BIG has arranged the classrooms of this white-brick and glass school in Arlington, Virginia in a fan-shape to allow for a "cascading terraces".
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) designed The Heights public school on a tight plot in the Virginia city, about 30 minutes outside Washington DC, which is surrounded by three roads and the edge of the city's Rosslyn Highlands Park.

"The density of the urban Arlington neighbourhood became the inspiration for the school ? we fanned the classrooms to allow each and every floor to be connected to the roof garden on top of the classrooms below," said BIG founder Bjarke Ingels.
Five classroom volumes are stacked and pivoted on top of a larger base level, and detailed to look as if they overlap one another. A swooping staircase alternates between inside and outside to provide access to each of the floors and the rooftop gardens above.

"The resultant cascading terraces are connected by a curving stair that weaves through all levels ? inside as well as outside ? making all students, from both programmes and all ages, visually and physically connected to each other," Ingels added.
"Each terrace is landscaped to lend itself not just to the social life of the students but also as informal outdoor spaces for learning."
Glazed white bricks clad the exterior of the 180,000-square-foot (16,700-square-metre) building. Large expanses of glazing are placed on the inner side of the fan to offer views to the surroundi...