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 相關詞匯 【公共】gōnggòng communal belonging to or used by a group of people 【表揚】biǎoyáng commend praise, compliment 一所旨在讓學生放松和“可以浪費時間”的中國寄宿制學校獲得了2023年“年度建筑獎”。 周五在新加坡舉行的世界建筑節（WAF）上，位于中國東部浙江省的寧波惠貞高級中學因為其屋頂公園、樹屋和“空中森林”的步行道而贏得了這一令人向往的稱號。 這所寧靜的校園由靠近設計工作室和浙江工業大學工程設計集團設計， 其公共區域旨在模糊室內外的區別。除了為30個班級的學生提供學習設施外，學校還設有露天報告廳和綠樹成蔭的小徑。 靠近設計工作室和浙江工業大學工程設計小組的負責人馬迪說：“我們不僅是設計一所學校，或者采用新的形式、空間布局、材料和外立面，而是設計新的校園生活，將自然帶進建筑。” 靠近設計工作室說，雖然教學重視效率，但學校也應激發自由思考。該公司在項目說明中說，其設計旨在讓學生在課堂之外“釋放壓力、調整身心、發現美”。 “年度建筑獎”被認為是建筑界的頂尖榮譽之一。該獎項由140人組成的專家團隊在世界建筑節上評選產生。評委們對今年獲獎項目的評語是，它打破了校園設計的常規。 世界建筑節的項目總監保羅?芬奇在臺上頒獎時援引評委會的話說，這個項目“既令人意外，又令人欣喜”。 芬奇對與會者說：“建筑設計師設法創建了一所與眾不同的學校。在常規學校中，學生們被教學 —— 以及建筑 —— 壓力所包圍 ...... 與之形成鮮明對比的是，這一設計鼓勵學生漫步、呼吸新鮮空氣以及從學術壓力中得到放松。” 該設計從近250個入圍項目中脫穎而出，其中包括紐瓦克自由國際機場最近啟用的A航站樓、澳大利亞墨爾本大屠殺博物館以及柬埔寨和塞內加爾的新國家體育場。 參賽建筑共分為 18 個類別，涵蓋商業、文化設施和住宅建筑。單項優勝者再角逐總冠軍。 惠貞中學是學校組冠軍。其他類別的獲獎建筑包括：印度蘇拉特鉆石交易所，該建筑占地710萬平方英尺，建成后取代五角大樓成為世界上最大的辦公樓；德國敘爾特蘭瑟霍夫酒店，該酒店集酒店和療養度假村于一體，其建筑群擁有歐洲最大的茅草屋頂；以及加拿大溫尼伯郊區的一座住宅。 世界建筑獎頒獎儀式在新加坡舉行，最近三年的世界年度建筑獎都頒給了該國的設計。 建筑節還頒發了景觀建筑獎 —— 今年的獲獎者包括泰國曼谷的班嘉琦緹森林公園（原址是個卷煙廠，被開發成 “城市生態圣地”），以及雄心勃勃的未來建筑設計和室內設計方案。 去年的最高獎項由澳大利亞悉尼碼頭區塔樓獲得，該大廈被稱為世界上第一座“升級再造”的高層建筑，因為其設計保留了原址舊摩天大樓的三分之二。(Translated by Debra) | 