Scandinavian architectural firm Henning Larsen has won a competition to design Denmark’s first Nordic Swan Ecolabel Primary School, conceived in collaboration with SKALA Architects, BO-HUS, ETN Arkitekter, Autens and MOE.

Proposed for the town of Sundby in Copenhagen, the school is projected as a 'house of the city' seated on its periphery. The design has been developed around the idea of transforming the experience of the everyday journey of students: the arrival and the departure through the interiors of the school.

“We decided early in the creative process that the new school had to be one with the landscape and that the field we work in is between learning and landscape. It is not just about the learning that takes place in the building, but the entire route to and from the school, and the way the school connects to the local community,” says Eva Ravnborg, Project Director, Henning Larsen.

Centred on promoting ‘dignity’ and ‘quality’, the design brings an array of flexible spaces and imparts a synergy between the built and the soft landscape.

The form of the school's two-storey structure appears as if it’s pushed up from the ground, its top emulating the shape of a hill offering a wide view of the landscape.

The school forms the setting for cultural and social events round the clock. In addition to a series of flexible teaching spaces, other programs include a library and a café, a sports centre and a music school which are centrally located within the site and facing outwards; these facilities will operate after the school hours for the locals.

“With The New School in Sundby, there is a unifying urban, landscape and social ambition that over time will grow larger than the sum of the individual elements,” adds Ravnborg.

As per Henning Larsen, The New School in Sunby complies with the energy requirements for low energy class 2020 according to BR18 and its façade, interior panels and terrace boards are Nordic Ecolabelled and trace-certified according to FSC or PEFC. These ratings are attributed on parameters such as low-emissions, energy consumption and waste along with health factors such as ventilation, daylight, noise, and chemical exposure.

Expected to accommodate over 580 students and 100 employees, the school seeks to become a modern, flexible and sustainable lighthouse for the years to come.