Nantou County Chung-Feng Elementary School｜Magic Tree Room

“ The first school began with a man under a tree, and around him the listeners to the words of his mind. ”

—— Louis Kahn

Saying Farewell to the Old Platform and Embracing a Childhood with Trees

The mahogany platform encircling three large campus trees had long been Zhongfeng Elementary School’s favorite outdoor retreat, a place where children read, rested, performed, and played. After 15 years of sun, wind, and rain, the wooden structure had deteriorated significantly. The school resolved to create a new outdoor activity space—one that would allow more children to reconnect with the beloved “tree grandfather” of the campus.

Multidirectional Surfaces × Vertical Exploration = The Magic Tree Room

The Magic Tree Room intertwines the three mahogany trees and their climbing vines to form a new ecological landscape composed of treehouses and interconnected pathways. The varied heights of the pathways and platforms create fresh vantage points for discovering the majestic trees, transforming a once flat, open area into a dynamic and stratified environment shaped through organic forms. A surrounding climbing net replaces traditional stairs, giving children more opportunities for direct contact with the trees and fostering delightful, unexpected encounters. This space can become many classrooms in one—an outdoor nature room, a reading corner, even a performance venue. The Magic Tree Classroom fulfills the needs of every child who enters, offering a place of exploration, imagination, and joyful learning.