When it comes to designing an education space, it’s essential to create a good environment that can help inspire enthusiasm for learning and cultivate learning abilities. As Shinyway Learning Mall aims to “make learning a style”, we follow this vision during our design in an effort to break through the constraints of traditional educational space designs to create a flexible, dynamic, trendy and smart environment with diversified elements.”

Shinyway Learning Mall consists of six floors with an area of more than 8,000 square meters. It is the first education complex in China. The first floor is where the reception area and the lounge are located, and the second floor is the extensive and spacious teaching area which is like an open living space. Inside the space, glass and wooden grilles are used in place of solid walls for division of different sections. In many parts of the space, curved symbols are used, and carefully-designed moving lines inject vitality into the space.

In the spacious service hall, there is a service desk and an electronic screen for queries and timely releases of course information. The three-color ceiling decoration is an ingenious design by the architects. It features the shape of a dialog box to symbolize thinking, thus cleverly conceal the intersecting pipes at the top and enriches the dimensions of the color scheme. The service hall is filled with an amicable atmosphere that can arouse curiosity for learning. At the end of the service hall is an independent discussion area, which is designed in an oval shape, symbolizing the Chinese philosophical concept of “completeness and harmony” while subtly creating a feeling of comfort. The glass door, on the other hand, ensures the privacy and translucence of the independent discussion room. The reading area is streamlined, neat and bright, and the main part features plain wooden materials to highlight the tranquility of the reading atmosphere. The white bookshelves on the right side echo with the desks and chairs. The seemingly random arrangement is actually the result of the architects’ deliberation of all possibilities. The public reading area is by the windows. The dynamic arc design helps to enable more seats to receive sufficient natural light, and green plants are also properly placed. To read in such a place is undoubtedly pleasing to both the mind and the body. At the public aisle, the vertical wooden fence conveys a cordial greeting, while the horizontal wooden strips create a feeling of spatial extensiveness. Walking through the aisle, one may feel as if walking on staves. Green plants are seen here and there, like dancing music notes. Here, functionality and aesthetics are highly harmonized. Futuristic walls frame the electronic reading area, where the serene and soothing color of blue mitigates the frigidity of electronic screens. In the teaching area, the architects makes a break with the stereotypes of traditional classrooms by selecting different colors for different classrooms for different subjects. The calm blue is used for classrooms teaching courses of psychology, while the bright yellow is used for those where yoga lessons are given to achieve a more effective teaching result. In the meanwhile, classrooms of different sizes are designed in accordance with specific requirements about numbers of participants.

Overall, Shinyway Learning Mall is filled with diverse and dynamic elements. There are quite a few small spaces that are full of fun and can fully meet teaching needs. As for materials used, GOA’s architects mostly select environmentally friendly materials, with wooden materials resulting from the demolition. All materials are easy to clean and maintain. Therefore, such design is truly innovative and unique.