Montage of Melodies is a proactive design approach to renovate the International School of Beijing, aims to transform this K12 school to the cutting edge of learning environment by replacing the solemn institutional building with a versatile, dynamic Learning Center empowered by variety of age-appropriate, program-centered communities, thus a montage is created to activate new order of school environment. With the thoughtful design strategies, the school activity did not pause for one day during the 3-year construction.

Xiaoyi Ma is the founder and chief designer of Inclusive Architectural Practice (IAP), a graduate of Tsinghua University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a licensed architect in U.S. and a member of American Institute of Architects (AIA). Before founding IAP, Ms. Ma served as Partner and Managing Principle of KlingStubbins, a renowned architectural design company in U.S. (later as Jacobs). The design she led and participated in has been awarded by American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). As a designer and a mother of two children, Ms. Ma is dedicated in advocating learner-centered philosophy and strives to explore effective architectural solutions to create cutting-edge, adaptable, and versatile learning spaces for international schools and public schools, making transformation to future in educational and work spaces. IAP has become one of the pioneer design firms in education architecture.

Inclusive Architectural Practice (IAP) is a pioneer global architectural design firm focused on K12 design innovation. Established in 2014, with designers from China, U.S. and Europe, IAP provides integrated design in architecture, interiors, landscape, and graphics for education, cultural, research and commercial facilities. At IAP we have faith that Inclusion Inspires Innovation. Through continuous dialogues with project stakeholders, IAP strives to design to environmental, social, and economic standards – the triple bottom line, bringing cutting-edge concepts, artistic experience, and humanity values to each project. For education projects, we believe that every student is unique and the best way of learning is different to each. The inclusive learning communities design by IAP are highly versatile and adaptable in scale, shape, materials, colors, connectivity, methods of exhibition, levels of comfort and other aspects related to learning and teaching environment, aiming to provide each learner with the most comfortable way to get himself/herself emerged in and focused on learning.