Gakko Bubble | Inflatable for an experimental learning summer camp

The Gakko Bubble is an inflatable structure designed in collaboration with the design collective Pneuhaus to accommodate Gakko’s educational programs. In 2017, Gakko, an educational start-up that organizes experimental summer camps took on a new project: a travelling troupe of mentors. A team of 10 educators designed from scratch a two-week learning experience for teenagers in Burgundy, France. Then, they adapted the camp for a completely new setting in Chiba, Japan. The idea of the Gakko Bubble emerged from the desire to invent an educational space that would fit Gakko’s programming and ideology. It is a mobile gathering space designed to facilitate various methods of group interactions under one roof: workshops, film projections, concerts, and seminars. Built to bring a diverse community of people together, the form decentralizes the typical communal space. Externally, spheres of three colors collide in a dynamic motion. Internally, light projecting through each surface creates a seamless color spectrum on the floor. Temporary, mobile, and easy to deploy, the Gakko Bubble can satisfy the nomadic reach of the Gakko summer program. Beyond its functional purpose, the inflatable structure embodies Gakko’s vision of education. It is creative, mobile and playful. It acts as a critique of brutalist concrete boxy architecture typically used for school buildings. Gakko believes that a good education should be holistic and therefore invests in its spaces as much as its content. Therefore, architecture plays a fundamental role in fostering a good learning environment.

Providence USA - Burgundy, France - Chiba, Japan

October 2017 -  May 2018

Client: Gakko

In Collaboration with Pneuhaus 

Photos credits: Nicholas Clark, Michael Taylor and Jessica Angel