Glömstaskolan - A new school without classrooms

Glömstaskolan is now open for this year’s fall semester - a brand new, state of the art public school located in Flemingsberg, south of Stockholm. Initially, the school will accept students from preschool to 6th grade and gradually it will offer classes up to 9th grade. Glömstaskolan is set to accommodate a maximum of 720 students.
 
Students at the school will only have two classes per day, unlike most other schools. One class in the morning and one in the afternoon. The teachers manage the breaks based on needs and working methods. Students are not divided into groups with separate classrooms, but go along with all the students from the same grade.
 
In this newsletter I will visualize how Glömstaskolan takes the plunge with a new type of school built from the ground up with students’ needs in mind. Click on the images to view a larger version with more details.
 
Enjoy!


 

School with effective and flexible spaces

The school has 4 floors without corridors. Instead, the teaching areas are grouped around irregular spaces that can be furnished in various ways to supplement the basic rooms. The ground floor serves most of the public functions such as a cafeteria and recreation center.
 
On the 1st floor there are local resources for music/drama/home economics, as well as visual and craft workshops that can also be used outside of school hours. The more “private” work areas are located on floors 3 and 4, along with rooms for staff and pupil care with libraries and general science, which is thought to encourage interaction in a research theme.

Gold and Silver environmental certification

Glömstaskolan has received the certification “Green Building Silver” for building and “Gold” for the energy sector. The building is a passive house, which is the name of a collection of construction techniques to create energy efficient buildings that use less energy than the building code requires.
 
Energy-efficient buildings have effective ventilation systems and a minimal need for heating, cooling and electricity. Heating loss through the walls and ceilings is minimized and the building takes advantage of solar energy and heat from the occupants as well as electrical appliances. Glömstaskolan purchases only 1/5 of the required heat energy according to building codes.

The atrium is the school’s hub

The school’s hub is located inside the entrance, a central atrium and stair hall that brings together the various floors. Despite the building’s depth, a daylight experience is created from within. It makes the building more readable and easy to navigate. In order for the 720 students to share an entrance the different grades must begin at different times. A 15-minute time margin is inscribed in the schedule.

Furnishing from needs

In the curriculum for the compulsory school the importance of conversation is mentioned no less than 91 times. Despite this, classrooms are still built where students must sit quietly and listen. Instead, Glömstaskolan has irregular study rooms and halls with a variety of furnishing or no furniture at all. These rooms have no specific outline, no fixed lectern and no places that are better or worse than others.
 
When lectures are held, custom furniture is used, for example spectator stands, so that everyone can see and be seen. Of course there are also more traditional spaces for crafts, home economics, music and drama.

 

Sustainable learning and development

ORIGO Architects have worked with applications and system actions according to specifications. Aperto Architects has developed the concept for the interior. If you want to know more about Glömstaskolan and their work method “ Sustainable learning and development ”, click here. (These links are only available in Swedish)