Riyadh - School of Architecture

Assignment 3 – School Design - BRICKING ROCKWONG YEE MAN, OPHENIA 1155003126SITE ORIENTATIONBRICKING ROCKMy site is in the western part of riyadh, which is a piece of open land surroundedby residential buildings . Main road Amr lbn Al As is on its westernside with some subroads extended enclosing the site.CONCEPT OF THE DESIGN - fissure as an entranceCRITICISM OF THE SAUDI EDUCATION SYSTEMToo Heavy Focus of the Islamic CultureThough Saudi Arabia is an Islamic country, it is criticized that theeducation nowaday put too much focus on the religion of the Wahhabi-controlledcurriculum. The concern is revealed in the reporton 2006 by Freedom House which concluded that ““the Saudi publicschool religious curriculum continues to propagate an ideology ofhate toward the ‘unbeliever,’ that is, Christians, Jews, Shiites, Sufis,Sunni Muslims who do not follow Wahhabi doctrine, Hindus, atheistsand others”.It is obviously not a good approach to praise your religion by belittlingothers’ believes, especially in teaching the children about itscountry’s culture. In fact, some studies issue the topic that this kind ofcurriculum would encourage lslamist terrorism. Therefore, the governmentstarted to invest money to modernise its teaching methodby making a more secular education.Moving forward without the loss of the identityIronically, Saudi Arabia is characterized by its strong religiousbackground, no matter in terms of its clothing, livestyle and alsoarchitecture. To me, it is not making sense to abandon its originalityof this countryand build a new one because that is precious.Therefore, in designing a school which can tell others that” Movingforward without the loss of the identity” will be my key sentence inmy design.And it comes out my idea of “ Breaking Rock”It is easy for you to see rock landscape in Saudi Arabia. Rock havefissures and cracks when it meets the change of the environment.But no matter how it evolves its form, the composition of it doesn’tchange. This is a kind of adaptation and movement towards thenature. To the rock itself , cracks unfold the beauty. My architecturewill express this beauty of the natural phenomenon as to introducethe new education system to this characterized country in 21century-SUNPATHThe building is basically orientated aligning to the East West Axis with alittle tilt to the south east direction. Due to the elongated form of the building,this kind of orientation can minimize the catching of light by the mainfascade of the building. On the other hand, the shading cast can cool downthe outdoor playground on the hottest month , from June to August.PREVAILING WINDIn riyadh, the prevailing wind is majorlycoming from NE and SSE direction. With thecorridor aligning in NE and SE axis, pressuredifference allows wind getting into the interior.Fissure as an entrance would be the start.