Zhoushuizi Primary school - A Rebuild and Expansion Project

Following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, China intensified building safety inspections across the country. Many aged and deteriorating primary school buildings have been renovated and expanded. The opportunity is taken to not only improve the safety performance of primary school buildings but also to improve building capacity and space quality. As a result, new challenges and opportunities have arisen for the construction of primary schools in high-density environments.





The project is a rebuild and expansion project on the same site in this context. As the base unchanged, the project faces the following main requirements and challenges：

1) In-situ expansion


In the case of no changes in the land, the original 24 class type is expanded to 36 class type, and large space functions such as gymnasium are added to meet the teaching needs of 1800 students, which requires an increase in plot ratio from about 0.64 to 1.58, and the building volume needs to be increased by 2.5 times.





2) Floor height restrictions in sloping sites


The base site is narrow and located on a sloping site with limited flat areas on the site. The Chinese building code states that elementary school classrooms should not exceed 4 stories in height and that 80% classrooms need southern natural light, which makes designing the project for fire evacuation to be a difficult task.





3) Increase public activity space to spur community renewal


With limited space, maximize public activity space and open it to outside residents to spur vibrant renewal of the old town.





4) Low-cost construction