"Jockey Club Project Well-being: Place-making in Schools" received the Golden Pin Design Award 2022 in the category of "Integration Design".
Funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the project worked with 31 schools in Hong Kong to create school environments that support well-being through participatory design in 2020-22.
The team listened to 1000 students and 400 teachers about their needs and co-designed creative solutions with them: from farming garden and well-being hub to kitten café, mindfulness corner, enhanced play zones and canteens, etc.
The process entailed a series of design thinking workshops hosted by passionate designers who have true faith in human centric design, and students and teachers were empowered to take up an active role in the shaping of their own school environment.
In 15 schools, designs were realised and constructed. In 16 schools, design drawings and proposals were furnished.
The resulted range of campus makeovers or proposals were not only meaningful and beautiful, but also addressed the authentic needs in well-being, personal growth, emotions, and learning and created positive impacts on educational processes.
This place-making project also demonstrated a new paradigm of “participatory” school culture that creates a stronger sense of belonging and valuable social bonds, and is highly empowering. The project does not stop here. Culminating from the team’s two years of intensive place-making experiences with schools, an opensource guidebook and toolkit for place-making at schools is being produced and a mobile exhibition is being planned.
The project shares the passion and knowledge with designers, educators and the approx. 1000 schools in the city to enhance well-being in schools through place-making and design thinking.