8th May 2019 | IN EDUCATION DESIGN | BY SBID ShareTweetPinterestLinkedIn Project of the Week This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features an inspiring and thoughtfully designed children’s educational centre and a picture book library. With health and safety for the educational centre and library a priority, the education-centric design incorporates features such as air monitoring, hand disinfection stations, temperature monitoring and strict security. In additional, all materials are eco-friendly, non-toxic and child-friendly. From the strictly monitored entrance, children can explore the space by following colours and ‘flight routes’ to arrive at their destination. The interior is equipped with children’s toilets, drinking fountains and features to assist the children in their personal development. Besides meeting the need for children to play freely, safely and happily, the design also ensures parents have a relaxing and elegant environment in which they can rest, read and enjoy a coffee break. Sector: Education Design Company: Taipei Base Design Center Project: Dou Dou Education Center Project Location: Shanghai, China What was the client’s brief? “Fantasy Works” is a newly-established company, with the sub-brands of Fantasyland, which combines child fun and modern technology and of Dou Dou, which is separated into the two series of early childhood education and picture books. The major appeals include the collection of over 10,000 picture books and over 2,000 English picture books. The books of National Geographic Learning are introduced to Shanghai for the first time together with S.T.E.M. The future prospect is to open branches all over China through direct selling, franchising, authorisation or brand cooperation. What inspired the interior design of the project? Nothing “hard” can be found in Dou Dou Fun Reading Forest Picture Book Library. The differentiation in the content, service, and environment has been achieved. The super-large area, huge number of books, and cross-field cooperation have all manifested the positive attitude, or ambition, to become the best of the best. It will become a model in China. However, we also saw parents have loving interactions with their children on the furniture, which were designed to be sat on “uprightly,” to indulge themselves in the stories of the picture books. We have also seen some parents just leave their children to the guiding teachers and take time for themselves to go shopping. For TBDC, the value judgement of the parents and the way to educate their children are the keys to deciding whether the space is beautiful and was the driving force for inspiring the final design of the project. What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project? This project is located at the central of the Zen Himalayas Center, Shanghai. It was essential that the original ceiling, wall and floor remain intact during the project development; therefore, we employed props which can be used in random combination to satisfy all kinds of functions, as well as lower the cost and shorten time. What was your team’s highlight of the project? The point of the education design focuses on the space being exclusively for children. Besides the basic elements of safety and sanitation, there are also proper arrangements for the operation flow and all kinds of activities, whilst catering to the needs of all ages. Seeing the impact this space has on the children and parents who are using it brings us the greatest sense of achievement. Why did you enter the SBID International Design Awards? The SBID International Design Awards is one of the most prestigious interior design awards, which recognises the excellence of interior designs. It would be an honour to be recognised by SBID International Design Awards, which will prove TBDC and our project to be an inspiring and high calibre project within the high standard of the industry. Also TBDC hope that Asian design and the Asian market can be seen and appreciated worldwide. TBDC are more than overjoyed to be chosen as this week’s Project of The Week. Questions answered by Janus Huang and Roy Huang, Chief Designers of Taipei Base Design Center If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring the biggest Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics store in the world, situated in the heart of Liverpool, click here to see more. We hope you feel inspired by this week’s education design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire Taipei Base Design Center | SBID International Design Awards Image credits: Zhong Han