. . . LiuJiaPing School . . .
Liu jia Ping school in Gansu was severely hit during the 2008 earthquake. We were invited in a competition to rebuild a new school comprising classrooms, dormitories, a canteen, a multipurpose space, a library and offices. The project we proposed was relying on the fragmentation of the program into multiple buildings in order to avoid the one building/one playground situation and to take advantage of the site potentials. The multiplication of the built elements was balanced with their simplicity and our objective to engage with local construction know-how and skills.
:: On the cliff ::
Six independent classrooms were implemented on the south west part of the site. Like a dot-line following the edge, learning spaces enclosed gently the recreation area while framing the views on the landscape. This belvedere position permitted us to give to the classrooms a special relationship with the impressive green valley and to offer a 4 sides sun orientation to each and every space. The 6 small houses sheltering the classrooms were thought to be built by the villagers themselves with taped very thick mud walls and wood carpentry in order to use sustainable local materials and learn from the climatic intelligence of local structures.
:: Against the cliff ::
The sloped road previously leading to the main entrance gate was incorporated within the scheme to become a huge ramp linking the different equipments at different levels. Distributed along this ramp, various multi-stories buildings (dormitories, library and canteen, multipurpose space) lean against the retaining concrete wall and open generously to the south.
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