Factory City To Education City wins Bronze A' Design Award

Factory City To Education City, an adaptive reuse project by Ying Bi and Siyu Bai, won Bronze in the A' Design Award’s Architecture, Building and Structure Design category on June 24, 2026. The project turns an industrial complex into a modular educational and cultural campus, underscoring how reuse can support heritage, sustainability and public life.

Why it matters: - The Bronze A' Design Award puts Factory City To Education City among recognized architecture projects judged for creativity, practicality and public value. - The win highlights adaptive reuse as a strategy for preserving industrial heritage while creating spaces for education, culture and civic use. - The project shows how existing structures can be reworked instead of replaced, which can reduce material waste and improve spatial flexibility.

What happened: - The A' Design Award named Factory City To Education City a Bronze winner in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category on June 24, 2026. - Ying Bi and Siyu Bai designed the project. - The project is a multifunctional theatre and campus concept centered on adaptive reuse. - The announcement was made in Italy.

The details: - Factory City To Education City transforms an industrial social-services complex into a modular educational campus. - The design draws inspiration from Ivrea’s industrial legacy and the social vision of the Olivetti factory city. - Existing concrete buildings are reactivated with light interventions. - New steel structures contain the theatre and multifunctional spaces. - A public spine connects learning, culture, landscape and civic life. - The project uses modular frames, long-span roof trusses, metal roof decking, insulated roofing and perforated metal cladding. - The theatre includes acoustic wall lining, suspended acoustic reflectors, lighting grids, sprinkler coordination and mechanical ducts within a clear structural system. - The project team developed the research, adaptive reuse strategy, modular steel construction approach and the integration of theatre, learning spaces and public circulation. - More information is available on the award page.

Between the lines: - The recognition fits a broader shift in architecture toward reuse, lower resource consumption and flexible programming. - The project’s mix of preservation and new construction suggests a practical model for reworking industrial sites without freezing them as static monuments. - The award also signals that educational and cultural uses are becoming a common way to give old production spaces new civic purpose.

What's next: - The recognition may help advance similar reuse projects that balance heritage protection with contemporary needs. - Ying Bi and Siyu Bai are positioned to build on the project’s approach to context-driven architecture. - The broader design conversation is likely to keep focusing on how adaptive reuse can support public life, not just preservation.

The bottom line: - Factory City To Education City turns an industrial relic into a flexible campus, and the Bronze A' Design Award validates adaptive reuse as a serious architectural path forward.