Designed by 317studio for a junior high school Scout classroom in Taiwan, Qingshan Forest transforms a conventional classroom into a flexible interior for gathering, participation, and collective learning.

Qingshan Forest is an educational interior project by 317studio for Qingshan Elementary and Junior High School in Xizhi District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Located in a region defined by frequent rainfall, the school has long emphasized Scouting education and required a dedicated indoor classroom capable of supporting teaching, hands-on training, and group activities throughout the year.

Rather than accepting the conventional classroom as a space organized around a single front facing direction, the project reconsiders the hierarchy embedded in traditional teaching environments. Many classrooms reinforce a one-way model of instruction, where attention is directed toward a fixed front and interaction is structured accordingly. Qingshan Forest proposes a different spatial order: one centered on gathering rather than authority, and on participation rather than passive reception.

Under the concept of a forest clearing, the classroom is reorganized around a shared central zone inspired by the collective ritual of gathering around a campfire. This central space allows multiple forms of learning to take place within the same environment, including lectures, discussions, workshops, demonstrations, and tent-pitching activities. Instead of assigning meaning to a single front, the project gives priority to a center that can be continuously reinterpreted through use.

The design responds directly to the realities of Scouting education in Xizhi. Due to the local climate, outdoor activities such as survival training, tent pitching, and team exercises are frequently brought indoors. Existing classrooms, however, were constrained by fixed layouts, limited storage, and insufficient flexibility, making them unsuitable for the experiential and action-based learning required by the program.

A continuous rope system spans across the wooden ceiling structure, forming a tent-like framework above the central area. The installation functions both as a spatial organizer and as an architectural translation of Scouting culture, embedding familiar skills and symbolic references into the space itself. Furniture, storage, and display areas are arranged along the perimeter in order to preserve openness toward the center and allow the room to remain visually and functionally adaptable.

Natural references are further introduced through acrylic plant specimens embedded in the walls and ceiling, handcrafted by students as part of the project. These elements connect the interior to the spirit of outdoor learning while also allowing students to participate in shaping the environment they use. More than a classroom, Qingshan Forest becomes a flexible base for Scout activities, club operations, and inter-school exchange, where learning is experienced not as a fixed one-directional structure, but as a shared and collective spatial practice.