"I think of school as an environment of spaces where it is good to learn. Schools began with a man under a tree, who did not know he was a teacher, discussing his realization with a few who did not know they were students . . . the existence-will of school was there even before the circumstances of a man under a tree. That is why it is good for the mind to go back to the beginning because the beginning of any established activity is its most wonderful moment."

Louis Kahn, Form and Design, 1960

This exhibition has been jointly organized by the Hong Kong Museum of Education, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, and the School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, as an extension of the“Evolving Schools”exhibition which was held for the Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of UrbanismArchitecture in February this year. It serves as a concluding exhibition, featuring the innovative designs of school buildings, as well as remarks from various architects and education professionals concerning the future directions of school architecture.

To explore the transformation of school architecture in Hong Kong, from early standardized designs driven by changing educational priorities and policies, through to contemporary individualized designs responsive to changing pedagogies and the needs of school students and other stakeholders, this exhibition showcases the diversity of approaches which have been taken to the design of school buildings in Hong Kong, and illustrates this with examples of schools featuring designs of aided schools, international schools, special needs schools, and schools designed with a focus on sustainability. They include;

1. Standard Design:
Canossa Primary School, San Po Kong (ArchSD)
Po Kong Village Road School Village, Diamond Hill (ArchSD)
Concordia Lutheran School, Sham Shui Po (MLA Architects Ltd.)

2. Sustainable Design:
United Christian College (Kowloon East)
Kwun Tong (Ronald Lu & Partners Ltd.)

3. Campus Design:
Diocesan Boys’ School, Mongkok (Thomas Chow Architects Ltd.)

4. Design for special needs:
Caritas Lok Kan School, Tin Shui Wai (P & T Architects and Engineers Ltd.)

5. International schools:
Singapore International School, Aberdeen (WMKY Ltd.)

This exhibition focuses on how school architecture can play a role in enriching the learning environments and meeting the needs of students from different types of schools in Hong Kong. As a highlight, this exhibition also features remarks concerning the future directions of school architecture which emerged from a dialogue between education professionals and architects at the “Creating Positive Learning Environments” seminar series of the first “Vice-Principal’s Forum” in December 2011, and at the“HKSZ Bi-city Biennale of UrbanismArchitecture Symposium－ Exemplary Learning Environments：The Future School/Architecture and Learning Environments” in April, 2012.