Kvernhuset Junior High School

Narratives

Architect Narrative

Kvernhuset Junior High School is part of the municipalities program for Local Agenda 21.

A wider use of the school’s premises is expected as many rooms are planned for cultural and social activities as well as for teaching and learning.

The main design idea of the school building is based on the active use of the site qualities: the rock, the forest and the light filtered by the trees.

The first floor of the building cuts the rock. The burst rock mass is used as ground floor façade. On top of the rock there are three rectangular, long and narrow wings that almost float over the ground. The wings’ façades testify to the design inspiration of the surrounding trees, and each wing has a slight strain of one of the colours: yellow, green or blue.

The focus is placed on making the building and yard functional and attractive for the school and the surrounding neigbourhood, whie also making the physical structures environmentally friendly.

Technical solutions integrated in the design contributes to energy saving and a better indoor climate.
The most important renewable resources present on the site are daylight, fresh air, and a possible heat and cooling source from the ground.

The school has a thermal natural ventilation system based on an underground duct-system, which minimises the need of air filters, heating and cooling.
As much as possible of the energy for heating and cooling, will be delivered by a heat pump (holes drilled vertically into the rock).
Daylight is let into the building through skylights and translucent facades to increase energy efficiency and give better working conditions.
A wastewater cleaning facility in the lower end of the site is taking care of all the sewage.
The interior of the school will be filled with plants as a means to clean and moisten the air.

The focus is placed on making the building adaptable to various pedagogical settings. The objectives are to optimise the use of space, to make a green building with good indoor climate, and to lower energy consumption.

Area adaptability, energy saving strategies and ecological cycles are the measures to reduce consumption of resources. The objective is to manifest measures that contribute to sustainability such that the measures have a demonstration and teaching effect. With demonstration in mind, or thinking of the school building and yard as teaching tools, three levels are defined:

The first level is to demonstrate solutions chosen for the whole building complex. Special emphasis is given to:
• Exploitation of daylight
• Exploitation of natural driving forces for ventilation
• Exploitation of geothermal heat (heat pump)
• Natural cleaning of waste water, both grey and black water
• Utilising wood and stones from the site as building materials

The second level deals with measures that are too expensive or, for some other reason, not suitable as a solution for the whole building complex. The pupils’ base areas are divided into three sections which each will have different installations for demonstration:
• Section YELLOW with focus on solar energy. Active and passive use of solar energy. Solar cells. Monitoring of energy use.
• Section GREEN with focus on growth and recycling of materials. Vegetables and plants inside and outside. Ecological cycles.
• Section BLUE with focus on water. Collecting water from the roof. Water saving armatures in toilets and wash basins.

The third level deals with devices which facilite nature studies (terrarium, aquarium, apparatus), and art decorations to highlight ecological aspects.

Educator Narrative

This short narrative focuses on three of the main ideas that have been central during the whole planning- and building process:

Winston Churchill once said:
We shape our dwellings and afterwards our dwellings shape our lives.

Our aim was to shape a school in such a way that the building and it’s surroundings could be a pedagogic ”tool”, with a strong environmentally conscious profile which also should reflect itself through the way of teaching.

We came up with a vision for the new school: ”The students shall be lead to do the right choices, knowingly or unknowingly. Through this they will influence their surroundings.

Flexibility.

From an educational point of view it has been vital that the building could satisfy the demands of contemporary teaching methods. We wanted flexible classrooms that could fit both large groups of pupils and smaller groups of pupils dependant on the different kinds of acitivities during each day. The sliding walls between the homebases enables us to change the size of the rooms, and together with the small group rooms connected to each section and the wide corridor outside the bases there are plenty of room and possibilities to meet the different needs of the pupils, and choose between several teaching methods. So far it seems to function as intended, and both teachers and students are pleased with this solution. There has been a few voices complaining about some noise from the other side of the wall when the sliding doors have been closed, but these voices have not been very loud.

The central library.

The open library is situated in the middle of the building and everybody passes through several times a day. It has been quite a challenge to make this open room, with a big, red welcoming sofa in the middle of it, into a library with a proper ”library atmosphere.” The library is open four hours everyday and a teacher is present during these four hours. We have given each class a ”how to behave in the library” course, and have made an effort to make the room cosy, using candles, plants and art on the walls. As well as functioning as a library where the pupils can read, study and use the computers, the room serves a purpose for those who dont`t easily adapt to a normal school day. They always find a grown-up in the library who has time for a chat and some encouraging words. It took some effort in the beginning to achieve this, but now we are very happy with our open library.

The common.

The common is the area for walking and chatting and ”hanging around” during breaks. Informal meetings and group-sessions etc. It is also the place where the pupils que up for bite to eat at lunch-time, and then find a place at a table to have their meal together with their mates.The common can easily transfer into a theater, as is done once a week when we arrange our ” cultural lesson ” with all 450 pupils present. The music-room has a sliding wall which makes the room into an open stage facing the common, and with portable sections we can also build a stage.
The common serves an important social- and cultural function and we are very pleased with it.