Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz Schools for Down Syndrome

We were engaged to design this school from the inside out for students with Down syndrome in Riyadh. We began by getting to know the wonderful students and understanding their needs before embarking upon the design process. We quickly learned that their needs are similar to those of neurotypical children, with the added challenge of creating multipurpose classrooms for learning in large groups, small groups and one-on-one. Each classroom has an attached outdoor balcony, allowing the teacher to vary the daily classroom schedule and keep the students alert and focused. Our design is clean and minimalist, keeping distractions at bay and allowing students to focus on the task at hand. For the outdoor play areas, we exercised our creativity with the use of interwoven tensile sun shades to protect the students from the blistering heat while adding a dramatic flair to the space.