Valley with a river running through green rice fields and mountainous terrain in the distance.
A modern, multi-story architectural building with curved white exterior walls. The building has open spaces with colored blocks and a sculpture of a pink dog at the entrance. There are trees around and people walking or sitting nearby.
Children playing in an indoor playground with trees, colorful chairs, and modern seating pods.
Night view of a modern, multi-level building with a perforated metal facade and an elevated glass-walled viewing area with people inside.
An axonometric diagram of a community center with various features, including a sports court, indoor gardens, play areas, home rooms, bathrooms, a theatre with acoustic curtains, indoor climate control features, parking area, and landscaped outdoor spaces, with annotations describing each element.
A street map showing a triangular building surrounded by trees, a nearby water body, and crosswalks at an intersection.

Molewa Preschool

An international competition for a preschool for 400 children + staff in the town of Ruichang outside Shanghai. The brief called for a floor space ration of 2:1 and above ground parking. Our response was to avoid stairs via a gently ramping spiral that achieved the floor space requirement and allowed parking to be hidden under a central courtyard. The main volume is only half-tempered, keeping rain and wind out but generally maintaining outdoor temperatures to create an indoor-outdoor environment. Prefabricated acoustically and thermally insulated 'home-rooms' provide respite for the children when required, resulting in massive energy savings over the building's lifespan.

Client: Hua Yan Group