International department of Beijing private JunYi middle school

In order to improve the situation of increasingly overcrowded classrooms, the architectural design team was entrusted to transform the original basketball arena into an educational space for the International Department of Beijing Private Junyi Middle School. In addition to ordinary classrooms, the school also wants to have enough multi-functional activity rooms and communication space for children's free discussion.
The architects intended to create a “garden-like” space, which introduces light, sky and natural landscape into the interior so as to provide a free and vibrant studying environment. Inspired by the classic garden, the design adopted measures of opposite scenery, obstacle scenery and so on, to form a rich and zigzag spatial structure, which features playful rooms arranged in proper density and order. Those playful spaces act as multifunctional classrooms and shared spaces, around which are ordinary classrooms. The spatial structure offer rich garden-like spaces. The combination of light and natural landscape and staggered corridors and platforms as shared spaces together constitute a dynamic “sightseeing garden”, full of dramatic characteristics. It’s a perfect playing space for children.
The "garden" is placed in the center of the stadium space to form a "garden" of the interior space by opening Windows to the sky. The classrooms are located east and west and open to the outside for natural light and ventilation. The north entrance hall opens to the playground, giving the interior "garden" a view. The skylight at the top provides light and sky for the "garden", which communicates with nature and brings vitality to the space. The sections and the turning of the plane give the space a garden-like interest. This makes the line of sight and the full flow, in line with the description of "sightseeing". The "sightseeing garden" structure connects the space with the human body and perception.
The exterior façade is composed of weathering steel panel, U-shaped glass and glass curtain wall. Three kinds of materials divide the facade into three levels of transparency, from opaque, translucent to transparent. And bamboo trees are inserted into the facade, making it more playful and rich. The combination of rigid weathering steel panel and elegant U-shaped glass forms a sharp contrast, which embodies exchanges of ideas and cultures of East and West.
The staggered arrangement, along with the folded layout and the facade with different degrees of transparency, creates a playful “garden-styled” teaching building. When walking into the space, different views come into view along the way. The turning and folding design ways render people sensitive to the environment physically and mentally, thereby experiencing the “sightseeing garden” subconsciously.