The Clay Box

Man ingeniousness starts from early childhood, but the school can be a big supporter for developing the kids' imagination. The school atmosphere is a part of the teaching process and creativity evolution with kids; thus, its design is essential. Designing a multi-story school in a restricted urban area increases the challenges in front of an innovative design. How can we create a functional, sustainable school and authentically creative at the same time? This school's design concept lies on four main bases (better functioning, sustainability, ingenuity, and authenticity). The concept was inspired by the clay as a tool for developing creativity with kids; thus, maximum attention was paid to the creation of the building façade of the school to reflect clay sculptures, authenticity, and identity of the place. The openings’ design was inspired by the vernacular architecture, while the indoor design was remained minimal to reflect modernity. In addition to that, touches of different colors were added to that façade to attract kids’ attention toward the place and discover it as kids always have the curiosity to discover ambiguous forms. For better functioning, administration zones, nursery halls, playgrounds for kids, and multipurpose spaces are placed in the ground floor plan. Primary school classrooms with their services are placed on the first floor, while the secondary classrooms are on the second and third floors. All classrooms have been positioned on the east-west wings of the school for better control of daylight inside the classes. In terms of sustainability, a double skin façade was used which the inner façade covers the main body of the school and includes all the main windows required for each space. In contrast, the outer skin is a semi-solid façade to protect the main one from the direct solar rations. Double skin façade also improves the natural ventilation necessary for this climate through the induced air strategy. Natural ventilation was also enhanced through the cross-ventilation strategy by having windows on both sides of the spaces from the courtyard and the outer skin. The design layout also improved the indirect daylight of the indoor spaces through the courtyard. The areas between the two façade remained open to increase the indirect sun entering the rooms. Daylight analyses proved that none of the windows are exposed to direct solar radiation during working hours. However, indirect daylight still enters the building and improves the lighting level. Another strategy was that designers paid attention to using the local materials with a thermal mass property to moderate the indoor temperature by slagging the time of the heating energy entering the building.