Panyu Middle School Landscape Renovation

Since 2023, BAM has approached this three-year landscape and façade revitalization with a philosophy of “respect and light intervention.” Phase I and Phase II have now been implemented, and the campus is quietly transforming.

In summer 2024 the west gate and the canteen front plaza were the first to be refreshed. The intention was to create a friendlier, more efficient dialogue with the surrounding neighborhood. The campus’s vitality and calm were allowed to extend outward in a gentle way, making the site a positive, healthy node in the urban fabric. Ten sizes of granite in repeating units are used in Phase I paving to create organic gaps like a patina of time. Curved planting basins seem to “grow” out of the ground and merge with the paving. Under-tree dining areas use gravel for a relaxed, informal feel.

In summer 2025 the renewal extended to the campus central axis and several building connections, crafting diverse outdoor teaching and social spaces for those who learn to observe in nature, to communicate through collaboration, and to stimulate creativity in open settings. Here landscape becomes a carrier of educational philosophy. Where terrain is more rugged and program more complex, we stretched the curvy language from Phase I into vertical form: three-dimensional planters and terraces that both absorb complicated level changes and artfully enclose a variety of activity space. It turning circulation spaces into places where people want to stop and stay.

One planter was transformed into a quiet water feature, composed of placed stones, aquatic plants, and a few sculptural maples. It frames a tranquil transitional space in front of a teaching building. The trickle of water and shifting shadows soothe students before they enter class. This feature is both a visual focus and an ecological node that modulates microclimate and embeds learning into the landscape. 

Paving in Phase II continues the natural character of Phase I but uses stone units with varied colors and finished to retain delicate tactility while better accommodating complex construction on slope.