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Architects: Multi-Architecture
- Area: 17600 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Siming Wu
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Lead Architects: Yuan Jin
Text description provided by the architects. The renovation of Xuefu Middle School marks the first phase of 100 Campus Renewal Plan For Shenzhen Nanshan. By leveraging the platforms established by various departments involved in the 100 Campus Renewal Plan, this project not only addresses the outdated hardware throughout the campus but also deeply explores the playground for new typology of outdoor spaces in southern primary and secondary schools.
The colonnade serves as a boundary: The campus spans 151m from north to south and 141m from east to west, with an E-shaped teaching building on the west side. After years of management by the school authorities, the teaching area has developed cozy and natural environment. In this layout, the area between the teaching building and the playground is crucial for the dynamic and static shift between PE classes and the teaching area. I have always been imaginative about the creativity of students in such a space. It used to be an antique partition wall making people from the teaching area to the playground completely exposed to the sun. Replacing this partition wall with a colonnade can: 1. provide shelter beside the running track. 2. make the top surface of the colonnade serve as a stand. 3. link the evacuation stairs of the teaching buildings, making the colonnade a third space between the teaching area and the playground from a traffic perspective. 4. make the courtyard of the E-shaped teaching building connect or face the playground through the colonnade.
Enclosure - New playground: The pre-existed track is crowed: several classes engage in various activities on the track together, while long-distance runners skillfully avoid them. It basically lies in the failure to disperse various activities effectively in the playground layout. The size of the plot is barely sufficient for a 300m track, leaving insufficient buffer space, let alone expecting to have space for equipment classes and warm-ups along the outer perimeter of the track. Reducing the track from 300m to 250m will provide ample space on both the north and south sides, transforming the playground from margin, i.e. enclosure to the area enclosed by other functional areas. The essence of enclosure is to make the playground a center, rather than the remainder outside the teaching building.
Enclosure - Density adjustment: The school building, along with playground, was constructed in 2002 to accommodate 26 classes, but now needs to house over 50 classes after 20 years. This has led to a lack of space for specialized classrooms. Secondary spaces for the physical education office, equipment room, and logistics and groceries have scattered around. The playground enclosure makes above areas disperse from the teaching area to the playground - service rooms on the south side (two floors: equipment, restroom, changing rooms, a lounge for the physical education team, logistics and groceries) and specialized classrooms on the north side (two floors).
Shelter - South and large canopy: The physical sensations of either intense sun or rainstorms during southern PE classes have always been a persistent aspect of initial site survey with the school authorities. Unfortunately, the playgrounds in south China, compared to the northern ones, have no characteristics. Shelter, first enclosure then shelter - For buildings on the north and south sides, as many transition spaces as possible should be created, along with colonnades, to shape a perimeter of covered activity areas with varying heights around the playground. While arranging these, a pioneering plan with the school authorities is generally in place - a massive shelter is set up in the middle of the playground, covering two basketball courts, providing the school with a valuable shelter for gatherings. I am grateful for the school authorities' interest in this matter. Since then, the proportion of transition space in the playground of Xuefu has reached 20%.
All above have resulted in a new type of playground so that the alternative function of playground is recognized and shaped now: an outdoor space within a high-density campus. After being enclosed and sheltered, it will take on the public life within the campus.
