Nanyang Primary School

WORDS Lindi Brownell Meiring IMAGES via Studio 505

Completed in March 2015, the Nanyang Primary School in Singapore was designed by Australian firm Studio 505, in collaboration with LT&T Architects.

The brief was to design a central communal space. The colourful design is an extension of the existing school building, except this time the focus centered around an “internalised public valley” that, while enclosed from the streets, is open above.

The site was also scattered with areas that weren’t user-friendly and no longer served the school a  purpose. In order to create the desired “valley” Studio 505 had to think outside of the box. “These unusable spaces between the former large scale buildings, out of proportion and character with a child’s world, created the starting point of our thinking for the new design,” says Studio 505 on their website. “Very quickly it became clear that the new concept will have to be centered on a generous, open and usable communal space that draws advantages from the site’s inherent topography.”

While the communal space is central to the design, we can’t get enough of the vibrancy of the building. “Technically this is achieved through the low-cost budget application of emulsion paint on profiled precast concrete spandrels, together with coloured aluminium shading shelves,” explains Studio 505.

“Our aim was to create a highly inspirational communal space, designed to showcase active, uninhibited free thinking and bringing joy and excitement equally to children and to the child within the teacher.”

We’re pretty sure any child would be inspired by this colourful environment. Browse the gallery above to get a closer look at this creative design.

(h/t) designboom.com