From the Hills of Ghana to the Coast of Italy, Discover 8 Unbuilt Educational Spaces from the ArchDaily Community
As educational institutions around the world adapt to shifting societal needs, the architecture of learning is also evolving. This curated selection brings together projects submitted by the global ArchDaily community, highlighting how architects are rethinking the future of schools and universities through design. These proposals reflect pressing global concerns: the importance of community-centered education, the revitalization of historical buildings and neighborhoods, the integration of natural systems, and the search for spatial expressions that accommodate both formal instruction and informal exchange. Whether situated in dense urban centers, rural villages, or coastal landscapes, these projects respond to specific cultural and environmental contexts while engaging with broader architectural questions about sustainability, access, and identity.
Several proposals explore how educational spaces can serve as catalysts for urban renewal or heritage preservation. In Accra and Barcelona, for instance, projects propose the adaptive reuse of historic school buildings, introducing new educational programs while maintaining a connection to local history. Others address urban growth at the edge of cities, such as a new primary school in Rimini or a vocational campus in Rui’an, using landscape, zoning, and scale to navigate the tension between development and preservation. Common across many of these designs is a commitment to circular principles: reusing materials, reducing energy consumption, and creating flexible frameworks for future change. Together, these unbuilt works illustrate how educational spaces continue to serve not only as places of learning, but as tools for shaping resilient, inclusive, and context-sensitive environments.
Read on to discover 8 curated educational spaces that reimagine how we learn, gather, and build for the future, with descriptions by the architects.
School of multimedia and Graphic Arts, Technological University of Cyprus / Micromega Architecture & Strategies
Limasol, Cyprus
The design of the new facilities for the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts (MGA) at the Cyprus University of Technology in Limassol breathes life into creativity and innovation. Inspired by the dynamic interplay of design and industrial production, the building unfolds across three levels, each tailored to its dual purpose—a vibrant gallery and a cutting-edge production space. This architectural blend fosters a stimulating environment where artistic expression and technical ingenuity seamlessly converge, inspiring both students and researchers alike.
Al-Khuluq Islamic Boarding School / VOLUM³ Studio
Riau Islands, Indonesia
This Islamic boarding school in Bintan Regency, Indonesia, optimizes natural sunlight and airflow for energy efficiency and comfort. A second skin on the west façade reduces heat radiation, while greenery enhances environmental quality and provides natural interaction spaces. Strategic zoning ensures privacy and efficient circulation, with a central open field for community activities. Supporting facilities, including dormitories, classrooms, and a multifunctional hall, are arranged harmoniously, fostering a serene environment for learning, worship, and daily life. A sustainable, user-focused design approach.
OSU Salem School / AP Valletta in collaboration with David Kojo Derban
Accra, Ghana
What if the 19th century building of the Osu Salem Presbyterian School was brought back to life with a new purpose? The proposal for the regeneration of this heritage building designed in 1843 and completed in 1865 by the Basel Mission in Accra aims at contributing to safeguarding the spirit of the place while positively impacting the Osu community. In line with the thinking of the collaborative research project ‘Valletta Accra: A Dialogue Between Mercantile Cities’, the re-imagination of the school becomes an opportunity for a pilot project influencing how other heritage buildings in Ghana’s bustling capital city could be restored and reused.
Ruian Agricultural Technical Colleg / PAO Architects
Rui’an, China
Rui’an College of Agricultural Technology is located in China Rui’an Mayu Town Huangshe Village Leigong Mountain, Leigong Mountain, also known as Huangyu Mountain, the legend says that the phoenix nirvana in this place and get the name. The north slope of the mountain is gentle, the south slope is steep, surrounded by tens of thousands of hectares of rice paddies, with Ouyue grain silo known as Paddy School. The project has a construction site area of 106,699.36 square metres (equivalent to about 160.05 acres), with a capacitated floor area of 83,901 square metres above ground, 6,000 square metres on the elevated floors, and 9,000 square metres underground. After completion, it can accommodate a total of 2,700 students in five majors, aiming to build a modern vocational education system, cultivate more high-quality technical and skilled talents, skilled craftsmen and great national craftsmen, and provide powerful talents and skills support for the comprehensive construction of a socialist modernisation country and the realisation of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Urban Gurukul / Tropic Responses
Bengaluru, India
India, blessed with a rich heritage, owes its cultural significance to its ability in shaping one’s personality and identity. The proposed design of a K-12 school on a 2-acre plot in Bangalore channels architecture in nurturing culturally aware, responsible young minds, ensuring the continuity of India’s cultural legacy. Emphasizing holistic education, it integrates values like social etiquette, family traditions, and arts. The architecture symbolizes student life stages, with organic forms and spill-out spaces.
FAI BENE School / TARI Architects
Rimini, Italy
The intervention site is located in the northern area of Rimini, in a strip of land between the green countryside of the Romagna region and the deep blue of the Adriatic Sea. While currently preserving a green, undeveloped state, being surrounded by lands of predominantly agricultural use, the plot destined to accommodate the new primary school is subject of a strategic intervention on a larger urban scale, aimed to strengthen the connection with the sea via green links. A critical reading of the existing context leads to a fundamental question: How to properly intervene according to the peculiarity of the site, accommodating the needs of the developing city while protecting the natural landscape?
Radical regeneration / ROA Arquitectura
Barcelona, Spain
The Jean Piaget redevelopment project will be the first in Sabadell to satisfy NZEB and Verde criteria, with the aim of decarbonising, promoting citizen empowerment and prioritising a circular economy through reuse and local production. A school, abandoned since 1931, will be transformed into a public facility, thereby improving its use and energy performance. The decision to renovate rather than re-build permeates the entire project. The existing structure and walls will be retained thereby reducing concrete consumption. Demolition material will be used in the foundations. On-site recycling of woodwork, stone materials and radiators will be undertaken, as well as rainwater harvesting. The insulation and façade materials will be recyclable, from renewable and local sources.
Meloran Rural School / Faezeh Khosravi
Nikshahr city, Iran
This project aimed to create a school that could also function as a center of activity for the village community while accommodating a variety of activities. we attempted to look at the school as more than just an attractive geometric form, because the design of the school is a social exercise, and it can be a building that satisfies the expectations and demands of the village residents. We aimed to use locally sourced materials in the village for the building.
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