In The School in Sydhavnen — Skolen I Sydhavnen in Copenhagen — JJW Architects invite the city into the school and connect the school with the city, while utilizing the harbour location by using the water as an extra classroom. At the same time varied spaces create numerous, different scale gathering opportunities for students — from the school assembly to intimate learning sessions between two classmates.

The School has been awarded the national “School of the year” award by NohrCon. When JJW Architects won the architectural competition there were some newly build apartments and office facilities in this new part of Sydhavnen — and old part of Copenhagens Harbour that is currently being developed into a new mix-use quarter. But the new Sydhavnen lacked an assembling element. One of the competition objectives was there for to create a project that could function both as a school and a cultural gathering point. The solution was to turn the ground floor and some parts of the first floor into public zones. This way JJW Architects invite the citizens of Copenhagen in to enter and use the school.

The School and the city exchange

An exchange between the school, the quarter and the harbor has been created. The ground floor is the schools gathering place and has been designed as a combination of school yard and a city square.

By taking the city into the school and leading the school out to the city an active meeting place has been created. Crafts facilities and music rooms are available to local citizens. The cantina of the school has the possibility to serve food for the locals. The school yard is open and the large staircase down to the canal functions a vivid meeting place for the area.

The School in Sydhavnen is designed with a natural hierarchy of public, semi-public and more private spaces while the outdoor areas are designed so they can be used as additional learning, recreational and activity spaces.

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