Inspiring Educational Spaces
Kaiwen International School’s Jinzhanxiang Campus covers a total construction area of around 160,000 square meters. At the school there are students from elementary to high school. The massive school project consists of over 200 classrooms, a State-of-the-Art Sports Center including an indoor ice-rink, a Performing Arts Center with an 800 seats theatre, teaching and boarding buildings and other facilities. Based on a full understanding of the school’s educational philosophy, VIRTUARCH designed a vibrant campus for the students of Kaiwen School.
Integrated Spaces
Junior High School Thinking Square
VIRTUARCH’s design follows the school’s educational philosophy “Education is Life”. The main teaching space complements the auxiliary public area to form an integrated education space, consisting of classrooms and “informal education spaces”. Known as “thinking square”, the area integrates multiple functions of learning, display, activities, and communication. Students enjoy sufficient space for communication and activities outside the classroom.
Warm Colors to Brighten a Vibrant Campus
The color scheme of the Jinzhanxiang campus follows the color concept in the Yuquanshan Campus of Kaiwen International School. The overall selection of warm colors brings a positive atmosphere to the campus, in which learning should be easier.
The theme color of the Junior High School teaching building is orange. We also use the yellow and gray color from the logo throughout this building.
The internal functional area is divided into reception center, administrative reception area, lobby, library, multimedia center and other areas to meet different needs. The linen-colored floor echoes the metal ceiling with wood grain. A wood finishing material is used to create a comfortable learning space for teachers and students.
The Primary School building adopts a richer combination of colors, which is lively and full of vitality. Public spaces like the lobby and the restaurant have been designed with a larger variability in both the color and material selection.
Primary School Rampway
The library is located on the first and on the second floors. Objects such as study tables and chairs, sofas, door frames and window panels are decorated with orange, yellow, blue and green colors to stimulate students’ interest in reading, leading them to explore the world of books.
Primary School Library
Primary School Library Entrance
Dynamic Geometric Elements
The simple but dynamic geometric elements can add a vivid atmosphere to the teaching space. The design concept of the junior high school teaching building is inspired by the dynamic geometric shapes derived from the building facade – “cubic world”, which is used in the interior decoration such as porches and roofs.
Building Façade: “Cubic World”
The design concept of the elementary school picks up the color bars of the building facade and the dynamic curve of the restaurant building’s curtain wall finally expressed by “photo frame”.
International Education Research Center Building Façade: “Photo Frame”
VIRTUARCH used the idea of “diamond” as the design concept for the Arts Center; this building is designed to be the ‘sparkling star’ of the school campus. The requirement of the school was to create a more formal, mature space for public activities. Hexagons, triangles, diagonals, polylines and other forms are derived from the visual effects of a cut diamond, here used for ceilings and walls to create a dynamic and vivid visual effect.
Lobby of the Arts Center
The lobby of the Arts Center is set with white marble walls to match with oak veneers and echoes the marble floor, creating a spacious and elegant space. The Arts Center is decorated with oak veneer, fiber acoustic panels and beige paint. It is equipped with a black box theater and rehearsal hall to meet different needs.
Theatre of the Arts Center
The Arts Center contains a multi-functional theatre with 800 seats. It is equipped with a mechanical lifting stage, a sunken orchestra pit and a double-sided stage, which can meet all requirements for the school’s theatre and music performances, but also for professional performances of visiting artists.
PROJECT NAME: KAIWEN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL – JINZHANXIANG CAMPUS, BEIJING
CLIENT: KAIWEN EDUCATION
INDUSTRY SECTOR: EDUCATIONAL
TYPOLOGY: GREENFIELD
PROJECT SIZE: 160,000 sqm
PROJECT DATE: 2016-2017
SERVICES: INTERIOR DESIGN, DESIGN MANAGEMENT, SITE VISITS
