Located in Denmark’s Lolland-Falster region, Henning Larsen's New School in Sundby marked the commencement of a historic project for the country's sustainable educational-facility architecture. The primary school is set to be the largest construction project in Guldborgsund Municipality that ensures high sustainability parameters and community engagement. The school is expected to open its doors at the end of summer 2022, welcoming over 580 students in a nature-oriented premises.
The school is designed to achieve the UN World Language School requirements of educational facilities that support the UN Sustainable Development goals, through both teaching curriculum and structural design. In addition to potent classroom spaces, areas outside the traditional learning environment were also evaluated and implemented within the school's parameters to promote different types of classrooms and activities.
The architecture firm designed a school that works cohesively between learning and nature, focusing not only about traditional classrooms, but the whole path to and from the premises, and the way the school will connect its students to the local community. Since the project sits on the edge of the city, the design benefits from its proximity to nature, and aims to bring the active outdoors inside. The school itself merges with the surrounding landscape, where its sloped roof descends to the ground level, facilitating public access.
We are making history within Danish school construction. We have made a conscious, political choice to invest in sustainable construction, and our new school gets one of the finest quality stamps with the Nordic Ecolabel. -- Simon Hansen, Chairman of the Children, Family, and Education Committee of Guldborgsund Municipality
The primary school will be the first in Denmark to be awarded the Nordic Ecolabel. The award is given based on a variety of environmental considerations that include both sustainability factors, such a low-emissions, energy consumption, and waste, along with other health factors such as ventilation, natural light, noise, and chemical exposure. Henning Larsen has partnered with SKALA Architects, ETN Architects, MOE, and Autens on a team led by BO-HUS, for this particular project.
Late 2020, Henning Larsen’s proposal for Seoul Valley was selected as the winner of the Central Seoul Development Competition. The mixed-use development “merges Seoul’s global commercial profile with an ecological return to downtown pedestrian life”. The project will include mixing office, retail, hotel, and residential program within a public podium. The development is expected to have entered the Schematic Design phase in spring of this year.
