A Chinese boarding school designed to let students unwind and “waste time mindfully” has been named 2023’s World Building of the Year.

Featuring a rooftop park, treehouses and elevated walkways in a “floating forest,” the Huizhen High School in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province in eastern China, won the coveted title at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Singapore on Friday.

Designed by Approach Design Studio and the Zhejiang University of Technology Engineering Design Group, the serene campus’ communal areas are intended to blur the distinction between inside and out. The building features an open-air lecture hall and tree-lined pathways, in addition to study facilities for the 30-class school’s students.

“Our focus was not just about designing a school, or working with new forms, spaces, materials and facades, but about designing new school life and bringing the power of nature into the building,” said Ma Di, director at Approach Design Studio and the Zhejiang University of Technology Engineering Design Group, in a statement.

Approach Design Studio said that while teaching prioritizes efficiency, a school’s campus itself should inspire free thinking. In its project description, the firm said its design was intended to let students “release stress, adjust their body and mind and discover beauty” outside the classroom.

The coveted World Building of the Year title is considered one of the architecture profession’s top accolades and is decided at the annual festival by a 140-strong expert panel. This year’s winning design was commended by judges for breaking with the conventions of school design.

Citing the jury while presenting the award on stage, WAF’s program director Paul Finch described the project as “(as) unexpected as it is delightful.”

“The architects managed to create a school which is very different than the usual model, where students are boxed in and put under teaching — as well as architectural — pressure,” Finch told attendees. “By contrast, this design encourages walking, fresh air and the possibility of relief from academic intensity.”

The design was chosen from almost 250 shortlisted projects, including Newark Liberty International Airport’s recently opened Terminal A, Australia’s Holocaust Museum in Melbourne and new national stadiums in both Cambodia and Senegal.

Buildings were judged across 18 categories, spanning commercial, cultural and residential architecture. Those winners then competed for the overall prize.

Huizhen High School triumphed in the school category. Other category winners included India’s 7.1 million-square-foot Surat Diamond Bourse, which this year surpassed the Pentagon to become the world’s largest office building, the Lanserhof Sylt, a hotel and health resort in Germany where buildings combine to form the largest thatched roof in Europe, and a residential home in the suburbs of Winnipeg, Canada.

Held in Singapore, which is home to three recent winners of World Building of the Year, WAF also handed out prizes for landscape architecture — this year awarded to the Benjakitti Forest Park in Bangkok, Thailand, an “urban ecological sanctuary” being developed on the grounds of a former tobacco plant — as well as proposals for ambitious future architecture projects and interior design.

Last year’s top prize was claimed by Australia’s Quay Quarter Tower, dubbed the world’s first “upcycled” high-rise after its design retained two-thirds of an old skyscraper on the site.(SD-Agencies)

Words to Learn

相关词汇

【公共】gōnggòng

communal

belonging to or used by a group of people

【表扬】biǎoyáng

commend

praise, compliment

一所旨在让学生放松和“可以浪费时间”的中国寄宿制学校获得了2023年“年度建筑奖”。

周五在新加坡举行的世界建筑节（WAF）上，位于中国东部浙江省的宁波惠贞高级中学因为其屋顶公园、树屋和“空中森林”的步行道而赢得了这一令人向往的称号。

这所宁静的校园由靠近设计工作室和浙江工业大学工程设计集团设计， 其公共区域旨在模糊室内外的区别。除了为30个班级的学生提供学习设施外，学校还设有露天报告厅和绿树成荫的小径。

靠近设计工作室和浙江工业大学工程设计小组的负责人马迪说：“我们不仅是设计一所学校，或者采用新的形式、空间布局、材料和外立面，而是设计新的校园生活，将自然带进建筑。”

靠近设计工作室说，虽然教学重视效率，但学校也应激发自由思考。该公司在项目说明中说，其设计旨在让学生在课堂之外“释放压力、调整身心、发现美”。

“年度建筑奖”被认为是建筑界的顶尖荣誉之一。该奖项由140人组成的专家团队在世界建筑节上评选产生。评委们对今年获奖项目的评语是，它打破了校园设计的常规。

世界建筑节的项目总监保罗•芬奇在台上颁奖时援引评委会的话说，这个项目“既令人意外，又令人欣喜”。

芬奇对与会者说：“建筑设计师设法创建了一所与众不同的学校。在常规学校中，学生们被教学 —— 以及建筑 —— 压力所包围 ...... 与之形成鲜明对比的是，这一设计鼓励学生漫步、呼吸新鲜空气以及从学术压力中得到放松。”

该设计从近250个入围项目中脱颖而出，其中包括纽瓦克自由国际机场最近启用的A航站楼、澳大利亚墨尔本大屠杀博物馆以及柬埔寨和塞内加尔的新国家体育场。

参赛建筑共分为 18 个类别，涵盖商业、文化设施和住宅建筑。单项优胜者再角逐总冠军。

惠贞中学是学校组冠军。其他类别的获奖建筑包括：印度苏拉特钻石交易所，该建筑占地710万平方英尺，建成后取代五角大楼成为世界上最大的办公楼；德国叙尔特兰瑟霍夫酒店，该酒店集酒店和疗养度假村于一体，其建筑群拥有欧洲最大的茅草屋顶；以及加拿大温尼伯郊区的一座住宅。

世界建筑奖颁奖仪式在新加坡举行，最近三年的世界年度建筑奖都颁给了该国的设计。

建筑节还颁发了景观建筑奖 —— 今年的获奖者包括泰国曼谷的班嘉琦缇森林公园（原址是个卷烟厂，被开发成 “城市生态圣地”），以及雄心勃勃的未来建筑设计和室内设计方案。

去年的最高奖项由澳大利亚悉尼码头区塔楼获得，该大厦被称为世界上第一座“升级再造”的高层建筑，因为其设计保留了原址旧摩天大楼的三分之二。(Translated by Debra)