School's running track on roof
6 Sep CXTV
To conserve on land usage, an elementary school in Tiantai, Zhejiang
province, built a 200-meter running track on the roof of its school
building.
The students of No 2 Elementary School of Tiantai Chicheng district
started using the track on Monday. The school has about 1,800
students.Qiu Tianguo, the school's principal, said the track, on top of
a four-story, oval teaching building, provides more than 3,000 square
meters of space for students to play and exercise.
Qiu said that the school, with a footprint of 7,210 sq m, doesn't
have room for a playground with a running track on the ground.The track
on the roof perfectly solved the problem. Our students love the new
track," he said.Ruan Hao, chief architect of the teaching building, said
that breaking the tradition of a running track on the ground might
provide a solution for other schools with limited land.Ă“Under the
circumstances that limited land cannot provide enough space for students
to exercise in, we chose to challenge the concept that playgrounds and
tracks have to be on the ground," he said.
The design represented China at the 14th Venice Architecture
Exhibition this year.Safety is the key concern with rooftop tracks. For
the track in Tiantai, three protective layers will keep students safe.
The outer layer is a 1.8-meter-tall, tempered glass wall that
students can't climb; the middle layer is a green belt; and the inner
layer is a 1.2-meter-tall stainless steel rail.
Qiu said that students using the track are accompanied by teachers,
and surveillance cameras around the track will make sure there is no
blind spot.Safety can surely be guaranteed," he said. |
