Schools

Most things look better when you put them in a circle. This was the starting point of LOW architecten in designing the new primary school Merlijn in the Belgian city of Tongeren. The result is a volumetry which matches the experience of a child that grows from toddler to young adult.

Unlike most Chinese secondary schools, which are planned and completed one at one time, jinhong middle school is a school that grows and changes over time.Because of this, the gymnasium does not have the same prominent position on campus as most schools. It is located in the southwest corner of the campus.

The extension for the Weiden secondary school, housing a gymnasium and 24 classrooms, sits on the eastern part of the site between the existing secondary and primary school buildings.

As a result of the earthquake of September 19th in 2017, with the epicentre in San Felipe Ayutla Puebla, cities and towns in the center of the country were seriously affected. Only in the state of Puebla more than 200 public schools were severely damaged, most of them rural.

“For all of we, who belong to the Puerto Cabuyal Community, it´s been a cause of pride to have our new school. Our community is located on the beach, on the field, in a far away site, been fishing and agriculture the basis of our daily meals. Until 4 years ago there was no school in the community and because of that, most of its inhabitants were illiterate. We began with our school in a small cottage, but as the time passed, the space was got smaller because of the number of children, that’s why we undertook the construction of a new place”.

The school is planned for children aged 6 to 16 years. The outdoor areas are designed so that all pupils have their own zones near their entrance. The building is placed centrally on the plot and divides the outdoor area into two; one area for the oldest in the east and one for the youngest in the west.

The Learning Project evolved through the master planning of Caulfield Grammar School’s three metropolitan campuses. Early in the process it became evident that a new pedagogy, strongly grounded in research and developed through professional learning, was emerging at the school. Questions were asked about what learning would look like at CGS in the next five, ten or even fifty years, and how the spaces would evolve beyond the existing classrooms and collaborative zones to support this.

“The design we are making here is hoped to be a continuation of the natural form of the mountains, and it does not deliberately conceal the subtle changes of the new man-made objects to the place.”

The Center d’Education FC Advan is located in a secluded, rustic area with extreme climatic conditions in the mountainous region of Madagascar. Instead of an improvised training ground on a hilly meadow, FC Advan is newly provided with a football pitch, a drinking water station, a guard house and a school building. This gives children the opportunity to get a minimum of reading and writing lessons after football training and eating together in the evenings.