The preschool floats over the field of Mozambique like a piece of lotus leaf. Its round shape welcomes children coming from all direction and protects the privacy of students inside with the layer of walls. The plan is arranged surrounding an open inner garden in the center with trees that cast a good amount of shadow over the private yard.

 

The wide roof closely interacts with the environment in various angles and slopes. The solar panels on the roof would collect energy to run electronic devices in the school; in case of rain, the rainwater will flow thoroughly along the sloping surface towards the inner garden where the gutter will guide them into the water tank through filtration layers for the use of toiletry or sink.

 

The structural composition is simply about connecting beams between girders that run at two different heights. The structural elements are straight, however, by arranging them to form the circular plan, the elevation shows an elegant curvilinear movement. The circular formation also helps strengthen structurally since the closed framework spread and share force. The school is designed to involve only indigenous and recycled materials with an easy-access, such as pine tree, corrugated metal sheets, compressed earth block and PET bottles, as an eco-friendly vernacular architecture.

 

The undulating leaf edge hovers softly creating a symbolic figure for the future of children as well as the entire community. As a place for the early stage of life, we wish it to be a center of early-childhood education where children get soaked with knowledge and spread out to the world from, like a lotus creating a gentle ripple on the surface of water.