Ayb School building

Ayb School represents a combination of the best Armenian and International academic traditions utilizing the most contemporary learning technologies. Ayb has built a new culture of learning to raise the competitiveness of Armenian education and shape the leaders of tomorrow. Initially, the challenge was to design a campus completely based on the Armenian proverb: “A student’s second home is his/her school”. When studying this proverb in more detail we discovered that the task was to break the stereotype of a traditional and authoritarian school where students go to be disciplined and instead create a new type of environment that would facilitate collaborative learning. The architectural philosophy of the campus lies in creating an open educational environment that is multifunctional and allows for learning to take place in multiple ways. The school campus currently includes three main buildings; building A, B & C. The buildings on campus are equipped with modern educational technologies, various laboratories, art & crafts studios, a sports hall, an amphitheater, game and recreation zones and a library. All the buildings are bright and transparent, where students feel free and comfortable. We created large openings on the facades of the buildings as well as skylights in some areas to bring daylight into the corridors and spaces of the school. The walls are covered with white-board material, which allows for students to use them as whiteboards. This also creates fluidity between leisure and study areas. The colors and lights inspire creativity and encourage students to try something new and challenge stereotypes. The buildings are also energy efficient. We used passive and active approaches in our designs. In terms of the passive approach, we eliminated classrooms facing south to avoid overheating during the summer and relocated them to the north. Furthermore, we used double doors at all the entrances for heat control. We also calculated the U value for the envelope of the buildings, which was 0.8 W/(m2k). In terms of our active approach towards energy efficiency, we incorporated heat pumps for heating and cooling. The buildings are fully accessible for people with different types of disabilities. All the classrooms, restrooms and corridors are designed to be comfortable for anyone with a disability. Energy efficiency was a key objective and which is why we included an energy-efficient air conditioning system in the design. On the southern facade, solar panels are mounted on the external wall of one of the buildings. A proprietary technology developed by our team uses sensors to automatically position the solar panels where the sun's rays are most abundant. A system for automatically dimming windows, in the event of excess light, has been developed and implemented. The buildings all follow a similar layout. The first floor integrates a completely open flow with an amphitheater and cafeteria. Everything relating to the educational process, such as classrooms, is situated on the upper floors and social areas like the hall and cafeteria are positioned on the lower floor, just as in the other two buildings. This creates a perception that the buildings have the same organizational structure despite externally having substantial differences. Most importantly, the buildings are equipped with numerous technologies to make the modern learning process as easy and seamless as possible.