Ørestad School

Location: Ørestad, Copenhagen
Client: Municipality of Copenhagen
Team: Ulla Hornsyld, Helene Koch, Salka Kudsk
Collaborators: Henning Larsen Architects
Design phase: 2009
Gross area: 13.400 m2

The courtyards at Ørestad School and library stimulate and inspire to play and to learn. They open up towards the citizens of the neighbourhood as a new meeting place, offering both re-creational and social activities, and the possibility to learn more about the world and about your self.

The pupils have the possibility of learning more about plants and growth, and they can leave their own mark on the roof gardens, the vegetable garden or the greenhouse - Thereby they get to use and challenge their aes-thetic sense by looking, touching and smelling the plants and flo-wers. Or they can taste the fruit from the fruit trees and black-berry bushes in the roof garden. Teaching in nature/technics, bio-logy and domestic science could easily take place here.

A delta on the roof

The top storey of the school is connected to The Gym by a ramp and is built up by gardens in dif-ferent levels with a unifying floor, inspired by a delta, which flows down the roof. The plantation and the activity spots lie as is-lands in the river. The water in the delta is composed of a uni-fying rubber surface.

The rubber is easy to maintain, and is pleasent to walk and run on. The places where the possi-bilities to play are above level the need for protecting support is established in the same rub-ber surface.

Rainwater is collected and used to water the plantation. On the rubber surface gardener-hydrants are placed for learning and play, and for watering the plantation in very dry periods.

Right: section through upper part of the roof landscape, facing west.

The top level of the roof is pri-marily used by the smaller chil-dren. Here you will find one big protected play area with sturdy plantation islands with grasses, willow scrub and blackberries. In the middle of the area are pla-ced a sand-area, a desert with bamboo and a climbing tree.

In the plantation bed facing north are jets with steam placed between the trees, creating a magical atmosphere of being in an unknown place, perhaps even a virtual place.

The roof also contains "islands" planted with sturdy trees, which can stand a great amount of wear and tear, wind and weather. The plantation can stand if the children break off a twig, whith-out any damaging. There is also a hill with willow trees and willow scrub. Between the trees and the scrub there are little caves, paths and glades, and the smaller pu-pils will perceive the plantation spatially - a whole other world, where the grown ups cannot keep an eye on everything.

The schools of the past were u-sually placed secluded from the rest of the urban space with a closed schoolyard.

The new school has an open fra-me, where sharing of knowledge can happen via the outside spa-ce. The new school is integrated in the public space, where the schoolyard has an essential role in the communication of know-ledge.