Challenge: Concrete forest
The project is located in Chang’an District, the core area outside the North Second Ring Road of Shijiazhuang City. The original village on the site has been moved out, while the block on the west of the site has been filled with high-rise residential buildings. The planning of the block on the east is for residence as well, forming an urban area surrounded by high-rise residential buildings. In addition, the whole project is divided into two phases with different property developers. The first phase includes the education facilities for 18 classes, and the second phase will reach a total of 24 classes. In a high-density urban environment, the design challenge focuses on creating a child-centered, flexible, and innovative campus.
Reflection: big and small
Walking in a dense forest, people are surrounded by tall trees as well as low trees, shrubs and mosses, and other beautiful plants. Similarly, in megacities like Beijing or Tokyo, the construction of small-scale elements is necessary to make people feel comfortable. Whether in the natural environment of leaves and branches or in the urban environment of steel and concrete, the small-scale elements create an atmosphere of coziness and pleasance for people. Therefore, architects should learn from nature and introduce small-scale elements to high-density and large-scale urban forests, creating a poetic and livable city environment. City construction is uncannily parallel in a way to natural creation.
Strategy: Small elements
The site is surrounded by a densely urban environment, creating a depressing and indifferent atmosphere. The design focuses on bringing in small elements to connect the site and the urban environment, creating a scale between people and cities. A collection of small brick buildings is oriented in a village-like layout, surrounding the Red Brick Plaza and the playground. This village-like campus reminds people of the history of the site. Every corner of the village allows teaching and activities to unfold. The village campus provides a place for children to play, chase, and adventure while recording their growth.
The strategy of introducing small elements also creates the invisibility, looseness, and versatility of the architecture.
1. Invisibility
A series of brick houses dissolves the volume of the building. The design focuses on the relationships between the units, rather than the form of the whole. The architects pay extra attention to the parti-cle-like characteristics of the brick itself, rather than the overall shape. Brick, as a traditional building material that can be held in the hand, is on the human scale. It fully demonstrates its independence and free expression as a particle in this project. With the understanding of variation through para-metric design tools, the architects explore ways of utilizing the micro-scale elements to produce vague and indeterminate contours of the form.

2. looseness
The relationship between particles is loose and variable. Similarly, the relationship between the small-scale buildings is flexible according to their function and the site. This kind of loose and variable connection between buildings creates an innovative and unconventional spatial experience. A collection of courtyards, corridors, and terraces provides more possibilities for versatile activities. The loose arrangement of buildings creates a series of undefined spaces, allowing nature to interact with buildings as well as inspiring spontaneous behaviors and interactions among students.
3. Versatility
Variety and versatility exist naturally. Different brick buildings share similar internal logic, but they have independent functions. The advantage of the village-like arrangement is that these individual units can be connected, interspersed, or rotated as needed, and the arrangement is adaptable for future development and use. The village campus is designed to be dynamic and versatile spatially to satisfy the sensational and behavioral needs of children.