World Cup ticket holders entering Education City Stadium will get a bird’s eye view of two of the world’s most advanced schools – one to the left and one to the right of an elevated ramp leading to the stadium’s main entrance.
A third Wight & Company-designed vanguard school, Renad Academy, will be built elsewhere in Qatar’s expansive multi-university Education City – including Northwestern University’s Medill School – educating students from 50 nations in a global showcase of great architecture just west of the country’s capital city Doha.
The PK-12 school for 480 students on the left, Academyati, and on the right the Qatar Academy of Science and Technology (QAST) for 240 high-school-age students were both designed to achieve client Qatar Foundation’s goal to create highly visible model schools of the future that showcase teaching and learning developed for tomorrow’s world.
The two facilities are currently being used to manage 2022 World Cup activities, with classes resuming after the competition. Cutting-edge sustainability and biophilic systems are intrinsic to the three schools.
Renad Academy for 480 students PK-to-age-22 is under design for the Foundation to be the world’s leading, research-driven facility for the teaching, learning, and transitioning to society of students with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC).
Working with autism specialist Simon Humphries of the U.K. and leveraging research from around the world to synthesize rapidly evolving insights into the unique challenges of ASC childhood education and school architecture, Wight is designing Renad students’ movement through the school as a sensory journey.
“Together, the three projects are having a transformative effect on Wight’s PK-12 work,” said practice leader Rick Dewar, “and all the research put into practice here will benefit all our clients.”
At both Academyati and QAST, students themselves direct the course of their hands-on learning in an organically unfolding curriculum. At Academyati, a student is expected to work with staff to set his or her program for the school day, which may include the student’s mentoring a mixed-ages group about the interests that a younger child is pursuing.
The World Cup ticket holders will look directly into the QAST Innovation Lab, the heart of the learning through doing school and a maker space equipped with the best tools and equipment for prototyping students’ conceptual solutions. QAST mission is to empower students to solve future problems facing the world through research and collaborative learning.
Qatar is reimagining education for the 21st century and empowering those children to build a bright future for their country and beyond. Wight & Company is honored to help bring these leadership visions to life.
