Greenterrace Kindergarten, Yunnan, China building

Greenterrace Kindergarten in Yunnan

24 June 2026

Architecture Design: Chen Yang and Liwei Guo

Location: Yunnan province in southwestern China

Images © Chen Yang, Liwei Guo

Greenterrace Kindergarten, a conceptual educational project by lead architectural designers Chen Yang and Liwei Guo, has been named a Jury Winner in the 2026 Architizer A+Awards, under the Institutional – Unbuilt (Schools & Kindergartens) category.

The Architizer A+Awards is one of the most recognized international award programs in architecture and design. Organized by Architizer, a leading global platform for architecture, the A+Awards celebrates outstanding architecture, spaces, and the designers behind them. The program is the largest awards program focused on promoting and celebrating the year’s best architecture and spaces, bringing recognized projects to a global audience across the architecture, design, media, and development communities.

The Jury Winner distinction is highly selective. According to Architizer’s award structure, the jury first selects five finalists in each category to represent the strongest submissions in that field. From those finalists, only one project is chosen to receive the Jury Winner award for its category.

This means that a Jury Winner is not simply a general honoree, but the single project selected by the professional jury as the leading work within its category. The recognition reflects a competitive evaluation process based on design quality, innovation, relevance, and the project’s contribution to the broader architectural discourse.

Set within Yunnan’s iconic terraced fields, Greenterrace Kindergarten proposes a new model for rural education that integrates classrooms, activity spaces, farmers’ rest areas, rooftop play, and ecological learning platforms into one continuous architectural landscape. Inspired by the stepped terrain, the project uses a curved, layered form to connect children with local agriculture, seasonal changes, and the daily life of the surrounding community.

Sustainability is central to the project’s design approach. Greenterrace Kindergarten incorporates passive and low-impact strategies, including natural ventilation, solar power, mist irrigation, and stormwater reuse. These systems are intended to reduce environmental impact while reinforcing the project’s broader educational mission: to make ecological awareness visible, accessible, and experiential for young children.

“Greenterrace Kindergarten is about creating a learning environment that grows from its landscape,” said Chen Yang and Liwei Guo. “Rather than separating education from the surrounding community and agricultural context, the project brings them together, allowing children to learn through space, movement, climate, and daily observation.”

The recognition from Architizer highlights the project’s contribution to contemporary educational design, particularly in how architecture can address cultural continuity, ecological learning, and community resilience within rural environments.

Greenterrace Kindergarten in Yunnan, China – Building Information

Architecture Design: Chen Yang and Liwei Guo – https://kongstudios.gorillaz.com/

Project size: 3,000 sq ft – 5,000 sq ft
Project type: Educational
Status: Concept

About Chen Yang and Liwei Guo

Chen Yang and Liwei Guo are architectural designers whose work explores the intersection of cultural context, spatial experience, ecological design, and community-oriented architecture. Their projects engage with questions of landscape, public life, adaptive use, and the social role of design across different scales and environments.

Their work has received international recognition through design competitions, exhibitions, and professional awards, including the 2026 Architizer A+Awards Jury Winner distinction for Greenterrace Kindergarten in the Institutional – Unbuilt (Schools & Kindergartens) category. Through research-driven and context-sensitive design, they continue to develop innovative architectural proposals that address environmental responsibility, cultural continuity, and the evolving needs of contemporary communities.