The French firm headed by Dominique Perrault, in collaboration with the Chinese office Zhubo Design, has won the competition to build a new campus – accommodating 4,000 students – for the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen’s Bao’an Education City, carrying the day over 36 other entries. Also shortlisted were MVRDV and Studio Libeskind.

With a built area of 300,000 square meters, the complex includes classrooms, laboratories, a library, offices, an auditorium, sports facilities, and exhibition galleries. Integrated into the landscape, the main building (708 meters long, 120 wide, 29 tall) draws inspiration from the Chinese character «-», representing a line linking mountains to water.

The planning is based on two key elements defined by the architects as the ‘Hyper-Ground,’ a promenade featuring public spaces and accessways to the principal parts of the educational program, and which stretches on underneath the main volume; and the ‘Hyper-Roof,’ a huge green roof that incorporates sports facilities besides a rainwater collection system and photovoltaic panels.

Fancy DPA Adagp