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Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled its design for the Lushan Primary School, an educational campus that will serve around 120 students from 12 villages in a rural area of Jiangxi Province in China. The design features a series of barrel and parabolic vaults constructed from concrete, which are oriented to offer optimum lighting conditions and views out to the landscape.
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Comprising the school, dormitory and utility buildings, the length of each vault is adapted to accommodate the school’s program. At the center of the largest cluster of vaults, a courtyard provides a circulation space and play area. The ends of the vaults cantilever beyond the building envelope to extend the teaching environment outdoors and to protect the interior from solar gain.
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Due to the remote location of the school, Zaha Hadid Architects has proposed a novel method of construction in which the complex formwork for the concrete vaults will be manufactured on site. A robot arm with a hot wire cutter will be delivered to site and shape foam pieces to create the concrete molds. Since the vaults are modular, these formwork pieces will also be reusable.
© Zaha Hadid Architects
The building will be finished with ceramic external surfaces, referencing the region’s history of producing high-quality ceramics which dates back to the Ming Dynasty. These external finishes will include a gradient of tones that delineate the programs within each building.
- Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects
- Location: Lushan, Jiujiang, Jiangxi, China
- Design: Patrik Schumacher
- Zha Project Director: Charles Walker, Nils Fischer
- Zha Project Architect: Michal Wojtkiewicz
- Zha Project Associate: Armando Solano
- Zha Project Team: Nassim Eshaghi, Nastasja Mitrovic, Marko Margeta, Hung-Da Chien
- Engineering: Shing and Partners Design Group (SPDG)
- Project Year: 2018
- Photographs: Zaha Hadid Architects
© Zaha Hadid Architects