LYCS' school in hangzhou looks like a kid's impromptu drawing

the project of hangzhou haishu kindergarten and a primary school is located in the western science and technology city of hangzhou. developed by LYCS architecture, it is inspired by a random impromptu child drawing, and allows the kids to enjoy their own fairytale-like campus following their growth and emotions.

LYCS has divided the 28.000 square meters campus into 15 small-scale gabled volumes, each sized according to the kids’ age. a comfortable campus environment is formed by inner courtyards within and among these volumes. under the gabled roofs are the inside common areas particularly designed for gatherings and social activities.

the project consists of 27 classrooms for the primary school program and 12 classrooms for the kindergarten program, which form three U-shaped blocks and are distributed from south to north accordingly. the heights of these blocks increase incrementally to adapt different demand of scale to different departments, as well as to create a dynamic skyline.

to provide more intriguing activity space for students, the design offers massive rooftops suitable for characteristics of different student groups and specifics of each roof form, such as a playground, plantation, theatre, reading room, runway and leisure area.

each gable façade is designed uniquely in color, material and window forms, as to signify the different usage of each building. meanwhile, five structures are covered with deep red in order to create a different rhythm within a unified materiality.

project info:

name: hangzhou haishu school of future sci-tech city

location: hangzhou, china

area: 44.900 sqm

period: 2015-2016 (design); 2016-2017 (construction)

architects: LYCS architecture (architecture, interior and landscape design)

team: ruan hao, chen wenbin, shen bin, yin yong, wu shiyang, wang jipeng, xia wei, wu tao, deng hao, jiang leilei, li hui, chen zhilin, fan xiaoxiao, chen hangjun

participants: ge qiwen, zhou tong, yu zhou, song guohan

architect of record: zhejiang province institute of architecture design and research

photography: su shengliang, wu qingshan