ArchitectureInterior andFurniture
Designfor Children

MissionGenuinelyAdequate
Environment forChildren'Youji no Shiro,' meaning 'The Castle for Children' inJapanese, is a group of architectural professionals,
which specialises in the design of preschools and otherchildren-related spaces.
When designing the best hardware, or the environment
for children, you need to consider its software, or theactivities which happen within the spaces and theschools' educational policies.
We believe only skilled and experienced pros arecapable of balancing those two elements.

Service

Creating Spaces
Where Children
Have Much Fun

Main services of 'Youji no Shiro' aredesigning buildings, renovation andinteriors of preschools, including thesupervision of the construction site.
We also provide branding consultation
services for preschools.

Design!

ReﬁningChildren's Space

Exterior
Welcoming appearance for everyone,
yet unique enough to be a landmark in the neighbourhood.

!

!

Dining Room

Den & Hiding Space

Eating lunch at comfortable dining room ﬁlled with natural light and windteaches children the joy of eating.

Children love hiding themselves and play in small spaces. The space are also
useful for children who need to calm down, or who want to be alone.

!

!

Play Instruments

Hall

By adding playful function to ordinal spaces,children can innovate new plays.

Large halls often connected to the garden
function as the socialising places for children.

!

!

Bathroom

GardenBy opening windows and placing them on the south of the building, of course securing
privacy, toilets become fun places to go, and not dark, ﬁlthy and scary.

Pleasant environment for children to feel wind,
the sun, the rain...nature!

About Us

Architectual
Professionalsof Spacesfor Children'Youji no Shiro' is the name of a section of HIBINOSEKKEI, based in Kanagawa, Japan.
The company was founded in 1972 and had launched the section which specialize in thedesign of spaces for children in 1991, reflecting the rapidly altering social situation. By
that time, the declining birth rate had become a serious issue in Japan. With fewer children
continuing to develop, we became to think that existing preschool architecture are rather
characterless.We thought what were needed were spaces that is designed and built forthe people who work there, people in the neighbourhood, and of course children who use
there. Believing that, we had built up more nad more works in the field of space designfor children. During our 33 years in operation, we have created approximately 580 spaces
for children all over Japan. The spaces include newly built architecture, converted architecture,interiors and the like. Recently the area of our service is expanding to the world.

W

02.

orks

01.
KIDS SMILE LABO Nursery
construction site : Kanagawa
building year : 2021

floor area : 340sqm

AKN Nursery
construction site : Tokyobuilding year : 2020

floor area : 292 sqm

04.

03.
FS Kindergarten and Nursery
construction site : Oita
building year : 2020

floor area : 665 sqm

KNO Nursery
construction site : Nagasaki
building year : 2019floor area : 558 sqm

Produce
By designing furniture, uniforms, stationaries and the like or by planning workshops,
we help the facilities to establish their worldview.
We produce events such asworkshops, round-tables,
lectures and the like wherechildren, parents andresidents from the area canenjoy, at each facilities. Byutilizing the buildings when
they are not used- nighttime
and holidays- the facility will
start acting as the hub forpeople's communications.

EventsFurniture

Clothing

Furniture delicately designed for speciﬁc places would enhance thecharm of architecture and spaces. Not to speak of the design andusability, furniture that were made with careful attention to materials
and method of making would cultivate children's sensitivity.

T-shirts, sweat shirts, tote bags and the like, designed with logos
on it would deepen the feeling of unity of each facilities.

P

olicyWestrive to design spaces which will nurture children's physical andmental strengths and creativities.
design spaces which are the most enjoyable for children.
We know that exceedingly safe spaces are not always the best for them.
also design furniture, printed matters and anything which is related tothe environment for children, in addition to architecture and other spaces.
suggest best solution for the problems which preschools
and children are facing, using our design as the tool.

Numbers

580+

since 1991

The Numberof OurAchievement

350

China600

CanadaJapan

Saudi Arabia

over11926199620062015

2025

Expanding Service Area
The number of projects outside Japan is increasing.

Good Design Makes Children
Eat and Walk Mor e!
At Hanazono Kindergar tenand Nur sery, children
started eating lunch inmore comfortable dining
room and outside ter races,on the compl etion of our
new architecture. As aresult, the amount ofconsumption of rice per
child has been increasedby 1.7 times.

Apr. - Sep. 2015
Apr. - Sep. 20140.13

bags per children

bags per children

BeforeAppetites

0.22

The research held at
OB Kindergarten andNursery* says that thenumber of steps in a day
per children exceeds theaverage. The amount ofactivities in childhood
has signiﬁcant eﬀects toenhance body strengthsof their later li ves.

8000
OB57000
OB

6000

4yearsold5000
average

4000

After

Exercises* The Research was held by Masato Nishimoto PhD. and his teamat Nation al Insti tute of Technology, Ishikawa College, from May 14 to 18, 2015.

years
oldaverageAwards
since 1972

Children’s space designed by Youji no Shiro
won different kinds of awards all over the world every year

230 +2023

10Overseas 4Japanawards

awardsUB Kindergarten and Nursery（山梨）《2023 iF DESIGN AWARD》《2023 Yamanashi Architecture CultureAward》《2023 World Architecture Festival(UK)Finalist》
AKM Kindergarten and Nursery（熊本）《2023 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》《2023 Good Design Award》

OM Nursery（茨城）《2023 A+Awards》

JPP Nursery（福井）《2023 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》

Nursery NM（東京）《2023 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》
AKN Nursery（東京）《 2023 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》

KN Kindergarten and Nursery（鹿児島）《2023 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》《2023 Good Design Award》《The 1st Kagoshima wood buildingcompetition》

KCL Convalescent Childcare（大分）《2023 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》

ATG Kindergarten and Nursery（新潟）《2023 Ideal Architecture Festival》

OM Nursery（Ibaraki）《2022 WAN Awards Bronze prize》《2022 Good Design Award》

UB Kindergarten and Nursery（Yamanashi）《2022 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》

2022

14
Overseas 3Japan

awardsSH Kindergarten and Nursery（Toyama）《A+Award 2022》Kindergartens category
Popular Choice Winner《2022 Good Design Award》

awardsSCA Nursery（Tokyo）《2022 WAN Awards Short list》《2022 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》《2022 Good Design Award》
SDJ Nursery（Tokyo）《2022 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》《2022 Good Design Award》

IK Nursery（Ibaraki）《2022 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》
RJ Nursery（Okayama）《 2022 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》
IRH Child Development Support（Gunma）《2022 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》《2022 Good Design Award》

ATG Kindergarten and Nursery（Niigata）《2022 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》
SMS Nursery（Tochigi）《2022 KIDS DESIGN AWARD》
IZY Kindergarten and Nursery（Aichi）《The 54th Chubu Architecture Award》

FAQ
Q. Is your design service
available outside Japan?
A. Yes. In addition to various projects in Japan, we are now
designing different spaces for children in Netherlands,
Germany, China and Chinese Taipei as of December 2015.

Q. I want to ask you to design for us.
What do I need to do ﬁrst?
A. We kindly ask all our clients to visit our ofﬁce, to see each otherand then go see some of our recent projects. We would like to proceed
after sharing our design policies and the project you have in mind.

Q. How much is your design fee?
A. It varies to a great extent, by the size, structure and the character ofthe project. We submit estimates after a good consideration of the projects.

Q. How do you work abroad?
A. It varies on the projects, conditions, and laws of each regions.

Q. Can we tour any of your projects?
A. Yes, we can coordinate tours to our recent projects if needed.
We also hold events and seminars at the preschools we designed.
Please refer our website, where informations will be updated.

I

nquiryWe provide our services to any
countries outside Japan.
As we put much value on
conversation with our clients,
please contact us for further inquiries.

WEB

e-ensha.com
CONTACT
Mail
inquiry@hibinosekkei.com
Facebook@youjinoshiro
Instagram@youji_no_shiro
Tel046 241 3339
Mr. Hibino, Ms. Masukawa

OFFICEJapan[head office] 2343 Iiyama, Atsugi city, Kanagawa, JAPAN[branch office] 1-7-3-3F Asahi-cho Atsugi kanagawa

China
HIBINOSEKKEI(SHENZHEN)CO., LTD.
Guangdong, China
Copyright ⓒ HIBINOSEKKEI , Inc. All rights reserved.
Photos: Studio Bauhaus, Hiromi Asai, Mai Kise