Published by: PPAG architects

Sauland, Norway

Secondairy School

The school is located in Sauland, Telemark, a valley characterized by an agricultural landscape with farmsteads spread around the school site.

The concept for the site was to create an identity and character for the school based on local rural building typology. Together with an existing administration building and primary school, the new school building defines and partially encloses the schoolyard and playground, in the way local farm buildings surround and delineate their farm yards.

The new building has 2 floors and is broken down into smaller volumes, in scale with neighbouring structures, giving it an expressive design and an irregular shape and creating variety in the spatial experience of the building both inside and outside.

Creating good physical and visual connections between the indoor and outdoor spaces was important for the design. The new building is organized so that there are views in all directions providing good visual contact with the schoolyard and the surrounding landscape. This idea is continued inside the school where interior windows and niches allow visual contact between teaching rooms and common areas. In addition, classrooms on both floors have direct access to outdoor areas.

The school’s main entrance is shared with the adjacent hall that will serve both as a sports and assembly area for the school, and as a multipurpose hall for the local community. A generous external staircase frames the main entrance and can double as outdoor seating with a view towards the schoolyard.

The new school houses classrooms for 5th to10th graders, as well as workshops for woodwork, arts and crafts, science, home economics, music and a library. Much attention has been paid to designing an efficient plan where all space is usable space. Teaching areas are organized around a common learning landscape which serves as a communication zone, and equally importantly, as a flexible hub for learning and study, a gathering space, exhibition space and social space.

The school and hall are designed with a cross-laminated timber construction. The interior is clad in timber and the CLT-elements exposed where possible. The timber interior contributes to regulating humidity and creating a healthy indoor climate. Both school and hall are clad in untreated timber-paneling. Building elements such as doors are accentuated by touches of color which gives each room its own valour.