Saup Szu Is Honored with the Bronze A' Design Award for Qutan Primary School Extension in Architecture, Building and Structure Design

Saup Szu acknowledged for architecture, building and structure design by the international grand jury of the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 20, 2023 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Qutan Primary School Extension by Saup Szu, designed for The Institute of Architecture Design & Research of Shenzhen University, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category. The award was conferred within the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.

The Bronze A' Design Award Explained

The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.

About Qutan Primary School Extension

Qutan is a two-story extension for a primary school in a remote village in southern China. The new building adds four classrooms, one reading room, two activity rooms and two teachers' offices within an area of 570 square meters. Placed on a vacant lot on the east side of the campus, the extension separates the quiet school grounds from the village square outside. Cobbles gathered from local riverbeds form the masonry walls of the first floor. Sun-shading grilles on the east and west facades reduce summer sunlight.

About Saup Szu

Founded in 1984, the Institute of Architecture Design & Research of Shenzhen University is a comprehensive class-A design firm. It mainly works on architectural design, urban master planning, residential community master planning, interior & exterior decoration design and landscape design, and also offers prior-construction consulting, master planning research and construction techniques consulting services. The institute's completed projects can be found in ten large and medium-sized cities nationwide.

Award Record

This recognition makes Saup Szu a winner of 1 A' Design Award.

About the A' Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award

The A' Architecture Design Award is an international architectural design competition recognizing good architectural designs by best architects worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to architectural design studios, building contractors, structural engineering firms and architecture and design consultants from all countries. Entries typically include skyscrapers, museums, residential buildings, commercial complexes, educational institutions and religious structures. Awarded architectural projects are published at https://designers.org/design-category/architecture

About A' Design Award & Competition

A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com

Press Resources

Winner Page: https://designers.org/142683
A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/142683
Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!142683
Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/334336

Media Contact

Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953

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Fact Sheet

The Work

Project: Qutan Primary School Extension
Function: Primary School Extension
Category: Architecture, Building and Structure Design
Discipline: Spatial Design
Industry: Architecture
Colors: Saddle Brown, Slate Gray, Sandy Brown, Dim Gray and Light Slate Gray
Images: 5
Client: The Institute of Architecture Design & Research of Shenzhen University

The Recognition

Laureate: Saup Szu
Country: China
Recognition: Bronze A' Design Award
Edition: 2022 - 2023
Design ID: #142683

Credits

Team: Zhong Botao, Zhong Dekun, Zhong Zhong, Xiong Yonghui, Xing Canqiu and Zhang Yixiang
Image Credits: Image copyright: Ding Xia

Design Details

Unique Properties: The design team embedded the new two-story building on the vacant lot on the east side of the school campus to divide the school space into internal and external parts. By doing so, the quietness inside the school can be ensured, and the Central Small Square outside is turned into an extension and transition of the village's communal space. The corridor running through the middle of the new building forms a circulation route and also shows the application of traditional architectural space form.
Inspiration: The new architecture learned from the wisdom of local traditional buildings to adapt to the climate, and adopted cobbles, a typical local material of Qutan, to construct masonry walls. The project's completion has expanded the students' learning space, satisfied their need for a nearby school, and created a safer school environment with a sense of belonging. And it has also established an architectural paradigm reflecting Qutan's architectural traditions.
Research: The project is located in Qutan, a remote village in southern China. To improve learning conditions, retain more children to study in local primary school, and avoid the separation between them and their parents, Qutan Village Committee decided to use the funds donated by the society to extend the existing campus of Qutan Primary School by adding a two-story building that accommodates four classrooms, one reading room, two activity rooms, and two teachers' offices.
Challenge: Qutan Primary School originally comprised a two-story teaching building in the north and a single-story auxiliary building in the south, with an activity venue in the middle. Since the existing layout blurred the boundary between the school and the village's public space, the school space lacked a sense of belonging. Meanwhile, cars from outside the village often parked at will on the open area where the school's east entrance is located, which brought potential safety hazards.
Realization and Technology: The newly added building's first-floor walls combined masonry technique and cobbles commonly found in local riverbeds. The wall construction methods inherited local architectural traditions. What's more, to block sunlight in summer and strengthen the comfort of spatial use, sun-shading grilles were installed on the east and west exteriors of the newly added building, and the width of the west corridor was expanded to offer more activity space to children.
Operation and Interaction: The project is located in Qutan, a remote village in southern China. The brief is extending the existing campus of Qutan Primary School by adding a two-story building that accommodates four classrooms, one reading room, two activity rooms, and two teachers' offices. The project's completion has expanded the students' learning space, satisfied their need for a nearby school, and also established an architectural paradigm reflecting Qutan's architectural traditions.
Project Duration and Location: Location: Qutan Village, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province, China Design start date: 2021.05 Design end date: 2020.07
Specifications: Project area: 570 square meters Type: School
Keywords: School, traditional architectural, cobbles, pitched roof, Qutan Village