In Sichuan, Chinese Architects Rethink What It Means to Build a School

Architizer News

In Sichuan, Chinese Architects Rethink What It Means to Build a School

February 24, 2012

The 2008 earthquake that devastated China’s Sichuan province has become something of an afterthought in the wake of more recent natural disasters. Four years later, it seems all too easy to forget the emotional ache felt around the world when news outlets linked the collapse of over 7,000 schoolrooms and the deaths of thousands of school children in the area to poor construction and a corrupt building industry. Though such tragedies inevitably fade over time, it is important to remember their lessons, especially as China expects to complete over 65 skyscrapers within the next six years, and has already effectively built a 30-story hotel and furnished it all within a mere 360 hours.

But we turn our attention to positive news from Sichuan’s Deyang district. According to a review in Chinese-Architects, a steadfast campaign to raise money and attract prominent Beijing-based practice TAO Architects has finally culminated in a new elementary school that has just recently opened its doors. Made of concrete, brick, wood and bamboo, the Xiaoquan Elementary School fits within the footprint of its institutional predecessor while conceiving of the school in an entirely different manner, as “a small urban cluster.” Wonderfully clean forms that exude their own materiality are staggered, scattered and connected by open and covered walkways, providing a miniature network of streets, plazas, alleys and courtyards for children to play in. More after the jump.

TAO Architects turned to local resources and craftsmen in their efforts to rebuild Sichuan, hoping to ground the project firmly within the local community. Differently colored bricks from local kilns were mixed together with recycled bricks to give walls an organically varied appearance, while local craftsmen were trained by the architects to perfect techniques of processing exposed concrete. Moreover, the architects spent time educating the construction workers not only on the procedures but on the design concepts and undercurrents that are elemental to the project, eventually leaving the workers to complete the project under their own guidance and with their own creative input.

Such an idea seems revolutionary in China, a country that hinges its successes upon a stringent delegation of tasks (for instance, scouts for China’s national basketball league overlook even the most passionate basketball players who stand below a certain height, a fact that surfaced after Jeremy Lin‘s whirlwind ascent to NBA stardom). To consider such a deliberate blurring between architects and construction workers is progressive even by Western standards.

To further rock the boat, TAO Architects’ choice of raw materials has raised questions as to whether the school is appropriate for children, for which architects conventionally choose to design vibrantly colored learning environments. I would argue that the structure is especially mindful of its context, providing an eclectic mixture of narrow and open spaces for children to explore and call their own. Whether or not children need to be barraged by stimulating colors is subject to opinion, but ultimately, this miniature city thoughtfully responds to the tragic past with a resolve to truly rethink the future.