Foster + Partners Uses Extra-long Bricks For Chinese University Campus

Architects: Foster + Partners
Area: 55,000 m²
Photography: Nigel Young
City: Huizhou
Country: China

Designed by Foster + Partners, the project is located in Xiao Jing Wan near Shenzhen. The 55,000-square-meter campus includes teaching buildings, an innovation center, residential halls, and amenities like an auditorium, library, bar, and gym. The campus features custom-made, extra-long bricks and fair-faced concrete, blending with the local masonry style. Buildings are staggered on a hillside to offer views of the South China Sea. The design encourages interaction and well-being with terraces and informal streets. This project is part of Foster + Partners’ recent developments, including skyscrapers in Miami and an Apple Store in London.

Foster + Partners used custom-made bricks to build a campus near Shenzhen, featuring a university, hotel, and housing with views of the South China Sea.

Foster + Partners uses extra-long bricks for Chinese university campus

Designed by Norman Foster’s London-based studio for Xiao Jing Wan, a coastal development east of Shenzhen, the scheme includes a hotel, clubhouse, shops, and housing. At its heart is a 55,000-square-meter campus for China Resources University. The management training college campus includes five teaching buildings and an innovation center to accommodate 500 students.

There are halls of residence for 300 students and 35 staff, an auditorium, library, bar, and gym. The brick buildings are staggered down a grassy hillside, ensuring each has views of the South China Sea.

“The idea was to create a cascading complex of buildings and spaces – a series of teaching and living spaces, terraces, and informal streets that encourage interaction and a sense of well-being,” said Chris Bubb of Foster + Partners. The buildings are constructed of fair-faced concrete and brick, referencing the area’s masonry architecture.

The slender bricks, over half a meter in length, were specially developed at a neighboring factory and coated in mortar to “exude warmth” and complement the pale concrete elements.

“The brick is the basic building block from which the building derives its character,” said Bubb. “We worked very hard to refine its size and proportions, even sourcing the earth from the region to ensure the building is of its place.”

The same brickwork creates a colonnade and outdoor steps linking the site’s different levels, flanked by planting beds.

The campus is one of several new projects by Foster + Partners, including plans for skyscrapers in Miami and an Apple Store on London’s Regent Street.