Envision an eight-story structure. This is Tabata Junior High School.
Tabata Junior High School is more than just a school. It’s a landmark. It harmonizes with the local landscape. The high school stands on the former site of Takinogawa 7th Elementary School. This was part of the Kita City school restructuring plan. The area has a faint novelist village atmosphere. It’s called Tabata-Bunshimura. This dates back to the Taisho period.
Architects Coelacanth K and H designed Tabata Junior High School. The lead architect was Hiroshi Horiba. Construction finished in 2019. The school covers 7,222 square meters.
The school needed to fit many facilities onto a small plot. These included a gymnasium and a swimming pool. Twelve classrooms were also required. It also needed to function as a disaster prevention base. The solution was a compact high-rise design. It has an eight-story school building and a two-story gymnasium. The swimming pool and playground are on the rooftops.
The artificial turf blends with the temple and open space. This creates a local atmosphere. It also preserves the city’s memory. The school site is open to the public near the road. A section connects to the street corner forest. This recreates a sense of the past. The gymnasium’s first floor is a local facility. The gymnasium is on the second floor. People can use the gymnasium independently.
Students enter Tabata Junior High School on the second floor. Each grade has its own floor from the third to fifth floors. Special classrooms occupy the sixth and seventh floors. Students mainly use stairs to move around. An X-shaped staircase in the building’s center connects the open space. Stairs serve as meeting places. Students can access the playground from the fifth floor. It is located on the gymnasium’s roof.
The high-rise structure uses precast prestressed concrete. This ensures durability and construction precision. It also reduces noise. The high-quality structure blends with the local area. Tabata Junior High School is a new area landmark. The Shinkenchiku journal featured the school in June 2019.