2022 GFDA Global Future Design Award
The building resembles a large tree, rising from a corner and facing forward. It symbolizes a school deeply connected to nature and growth.
Guanshanhu No.8 Middle School is situated on Yuntan North Road in the Guanshanhu District of Guiyang City, hosting 30 teaching classes. Architects focused on inspiring children’s understanding of the world by designing spaces that encourage continuous learning and exploration—from the classroom interiors to the building’s exterior and surrounding areas.
Embracing the Concepts of Nature, Gardens, and Fields
Creating a harmonious, enjoyable, and efficient learning environment
Inspired by natural elements such as gardens and fields, the design introduces a school system that fosters harmony and efficiency between these organic forms. Classrooms seamlessly extend outdoors, blending with the flower garden park. Simultaneously, extracurricular activity spaces extend indoors, sheltered from weather conditions. These public areas serve as fluid connectors, linking all spaces into an integrated, organic whole.
The dynamic architectural spaces complement the fluidity and organic nature of modern educational environments. This creates a new landscape for nurturing the next generation. The flexible and adaptable design anticipates future changes, ensuring longevity and relevance.
Root-Like Spatial Structure
Creating a continuous, low-carbon, natural, and efficiently connected space
To blend traditional culture with modern education and address future societal challenges, the design adopts a spatial structure inspired by branches and roots. This approach forms a continuous, naturally connected space with minimal carbon footprint. It maximizes the use of natural resources such as passive solar energy, natural ventilation, and daylight.
The architectural form mimics organic growth patterns such as branches or rhizomes, distinguishing this project from traditional educational buildings.
Classrooms extend into the outdoor flower garden park, while extracurricular spaces are brought indoors into climate-controlled areas. These social and gathering spaces act as irregular connectors, binding all areas into a cohesive, organic whole.
Regular classrooms are positioned on the south and southeast facing branches, while auxiliary spaces occupy the east-west branches. The design cleverly integrates the terrain’s elevation changes with undulating roofs that gradually rise, linking teaching spaces across floors and creating an open campus that blurs the boundaries between indoor and outdoor environments.
The campus’s natural, varied ground forms encourage students to explore freely, connecting upper and lower levels in a graceful flow. The garden maximizes natural space within the campus while extending classroom and activity areas.
The playground is integrated with the undulating, climbing roofs of the teaching building, forming an expansive garden. The playground seamlessly connects with the building’s form, with the track extending continuously along the roof. Both the building and outdoor activity areas embody an organic life form, achieving a unified and free-flowing growth.
The playground and teaching building form an integrated and essential part of the branch-like structure. The southeast-facing teaching building connects directly to the playground, embodying the design vision of a natural, modern campus.
Project Information
Project Name: Guiyang Guanshanhu District No.8 Middle School
Location: Guiyang, Guizhou
Owner: China Railway Real Estate Group Guizhou Co., Ltd
Architectural Scheme Design: Botao Architectural Design (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd
Architectural Construction Drawing Design: Guiyang Architectural Design Institute Co., Ltd
Landscape Design: Guangzhou Shanshui Bide Design Co., Ltd
Land Area: 28,000.60 square meters
Building Area: 13,742.86 square meters
Project Function: Educational Architecture
Photography: Chen Guiming
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