Zijie Wei Berliner Architects, California outdoor classrooms, USA architectural designer, CA education designs

Zijie Wei, Berliner Architects: California’s Outdoor Classrooms

July 23, 2025

Shaping California’s Outdoor Classrooms: Zijie Wei’s Vision at Berliner Architects

In school districts across California, blacktop playgrounds are transforming into vibrant outdoor classrooms – a trend accelerated by the pandemic and a new focus on student wellness. Architect Zijie Wei is at the forefront of this movement, leveraging his international design acumen to reimagine K–12 campuses. As a lead designer at Berliner Architects, Wei is spearheading high-profile projects for Los Angeles and San Francisco schools that exemplify the rise of outdoor learning environments in the Golden State. Grounded in a philosophy of clarity, adaptability, and sustainability, his work is helping shape how California’s school districts envision outdoor space in a post-pandemic era.

A New Focus on Outdoor Learning in California Schools

From Los Angeles to San Francisco, educators and architects are embracing outdoor learning as an essential part of school design. Research and recent experience have highlighted how fresh-air environments can boost students’ health, engagement, and safety – especially relevant after COVID-19. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), for example, is investing over $100 million to replace heat-trapping asphalt with nature-filled outdoor classrooms at every early education center. Statewide, more than 160 schools have received $121 million in funding to design or build green schoolyard projects, though demand far exceeds supply. These efforts signal a broad commitment to “green” school campuses, blending play, learning, and nature.

It’s within this momentum that Zijie Wei’s contributions have taken root. Wei’s firm, Berliner Architects, has carved a niche in educational and community design, making it a natural partner for forward-thinking school initiatives. In 2023, Berliner Architects was commissioned to develop new design guidelines for LAUSD’s Outdoor Learning Environments. And in San Francisco, the firm is leading a district-wide Schoolyard Comprehensive Plan for SFUSD – a master plan to revitalize outdoor spaces across all 160 campuses. Wei has played a key role in both endeavors, translating big-picture goals into actionable designs. “Since 2022, Wei has been a driving force at Berliner Architects,” notes one profile, contributing to major public school projects including outdoor learning environments for LAUSD and SFUSD. Now, those projects are poised to guide how schools statewide adapt their facilities for outdoor education.

Leading Design for LAUSD and SFUSD Projects

At Berliner Architects, Zijie Wei serves as lead designer on pioneering K–12 outdoor space projects, helping two of California’s largest districts turn vision into reality. In Los Angeles, he has been instrumental in crafting the Outdoor Learning Environment (OLE) Design Guidelines for LAUSD – a toolkit that will inform the creation of outdoor classrooms district-wide. Wei and the Berliner team began by studying what worked (and what didn’t) in LAUSD’s early pilot outdoor classrooms. They distilled these lessons into clear criteria and strategies. For instance, the guidelines enumerate “must-haves” like ample shade (from trees or canopies), storage for teaching materials, convenient water access, and clear sightlines for supervision.

These practical details ensure that an outdoor area truly functions as a classroom, not just a play yard. Concept prototypes for LAUSD’s Outdoor Learning Environments include six flexible outdoor classroom types (A–F) plus a “service connector” with utilities. These typologies can be mixed and matched to fit different school needs. Equally innovative is the prototyping approach Wei has championed. The LAUSD guidelines introduce a family of six outdoor classroom typologies – from a group learning area and performance space to garden labs and active play zones – which schools can mix and match on their campuses. Each prototype is designed to fit within the footprint of a removed portable classroom, making it easier for schools to replace old infrastructure with open-air learning hubs. By providing these ready-made design templates, Wei’s team gives educators a head start in imagining possibilities.

From International Competitions to Community Impact

Wei’s leadership in California’s school design scene belies a career that, not long ago, was just beginning on the other side of the world. Born and raised in Jingmen, China, he was influenced early on by the rich interplay of nature and architecture in his hometown. After earning his bachelor’s in architecture at HUST in Wuhan, he honed his skills through hands-on building experiments – notably with bamboo, one of Asia’s oldest construction materials. In 2018, Wei led a student team to a Third Prize in an international bamboo architecture competition, blending traditional craft with modern form. A year later, he earned an Honorable Mention in a national design-build contest by constructing an inventive pavilion from bamboo. These early accolades taught him “adaptability and working with nature’s constraints,” lessons that still inform his resourceful approach. Eager to expand his horizons, Wei pursued graduate studies in the United States, where he earned a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 2022. At Penn’s Weitzman School, he delved into advanced design theory – one of his studio projects, a bold concept for a new museum of Islamic and contemporary art, was even published in the school’s design journal.

This academic success hinted at an emerging design voice that combines bold forms with rigorous concepts. By the time he moved to Los Angeles after graduation, Wei had a clear intent to create architecture that engages both mind and emotion. It didn’t take long for that intent to translate into real-world impact. Wei burst onto the international scene with “Orenda,” a competition design that reimagined a humble ferry terminal on a Scottish isle. The concept – preserving an old stone cottage and adding a sweeping modern structure inspired by slate rock formations – earned him a Finalist spot in TerraViva’s Easdale Ferry Office competition, a globally recognized contest for socially engaged architecture. The honor, received just last year, put Wei on the radar as a young designer capable of marrying context with creativity on a global stage.

Months later, he clinched First Prize in Archiol’s “Designer’s Den 2024” competition with a visionary design for an architect’s studio. That project – featuring a dramatic rising spiral form – showcased the very qualities he now brings to his school work: inventiveness balanced by functional clarity. “The spiral layout is both visually striking and logical,” Wei explained of that studio concept, noting how it provided a continuous path through diverse workspaces. He also integrated sustainability from the outset, using a leaf-like roof to filter sunlight and gather rainwater – an approach he summed up simply: “Sustainable design should be integrated from the beginning… it’s the starting point that fundamentally shapes the building’s form.” These experiences abroad and in competition arenas have given Wei an international perspective and a knack for innovation that now benefit California’s schools. While he draws design inspiration from around the world, his focus remains firmly on local community needs. This blend of global thinking and local action is a hallmark of Berliner Architects’ ethos and part of why Wei has thrived there. In less than three years since joining the Los Angeles firm, he has grown from a promising newcomer into one of the firm’s go-to leaders for complex educational projects. Colleagues describe him as balancing “vision with precision, and artistry with social purpose,” a combination that positions him at the forefront of architecture’s next generation.

Redefining Schoolyards in a Post-Pandemic Era

As California’s schools look toward a post-pandemic future, the work of designers like Zijie Wei is helping redefine what a learning environment can be. The outdoor learning trend is about more than COVID-19 safety – it’s also a response to climate challenges and a push for equity in access to green space. LAUSD, for one, has set a goal to convert 30% of every school’s hardtop surfaces to green areas by 2035, recognizing that too many schoolyards, especially in underserved areas, have been barren asphalt. Wei’s projects directly support this vision. By developing prototypical designs and clear guidelines, he is giving school districts a practical roadmap to turn “blacktop into green space.” Parents and educators are already seeing the benefits; some schools report higher enrollment after installing lush outdoor learning gardens and play areas.

For Zijie Wei, the journey from a small city in Hubei to helping lead Los Angeles’s premier school architecture firm has been swift – but it hasn’t happened by chance. It’s the product of a clear vision: that well-designed spaces can profoundly shape how we live and learn. By balancing innovation with practicality, and global ideas with local context, Wei has positioned himself as a pivotal voice in the future of educational design. As outdoor learning environments flourish from L.A. to San Francisco, his influence is literally taking root in the soil of California’s campuses. In reimagined schoolyards bustling with discovery – part garden, part classroom – one can see the imprint of Wei’s leadership, guiding a new generation to learn not only inside four walls, but under the open sky.

Comments on this guide to Zijie Wei, Berliner Architects: outdoor classrooms in California article are welcome.