Schools

wək̓ʷan̓əs tə syaqʷəm Elementary School is the Vancouver School Board’s first completed school to be constructed entirely of prefabricated CLT (cross-laminated timber) panels, a material that reduces embodied carbon and makes for a calm and inspiring learning environment. The school is part of a Vancouver School Board pilot project to assess the possibilities of mass timber for future schools.

The seed for the timber school building was sown already in the architecture competition brief. The aim was to establish a school specialized in environmental education and the building was similarly supposed to illustrate the possibilities of environmentally responsible construction.

This project stemmed from the concept of repurposing a plot of land originally earmarked for the future expansion of the school, transforming it into a vibrant, lush outdoor learning environment. The vision for this new space is to offer students and teachers a variety of areas, each with unique typologies, where they can collaborate and congregate, all while immersed in greenery.

Pelletier de Fontenay, an architectural firm based in Montreal, in partnership with Leclerc Architects, presents École du Zénith, a project resulting from a series of competitions launched by Lab-École in 2019. Being the first school architecture competition since the 1960s, this major project marks a turning point in Quebec’s educational landscape, renewing the program, organization, and way of building primary schools in the province.

The Tham Luong school is located on a rocky plateau in Du Gia commune, Yen Minh district, Ha Giang province – the home of the Hmong ethnic minority who migrated to the land of the Tay people. Previously, due to natural disasters and landslides, the entire Hmong village lost their homes and land, forcing them to move to a new location. Since then, they have developed a mentality of  “living on borrowed land”, where everything in their village, from houses to schools, is temporary.

Domum School is located in the city of Juazeiro do Norte, south of the state of Ceará. It is a school that covers everything from pre-school to high school. The program consists of classrooms, a library, a laboratory, multipurpose rooms, a canteen, a court, an auditorium, and common areas, in addition to the administrative and service sectors. The 3,700.00m² building was located on a corner site with large fronts facing north and west. The implementation was carried out on the outskirts of the site, thus protecting the western facade and providing shade for the interior of the school, where all the students’ recreation and leisure takes place. The classrooms face east and north, and the sports court faces west but is protected by a metal roof.