RTHK Programme

Step into different schools across the city! The historic campuses from different Hong Kong neighbourhoods and eras have stories to tell.

Find out how students became tired of walking up seven floors to study in the "rooftop" primary schools, and how to fully utilise the limited space in "matchbox" schools. Explore the shift from standard-design schools to "millennium" schools, as a result of the introduction of nine-years free education and educational reform. Now the question remains, how will architects design today's "post-millennium" schools?

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The architectural style of schools keeps evolving as society develops. What were the breakthrough developments in campus design, particularly regarding space planning, layouts, and user experience?

Architecture became more diverse as unconventional school designs emerges. The school sponsoring body has kept pace with time and worked on the outline planning that matched with their teaching philosophy. To create the ideal design for learning centres, Hong Kong architects cleverly created spaces to suit. Learn more about how architects have helped to improve learning environments in a densely populated city. This episode will introduce low-rise schools and how our city's distinctive architectural designs have encouraged students to interact, communicate, and learn. Explore as educators and students use their imaginations to maximise available space!

A classroom is not a sealed box. On the contrary, openness and transparency are ideal characteristics of a school, as they should function as a space where students can enjoy learning and develop to their full potential.

When designing classrooms, architects need to carefully consider, including the overall layout, lighting, ventilation, materials, installations and facilities and other details to meet users' needs. Combining outdoor and indoor areas to form a unified teaching environment brings students closer to nature as if studying and exploring under a large tree. As a result, students' thinking can become more expansive and active.

In this episode, we'll look at the classroom designs of different primary and secondary schools and learn how architects combine various design and environmental protection elements to improve the learning environment and create happy and creative campuses.

Learning doesn't just take place inside a school classroom! Children's development occurs just as much inside the hallways, auditoriums and playgrounds. After all, play is an essential part of growing up. So, how do architects create spaces that encourage play, help children play freely, and grow into happy pre-teens?

The auditorium and the court, the two most significant spaces in the school, have been cleverly transformed by the architects into multi-layered, adaptable spaces where various events may be staged. Architects create instinctive and symbolic designs of the school in response to the school's demands so that everyone on campus can feel more connected. The principal, teachers, and students all feel a sense of community and connected.

If the school is a miniature version of the society, multi-purpose rooms in the school have taken the role of the recreational facility of the community. Architects work diligently to bring more sunlight into school libraries, breaking down the "boundaries" between the interior and exterior spaces. They use doors and windows to infuse colour and style into art spaces and music rooms, connecting people who care about each other.

These thoughts come from the architect's personal experiences and observations. They hoped to create an environment for reading that feels larger than life and inspires the imagination, as students can thrive when we bring more colours and natural light into their study spaces.

Architecture is the art of the ordinary.

The learning environments in school shape how students perceive the world; architects are responsible for designing schools that can inspire students to use their imagination and see beyond the walls of their campuses. Every corridor, every angle, and every space are opportunities for architects to ignite new passion within children to think and explore.

Our city uses its streets, gardens, public spaces, and city halls to create its special identity. Schools are believed to be miniature communities, much like our hometown; thus, architects include this concept in their designs, turning schools into tiny oases that can be found in the centre of the city.

But what happens when a new school is built and expected to be a neighbourhood feature? What are the concerns of the residents? And how can architects design schools to optimise views and airflow of the neighbourhood?

Architecture is a space art allowing people to experience the beauty of man-made/natural surroundings. Carefully combining elements from outdoor environments with landscape design, learn how architects put people first and combine natural aspects to create practical, comfortable, emotion-healing, and aesthetically pleasing learning spaces. This episode reveals how the details of school designs help educational establishments and further the growth of students.

Most of us know what are doctors, lawyers, and teachers, but what about architects?

Looking to ignite children's passion for architecture, ArchSD held the "Ideal Campus" design competition in the summer of 2022, allowing students to create their ideal campus with their own hands. As architects oversee elementary school students construct their first architectural models, it triggers a flood of memories, reminding them of the excitement they felt when they created their first original designs in architectural schools. So, how do they build stronger relationships with architecture? This episode tells us why ArchSD architects pursued architecture as a career and their vision.