Copenhagen
Dyvekeskolen
School with a special character
The purpose of the interior design is a practical and aesthetic solution that reduces ‘dead’ square metres for storage, thus creating more usable square metres for the children to play in. This gives the shool a special character, which creates a very high degree of spatial flexibility around these cores.
The small seating niches allow children to retreat, look in a book or take a break from playing with the others and still feel part of the community through visual contact and physical division – in relation to both the outdoor areas and the indoor spaces. The seating niches can also be used as a workplace for the staff.
- Location
- Copenhagen
- Year
- 2011-2015
- Developer
- Copenhagen Municipality | KEjd
- Area
- 10.500 m² + 5.140 m² basement
- Capital Expenditure
- 118 mio. kr.
- Services
- Programming, sketching, user process, design management, design, budget management, professional supervision and construction management
- Advisory role
- Architect and lead consultant
- Partners
- Enemærke & Petersen | COWI | Sweco Acoustica | Kragh & Berglund Landskab | Ulla Kjærvang
Transformation of hallways
The spatial structure of Dyvekeskolen has been characterised by long corridors and adjacent enclosed spaces, but, as part of the conversion, the rigid structure was converted into a modern learning environment by adding new, high different-coloured ‘skylight hats’ in the corridors, under which communal areas have been established with flexible workstations for the pupils or for group-based teaching.
Dyvekeskolen is a large school consisting of two long walkways with four shorter corridors that bind the school together crosswise. The colour scheme is based on this geometric walkway course and creates identity and overview, so that you can quickly and unambiguous identify where you are in the building.
1 / Single-level school from 1962
The building is located next to Solvang Church and forms part of the southern end of the urban plan.
2 / Long corridors
The school’s interior design from the 60s is characterised by long monofunctional corridors that do not support contemporary differentiated teaching forms.
3 / Nordlysene
We activate the corridors with our ‘Northern Lights’ concept, consisting of open high-ceilinged group rooms in the corridor with high windows facing north.
4 / Strategy
With an overall edge strategy, we open the school up with the inner courtyards and the outer green surroundings.
5 / New learning landscape
The courtyards and surrounding green areas of the school are activated with learning landscapes that make it possible to connect learning and movement.
6 / A contribution to the local area
With the overall transformation, Dyvekeskolen is a renewed player in the local environment and helps strengthen the urban plan of the future:
“The school has been involved in the whole process – we feel that the architects have ‘bought’ our school project and created the framework for the pedagogical project.”
Lisbeth Palm Olesen, Principal, Dyvekeskolen
Sustainability and lighting
Dyvekeskolen is uniquely located in a green area, and by establishing exits from all classrooms to courtyards or green outdoor areas, opportunities have been created for the pupils to be taught with a natural integration of movement and nature in the teaching.
The outdoor areas are arranged with focus on sustainability, so that elements such as solar energy and local rainwater drainage in fascines and open canals can be incorporated in science classes. To support the outdoor teaching of natural science subjects, a large south-facing learning terrace has been established.
At the main entrance, the large overhang has been fitted with coloured LED lights on the underside which can be programmed to switch between different colour themes according to season and occasion. When the children arrive in the morning, the light in the light sky changes in waves in harmonised colours that say good morning to and welcome the children. In the large meal break, there are also changing coloured lights. For the rest of the time, the light in the entrance section is white LED light as in the fascia edge.
On festive occasions, evening meetings, etc., a festive scenario has been programmed with many changing colours marking the arrival and signalling celebration and activity.
