Frederiksbjerg School in Aarhus was in October voted School Building of the Year 2016 at the conference Future School and Learning Spaces organized by Nohrcon. The school is the first new school in Aarhus city center for over 100 years and is built within the frame of Danish elementary school reform principles; that schoolchildren should move at least 45 minutes a day.
- Aarhus Municipality had in the competition brief asked that there should be 100 ways to move in this school. That we took seriously. We have furnished the school with a lot of movement stations in public areas and clusters, so it is quite natural for the children to move. Children are beautiful. If they see a round circle on the floor, then they just jump onto it, says architect Margrethe Grøn from Henning Larsen Architects.
Running, jumping, hopscotch is all allowed on Frederiksbjerg School. To emphasize the play and movement, the architects designed the main entrance like a giant climbing stairs. The mood is set by the entrance.
Movement and physical activity unavoidably makes noise. Therefore, Henning Larsen Architects made an extra effort to create a good acoustic environment for the more than 900 students at the new school. All ceilings are covered with acoustic solutions; either Rockfon Sonar M (not marketed in the UK) with locking clips or Rockfon Boxer AEX. Both products have an impact resistance in Class 3A. This is the highest class that can be obtained, making the ceiling ideal for use in schools.
The acoustics solutions from Rockfon are based on fully recycled stone wool tiles in the highest fire rating (A1). In total Rockfon delivered 13,700 m2 acoustic solutions for the project.
-In a primary school there is a lot of noise. It can not be avoided. We have selected some quiet areas and marked them clearly for the kids, but in the large areas there is much activity. Therefore, all ceilings are acoustically regulated.
The selected ceiling solutions allows for more movement without compromising with the acoustic sound quality.
Frederiksbjerg School
Ingerslevs Blvd. 2,
8000 Aarhus
Denmark
