Shenzhen, China

Low-cost does not necessarily mean low quality or low design standards. Solid proof of that is the reconstruction and expansion project of the old campus in Shenzhen’s Tongxin Foreign Language School by Yunchao Xu/Atelier Apeiron/SZAD.

This ambitious project has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Awards Honorable Mention by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

Due to the shortage of land, the school needed to build a new junior high school building on the original campus playground to meet the 1,500-degree gaps.

The new school building will inevitably bring huge pressure to the original campus environment.

There are not enough outdoor activity spaces for teachers and students in the school, which averages to less than 5 square meters per student.

Facing the city, the two borders of the campus adopt different avoidance strategies: forward platforms to give way to the sunlight impact of the high-rise residential buildings on the south side, and reverse platforms to avoid the noise impact of the main road on the west side of the campus.

Facing the old campus, the new building did not maintain the traditional fishbone layout of teaching blocks; instead, it used empty space and adopted a large enclosure layout to form an embrace between the old and the new, thus creating an open, three-dimensional, and flowing campus space.

The setting of the large flat layer maximizes the requirements of the school’s future flexibility.

It can be set according to one grade for each level, or it can be set flexibly following the class switch system.

The classroom units are like pebbles, placed on a large and flowing platform.

The continuous wide outdoor platform encourages children to get out of the classroom more during the break, free to run, play, communicate, and even do exercises.

The total area of ​​the three-story sky platform with a depth of 9-meters is equivalent to that of two 300-meter playgrounds, adding valuable outdoor activity space to the crowded campus.

Each grade has its own playground between classes.

The horizontal and continuous green plants on the platform are connected to the city and also increase the green vision of the campus.

Each platform has a 3-meter cantilever, which provides a shading of continuous space for students in Shenzhen’s subtropical climate.

There are many flexible transition spaces between the classroom modules, which have become students’ favorite unnamed spaces, sometimes as small galleries, sometimes as game corners, and sometimes just for kids to avoid the teacher’s vision.

It brings unlimited imagination to the children, and also leaves every child with their own memories.

There are three vertical light holes surrounding the large courtyard, deep underground to provide natural sunlight and ventilation for the library, gymnasium and activity room, and at the same time alleviate the impact of large-scale buildings on the campus environment.

In the evening, caves become bright and play with light and shadow, making the campus a small and warm town to inspiring more campus public events.

Project: A New Flowing Campus Growing from The Old Chessboard
Architects: Yunchao Xu/Atelier Apeiron/SZAD
Client: Tongxin Foreign Language School
Contractor: Tongxin Foreign Language School
Photographers: Shengliang Su