ACTIVITIES IN NATURE IN- AND OUTDOORS OM NURSERY IN HITACHI-OMIYA, IBARAKI Location Hitachi-Omiya, Ibaraki, Japan Client / operator WB Social Welfare Corporation Architects HIBINOSEKKEI + Youji no Shiro + KIDS DESIGN LABO www.hibinosekkei.com Author Kaho Hayakawa Photos Toshinari Soga (studio BAUHAUS) Official opening August 2020 Construction costs JPY 572 million (EUR 4.4 million)
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The OM nursery is surrounded by rice fields and forests. Contact with beautiful and abundant nature helps children develop healthy bodies and inventive minds. This is how the concept of a house that provides warmth for the children was born, inspired by a greenhouse and designed by HIBINOSEKKEI and Youji no Shiro and the KIDS DESIGN LABO. In addition, the facility offers five activities to activate children and to lay the foundations for healthy physical exercise behaviour in the future. This project addresses the problematic decline in children‘s physical activity. Recently, the number of children playing indoors and using electrical equipment has increased, while the number of public parks in Japan has decreased. In a survey, more than 90 % of parents said that their children play outside much less compared to when they themselves were young. However, physical activity habits in childhood have a great influence on later physical performance. The foundations for healthy exercise habits must therefore be laid in childhood.
Five opportunities to get moving Normally, the standard corridor width of children‘s facilities is 1.2 m. However, the corridor of this facility has a width of 2.8 m, which is more than double the standard. This way, the children can obtain sufficient exercise even indoors, and rainy days are no longer a restriction to movement. Moreover, since the classroom is open to the wide corridor, the children can extend their play from the classroom to the corridor. sb 1/2022
