CEBRA is working on an extension to the School at Bülowsvej in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen. The extension is a new, solitary building housing kids from 1st to 3rd grade.
More images and architect’s description after the break.
Multiple connections The program asks for a generic program of 35 similar 50 m2 rooms for education and workshops and the design is a very direct answer to that. Eliminating traditional school corridors we packed 3 x 4 x 5 square rooms closely together in a rectangular box, allowing multiple connections between the rooms both horizontally and vertically. All rooms are connected to its neighbors by openings, doors or internal windows, varying from small holes to room size openings creating fluid spaces. Vertically the spaces are connected both by traditional stairs and elevators and by tailor made spatial nets, making it possible to climb or jump between levels.
Spatial variation The shapes of the rooms are varied, forming a vivid “roofscape” at the top floor and a series of box shaped balconies on the garden facade. The variation gives both spatial variation to the learning environment and scales down the exterior of the building – creating a link between traditional town blocks at one side and urban villas on the other.
Sandwich concept The building reinvents the schools relation to the surrounding city with a sandwich concept in which the building is sliced into three different parts – one facing the yard, one facing the street, and one linking the two. The three slices are corresponding with the three rows of rooms on the inside.
Timeline Construction is to begin June 2010 and the building should be completed in august 2011. It´s followed by a remake of the rest of the school and a redesign of the schoolyard in cooperation with landscape architect LiW Planning.
