The Irkutsk Smart School intertwines landscape and program to create a series of diverse pedagogical experiences. Located on the edge of Lake Baikal, the school is dedicated to a new concept of public education for locals and orphans from around the country. Both academic institution and residential settlement, the enclave of buildings and surrounding parks and gardens accommodates over 1000 students, from preschoolers to 18-year-olds, and 400 adults, including teachers, staff, local community users and onsite foster families.

The linear school building rises as a wedge of sloping “peaks” from south to north, embracing the site’s gradient from waterfront (nature) to road (city) as a mirror for students’ pedagogical trajectory. Each successive section of the school stages a different relationship to the landscape, from the Preschool’s protected courtyards, to the cantilevered Junior School’s integration with an “adventure landscape,” to the more urban-focused Senior School, which faces a public Cultural Center across a public plaza.