January 14, 2009
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Kid’s Republic 1 in Beijing : Colorful ribbons that “wrap” the space and colorful ribbons that “twist” in space?these two types of colorful ribbons create a place that both creates and cultivates the curiosity of children.
KID’S REPUBLIC in Beijing has an activity room on the first floor and a children’s bookstore on the second floor. The activity room on the first floor is a rainbow-like space created with 12 colorful ribbons of different perimeters. Activities like story-telling and animation shows are periodically held here. The section gaps in the wall and ceiling are used for illumination or displaying items, while those in the floor are also used as a stage and an auditorium. Carpets are laid in the room for children to freely sit and lie down on the floor. |
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| Kid’s Republic 2 in Tianjin |
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| Kid’s Republic 3 in Shenyang |
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| Kid’s Republic 4 in Shanghai : It is a picture bookstore, facing an avenue with a lot of people passing by, in Shanghai. The first floor is a slightly long plane with less depth for the bookstore, and the second floor is used as the activity space and office.
The world of the picture book is with trees and forest as the stage, quite a lot of which are for the key of the story development. This may result from the life sense of the trees and the mystery reflecting against sun and moon change, making the story happen here naturally. As the same in the architecture world, the trees have been processed to be various forms and used in various segments for the architecture since the ancient times. Try to introduce the integration method different from the previous ones for the general combination of “Picture Books and Trees”, so as to be a new space to create the new story.
One big tree is exploded into various elements, which were embedded in the space. Cut and process the trunk, branches, bark, and leaves, thereby keeping the material sense when making them abstraction. Accordingly, these materials forming ceiling, walls, stairs and furniture, and other spatial elements are constructed newly. It is like the process that a fish is cut into various parts, cooked and then combined again to some extent. |
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| On the first floor, the bookcases are arranged fully with a full wall. The bookcases with diversified width, depth, thickness are made by using boards of various trees, some of which protrude or withdraw, forming a solid structure. Wherein, there are the bookcase made of a hollow log, thereby bringing a fresh “expression”. The floor is projected with flourishing leaves, making people truly experience the sense just as sunshine reflecting through the leaves. The ceiling is arranged with logs with branches in equal distance, so people can see the appearance of the annual ring at the tree end through the glass when passing by. |
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| When stepping up to the second floor, the hemispherical activity space covered with rough bark appears. Its internal is a pure white space just like a snow room, with irregular round holes on the top. The ground is with different height, used as the stage and auditorium, paved with colorful carpet, where children can lie on to read freely. Passing through the activity space, it is the office area inward, where the office desks are laid with the log sections in pieces, extending to the wall surface. While there is a sudden change of the style of the toilet, with all surfaces used with the mirror finished stainless steel as the decoration. When entering, people will be extended boundlessly together with the colorful round surface with lighting under the reflection of the mirror finished stainless steel. |
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| At first glance, it seems to be a fantastic space, which can be called to be surreal and imaginary, where the experience is just like in a picture book world. Here children can enjoy the space freely and allow their imagines fully display. |
Source : SAKO Architects
Comments:
8 Comments posted on "Kid’s Republic by SAKO Architects"
Absolutely fantastic. Love the wall full of storage space. Wish I had something like that as a kid.
HERMAN WHITE GYPSUM on March 27th, 2009 at 1:03 am #
Shalu Shetty on May 12th, 2009 at 2:25 am #
Sako is an amazing architect, his other works are great too!
[...] children are whisked away into a delightful fairytale world of color and fantasy. Take a look at these pictures and I think [...]
[...] ze ook vertelavonden en vertoningen! Sako Architects staat in voor de verwezenlijking, en hier vind je meer informatie over de verschillende Kids Republic boekenwinkels die ze gestyled hebben. [...]
[...] constructed in Tianjin, Shanghai and Shenyang. Pictures and descriptions of the stores can be seen here. Poplar Bookstore in [...]
mehdi on March 29th, 2010 at 7:52 pm #
I would like to have bookcase with aquarium my space is 3m*2m*25cm can you help me for design it ? thanks
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