Shenzhen City, China 

The Institute of Architectural Design & Research renovates and rebuilds the Shenzhen Qilin Middle School, which is located on the west of Yiyuan Road and north of Zhengyun Road in Nanshan District and is surrounded by high-rise residential buildings and high-density urban villages.

The project has recently been awarded a 2023 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture, Design, and Urban Studies.

The existing campus area is 20,083 square meters.

In order to meet the needs of campus expansion, the original public welfare parking lot of 7,000 square meters on the east side is canceled and added to the campus.

After the land consolidation, the total campus area is 27,083 square meters, and the current 36 classes are expanded to 48 classes.

At the same time, the comprehensive teaching building, administrative office, canteen, lecture hall, sports facilities, and teachers’ dormitory are newly built.

After the expansion, the total construction area is 64,125 square meters, and the floor area ratio is 1.40.

At the same time, in order to ensure the integrity of the campus, the façade and space of the current teaching building need to be upgraded systematically.

The current teaching building layout is a typical Chinese character ‘日’ shaped structure.

There are three ordinary classrooms (A, B, C three buildings) on the west side, library, wind and rain playground, and co-class classrooms on the east side, teachers’ offices and dormitories on the north side, and the main entrance is from the north side of the site.

In this design, following the logic of campus spatial structure and considering the shading effect of sunshine from high-rise residential buildings adjacent to the south, a new six-story professional teaching complex building (BUILDING D) is built here, including professional classrooms, multi-functional classrooms, teachers’ offices, and other functions.

Under the board, there is the canteen, wind, and rain playground, overhead sports and traffic transport, and dredging center.

The elevation difference of the road topography on the southeast side and the installation of porous sunken courtyards and patios between the old and new buildings create favorable conditions for the ventilation and lighting of the large space under the large slab of the sports ground.

For the ground space of the first floor under the playground board, the design emphasizes the connection and penetration of the three teaching courtyards on the west side and the overhead activity space and semi-underground space on the east side.

On the playground board, the traffic of the new and old teaching units and the central axis forms a circular closed loop, and on the second floor, the connection bridge and platform with the open space and sports stands on the east side are established.

The integration of corridors, teaching courtyard, the stadium stands, landscape steps, and other elements form a continuous, flowing, and integrated public open space system, which links the old and new buildings with different functions such as teaching, office, dormitory, and sports, making the campus more organic as a whole.

The design reshaped the campus vitality ridge, made the interface transparent on both sides of the central corridor space, expanded the functional space of the first-floor library, and combined with the partial overhead space of the teaching building, set up exhibitions, reading and other functions, forming a public, open and energetic central corridor.

At the same time, due to the expansion of the school scale, in order to relieve the instantaneous traffic pressure, the design of the new campus entrance in the south side of the campus, the new building part of the bottom of the overhead, to give way to the pedestrian entrance buffer square, forming the “campus living room,” constitute the continuation of the campus axis.

The three-story overhead central corridor, which meets the regional climate characteristics of Shenzhen, forms different axis space nodes with the overhead space of the campus living room in the south and entrance in the north, highlighting the richness and integrity of the main axis space of the campus and creating a sense of place of the campus central corridor.

In addition, in order to break the status quo, a single teaching courtyard has a relatively closed internal interface.

In the design, by changing the physical partition into railings and combining the changes of informal space nodes, a richer, transparent, and three-dimensional interface is formed to provide an interesting and changeable sight crossing and space experience.

The campus renovation project involves the interaction and overlap of the old and new complex systems.

On the basis of fully respecting the existing campus planning structure, the design adopts an intensive strategy and restrains intervention.

Under the limited cost control, the integration and organic link between the old and the new are completed, and through the remodeling of the campus public space system, the vitality of the campus space is stimulated, and the campus takes on a new look.

Project: Renovation and Rebuilding of Shenzhen Qilin Middle School
Architects: The Institute of Architectural Design & Research Shenzhen University
Lead Architect: Cai Ruiding
Design Team: Cai Ruiding, Ma Yue, Yao Yuan, Chen Jingwen, He Weiyong, Li Cheng, Wei Xianqiong, You Li, Chen Jinglian, Wang Weifang, Ou Shijie, Xiong Feng, Lin Jiawei, Guo Hao, and Wang Jingzhe
General Contractor: Shenzhen Vanke City Construction Management Co., Ltd.
Client: Bureau of Public Works Of Shenzhen Nanshan Municipality
Photographers: Wu Qingshan