Learning

Surrounded by wild gardens and native bush, the Three Trees Learning Centre in Rolleston, Christchurch utilises sustainable design to provide children with an environment that fosters learning and growth through a natural discovery approach. A core part of the client’s pedagogy is that the building acts as the child’s third teacher, or an environmental steward. The centre has been designed to reflect this pedagogy, creating a seamless transition between the child’s built environment and the outdoors.

“There is a legend about King’s daughter Roze who still lives underneath the Rezekne castle mound and waits for the one to bring her into the world… Meanwhile a wizard came on the other side and lifted the earth up. A free space was left there for every little kid in Rezekne to grow up tall, wise and special. And the wizard stuck the pencils into the ground. The teenagers came and climbed up there to show themselves and their great works. Let the gentlemen of Riga to admire!”

Huangshi Mass Art Center is located in the center of Huangshi City, which used to be Tuanchengshan bonded warehouse, with beautiful Cihu Lake to the northeast and Huangshi Archives Center to the north.

Jiunvfeng Study is located in Daiyue District, Tai’an City, adjacent to the Shenlong Grand Canyon, with Mount Tai, the top of the five sacred mountains, in the east. It is surrounded by mountains, full of rocks like flocks of sheep, with the broad vision of overlooking the gorge and gully and looking out mountains and peaks. On the rocky mountain in the north, the contrasting white is left vacantly, which was the original idea of the design.

In the summer of 2014, a spark on a clearcut started Sweden’s then-largest forest fire in modern history. The summer after the fire, 2015, architecture student Mikael Hassel was hiking in the area and was greatly influenced by the experience. In the same year he started his Master’s thesis at Stockholm’s Royal Institute of Technology (KTH Arkitektur); with the aim of making the site accessible to the public. Mikael’s project became a series of interventions in this newly formed Nature Reserve, Hälleskogsbrännan. During this time, the County Administrative Board in Västmanland announced a competition for a Visitor Centre on the site. The competition’s judges awarded first prize to Mikael’s proposal, which was based on his thesis work; the project was completed during his employment at pS Arkitektur

Placed just a couple of meters above sea level overlooking Borgarfjordur Eystri, its harbour, and Hafnarholmi, the Visitor Centre appears as a precise square-shaped monolith guarding the harbor and its surroundings. A monolith divided into a series of spaces, interior, and exterior, facing different activities and landscapes in the area; the sky, the deep blue fjord, the characteristic mountains, and the local biosphere. 

Placed just a couple of meters above sea level overlooking Borgarfjordur Eystri, its harbour, and Hafnarholmi, the Visitor Centre appears as a precise square-shaped monolith guarding the harbor and its surroundings. A monolith divided into a series of spaces, interior, and exterior, facing different activities and landscapes in the area; the sky, the deep blue fjord, the characteristic mountains, and the local biosphere. 

Located in the district of Porto, in the Village of Lousada, the Interpretation Centre of Romanesque is located in an area that is an expansion of this village marked by a strong relationship with an urban square called Pra- ça das Pocinhas and with the Senhor dos Aflitos Church – a strong reference in the town center.