UK visit promotes green concept
Hong Kong students care about the pattern of their schoolbags and the clothes they wear. But when it comes to school designs, they seem less interested.
The British Council organised a competition to promote the Integer concept - intelligent and green architecture - that allowed students to design their dream schools.
A total of 90 schools joined the event and the two winning teams have just returned from a 10-day trip to the United Kingdom, which was one of the prizes on offer.
The two top designs were Delirium by St Stephen's Girls' College and SSYS-1 by Sing Yin Secondary School. The students said they visited many museums and exhibitions in the UK, which strengthened their understanding of the concept.
'We realised that we didn't use many [Integer] methods in our design. We hadn't even heard about that,' said Jason Wong Kwong-kin, from Sing Yin Secondary School.
The school's five designers - all boys - said that there was not enough promotion of the concept in Hong Kong.
'There are many exhibitions about the design in the UK. The concept is widely used there. Their designs are creative. But Hong Kong students don't have enough opportunities to learn about Integer, although there may be some competitions on the topic,' Kwong-kin said.
When asked how they saw their design - which was praised for its 'problem-solving' approach - after the visit, the team members smiled and said: 'Perfect!'
However, they said they would redesign their dream school if they were given a second chance.
'We would redesign it, definitely,' the boys said.
'We should think about the natural resources available first, rather than its look and problems,' Kwong-kin added.
