Topos Design was tasked with creating a simple, yet functional and profound space for Moipoint Preschool in Shanghai, China.

Moipoint Education is an educational institution whose mission is to train and educate preschool children between the ages of two and six. At the beginning of 2020, TOPOS DESIGN was invited to build the first kindergarten in Shanghai that is comfortable, safe, natural and innovative. The three-floor architecture has 1,200 m²of indoor space and 420 m²of terrace space. Our design team hopes to avoid using complicated popular or fashion elements in the children’s education space like complicated colors or complex forms. Moreover, it is supposed to create a children’s city with texture close to skin and high sense of scales, soft like a sponge and full of memories.

The entrance avoids the public roads in the park and hidden in a row of green walls, forming a dividing line between inside and outside. The inside area is based on light wood grain, with round arches, round grooves, and rounded corners, which are used in doors, walls, and front desks. Wood is against concrete, and the soft form is against hard right angles and long, endless straight lines. Above all, the perceptible texture depicts a map leading to the world of children’s action and experience.

From the capsule-shaped multifunctional hall on the first floor, climbing to the second floor, there are the game house, classrooms and the baking room. The designer chose different sizes and directions for different rooms, in order to decrease the sense of interference from the adult world. Children can fully enjoy the joy of exploration while walking through different rooms.

Design: Topos Design
Photography: Wu Changle