Chaoyang Future School

Beijing, China

Photo © YANG Chaoying

Photo © HAO Hongyi

Schools

Architects: Crossboundaries

Location: Beijing, China
Year: 2017
Client: Affiliated High School of Peking University, 北京大学附属中学
Team: Binke Lenhardt, DONG Hao, GAO Yang, Alan Chou, Natalie Bennett, Andra Ciocoiu, Irene Solà, HAO Hong Yi, Cynthia Cui, Tracey Loontjens, Aniruddha Mukherjee, Libny Pacheco, Sidonie Kade, TAN Kebin, FANG Ruo, Chloris Yu, Silvia Campi, WANG Xudong.

Using color to negotiate from the urban scale to the human, the renovation of Future School endorses a campus life that facilitates continuous learning around every corner.

Completely reassessing the landscape, façade and interior, Each building holds its own unique identity while maintaining a common mission.
prolonging its use and also restoring its relevance and purpose.

The existing educational campus built in the 1980s mirrors its tight urban surroundings, it explores the demands of the school to serve the realm of a community. Navigating both pedagogy and architecture it offers an interface for continuous learning, and explores the crossover of and the public and private, to create a village that delivers to individual needs, catering to both students and teachers.

Color is the first layer of identity, orientation and a centering of the campus, at its centre the scarlet red Art Center. Inspired by the rich deciduous and evergreen vines that drenched the campus in its previous state, the color sustains the liveliness of its outdoor spaces and brings it deep into the activity indoors.

Architectural interventions open floors and walls to expand volumes and give way to new opportunities for creativity and inspiration.

The clean white buildings are punctured with square openings, the rhythm preserved from the original building. Creating an interface between inside and out – both for each building individually and of the campus as a whole. Window frames washed in green outline the public face of the campus, fading to yellow and then red at the campus center. The openings swell to mirror the spatial links behind and broadcast an abstraction of their activities to the community around it.