Sundby School

Located in the rural region of Lolland-Falster, the Danish town of Sundby has seen a general decline in recent years. From diminished population size to low income and education levels, the area is facing significant challenges that residents say produce a decreased sense of pride and ownership. Peeling back these contextual layers, it became evident to us that Sundby Primary School should strive to be much more than a modern learning environment. Our design had to convey confidence in the future of the town and offer the community something to enjoy and take pride in.

With these ambitions, we turned to one of the area’s defining qualities: its predominantly horizontal landscape and surrounding agricultural fields. Working within scenery that is most often taken for granted by locals, we set out to offer a new perspective on the otherwise mundane, and to capture the poetic subtleties of the landscape.

Conditions relating to daylight, humidity, acoustics, and air quality are all essential to a healthy indoor climate and can have significant effects in creating an environment conducive to comfort and learning. The school’s attention to these elements has earned it the title of the first Nordic Swan Ecolabel Primary School of Denmark.

In addition to creating robust classroom spaces, particular attention was paid to spaces outside the traditional learning environment. The design takes advantage of the school's proximity to nature and aims to bring the outdoors – and an active, outdoor attitude – in. It features a great variety of adaptable spaces that offer new ways of learning and working, including rainwater collection sites and numerous gardens, where children can grow fruits and vegetables for their shared daily lunches.