石家庄正定学校Zhengding School, Shijiazhuang

The project is in Zhengding New District, Shijiazhuang, just 1 km from the historic city. The primary and secondary teaching zones sit close to the road between them and are linked by an underpass to facilitate shared facilities. The primary school occupies the eastern site and the secondary school the western site.

To meet requirements for 25 m separation between classrooms and south-facing daylight, the teaching buildings form five successive rows across the site from north to south. Bending, cutting back and combining these otherwise rigid slab blocks creates varied street elevations and courtyards while making space for the main entrance plaza. Their winding arrangement also offers an abstract response to Zhengding’s historic city wall. Grassed slopes cover the podium roofs, creating a carpet-like garden at the lower level. The teaching blocks are raised above this green surface, allowing activity spaces at ground level to remain open and permeable.

Variations in the top-storey heights and façade treatments give the four-storey buildings an undulating, mountain-like roofline. Openings in the roofs provide activity terraces and planting plots tended by pupils. North–south bridges link the separate teaching blocks at the third floor, forming a continuous circulation loop that encourages interaction. Single-loaded corridors face north, with classrooms to the south. Recesses and projections in the north façades create changing shadows and locally widen the corridors into spaces for class activities.