CEBRA: Situated between the city of Odder and the public forest, the school draws on inspiration in its close context and connects the different entities across its site. With its pitched roofs and two storeys, the school building extends the city by resembling small, diverse housing units in a student’s scale.

Our task with the new Skovbakke School was to replace a series of old buildings that were extended several times and therefore appeared as a fragmented complex, unfit for modern teaching methods. The new complex combines a school for 650 students and a daycare centre for 100 children in a diverse and transparent new learning environment that promotes the interplay between subject areas and puts special emphasis on making physical activity and play a natural part of the children’s everyday life.

The building is laid out as four offset fingers and ensures direct access to the common spaces and the outdoor environment from all areas of the school so that the building forms a diverse spatial hierarchy. Furthermore, the hilly topography of the site forms the basis of soft slopes and green hollows for the children to play in. A radial, curvy landscape where trees are planted with a gradual transition into the nearby forest. As many of the original trees as possible have been preserved as they convey a soft transition to the green surroundings. The few trees that had to be cut down have been reused in the interior as furnishings.

The play-spot in the middle of the yard for the pre-preparatory classes is designed to hold multiple functions. With a crawling net, somersault bar, balance bars, lightweight parkour and an edge/border designed to challenge speed and balance, the play-spot attracts both quiet and more playful children. In the afternoon, the play-spot is a cozy hang-out for the older students.

The service roads are laid out as four concentric circles around the four buildings and are used as play tracks and for exercise with 500 meter running tracks – accessible for roller wheels, roller blades and on foot.

Facts
Location: Odder, DK
Client: Odder Municipality
Size: 9.300 m² new building
Year: 2015 – 2018
Architect: CEBRA
Landscape architect: CEBRA + MBYland
Turn-key contractor: MT Højgaard
Engineer: MTH design & engineering
Property management: DEAS