Lecture Theatre Design
Keystone Academy is a Chinese private school based in Shunyi district of Beijing which has been in operation since 2014. This authorised K9-12 IB world school is founded on three keystones: bilingual immersion in Chinese and English; building character and community throughout our residential setting; and promoting Chinese culture and identity in a world context.
When the two lecture theatres first came into use they were very much “bare bones”, with inflexible furniture that quickly proved unsuitable, poorly planned site lines, dubious acoustics and poorly functioning air conditioning. The dynamics of the space had not been optimised and they were not serving to differentiate the school or project its values.
Designing for two cultures
One lecture theatre echoes an Asian thread, the other a more Western approach. For the Asian theatre, we commissioned two monumental ceramic sculptures, made in Jingdezhen, the city most associated with China’s porcelain industry, and designed by ceramic artist, Felicity Aylieff, Professor of Ceramics at the Royal College of Art in London.
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