Longling School in Shenzhen: a city in the urban villages

The current campus of Longling School is located in the center of Buji Street of Longgang District, Shenzhen city. It is a primary school with a history of nearly 32 years. In order to provide a better learning environment for children, Longling School will start renovation in February 2021. The school covers an area of 24897.16 square meters and is planned to add middle school classes, which is expected to be completed in September 2022. In order to maintain the normal operation of the school. part of the original teaching building need to be retained in the expansion.The project is located in the Urban villages , with limited land and large plot ratio. How to transform high density school and maximize the space? How to create a multi-functional campus for students? How to achieve a seamless integration of old and new buildings? These are all great design challenges.
Historically, educational changes and groundbreaking school buildings exert influence on each other. In the past, the school was a centralized, single linear teaching space. However in the future, education will be diversified. Instead of passively absorbing knowledge, the future educational trend might be stimulating students' interest and guiding them to learn actively.

Therefore we design an interesting "knowledge hill" and a hiking trail with the meaning of "the path up the mountain of knowledge" for students to explore the future spontaneously. We will not only renovate the school, but also build “a city in the urban villages". Therefore, the campus will have many places with similar functions to urban space: footpaths, plazas, courtyard spaces, shared steps and various cultural venues. When there is no teaching activity, it will become the culture, art and sports center of Longling community, as well as a paradise for everyone.
In order to expand the teaching area, we plan to demolish six buildings in the old campus and keep only three of them. A new 12-storey main teaching building will be built in the middle of the old campus. Under limited conditions, the project will maximize the building area and leave some Blank spaces for the future use. The design cuts the volume horizontally to connect it to the old teaching building. The ground floor is built on stilts to form a connecting corridor, so that teachers and students can walk conveniently in any weather. In order to make children's break time more interesting .we design a spacious atrium between the teaching buildings, a teaching corridor up to 5 meters wide, a tree house for climbing and space for extension activities. On the left side of the old teaching building in the south, a new 6-storey multi-functional teaching building and a 2-storey canteen are built, making the campus buildings become closely linked from the original scattered state. The "Eye of Longling Art Museum", which symbolizes the spirit of Longling, is arranged between the old canteen and the new one. A "hiking trail" integrating transportation, guidance, recreation and other functions spreads out from near the playground, effectively connecting all interesting atriums, gardens and outdoor activity spaces scattered around the campus. It's like an interesting campus adventure that is about to start.
Most critical years of juvenile are spent in schools, where children acquire knowledge mainly through interaction. We do not want the school to be just a buildings, we want to design a campus for students , through environment influence their emotion, aesthetics and learning atmosphere.
As the project is located in the urban village, we have to face the situation of high urban density and lack of supporting sports and reading public service facilities, so we decide to connect the campus with the city and build a cultural, artistic and sports center that integrates with the community.
A separate walkway leading to the exterior connects the surrounding communities to the campus. Under the condition of ensured safety, local residents can share the campus with students, when they do not have classes.
We hope that upon the completion of the school in 2022, everyone who enters Longling School can find a place they like, spreading love from the campus to the city and making the surrounding residential communities more vibrant and warm.