Lineworks Studio Craft a Bright and Creative Teaching Environment

This week’s instalment of the Project of the Week series features a bold primary school design by 2025 SBID Awards Finalists, Lineworks Studio.

Lineworks Studio transformed Shanghai’s Daning Road Primary School into a vibrant, modern campus while preserving its heritage. The 2024 phase reimagined the entrance with geometric forms and a bold yellow accent, harmonizing it with the neighborhood. Interior upgrades included light-infused classrooms, a reading room with sloped ceilings optimized for brightness, and a gymnastics space blending indoor-outdoor energy. Constraints like enclosed corridors were resolved through adaptive design, creating airy communal areas. Warm wood finishes and playful yet sophisticated aesthetics unify the campus, fostering creativity and well-being. The project revitalizes an aging institution, balancing timeless charm with contemporary functionality.

What was the client's brief?

The client's brief was to renovate Daning Road Elementary School in a phased manner. The renovation aimed to revitalize the campus while preserving its heritage and integrating modern functionality. Specific requirements included renovating the main entrance to solve the clutter problem and enhance its visibility, optimizing the architectural exterior by adjusting window layout and colour - matching, remodelling the interior space to create a bright and creative teaching environment, activating special areas like the reading room and gymnastics room, and enhancing functionality by transforming the enclosed meeting room into an open and comfortable space.

What inspired the design of the project?

This design project for Daning Road Elementary School draws inspiration from a harmonious blend of functionality, aesthetics, and the unique characteristics of a school environment.

Functionality is a key driving - force. We aimed to create spaces that meet the diverse needs of teaching, learning, and extracurricular activities. For example, in the classrooms, the layout of desks and chairs, along with the installation of air - conditioners and lighting, is carefully planned to provide a comfortable and conducive learning atmosphere. The transformation of enclosed meeting rooms into open spaces balances modernity and comfort, meeting the needs of group discussions and collaborative learning.

Aesthetically, the use of colour is both bold and purposeful. The prominent yellow accents throughout the campus, such as on the main entrance and in some interior spaces, add a touch of vibrancy and energy, making the school standout and creating a positive and lively atmosphere. The geometric design elements on the ceiling, like the circular and linear light fixtures, not only serve as decorative features but also add a modern and artistic feel to the environment.

The unique characteristics of the school environment also play a crucial role in the design inspiration. The reading room takes advantage of the structural height difference, creating a multi - functional and interesting space that encourages students to explore and read. The gymnastics room integrates outdoor elements, providing a more open and natural space for physical activities.

In summary, this design project combines functionality, aesthetics, and environmental characteristics to create a modern, comfortable, and inspiring campus for students and teachers.

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

The toughest hurdle our team overcame was working within the constraints of the original structure. For instance, in the renovation of the reading room, we had to creatively utilize the differences in heights between interior beams. We covered sloped surfaces with light - diffusing film to make the space open and bright. Also, when transforming the multifunctional conference room on the top floor of the comprehensive building, the existing enclosed corridors made the space narrow and cramped. Our team removed part of the corridor partitions to create a more spacious and comfortable area.

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

The team's highlight of the project was breathing new life into an old educational building through our creative design. We successfully renovated various parts of the school, like the main entrance, teaching building, reading room, gymnastics room, and conference room. Our design made the campus more visually appealing, functional, and comfortable for students and teachers, for example, the vibrant yellow accent at the entrance made it a standout feature in the neighbourhood, and the transformation of indoor spaces with lighting and wood - grain details enhanced the teaching and learning environment.

Why did you enter the SBID Awards?

Because the SBID is a well-known and authoritative design organization. Success in this GOLD-rated Awards programme demonstrates the highest level of design skill and professional mastery across the interior design profession. We entered the SBID Awards to showcase our commitment to design excellence and to gain recognition within the industry.

What has being an Award Finalist meant to you and your business?

Being an Award Finalist in a prestigious design award like SBID can bring increased recognition in the design industry. It can lead to more opportunities, such as new projects, partnerships, and a boost in our team's and business's reputation, which can in turn attract more clients and top-tier talent.

Questions answered by Song Chen, Design Director at Lineworks Studio.

This week’s instalment of the Project of the Week series features an interactive and vibrant primary school design by 2022 SBID Awards Finalist, Lineworks Studio.

Founded in 1870, Huishi Primary School of Xuhui District, Shanghai is one of the most historical schools in Shanghai. At the end of 2021, the institution commissioned LINEWORKS to renovate several STEAM classrooms at its midtown campus.

The school aims to customize its learning space for a STEAM curriculum experience, and to better suit the preferences of the young students. Therefore, spatial function, color palette and visual geometry are the key elements that our design team have taken into consideration during the design process.

Design team have selected and refined certain elements from the children's drawings, and employed different color schemes that resonate with each specific course of the school’s STEAM curriculum. Aside from that, the designers have retained and optimized the large windows of the original space. Thus, the renovated STEAM teaching space has become more student-friendly, interactive, and layered in visual presentation.

What was the client's brief? 

The school aims to customise its learning space for a STEM curriculum experience, and to better suit the preferences of the young students, so as to stimulate their imagination and formulate creative learning methods.

What inspired the design of the project?

Numerous designs within the project were inspired by the school students’ drawings of a futuristic tech campus. From rainbow-colored ceilings, data pipelines across the floors, to well-arranged space observation capsules, children's colorful imagination and infinite curiosity are materialised through design in reality.

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

The toughest hurdle for our team was figuring out how to break the boundaries of traditional schools, making the existing teaching space more adaptable to future teaching concepts and trends, facilitating the inclusion of new curriculums, and encouraging children to enjoy the learning process and grow in an innovative environment.

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

Our design team have selected and refined certain elements from the children's drawings, and employed different color schemes that resonate with each specific course of the school’s STEM curriculum. Aside from that, the designers have retained and optimized the large windows of the original space. Thus, the renovated STEM teaching space has become more student-friendly, interactive, and layered in visual presentation.

Why did you enter this project into the SBID Awards?

First of all, most of our team members graduated from design schools in the UK, so we know that SBID is a well-known and authoritative design organization. It has always been our goal to participate in SBID Awards.

Secondary, evaluated by a panel of distinguished, industry-leading experts for design functionality, innovation, creativity, and technical execution, an SBID Award is considered one of the most coveted accolades for design excellence. Success in this GOLD-rated Awards programme demonstrates the highest level of design skill and professional mastery across the interior design profession.

Questions answered by Chen Song, Associate Design Director, Lineworks Studio.