Oji Elementary School & Oji Sakura Junior High School

This was a plan to build a complex with the elementary school and junior high school that were adjacent before the reconstruction. Following the concept of “a connected school,” we aimed to build the school with awareness of all kinds of connections, such as between the elementary school and the junior high school, between the community and the schools, and between the green environment and the schools. The elementary and junior high schools are connected in an “L” shape, with two gymnasia, a media center, the Oji Hall, a lunch room, special classrooms, and other facilities in the central linking area. This compact layout contained the many functions that enable linked learning. The plan runs the main approach route called the Oji Highway through the center of the first floor, so that elementary and junior high school students head to the school entrance along the same shared approach. At each stage of the basic design and design for execution, we held repeated workshop sessions with the community, schools, and PTA, and the various minor and major opinions exchanged about everything from school building layout to plans for each room were reflected in the design, as precious material for “connection between people and the school.”