Waldorf School

Architect：LINK arkitektur

Location：Fredrikstad, Norway; | ;View Map

Project Year：2016

Category：Primary Schools;Secondary Schools

Located on a picturesque south facing slope and surrounded by trees the building, clad in Kebony, is situated on the boundary between the forest and schoolyard. To preserve the natural backdrop to the play area, the building is partly placed on stilts floating above the creek to maintain the natural rock formations on the site and the flow of the little stream through the grounds.

The Waldorf School is a worldwide institution founded in Germany for ‘children from all walks of life with all kinds of gifts’. In 1979 the school opened a dependency in Fredrikstad, Norway, and now provides education for approximately 200 pupils across the Lower Glomma region. As a Waldorf school, the curriculum is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, founder of Anthroposophy, which places importance on cherishing and respecting the freedom of each individual and emphasizes the role of imagination in learning. The ethos of the school is that the intellectual, practical, and artistic development of pupils should be holistically integrated.

LINK Arkitekturhas created a distinctive modern building, which draws on the angular design style of traditional anthroposophical architecture. The classrooms are strikingly non-uniform, with an interesting pentagonal shape and impressive high ceilings. The design of communal areas continues this aesthetic, with large windows in bold colors along every wall. Engraved above each window is text from Goethe’s Faust, written in Morse code; this is a homage to the history of Waldorf-schools as "Faust" is integral in Rudolf Steiner's interpretation of modern learning and human growth.

For the façade, raw materials such as concrete, wood and steel are used without modification to emphasize the materials' inherent natural beauty.Kebonuwas chosen for the external wooden cladding to continue this natural aesthetic, but also because the subtle, dappled silver-grey patina complements and enhances the woodland setting. Kebony has strong environmental credentials, as a sustainable alternative to hardwood that reduces the demand for tropical deforestation. The patented technology enhances sustainable softwood by heating them under pressure with furfuryl alcohol, an agricultural byproduct, so that the softwoods permanently take on the attributes of tropical hardwood including high durability, hardness and dimensional stability.

1. Concrete

2. Wood

3. Steel

4. Kebony

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