C.F. Møller Wins Competition for Active-Learning School in Copenhagen

Written by Lindsey Leardi

In May 2017, C.F. Møller and Tredje Natur’s interactive education design won the New Islands Brygge School competition. The new education facility sets up innovative, sustainable and active spaces for sixth to ninth grade students to participate in experience-based learning.

+ 19

The schools triangular shape, natural materials and colors derive from its urban context. Surrounded by Islands Brygge, the Port of Copenhagen and Amager Commons, the building is almost 10,000 square meters with an additional 4,000 square meters of outdoor space. Transparency between interior and exterior spaces enhances the importance of outdoor play and movement for students throughout the school day.

"The context is incorporated in the site, the roof and the public path. The school's staircase motif gives a pedagogical ascent up to the roof, and the building's form adds a dynamic to the location. The focus on the culinary school and biotopes ensures contact with the commons' nature, as is also emphasised by the three entrances and corners in the combining triangle, which each in their own welcoming way draw the surroundings into the school," says C.F. Møller Partner and architect, Lone Wiggers.

Inside, the double height dining hall acts as an internal ‘hub,’ connecting the schools many different functions. From the dining hall, visitors can see, smell and experience the home economics and catering kitchens. But culinary education doesn’t stop inside. Once outside, students have planter beds, greenhouses, an outdoor kitchen and campfires to cultivate their own crops and learn outdoor cooking. The active green roof also houses a running track, parkour area and enclosed ball pitch. So no matter what kind of student you are, you’re sure to find something to learn in or outside the new Island Brygge School.