New school in Viborg

It will be teeming with life 24/7 as children, youth, adults and senior citizens alike use the building, which will provide the settings for a wide range of activities that extend beyond day-time school functions. To that end, after school hours, most of the school and the attractive sports facilities will be accessible.

At the heart of the building will be a large, open atrium – a clearing (Lysning in Danish) – from where staggered plateaus spread out, which means that you will primarily go just half a storey up or down between storeys. That design will ensure that all storeys feel closely connected. The division of the storeys will be used to create the building’s main flow, like a smooth rise between plateaus. The semi-levels will be connected via stairs, which will be put to everyday use as local amphistairs for teaching and assembly purposes.

The school is designed for project-based teaching and the learning landscape will be strongly coded to match the subjects. In this way, the teaching rooms will be coded based on each subject, allowing the rooms to support and accommodate the specific subject. You must be able to feel, see and sense whether you are in the middle of a math, language or cultural class. However, the younger grades will all have home classrooms to secure a safe, manageable base.

Lysningen will be a sustainable building, with timber load-bearing structures, façades and interior. Using timber as the primary material will add character and identity to Lysningen, while contributing to light and welcoming architecture for the citizens in eastern Viborg.