It All Begins Here

This preschool is inspired by both a precedent in Sondika, Spain, that folds up from its landscape and by a game design in which players score through unfolding panels to form spaces. Defined by a thin laminated plane, the preschool hovers above an excavated site overlooking Skaneateles Lake, New York. The thin plane — activated by a series of cut-and-fold operations at different scales and depths — folds up to create sheds, barriers, benches, and skylights, and folds down to make partitions, supports, and courtyards. The layers within the plane provide traces of the folds' origins, further accentuating the idea of folding. Below the plane, where the folds fall, the ground rises. By never allowing the folding plane to directly touch the walking surface, the plane appears almost weightless, floating and transforming in mid-air.