Category: 2025
The Dragon Boat-Building School
The design of the school addresses the urgent issue of climate resilience, particularly in flood-prone Tai O. Tai O has experienced significant flooding events in recent decades, with storm surges and rising sea levels posing a continual threat to the community.
By situating the school on a combination of floating and submerged platforms, the project embraces the dynamic relationship between architecture and water, ensuring that the structure can adapt to fluctuating water levels.
This is (NOT) a school!
The 4th year studio questioned what education is and what implications this has on the space needed, used, and appropriated for education, predicting the future of learning spaces in an era of climate emergency.
The challenge goes beyond redesigning physical spaces like schools; it requires rethinking and transforming the very principles upon which these institutions are founded. Is it still the only accepted way of teaching to keep our children in an enclosed environment during a time when their brains are developing? Is confining students to enclosed environments the best approach during critical stages of cognitive development? More importantly, how can we ensure that we equip them with the tools needed to navigate unpredictability, rather than teaching from outdated syllabi developed in the last century?
All students developed diverse spatial scenarios, rethinking spaces for learning. These satellite spaces can range from diverse complexities, focussing on the arrangement of spaces or the pure tectonic of these buildings. Students were encouraged to think outside the predicted and challenge the idea of learning for the future.
Prof. Sabine Storp
Kinson Law teaching assistant
Kwok Tsz Ki Edith
Chan Chun Lok Michael
Li Tsz Hei Darrel
Chan Hau Yan Kelly
Shamayel Nur
Cheng Hok Sze Elenor
Cheung Kun Ho Nicholas
Kwok Chun Hei Derek
Cheung Yuet Chi Yuji
Cheng Fei Wan Anthea
Ho Ching Hei Ikumi
Ho Ching Hei Ikumi, BA(AS), Hong Kong University, HKU, Spring 2025
User role education centre
An active space hosting interaction between NGO’s and school children
My project aims to create a flexible interactive space that can react to the user’s needs and programmes, spaces for multiple activities.
Tai O has been a day school trip location for many Hong Kong students in primary and secondary education, to experience and learn from the local cultures. Local organizations organise walking tours and sightseeing but do not have a space for holding diverse workshops and activities that allow to create real connections with the place.
The Mediated Threshold
A Learning Sanctuary as a Connector Between Children and Nature
This project envisions a school that transcends traditional boundaries, offering a holistic, inclusive, and immersive learning experience by embracing Tai O’s natural and cultural heritage. the design inspires students to become empathetic, environmentally conscious, and lifelong learners, rooted in the wonders of their surroundings. The school is designed to be a sanctuary for all learners, particularly younger students, by integrating sensory-rich spaces, the design fosters environmental awareness, emotional intelligence, and a lifelong connection to nature.
Li Tsz Hei Darrel
TINKERING SCHOOL
The New School in Tai O seeks to engage the community as a maker space, enabling local Hong Kong students and residents of Tai 0 to collaborate on improvements within their own town.
Stilt houses and wooden platforms extend from the concrete path that curves around the riverbank in Tai O. These structures reveal their fragility through the wooden stilts that necessitate regular upkeep and their metal surfaces, which are built using low-tech methods. The project transforms an existing dyke into a dynamic learning environment.
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Cheng Fei Wan Anthea, BA(AS), Hong Kong University, HKU, Spring 2025
Forest of Play: A Multisensory Learning Hub in Tai O
This project envisions an inclusive and adaptive educational environment inspired by the principles of forest school-a child-centred pedagogy that prioritizes experiential, play-based, and nature-immersed learning.
Situated within the forested landscape of Tai O, the design redefines the classroom as a living, breathing extension of its natural surroundings. Rather than relying on fixed spaces and standardized teaching methods, the architecture encourages movement, sensory exploration, and deep engagement with the environment.
Elevated among the trees, this multisensory learning hub supports children in an inclusive education program. Such learning spaces are traditionally overlooked or misunderstood in the conventional Hong Kong classrooms. In a culture where academic success is narrowly defined, well-being and different types of learning have not been accepted by the mainstream school model. This project responds with an alternative empowering learners of all ages with the knowledge, skills, values, and agency to make informed decisions and take responsible actions to adapt and mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis
Learnings spaces are central places for accelerating climate action among learners and local communities. The Non-profit school is situated in the hills of Tai O, responding to several conditions and experiences.
Tai O’s unique ecological and cultural context-where over 70% of the land remains green-the school blends into its forest setting, echoing the quiet order found in what may first appear as natural chaos.
The architecture becomes part of the terrain, not imposed upon it. Tree branches guide circulation, roots inspire spatial logic, and canopies provide shelter for learning. Here, education becomes an adventure: students move, touch, listen, and imagine. The boundaries between architecture, nature, and learning dissolve, fostering curiosity, resilience, and independence. The forest becomes the teacher, the classroom, and the curriculum.
BA(AS) Hong Kong University, HKU, Spring 2025
Prof. Sabine Storp, Visiting Professor
‘The big shift I think, has to go from education as an industrial process to an organic one.’
Sir Ken Robinson
The 4th year studio will question what education is and what implications this has on the space needed/used/appropriated for education.
Ever since we all lived through the pandemic, we have questioned if our educational systems are fit for purpose. We need to rethink not only the spaces for education – schools, but we also need to rethink and overhaul the principles they are based on to make them fit for an ever more uncertain future. Are they fit for purpose in a rapidly changing world?
The challenge goes beyond redesigning physical spaces like schools; it requires rethinking and transforming the very principles upon which these institutions are founded. Is it still the only accepted way of teaching to keep our children in an enclosed environment during a time when their brains are developing? Is confining students to enclosed environments the best approach during critical stages of cognitive development? More importantly, how can we ensure that we equip them with the tools needed to navigate unpredictability, rather than teaching from outdated syllabi developed in the last century?
The design of educational spaces has a profound impact on how we learn and grow. Effective design must nurture curiosity, creativity, collaboration, and lifelong learning skills.
However, many of our current educational systems were established during the Industrial Revolution and mimic the characteristics of that era. They emphasize standardization, conformity, and efficiency—approaches designed to deliver information uniformly and measure outputs through rigid assessments.
In contrast, consider the principles of organic farming, which prioritize diversity and holistic growth. Organic practices emphasize the health of the entire system and focus on enriching the soil to produce healthy, sustainable outcomes that respect local environments. When the conditions are right, growth happens naturally. This philosophy can be applied to education: when we focus solely on yield and output—driven by data and metrics—we lose sight of the natural, human processes of teaching and learning.
Education should be a human-centric process where students of all ages thrive under nurturing conditions. Our role is to create these conditions in schools and universities, fostering an environment that supports adaptability, resilience, and creative problem-solving. In a world where physical and cultural climates are shifting, education must evolve to prepare learners for these realities and harness the potential of our collective resources.
It’s time for education to move beyond the industrial model and embrace an organic approach that prioritizes the development of individuals and communities alike.
We are living in a world where the climate is changing physically around us. We need another cultural climate in education where we could deal with these changes to make the most of our natural resources. Belonging & Connection to the environment we live in results in personal identity, with diversity , inclusion and connection to each other.
The studio will develop teaching spaces away from the school. These satellites will question what learning spaces should address in a changing world—Agency & Engagement as a driver for new design ideas.
Our site in Tai O will look at the seasonal and climatic changes, will question the cultural heritage, materials, and the constant flux of tourists, and the de-population of the town.
