01 Project Overview
Shunde Midea School, affiliated with East China Normal University (referred to as Midea School), is a nine-year integrated public school funded and built by the People’s Government of Beijiao Town. The project incorporates East China Normal University’s cooperative educational model, bringing in its educational brand, management team, and resources. The school aims to become a regional and national benchmark for compulsory education, promoting the high-quality development of local education.
The project is divided into two construction phases: the first phase, focusing on the primary school section, was completed and opened in September 2022; the second phase, which involves the junior high school section, is currently underway.
The second phase covers approximately 43,500 square meters of land, with a total construction area of about 81,600 square meters. This phase includes 36 junior high school teaching classes, accommodating around 1,800 students. Facilities include teaching buildings, comprehensive buildings, sports halls, canteens, dormitories, sports fields, outdoor activity areas, corridors, and basement sections.
The first phase’s primary school design reflects three key themes: ecology, humanities, and art. It integrates natural ecology into the campus space, creating a garden-style learning environment. This phase has received multiple awards, including the Active House Award for Architectural Design, the First Prize for Excellent Engineering Survey and Design in Foshan City, the AEEDA Asia Education Environment Design Award for Campus Architectural Design, the World Architecture Technology Innovation Practice Project Award, and the CREDAWARD Design Excellence Award. Click on the image above for more details.
02 Architectural Design
Leveraging the “Intelligent Manufacturing Base” in Beijiao, the project promotes academic culture and scientific research. It combines teaching with practical and fundamental learning topics, aiming to cultivate technology-driven and innovative young students. This initiative serves as a high-quality “talent seedling project” for society. The campus environment, planning, and architectural design highlight Shunde’s distinctive Lingnan cultural heritage and spiritual atmosphere.
The design centers on the themes of ecology, humanities, and art, embracing concepts such as cultural heritage inheritance, scientific innovation, and landscape integration. This approach honors local cultural traditions while showcasing Lingnan’s unique humanistic spirit and cultural identity.
The architectural style reflects East China Normal University’s educational philosophy, blending local Lingnan architectural elements and Foshan’s regional details. This highlights the school’s commitment to fostering a rich local cultural atmosphere.
03 Teaching Space
The campus complex includes a comprehensive building, teaching building, cafeteria, dormitories, and sports facilities, all interconnected via inner courtyards and corridors to unify the diverse functions and buildings.
Corridors, staircases, and other spaces outside classrooms serve not only as passageways but also as social hubs where students can meet and interact. These multifunctional areas create a microcosm of society, enabling children to develop their social awareness through personal experiences.
Adhering to the principles of science, nature, vitality, culture, and communication, the spatial layout and color schemes are closely integrated with architectural design to ensure harmony between style and function. Drawing inspiration from the buildings’ forms and colors, unique design elements are naturally incorporated into interior spaces, achieving a seamless transition from exterior to interior.
The design prioritizes safety, practicality, and educational functionality. Considering students’ age, physical and mental development, and teaching requirements, the environment supports effective learning and growth. Warm medium yellow tones are used to create a relaxed and inviting atmosphere.
Furniture and facilities are designed with safety and practicality in mind, using eco-friendly materials, soft padding, and rounded edges to protect students. Classrooms are flexible and multifunctional, accommodating various teaching and learning styles. The layout encourages communication and cooperation, fostering an open, warm learning environment that supports students’ physical and mental well-being as well as holistic development.
04 Green and Low Carbon
This project emphasizes green building principles, aiming to create a sustainable and eco-friendly campus. It employs a combination of active and passive energy-saving technologies and makes rational use of renewable energy on site. Measures include optimized energy-saving layouts, enhanced building envelope structures, energy-efficient facades, careful material selection, and energy-saving doors, windows, and roofs to reduce energy consumption, waste, and carbon emissions.
The campus landscape concept, titled “Bookish Journey · Youth Splendor,” incorporates Lingnan water town elements to create a distinctive university environment. It nurtures students by immersing them in Lingnan’s scholarly traditions, encouraging exploration and knowledge-seeking in a natural, ecological setting where they can pursue their youthful dreams.
The landscape is organized into a “one street, two corridors, and multiple points” layout based on functional zoning. This includes the Cultural Long Street (Lingnan · Li), connecting the two campuses, a shared corridor, and the natural riverbank green corridor along the Weilan River. Key spaces include the Practical Square (entrance plaza), Tangmei Garden (art space), Zhixing Garden (practice space), Zhixin Garden (social space), and Wind Chasing Competition Field (sports space).
The square’s design embraces a simple, elegant style that reflects the campus’s bright and clean educational environment. Courtyard spaces feature reading stairs, large tree desks, and tree-lined benches to create a peaceful and artistic outdoor area for reading, sketching, and teaching, seamlessly integrating nature into the school experience.
The landscape design maximizes the use of outdoor courtyard space, softening fire escape routes with vibrant paving patterns. Rest benches and artistic corridors enhance the atmosphere, creating a relaxed and diverse outdoor environment.
05 Technical Application
The project strictly complies with government regulations and standards for prefabricated buildings. The selection of prefabricated components is optimized based on construction duration and difficulty, ensuring economical and practical implementation.
The prefabricated components used include assembled integral steel frame prefabricated columns (PCT prefabricated columns), composite panels, staircase panels, air-conditioning panels, and lightweight partition wall panels. Aluminum alloy formwork is used for standard floors. According to Guangdong Province’s “Evaluation Standards for Prefabricated Buildings” (DBJ/T 15-163-2019), the assembly rate must be at least 50%. The innovative PCT prefabricated column technology allows longitudinal bars in node areas to be overlapped and cast integrally within the steel truss cage, resolving challenges with grouting sleeve connections. This technology offers advantages such as easy construction, strong integrity, reliable seismic performance, simple inspection, and low overall cost.
Prefabricated building design is based on BIM technology, which manages specifications, dimensions, reinforcement, and embedded parts of concrete components; automates component numbering, common mode identification, and intelligent merging; calculates quantities automatically; supports bidding processes; shortens bidding and design cycles; and improves design quality.
Visualization and simulation of construction processes and sequences are driven by data models. This enhances communication, reduces on-site rework, and ensures smooth project execution by analyzing and optimizing critical and challenging construction stages.
Looking forward, technology will continue to support design improvements and establish a low-carbon, healthy industry-university-research application system. This will advance zero-carbon integrated construction technologies across various projects, aiding the development of the low-carbon building industry and contributing to achieving the “dual carbon” goals.
Project Information
Project Name: Shunde Midea School Affiliated to East China Normal University (Phase II)
Location: Beijiao Town, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province
Design and Construction General Contracting: Guangdong Tianyuan Architectural Design Co., Ltd. (Ruizhu Tianyuan) & Guangdong Tengyue Construction Engineering Co., Ltd
Design Scope: Architectural Design, Interior Design, Landscape Design, Structural Design, Mechanical and Electrical Design, Digital Design, Weak Current Design
Architectural Design: Ruizhu Tianyuan Comprehensive Innovation Institute Civil Engineering Comprehensive Institute
Prefabricated Design: Structural Department, Ruizhu Tianyuan Civil Engineering Comprehensive Institute
Interior Design: Ruizhu Tianyuan Interior Comprehensive Institute
Landscape Design: Ruizhu Tianyuan Landscape Design Institute
BIM Design: Ruizhu Tianyuan BIM R&D Civil Engineering Comprehensive Institute
Weak Current Design: Ruizhu Tianyuan Intelligent Innovation Institute
Owner: Education Office, Beijiao Town, Shunde District, Foshan City
Design Area: 81,000 square meters
Construction Status: Under construction
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