An object lesson in aesthetics

The Kingo School in Slangerup is an excellent example of an aesthetic educational environment. Here you will find a good indoor climate combined with the consideration for sustainability and a good spatial finish.

Af Ulla Kjærvang

The scent of wood welcomes you, when you enter the Kingo School. All floors are planked white pigmented wood of the type Kerving Yang instead of linoleum, which is still the prime choice in many new schools for the sake of cleaning. Along one of the halls, you find small balconies hanging over the hall at level of the first floor. Here the pupils can sit delving into a book or a conversation among the palmtops, which reach the balcony.

Recesses and nooks
Large plants enrich the halls of the school, and you constantly find a well planned arrangement of each individual room as well as of the school in its entirety. There are recesses and nooks everywhere, or lowered places of sojourn. There is variety in the outdoor and indoor conditions and a good use of daylight and artificial light.

The Kingo School was finished in 2001. It came about in close collaboration between the municipality, the school management and staff and the architectural group Nielsen and Rubow A/S. The architectural idea was to create a school with a functional clarity as the main focus. In other words, it should be easy to read the different parts of the school, because it creates recognition and safety and at the same time provides continuity and crafting of the rooms, which are full of experiences for the pupils and teachers.

Water view from the halls
The school is planned around an artificial lake filled with carps. The lake is placed in the middle of the school and is a fine architectural element, which creates an atmosphere and affects the senses. When moving around the school, you can look out at the water from most of the school’s central hallways. From here, you can access the terraces by the lake, where you can eat your lunch on a hot summer day.

- The entire gardens provide inspiration and pleasure for everyone at the school. No matter where you are, you can rest your eyes on the gardens. The gardens are a very good example of the fact that the pupils appreciate the physical settings. It is never messy out there; they don’t throw garbage or each other in the water, which several adults adduced skeptically when the idea was presented, says the head of the school, Per Høxbroe.

Reading the force of the wind
The science centre is something special. Here you can experiment and practice all subjects. The pupils can track the functions of the heating and ventilation system on screen terminals. They can also read the force and direction of the wind and the temperature. These options are conceived as a pedagogical element in the teachings.

The experimentarium is situated right next to the lake so that the pupils can collect water samples and study the biological processes. The roof collects rain water, which runs into the lake. You can clearly hear the water splashing into the lake on rainy days.

Consideration concerning the materials
The competition program demanded on a good indoor climate. This is why they aimed at using natural materials and surface treatments which are lenient on the indoor climate. They also chose to use natural ventilation in all the rooms, which can be managed individually or automatically.

- The natural ventilation is a success. We see fewer symptoms of allergy and cold than in the old buildings. The aesthetics of the Kingo School affects everyone at the school in a positive way. We have, of course, had singular incidents of vandalism, but, all in all, we feel that the high quality of the physical settings makes the pupils more careful. To build something beautiful affects the way people act and we experience this every day, says Per Høxbroe.