Invited competition.
PURCHASE PRIZE
Masterplan for a school campus.
Program: Five school buildings for cultural and arts studies, experimental theatre, cultural centre, offices, student housing and cultural facilities.
Total area: 7 ha.
Location: Wuxi, China.
Design: 2012-2013.
The design of the schools district and the related public space starts from the reinterpretation of the traditional courtyard house. The 4 sides of the house are exploded, becoming each one an autonomous building. They transform the traditional private courtyard into a collective semi-private space, reserved to the students’ activities. The 4 school buildings are as well supplied with intenal courtyards, bringing the urban concept back to its traditional architectural scale.
Sustainability in a fast urbanization calls for simplicity, sobriety, pragmatism, elegance. The most efficient way to emerge in a screaming parade is silence. The project locates in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, Changjiang River Delta. Wuxi is strategically located in an area equally distant 100 km from Shanghai, Huangzhou and Suzhou. This offers the city a leading role in the regional development. The Wuxi Art School campus is located in the majour Outang University campus. The total site area amounts to approximately 7.3 ha, developing linearly in direction NW-SE.
This project has the ambition to explore a sustainable model to develop a educational campus, which could guarantee a long-term payback for the investors in terms of economy, social and environmental development.