The project has a construction site area of 106,699.36 square metres (equivalent to about 160.05 acres), with a capacitated floor area of 83,901 square metres above ground, 6,000 square metres on the elevated floors, and 9,000 square metres underground. After completion, it can accommodate a total of 2,700 students in five majors, aiming to build a modern vocational education system, cultivate more high-quality technical and skilled talents, skilled craftsmen and great national craftsmen, and provide powerful talents and skills support for the comprehensive construction of a socialist modernisation country and the realisation of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The Ryan College of Agricultural Technology is an important part of a composite suburban development model, a healthier and more sustainable plan for a beautiful countryside, and plays a vital role in the promotion of rural revitalisation.
Design starting point
The design starting point of creating more nature-filled open spaces - something that today's Chinese students desperately need - responds to the characteristics of the mountainous terrain and inspired a design strategy that creates multi-layered floors in a vertical direction. The functional spaces of the school are organised into upper and lower sections, with gardens inserted in between. The vertical juxtaposition of the upper building and the lower space, and the different ways in which they touch, support or connect with each other in the elevated mezzanine, is both a strategy for creating space and a symbol of the relationship between the formal and informal teaching spaces in this new school.
An informal school
The uniqueness of the building's form, and the richness of the functions it contains, creates a surprising spatial complexity. The individuality of the spaces for each of the different functions makes this functional campus building an urban experience. In contrast to the hierarchical spatial organisation and axial constraints that often characterise typical campuses, the spatial form of this new school is free and polycentric, allowing access from any possible sequence according to the needs of the users. The free and permeable nature of the space encourages active exploration and expects different individuals to recreate from the use of the space. It is hoped that the physical environment of the school will inspire and influence some much needed changes in current Chinese education.
Sustainable Building Programme
One of the goals of this project was to become the first ultra-low energy school in China. To maximise the use of natural ventilation and light, and to reduce cooling and heating loads in winter and summer, passive energy saving strategies were applied to almost every aspect of the design, from the layout and geometry of the building to the detailing of the windows. Pervious tiles and green roofs help to reduce surface runoff, and a large underground rainwater recycling tank collects valuable rainwater to irrigate the farmland and gardens.
Ground source heat pump technology provides sustainable energy for the large public spaces, whilst independently controlled CRC units serve all the individual teaching units, ensuring flexibility of use. Simple, natural and durable materials such as bamboo plywood, terrazzo (a disappearing process), local stone and exposed concrete are used throughout the project to implement a minimalist aesthetic. The overall plan of the campus is divided into three parts: living units, teaching units and training units.
