Reframing the Relationship Between Education and the Urban Environment: The Weilong and We Wu Schools Project

Revitalizing Community Culture through Education

The establishment of academies is viewed as an opportunity to revitalize the community culture within the city. The objective is not limited to restoring the existing spatial fabric but extends to uncovering the valuable cultural threads embedded in the local environment.

Design as a Tool to Enhance Urban Life

Through the architectural design of the two new schools, the project can contribute to weaving a more generous urban space, while deeply enriching urban life. This approach also provides an opportunity to create a learning environment that integrates seamlessly with the social and cultural fabric of the neighborhood, naturally connecting education with the community.

Expected Impact on the Community’s Future

Based on this concept, the project is expected to nurture the neighborhood’s future by enhancing cultural and social interaction. The new schools are not merely educational buildings but strategic tools to redefine and enrich the surrounding urban life.

Diverse Uses within the Site

The site comprises a well-integrated mix of residential areas, industrial parks, and an urban village. This diversity creates a multi-layered environment that combines daily life, industry, and culture, reflecting the interaction between the various functions of the city.

Cultural and Historical Landmarks

At the entrance of the village, the Dawang Bojong Temple emits incense under the shade of a century-old banyan tree, reflecting the continuity of cultural heritage and the spiritual life of the local community. A few hundred meters to the north, the walled Hakka houses and the historic Chexing Shiju headquarters further reinforce the connection to the area’s historical identity.

Natural and Urban Axes

A precise north-south axis extends across the site, where two hills and a solitary tree create a balance between natural, urban, and cultural elements. This axis links open spaces with historic buildings, creating a graduated urban experience between nature and built form.

Distribution of Schools and Residential Areas

The schools are strategically distributed across the site: Weilong School (primary and secondary) is located in the northeastern corner adjacent to a main urban road, while We Wu School (primary) crosses a small river in the southwest. Between these two schools lies a high-rise residential complex, enhancing spatial connectivity between education and housing and forming an integrated urban network.

The Architectural Heritage of Walled Hakka Houses

In Hakka culture, the basic typology of settlements, the walled houses, is characterized by a strong sense of regional identity, multi-layered courtyard spaces, and rich architectural details. These features reflect a deep understanding of the local environment and establish a strong relationship between people and place.

Reinterpreting Heritage in a Contemporary Language

Building on this traditional framework, the spatial logic of the walled Hakka houses has been reinterpreted through a contemporary architectural language. This approach allows the retention of cultural identity while providing design solutions that meet the modern needs of educational and urban communities.

Creating Place and Shared Spaces

The project is founded on the concept of “place-making” through regional typological research and the reshaping of school boundaries. It also seeks to transform the school into a shared community resource, enhancing the interaction between education and daily life.

Innovative Management of Public Space

Furthermore, systematic and innovative strategies for managing public space have been explored to create a school environment that integrates with the urban context, offering opportunities for learning, relaxation, and social interaction, making the school a vibrant heart of community life.

Horizontal Composition Inspired by Hakka Heritage

Weilong School employs a continuous horizontal composition inspired by the walled Hakka houses, as a direct response to the surrounding high-density urban environment and its exaggerated scales. This approach balances the need to harmonize with the city while maintaining a distinctive school identity.

Integrating Density with Open Space

Along the school’s perimeter, urban density is integrated into a continuous surrounding block. This strategy allows the interior space to open up to courtyard-like gardens, creating a learning environment characterized by tranquility and a connection with nature, reminiscent of Lingnan’s lush natural landscapes and open spaces.

Balancing the School Campus with the City

Through this design, the ability to balance built mass with open space is realized, making the school campus not merely a place for learning, but an integral part of the surrounding urban fabric, enhancing the experience for both students and the local community.

Distribution of Shared Functional Spaces

The shared functional spaces extend along the edges of the site, with ground-floor street frontages supported by open columns facing the city. Corridors also extend toward the community, forming a composite interface that links the school with the neighborhood, enhancing interaction between the campus and its urban surroundings.

Innovative Spatial Model

The design is based on an innovative spatial model known as “school units + corridor clusters.” Through this approach, the traditional courtyard system of the walled Hakka houses is broken down into several independent school units, each designed to accommodate a specific educational stage.

Enhancing Openness and Privacy

This model achieves a balance between openness to public space and privacy for each educational stage, contributing to a flexible and diverse learning environment that meets the functional and environmental needs of both the school and the surrounding community.

Designing Spaces According to Age and Educational Needs

The school’s design reflects careful attention to meeting the needs of students across different age groups.

Young Children: Encouraging Exploration

For young children, circular ramps and playful passages have been created to stimulate exploration and free play, enhancing their natural curiosity while developing motor and social skills.

Middle Years: Movement and Interaction

For middle-year students, expansive color-blocked courts provide an environment that encourages running and free movement, fostering student interaction and the development of teamwork and group play skills.

Older Students: Focus and Dialogue

For older students, enclosed courtyards and green spaces offer a calmer rhythm, supporting a balance between individual concentration and group dialogue, creating an environment conducive to deep learning and constructive discussions.

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight

The Weilong and We Wu Schools project can be seen as an attempt to connect education with the urban environment and the architectural heritage of the Hakka houses. On the positive side, the project demonstrates a clear awareness of the local context, integrating open spaces with the built environment and providing a functional distribution that considers students’ age differences. This contributes to creating a more flexible school environment that actively interacts with the community. Additionally, the use of natural axes and spatial arrangements inspired by heritage reflects a concern for the neighborhood’s cultural identity, which can be considered a strength in terms of architectural sensitivity and respect for context.

However, there are several reservations that can be noted when evaluating the project from a broader architectural perspective. First, the school relies on a continuous horizontal composition in a high-density urban environment, which may limit opportunities to expand interior spaces or adapt to future changes in educational needs. Second, the spatial deconstruction of traditional courtyards into independent school units provides flexibility but may reduce the sense of unified spatial belonging within the campus, a factor often important in community-oriented schools. Third, while the emphasis on open spaces and playful passages for primary students is commendable, managing these areas long-term requires precise operational and maintenance strategies to ensure sustainability, which is not detailed in the project. Finally, although the project connects the school to the neighborhood and community, the effectiveness of this linkage largely depends on the actual use of the schools as shared community resources, which requires post-implementation monitoring and study.

This project can serve as a case study on how to integrate education with the urban environment and architectural heritage, especially regarding the reinterpretation of heritage through a contemporary lens and the organization of spaces according to age and function. It can also provide a foundation for further research on the impact of design on community engagement and cultural identity, taking into account the aforementioned reservations to develop more flexible and sustainable models in the future.

Prepared by the ArchUp Editorial Team

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