Cuizhu Foreign Language School design by Studio Link-Arc
Project: Cuizhu Foreign Language School
Location: Shenzhen, China
Area: 44030 m2
Client: Development and Reform Bureau of Luohu
PROJECT CREDITS
Architect: Studio Link-Arc
Chief Architects: Yichen Lu
Project Manager: Shiyu Guo
Project Team: Kenneth Namkung, Zeynep Urgr, Simeng Qin, Yu Sun, Qiaoxi Wu, Chuanzhang Li, Furui Sun, Yoko Fujita, Shixuan Sun
Architect of Record/Stucture/MEP: Shenzhen Machine Architectural Design Co.
Structural Consultant: WS Engineering Design & Consultants Co.
Interior Consultant: Studio Link-Arc + Ledao Design Co.
Landscape Consultant: Studio Link-Arc + Bange Landscape & Architecture Planning Design Co.
Curtain Wall Consultant: Studio Link-Arc + Huahui Decoration Engineering Co.
Construction Management: Shenzhen Tianjian Shenzhen Tianjian Real Estate Development Company
General Contractor: China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Co.
Location: Shenzhen, China
Area: 44030 m2
Client: Development and Reform Bureau of Luohu
PROJECT CREDITS
Architect: Studio Link-Arc
Chief Architects: Yichen Lu
Project Manager: Shiyu Guo
Project Team: Kenneth Namkung, Zeynep Urgr, Simeng Qin, Yu Sun, Qiaoxi Wu, Chuanzhang Li, Furui Sun, Yoko Fujita, Shixuan Sun
Architect of Record/Stucture/MEP: Shenzhen Machine Architectural Design Co.
Structural Consultant: WS Engineering Design & Consultants Co.
Interior Consultant: Studio Link-Arc + Ledao Design Co.
Landscape Consultant: Studio Link-Arc + Bange Landscape & Architecture Planning Design Co.
Curtain Wall Consultant: Studio Link-Arc + Huahui Decoration Engineering Co.
Construction Management: Shenzhen Tianjian Shenzhen Tianjian Real Estate Development Company
General Contractor: China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Co.
Project: Cuizhu Foreign Language School
Location: Shenzhen, China
Area: 44030 m2
Client: Development and Reform Bureau of Luohu
PROJECT CREDITS
Architect: Studio Link-Arc
Chief Architects: Yichen Lu
Project Manager: Shiyu Guo
Project Team: Kenneth Namkung, Zeynep Urgr, Simeng Qin, Yu Sun, Qiaoxi Wu, Chuanzhang Li, Furui Sun, Yoko Fujita, Shixuan Sun
Architect of Record/Stucture/MEP: Shenzhen Machine Architectural Design Co.
Structural Consultant: WS Engineering Design & Consultants Co.
Interior Consultant: Studio Link-Arc + Ledao Design Co.
Landscape Consultant: Studio Link-Arc + Bange Landscape & Architecture Planning Design Co.
Curtain Wall Consultant: Studio Link-Arc + Huahui Decoration Engineering Co.
Construction Management: Shenzhen Tianjian Shenzhen Tianjian Real Estate Development Company
General Contractor: China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Co.
Location: Shenzhen, China
Area: 44030 m2
Client: Development and Reform Bureau of Luohu
PROJECT CREDITS
Architect: Studio Link-Arc
Chief Architects: Yichen Lu
Project Manager: Shiyu Guo
Project Team: Kenneth Namkung, Zeynep Urgr, Simeng Qin, Yu Sun, Qiaoxi Wu, Chuanzhang Li, Furui Sun, Yoko Fujita, Shixuan Sun
Architect of Record/Stucture/MEP: Shenzhen Machine Architectural Design Co.
Structural Consultant: WS Engineering Design & Consultants Co.
Interior Consultant: Studio Link-Arc + Ledao Design Co.
Landscape Consultant: Studio Link-Arc + Bange Landscape & Architecture Planning Design Co.
Curtain Wall Consultant: Studio Link-Arc + Huahui Decoration Engineering Co.
Construction Management: Shenzhen Tianjian Shenzhen Tianjian Real Estate Development Company
General Contractor: China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Co.
Cuizhu Foreign Language School is a 44,030 m² primary school located in the old town of Luohu District, Shenzhen. Luohu District is the oldest and densest area in Shenzhen with the most irregular urban fabric. The site is located next to the city’s main road, with narrow and irregular shape. The neighboring buildings include hospitals, residential buildings, shops and other schools.The greatest challenge of this project lies in designing a comfortable and engaging high-density campus within such a vibrant urban setting, where the plot ratio is extremely high (the overall FAR is 3.9, while the regulated limit is 3.0). The design must actively respond to the surrounding complex urban environment while creating a pleasant and stimulating space for students.
Luohu District is one of the most vibrant and lively areas in Shenzhen, where the richness of everyday urban life provides a deep and textured “figure-ground” context for the design of Cuizhu Foreign Language School. The architects did not intend for the school to stand merely as an isolated “object” in the city, but rather envisioned it as a key piece in the urban narrative—an architectural gesture woven into the fabric of both the old city of Luohu and its newer developments, connecting seamlessly with its surroundings.
To the south of the project site, a 200-meter-high residential tower is planned. In response, the architects positioned the classrooms—spaces with higher requirements for daylight—on the northern side of the site, leaving the southern side for the sports fields and living areas, which have more flexible lighting needs. Once the classrooms were optimally arranged for sunlight, the design connected them with large, open platforms to form a rich network of learning spaces. The building steps down from north to south, creating an educational “terrace.” Within this structure, the architects carved out a series of courtyards of varying depths, generating porous spatial sequences (porosity spaces) throughout the campus.
These voids and elevated passages—spaces beyond conventional classrooms—introduce dynamic, flexible elements that define the campus’s true value. The architects aimed to foster innovative pedagogical approaches through this liberated spatial organization, blurring the boundaries of traditional education and stimulating creativity. Here, the entire campus becomes a fluid learning landscape: classrooms extend beyond four walls, permeating every corner of the architecture.
The project site is very limited, with a planned plot ratio of over 3.0 and more than 40 classes. In order to alleviate the oppression of the school building’s volume on the playground, the school building is set back from the south to the north, bringing nature from the ground level to each elevation, creating a terraced, organically growing urban landscape. Each grade has its own rooftop garden, where students can quickly come to play and relax during the 10-minute recess. The rooftop gardens at different levels are oriented toward various city views, creating intriguing framed vistas and extended sightlines across the urban fabric. The building stretches horizontally, with overlapping terraces and vibrant colors, creating not only a joyful environment for students to learn amid nature, but also a colorful mosaic embedded in the urban fabric of Luohu.
The seemingly irregular courtyards in the master plan subtly align with neighboring structures—such as Mutoulong Residential Quarter to the west, and industrial buildings and dormitories to the east—creating a dynamic interplay of spatial tension. Architects designed varied window openings of different sizes on the gable walls, offering students and teachers glimpses of the diverse urban and community scenes beyond. The lively hustle of the city and the sound of children’s voices reciting lessons will intertwine, each becoming an integral part of the other’s daily life.
School architecture regulations in China are exceptionally stringent, but these “mandatory requirements” should only be considered the baseline for campus design. Cuizhu School has a total floor area of 44,030 square meters. Based on a 50% utilization rate, the indoor teaching spaces account for 22,015 square meters. The real challenge lies in how to create meaningful public spaces with the remaining area. The architects sought to define the campus boundaries with crisp edges while softening its urban interface through courtyards. Balancing ventilation, daylighting, and contextual integration, they “carved out” six distinctly themed outdoor courtyards: The Central Tree Courtyard, positioned at the building’s core, draws sunlight deep into the interior; five additional courtyards engage with the surroundings, each framing carefully composed vistas of the neighborhood’s eclectic urban fabric.
Programs are vertically stacked. Regular classrooms, which are the most demanding in terms of sunlight and regulations, are located on floors 1-4. Special classrooms are located on floors 5-6. Other large-scale spaces, such as the auditoriums, gym, cafeteria, and library are located underground. The courtyard extends to underground, bringing sunlight and natural wind to the negative ten meter elevation, allowing nature to penetrate into the lower part of the building.
The campus is vertically zoned by programs: regular classrooms, which have the strictest daylight and regulations, occupy levels 1–4; special classrooms are placed on levels 5–6; and larger-scale spaces such as the auditorium, indoor gym, cafeteria, and library are located underground. Sunken courtyards extend down to basement level B2 (–10 meters), bringing sunlight and natural ventilation below grade and allowing nature to permeate the lower parts of the building. The greatest challenge in designing this “pancake-style” school building lies in meeting stringent sunlight requirements. The strategically placed courtyards help mitigate the depth of interior spaces while channeling natural light into the campus. To ensure every classroom complies with daylighting standards, the architects adopted an iterative design process – carving out voids while continuously verifying sunlight conditions through over a dozen rounds of calculations. The team persistently engaged with planning authorities, submitting multiple iterations of sunlight analysis and 3D models for review. Only after this rigorous validation process was the final scheme approved for construction.
Luohu District is one of the most vibrant and lively areas in Shenzhen, where the richness of everyday urban life provides a deep and textured “figure-ground” context for the design of Cuizhu Foreign Language School. The architects did not intend for the school to stand merely as an isolated “object” in the city, but rather envisioned it as a key piece in the urban narrative—an architectural gesture woven into the fabric of both the old city of Luohu and its newer developments, connecting seamlessly with its surroundings.
To the south of the project site, a 200-meter-high residential tower is planned. In response, the architects positioned the classrooms—spaces with higher requirements for daylight—on the northern side of the site, leaving the southern side for the sports fields and living areas, which have more flexible lighting needs. Once the classrooms were optimally arranged for sunlight, the design connected them with large, open platforms to form a rich network of learning spaces. The building steps down from north to south, creating an educational “terrace.” Within this structure, the architects carved out a series of courtyards of varying depths, generating porous spatial sequences (porosity spaces) throughout the campus.
These voids and elevated passages—spaces beyond conventional classrooms—introduce dynamic, flexible elements that define the campus’s true value. The architects aimed to foster innovative pedagogical approaches through this liberated spatial organization, blurring the boundaries of traditional education and stimulating creativity. Here, the entire campus becomes a fluid learning landscape: classrooms extend beyond four walls, permeating every corner of the architecture.
The project site is very limited, with a planned plot ratio of over 3.0 and more than 40 classes. In order to alleviate the oppression of the school building’s volume on the playground, the school building is set back from the south to the north, bringing nature from the ground level to each elevation, creating a terraced, organically growing urban landscape. Each grade has its own rooftop garden, where students can quickly come to play and relax during the 10-minute recess. The rooftop gardens at different levels are oriented toward various city views, creating intriguing framed vistas and extended sightlines across the urban fabric. The building stretches horizontally, with overlapping terraces and vibrant colors, creating not only a joyful environment for students to learn amid nature, but also a colorful mosaic embedded in the urban fabric of Luohu.
The seemingly irregular courtyards in the master plan subtly align with neighboring structures—such as Mutoulong Residential Quarter to the west, and industrial buildings and dormitories to the east—creating a dynamic interplay of spatial tension. Architects designed varied window openings of different sizes on the gable walls, offering students and teachers glimpses of the diverse urban and community scenes beyond. The lively hustle of the city and the sound of children’s voices reciting lessons will intertwine, each becoming an integral part of the other’s daily life.
School architecture regulations in China are exceptionally stringent, but these “mandatory requirements” should only be considered the baseline for campus design. Cuizhu School has a total floor area of 44,030 square meters. Based on a 50% utilization rate, the indoor teaching spaces account for 22,015 square meters. The real challenge lies in how to create meaningful public spaces with the remaining area. The architects sought to define the campus boundaries with crisp edges while softening its urban interface through courtyards. Balancing ventilation, daylighting, and contextual integration, they “carved out” six distinctly themed outdoor courtyards: The Central Tree Courtyard, positioned at the building’s core, draws sunlight deep into the interior; five additional courtyards engage with the surroundings, each framing carefully composed vistas of the neighborhood’s eclectic urban fabric.
Programs are vertically stacked. Regular classrooms, which are the most demanding in terms of sunlight and regulations, are located on floors 1-4. Special classrooms are located on floors 5-6. Other large-scale spaces, such as the auditoriums, gym, cafeteria, and library are located underground. The courtyard extends to underground, bringing sunlight and natural wind to the negative ten meter elevation, allowing nature to penetrate into the lower part of the building.
The campus is vertically zoned by programs: regular classrooms, which have the strictest daylight and regulations, occupy levels 1–4; special classrooms are placed on levels 5–6; and larger-scale spaces such as the auditorium, indoor gym, cafeteria, and library are located underground. Sunken courtyards extend down to basement level B2 (–10 meters), bringing sunlight and natural ventilation below grade and allowing nature to permeate the lower parts of the building. The greatest challenge in designing this “pancake-style” school building lies in meeting stringent sunlight requirements. The strategically placed courtyards help mitigate the depth of interior spaces while channeling natural light into the campus. To ensure every classroom complies with daylighting standards, the architects adopted an iterative design process – carving out voids while continuously verifying sunlight conditions through over a dozen rounds of calculations. The team persistently engaged with planning authorities, submitting multiple iterations of sunlight analysis and 3D models for review. Only after this rigorous validation process was the final scheme approved for construction.
In response to Cuizhu School’s unique urban context, the architects developed an innovative hybrid typology that strikes a dynamic balance between Bar-Type and Pancake-Type configurations, employing strategically placed elevated voids to actively engage with Shenzhen’s subtropical monsoon climate. Moving beyond China’s conventional slab-style school buildings – which largely result from rigid, nationwide regulations – the design breaks new ground through its inventive sectional organization that creates a vibrant, nature-immersed learning environment. The solution incorporates tiered rooftop gardens that serve multiple functions: mitigating heat absorption during sweltering summers, managing surface runoff during torrential rains, while cantilevered sunshades enable comfortable all-weather circulation throughout the campus.
The building façades use corrugated perforated metal panels for solar shading. These panels are set 400 mm below the slab edge to block harsh midday sun while allowing the softer afternoon light to filter into the building. The vertical corrugation enhances the structural rigidity of the aluminum sheets, enabling a more efficient load distribution without the need for additional bracing. Even at a panel height of 4 meters, a thickness of just 3 mm is sufficient to achieve a stable and refined exterior appearance.
The project is located in a high-density urban area, where construction conditions were extremely constrained. It was impossible to carry out the entire construction at once, so a phased approach had to be adopted. The northern complex was built first, followed by the southern dormitory area, and finally the central elevated open space. Materials for each phase had to be pre-planned and stored in the area designated for the next phase of construction.
The limited site conditions posed additional challenges, such as difficulties ins waste removal, restricted access for materials, and obstruction of construction vehicles. On the other hand, this phased construction method also allowed the architects to maintain better control over the overall construction rhythm. In the end, the built result largely aligned with the original expectations. Due to the limited on-site space, the architect’s site visits and the stationed team had to adapt creatively—realizing a sort of architectural version of “Mencius’ mother’s three moves.” During the final phase, site meetings were held across the street from the school, seated on small stools outside a local rice noodle shop.
Looking at the aerial view of Luohu’s old urban district, the winding roads divide the land into all sorts of irregular polygonal shapes. Yet, on each plot, the buildings strive to “grow” within their own boundaries, evolving into forms that best fit their specific sites. The architect is drawn to this kind of vitality—full of energy and spontaneity. A school in Luohu should likewise embody this unruly, expressive spirit—reaching outward with vigor, striving for light, liveliness, and aspiration amidst the dense fabric of the city.
The building façades use corrugated perforated metal panels for solar shading. These panels are set 400 mm below the slab edge to block harsh midday sun while allowing the softer afternoon light to filter into the building. The vertical corrugation enhances the structural rigidity of the aluminum sheets, enabling a more efficient load distribution without the need for additional bracing. Even at a panel height of 4 meters, a thickness of just 3 mm is sufficient to achieve a stable and refined exterior appearance.
The project is located in a high-density urban area, where construction conditions were extremely constrained. It was impossible to carry out the entire construction at once, so a phased approach had to be adopted. The northern complex was built first, followed by the southern dormitory area, and finally the central elevated open space. Materials for each phase had to be pre-planned and stored in the area designated for the next phase of construction.
The limited site conditions posed additional challenges, such as difficulties ins waste removal, restricted access for materials, and obstruction of construction vehicles. On the other hand, this phased construction method also allowed the architects to maintain better control over the overall construction rhythm. In the end, the built result largely aligned with the original expectations. Due to the limited on-site space, the architect’s site visits and the stationed team had to adapt creatively—realizing a sort of architectural version of “Mencius’ mother’s three moves.” During the final phase, site meetings were held across the street from the school, seated on small stools outside a local rice noodle shop.
Looking at the aerial view of Luohu’s old urban district, the winding roads divide the land into all sorts of irregular polygonal shapes. Yet, on each plot, the buildings strive to “grow” within their own boundaries, evolving into forms that best fit their specific sites. The architect is drawn to this kind of vitality—full of energy and spontaneity. A school in Luohu should likewise embody this unruly, expressive spirit—reaching outward with vigor, striving for light, liveliness, and aspiration amidst the dense fabric of the city.
Source: Studio Link-Arc
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