Coelacanth and Associates Inc.

This project is the expansion plan of International School of Asia Karuizawa (ISAK) which is at the foot of Mt. Asama.
We were asked to design the classroom building with management and administration function, KAMIYAMA Academic Center, (KAC) and the new dormitory building, Residence 4. The large or small number of students will spend their time in the fresh summer and harsh winter. We proposed KAC in woods on a gentle slope as the new hub of campus where students belong and study.
We designed planes of KAC which have three levels and are parallel to the land form. On the planes, 120mm square pillars were planted at the interval of 5.9m. And the gable roof with 1/5 pitch, which is designed to fit into the scenery of Karuizawa, is put above the pillars. We considered the composition that we could feel the spread of space with wooden structure. We arranged 5 small classrooms, 2 corners and other rooms required around the circumference as connecting with the light and the view of woods which are seen from the gaps. The empty spaces surrounded by the rooms will be allocated as Flexible Learning Area (FLA). By opening and closing the movable partitions, FLA will expand and contract spatially and the class rooms and corners will be given the fluidity. It makes the architecture itself and the part of the building to have the imagination for the usage.In addition, We aimed to design the relationship between FLA, classrooms and woods to have active effects each other.
Diagonal walls surrounding the classrooms in FLA will create the place where people are gathering in the continuous spaces or give changing of sunlight into the inside. In ISAK, students do not have homerooms. Therefore, in their free time, between the classes or after school, they find their favorite places in campus to study or to have a meeting or do other activities. KAC is designed as a new educational environment where people can gather and leave at various scales and the usage will be changed according to the situations. It could be used for free time by one person or for group learning by 3 to 10 people or for classes carried out by 10 to 20 people or for lectures held by much more people.