of the other affiliate day care center, its concept/ name was decided on “small pond”, in a hope that children be spontaneous as water gushing out from pond.

Determinant element in design conception was participation of Mr. Makoto Aoyama as the principal of this day care center, who was invited by a board chairperson of Tokokai, a social welfare corporation, Mr. Koryo Saito, the owner of this project. Mr. Aoyama has been an active practitioner of child care in various fields, such as speaker at seminars, event planning, writing essays while working at “Ringo no ki (apple tree) club”, a non registered child care facility in Yokohama. His belief that “day care centers are essentially not necessary for taking care of children as children have potential to grow on their own. Day care centers are required as there is no place in a community for children to get together and learn on their own” led us to reconsider raison d’etre of day care center. Our response to the objective of this day care center was to offer a place where “community raises children”.

We discovered it was crucial to enhance the quality of nursing and create good relations with neighbors through interviewing Mr. Aoyama on his nursing methodology (which has emphasis on meetings run by children), dialogue with neighbors and nurses, and studying information gained by the fieldwork. In order to achieve the objective, we thought it necessary to create a place to where children and adults feel “secure” and also provide opportunity to feel “nature” such as earth, greenery, light, wind, warmth and coldness.

As design elements to create “secure” feeling, we employed below:
– Building layout to create buffer zone between the neighbors
– Garden layout which preserves open sky in the future
– Exterior wall recess to give space for open passage
– Frontage and height of residential building
– Hipped roof to ease pressure
As design elements to create various connections with “nature”, we employed below:
– Every nursing room to have unique spatial composition to create different intake of light and wind
– Flexible zoning within the premises which allows boundless connection between interior and exterior of the building once fixtures are open
– Durable material which coexist with nature
Nursing in cross age group of zero to five year old, rare style in Japan, along with community activity inviting neighbors and events inviting external guests take place under this environment.

The lot is hook shaped hexagon which can result in much dead space with three to four-story houses on south side whose shadow is constantly cast on the premises. During design process, neighbors requested that part of day care center building to recess. These restrictions and conditions were transformed to its spatial features and variable composition as whole.

Following materials and styles are employed as detail designs:
– Highly resistant flooring material for both nursing room and restroom so that little children will not feel insecure (children feel uneasy when flooring materials change by the space.)
– The colonial roof proportion which is employed in neighboring houses is employed for sheet metal allocation and enlarged in order to reduce oppressive impression.
– Exterior wall facing garden within the reach of children is made of wooden board to reduce risk of injury and laid vertically to avoid climbing in dangerous places, otherwise crosswise.
– Distance between the neighbors and privacy of the day center is adjusted by interstice between the boards stuck vertically and crosswise (wider facing road, narrower facing neighbors).
– Trees planted in the garden are fruit bearing with which they can make jam and tree spread allows tree climbing easy. Soft lawn is grown underneath the trees.
– Unpainted wood is used for deck and wooden boarding to let its color fade slowly in several years and titanium zinc alloy, which is maintenance free and changes over years, is employed for the roof.

We hoped that grand design and design details would contribute to the foundation of good relations with the neighbors and improvement of nursing quality.

Just in one year, communication skill of children in this day care center has remarkably developed and the way they play has also changed. Our conviction that children were supple as gashing water gave us opportunity to reconsider essential role and function of a day care center as a place to nurture children.

– Akio Nakasa –