Takaharu Tezuka at TEDxKyoto

The best kindergarten you’ve ever seen

This is a kindergarten we designed in 2007. We made this kindergarten to be a circle. It's a kind
of endless circulation on top of the roof. If you are a parent, you know that kids love to keep
making circles. This is how the rooftop looks.
00:27
And why did we design this? The principal of this kindergarten said, "No, I don't want a
handrail." I said, "It's impossible." But he insisted: "How about having a net sticking out from the
edge of the roof? So that it can catch the children falling off?" (Laughter) I said, "It's impossible."
00:49
And of course, the government official said, "Of course you have to have a handrail." But we
could keep that idea around the trees. There are three trees popping through. And we were
allowed to call this rope as a handrail. But of course, rope has nothing to do with them. They fall
into the net.And you get more, and more, more. (Laughter) Sometimes 40 children are around a
tree. The boy on the branch, he loves the tree so he is eating the tree. (Laughter)
01:38
And at the time of an event, they sit on the edge. It looks so nice from underneath. Monkeys in
the zoo. (Laughter) Feeding time. (Laughter) (Applause)
02:00
And we made the roof as low as possible, because we wanted to see children on top of the
roof,not only underneath the roof. And if the roof is too high, you see only the ceiling.
02:15
And the leg washing place -- there are many kinds of water taps. You see with the flexible
tubes,you want to spray water to your friends, and the shower, and the one in front is quite
normal. But if you look at this, the boy is not washing his boots, he's putting water into his boots.
(Laughter)
02:41
This kindergarten is completely open, most of the year. And there is no boundary between
inside and outside. So it means basically this architecture is a roof. And also there is no
boundary between classrooms. So there is no acoustic barrier at all. When you put many
children in a quiet box, some of them get really nervous. But in this kindergarten, there is no
reason they get nervous. Because there is no boundary.
03:21
And the principal says if the boy in the corner doesn't want to stay in the room, we let him go.
He will come back eventually, because it's a circle, it comes back. (Laughter)
03:36
But the point is, in that kind of occasion, usually children try to hide somewhere. But here, just
they leave and come back. It's a natural process.
03:48
And secondly, we consider noise very important. You know that children sleep better in
noise.They don't sleep in a quiet space. And in this kindergarten, these children show amazing
concentration in class. And you know, our kind grew up in the jungle with noise. They need
noise.And you know, you can talk to your friends in a noisy bar. You are not supposed to be in
silence.
04:31
And you know, these days we are trying to make everything under control. You know, it's
completely open. And you should know that we can go skiing in -20 degrees in winter. In
summer you go swimming. The sand is 50 degrees. And also, you should know that you are
waterproof.You never melt in rain. So, children are supposed to be outside. So that is how we
should treat them.
05:10
This is how they divide classrooms. They are supposed to help teachers. They don't. (Laughter)
I didn't put him in. A classroom. And a washbasin. They talk to each other around the well. And
there are always some trees in the classroom. A monkey trying to fish another monkey from
above. (Laughter) Monkeys. (Laughter) And each classroom has at least one skylight. And this
is where Santa Claus comes down at the time of Christmas.
06:07
This is the annex building, right next to that oval-shaped kindergarten. The building is only five
meters tall with seven floors. And of course, the ceiling height is very low. So you have to
consider safety. So, we put our children, a daughter and a son. They tried to go in. He hit his
head. He's okay. His skull is quite strong. He is resilient. It's my son. (Laughter) And he is trying
to see if it is safe to jump off. And then we put other children.
07:00
The traffic jam is awful in Tokyo, as you know. (Laughter) The driver in front, she needs to learn
how to drive. Now these days, kids need a small dosage of danger. And in this kind of
occasion,they learn to help each other. This is society. This is the kind of opportunity we are
losing these days.
07:36
Now, this drawing is showing the movement of a boy between 9:10 and 9:30. And the
circumference of this building is 183 meters. So it's not exactly small at all. And this boy did
6,000 meters in the morning. But the surprise is yet to come. The children in this kindergarten
do 4,000 meters on average. And these children have the highest athletic abilities among many
kindergartens. The principal says, "I don't train them. We leave them on top of the roof. Just like
sheep." (Laughter) They keep running. (Laughter)
08:46
My point is don't control them, don't protect them too much, and they need to tumble
sometimes.They need to get some injury. And that makes them learn how to live in this world. I
think architecture is capable of changing this world, and people's lives. And this is one of the
attempts to change the lives of children.
09:28
Thank you very much.