Build Your Own School | Archiring Studio

Aarhus School of Architecture
PROGRAM: School of Architecture, Parking, Urban Farm, Housing
LOCATION: Aarhus - Danemark
AREA: 30 000 sqm
STATUT: Competition entry

WITH: Atef KhedhirDesigning a school that should be flexible in the way the students and public will live it led us to push the limits of this concept to its extreme. In fact this concept of high functionality and flexibility isn’t limited to the different spaces of the school program, but it is extended in time, as we propose to build only a portion of the school. Based on a generic and predefined grid, and on a singular prefab structure, students, teachers, the school board and the people of Aarhus will be invited to imagine the best way the building could evolve, change and grow in the future. Students will be incited to imagine the future of their school, grid by grid, using 1:1 mock-up models, testing new materials and taking advantages of new technologies to experiment and challenge the space they will get to use daily. Spaces could serve for a certain period of time, and then be re-adapted to future needs. Ground floor is also created to evolve as a garden in motion changing through the seasons with the introduction of topography. To curb with the site problems, we created natural water ponds to collect rain water and we raised the buildings to protect them from heavy rain and flooding. Playing with the soil levels will help us protect the building from the railways noise at the south. Higher density buildings are located at the northern side of the parcel, including parking house residential and recreational building and an urban farm in relation with the School.