The American School in Japan, a 120-year-old international school based in western Tokyo, is planning a large-scale overhaul of its campus, including rebuilding the middle and high schools, which are each over 50 years old.
The current plan, unveiled in late April, involves six phases, with work able to proceed on the current site in a way that means all students and staff can remain on campus throughout the process. The renovation, once approved by ASIJ¡¯s board of directors, will likely take a decade or more to complete.
Jim Hardin, ASIJ¡¯s head of school, said the plan would put the school and community ¡°in a very special place.¡±
¡°The world that these students inherit when they are adults is going to be dramatically different than the one that exists today,¡± Hardin said. ¡°We know that ASIJ¡¯s facilities are aging, they are outdated. ... We know that it will not serve the needs of our community five years from now, 10 years from now and beyond.¡±
The most unique part of the architectural vision, designed by a U.S.-based team from Ennead Architects, consists of a ¡°river of learning.¡±
The idea came from conversations with students on site, said Alex O¡¯Briant, a principal architect on the Ennead team. In particular, it was a conversation with a fourth grader who said the campus could use a river.
¡°We are not going to build a river through the middle of campus,¡± O¡¯Briant said. ¡°But we are going to create a transformational educational environment that¡¯s every bit as powerful as the river that inspired it.¡±
Renderings of ASIJ¡¯s possible new look depict a winding, river-shaped building that allows the institution¡¯s elementary, middle and high schools to flow into and interact with one another. The building incorporates academic spaces as well as multipurpose, interconnected indoor and outdoor areas.
¡°Classrooms are the fundamental building blocks, but it¡¯s actually about the spaces in between,¡± said Minh Tran, an associate principal architect at Ennead. ¡°(Spaces) that not only support a collaborative and interdisciplinary environment, but also an interdivisional environment.¡±
ASIJ and Ennead¡¯s current plans include new academic and athletic ¡°neighborhoods,¡± as well as a new dining pavilion and a comprehensive ¡°sustainability agenda¡± taking into account energy reduction, air quality, health, recycling and carbon neutrality, with this intended to improve comfort, make the building more resilient and help the environment.
The master plan would add 20,000 square meters to the total floor area and enable the campus to accommodate at least an extra 300 students, according to Ennead.
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