Oslo, Norway
2021 - 2025
Diakonhjemmet
With the aim of stimulating biodiversity and creating an accessible sense of community, our design for the new upper secondary school and VID university college in Oslo’s Diakonhjemmet Hage integrates hybrid timber construction, flexible activation, rainwater management, as well as green roofs and façades.
Project details
Client
The Norwegian Education Agency, Diakonhjemmet, and Oslo Municipality
Status
Not far from Oslo’s city center is Diakonhjemmet Hage, a garden and development area which will provide a home for an upper secondary school focused on health and education, as well as a campus expansion of VID University College.
This vibrant campus area is intended for use by both students and the public all year round, and so our vision for the new educational institutions is to embody the values of environmental stewardship that anchor their identity. For this reason, the design ensures outdoor areas will be accessible to students, researchers, teachers, staff, but also to the nearby hospital patients, elderly care residents, kindergarten children, and the local community throughout. Creating attractive facilities through parks and pedestrian areas, the site will offer a range of spaces, from active to peaceful.
The two schools have been designed with optimal spaces for both formal and informal learning. These areas are designed to accommodate for future changes, with daylit classrooms and open study areas organized around communal zones that offer clear sightlines and foster a sense of belonging.
With a design that is envisioned as an example of how we can best take care of our planet, and driven by this goal, the project incorporates timber construction and strategies for stimulating biodiversity and creating strong connections with the natural environment. Due to open in 2025, the secondary school will house 800 students and a new college will also be established on site.
“Both the school and the university will contribute to creating a vibrant area and campus in Diakonhjemmet's garden, to the delight of the city and the local community. Our proposal is ambitious and innovative buildings that provide optimal teaching conditions and high environmental ambitions.”
Ingela Larsson
Partner, Architect
Landscape architecture
Enhancing biodiversity
Geared towards reducing the building's carbon footprint, we have chosen design solutions with hybrid structures in wood and low-carbon concrete, as well as bio-based materials that will provide inviting habitats for insects, animals, and plants.
“We see great potential in developing Diakonhjemmet Hage to become an all-day and an all- year campus. With the users being students of different ages, residents, hospital staff and commuters using the new Diakonhjemmet station there is the potential for creating a vivid neighbourhood,” continues Ingela Larsson, Partner, Architect.
The core focus of the site’s landscape is growth, achieved by integrating vegetation and water into the urban setting to increase biodiversity and wildlife. The existing oak hills will be preserved and added vegetation will be integrated, using local flora to create a unique identity reflective of the site’s history. The green, semi-intensive roofs and facades of the new development will be created to manage rainwater locally, using it as a resource, and directing water through channels to larger water features and ponds.
A space for all
Diakonhjemmet’s communal identity is anchored in a commitment to provide space for everyone and our hope is that the school and university will be perceived as open, accessible, and welcoming for the public as well as students and staff. Larger openings in the façade facing the square will make it possible, when weather permits, to move outdoor furniture out onto the square, creating a connection between indoor and outdoor spaces in and around the school.
Students, staff and passers-by will all be invited into the Djakonhemmet community. A neighbourhood restaurant facing the central square will be open all day, while the below ground training facilities and the publicly accessible canteen will be separate from the school's other areas. This separation allows the spaces to be rented out for private events, to local residents, campus users, or students.
This approach aims to create an active urban environment in the square, keeping it lively and vibrant even after classes end, and extending its energy beyond the campus into the local community.
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