SAAN was asked by the owner’s representative to do a peer review and offer improvement suggestions to the competition-winning entry for a model high school in the special economic district of Guiyang, CHINA. The school is on a sloped site on the northern outskirts of the city. It is called a model school to indicate its experimental character in adopting the best international educational system. It will be jointly funded by the local government and private companies.

While the winning design scheme has been very bold in adapting hilly site conditions and in creating interesting building masses and outdoor spaces for the school, the classroom buildings are a bit outdated in floor plan layout and proportions.

SAAN recommended thickening building floor plates, shortening corridor lengths, and reducing the number of unnecessary offsets. Communal and interaction spaces are added and will become the predominant character of the floor plan layout. This will help to create classroom and group spaces for the intended STEM teaching which is to be adopted by the school.