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Blake, Wm. Milton's Paradise Regained. 1816.

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A high school in China has won 2023’s World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival.

Huizhen High School features a “floating forest” with elevated walkways. The body is a large, open square with a calming white design and earthy tones inside.

The project was praised for its innovative “efficiency-first” campus design, blending education with nature, and aims to inspire “free thinking” with open-air lecture halls and tree-lined pathways.

In its project description, the firm behind the school said its design was intended to let students “release stress, adjust their body and mind and discover beauty” outside the classroom.

The coveted World Building of the Year title is considered one of the architecture profession’s top accolades and is decided at the annual festival by a 140-strong expert panel. This school was commended by the judges for breaking conventional school design.

Paul Finch, WAF’s program director: “The architects managed to create a school which is very different than the usual model, where students are boxed in and put under teaching—as well as architectural—pressure. By contrast, this design encourages walking, fresh air, and the possibility of relief from academic intensity.”