The 8.0-magnitude earthquake that rocked central China in 2008 killed 68,000 people and left millions homeless in Sichuan Province. Among the displaced and stricken following the catastrophic quake were countless schoolchildren, like those in the town of Xiaoquan.
In response to the community’s need for a new structurally sound elementary school, Beijing-based Trace Architecture Office (TAO) designed an 8,920-square-meter academic complex of reinforced, poured-in-place concrete and wood. Instead of the local or provincial government, a board of sponsors that included the Red Cross of Jiangsu, a Buddhist temple foundation in Canton, and the business schools of Beijing and Tsinghua universities, commissioned the educational campus. The playfully labyrinthine complex includes three main classroom buildings; multipurpose rooms for music, art, and science education; a dormitory; and a dining hall. A covered outdoor corridor that TAO founding principal Hua Li calls a “spine” connects each of the classroom buildings. The corridor also provides protection from the sun and rain in hot and humid Xiaoquan, while allowing cooling breezes to move through the campus.
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