These two types of teaching landscape, the conventional and the new, the orthodox and the free spirited, the curriculum and the extra curriculum, the collective and the individual, the necessary and the optional, are juxtaposed and balanced with each other. While the students are cultivated to respect, to balance and to protect the nature, they also learn to balance between these two types of teaching and learning, and ultimately be able to freely navigate and integrate all these contradictions, and better prepare themselves for the future.
Different types of public spaces are the key to re-establish important social relationships that are often lacking in adolescents growing up in the internet age, be it among the students, or between students and teachers. In the new school, classrooms are extended to the exterior, the gardens, while the playground is brought into the interior and climate proof spaces. Together with a dominant circulation and social spine, pockets of public spaces formed by sprouts like cantilevers off the building volume help to create a web of social spaces. These are the places for people to meet and interact casually. They function like organic fluid holding together the various types of spaces of learning.
It is our hope that the physical environment of the new school will inspire and foster healthier environment of learning and to better prepare our kids for the future challenges.
