Title: Unschool Copenhagen, School for the future.
Location of Proejct: Copenhagen, Denmark
Project Completion Date: 05/27/2021
Firm Name:

Short Description: This studio seeks to create a school for the future for 5-12-year-old kids, which disregards the regularized typology of existing buildings. The initiative aims to radicalize the school system through design to improve the standard of the research setting, revamp the structure. It should develop new pedagogical approaches that would negate generic teaching strategies and give greater importance to the students' interests and aspirations. The vision is to break the paradigm of a generic school to let them in an intriguing world in an exchange of a confined education with an innovative space by integrating nature as a binding element.

Architect's Statement: The world is facing an immense learning crisis. The education system is becoming so generic and systemic that it does not provide personal innovation and optimized care to its people. Over time, man loses his friendship with nature, and he forgets where he comes from and what opportunities are. We need to relearn essential lifelong things; how do they require the future, and what is fundamental to learning for the future goal.

"Help me to build a school on a cloud" by Sujata Mitra, a renowned researcher who breaks the monotony of the education system by creating self-learning and self-exploring opportunities for the kids.

The notion behind the schools on the clouds is more inclined towards various virtual projections in one space where kids can explore their interests. This concept inspires to perform an amalgamation of virtual classrooms and play areas. Rethinking about the play area, the treehouse sounds to be the best place for the kids to explore, and the inspiration of this building's architecture of in and out concept is from Lego building, blocks game which happens to be the engaging game for kids.

Looking at the four parameters, Innovation, Flexibility, Nature, and Technology, this school helps us to uplift self-determination, self-confidence, and self-exploration through giving an opportunity by forming a flexible cluster and creating a play area.

The goal is to integrate children into society by giving them a spatial network in which children learn to socialize with their peers. The school that depicts the cluster for different age groups does not limit other age group kids to come and explore. Every classroom in the cluster holds its unique identity added with play elements; for instance, a classroom does not need a door to exit but a jump from a window and a slide through slide from the class into a sand puddle, maybe a net hammock to jump in as a trampoline or to lie down to read a book or to be a part of a virtual classroom as a treehouse. This setup will encourage children to learn more and more in a playful form.
The education system is also proposed such as there will be necessary three basic subjects which each kid needs to learn from the beginning. However, the rest will happen to be as a workshop where they can choose the subject as per their interest, so all the age groups can socialize with each other. It will be more focused on the practical outside classes into nature to build their imaginations further.

Combining the flexible spaces creates one cluster with the glass envelope, which holds inside out. This glass skin is of recycled steel and recycled glass, which makes the building economically feasible. Making it sustainable by providing photovoltaic cells on the Southern façade and generate its electricity. Since the school is in Copenhagen, one needs to take care of the cold weather inside the building. A geothermal pump system was given beneath the ground to heat the floor of the building. The water used in a kid's pool was pumped and filtered from the rainwater collected by the rainwater harvesting system.

The skin plays a radical role in light and shadows and brings nature into play by growing the creepers and various plants on the structure of the glass envelope introducing the greenhouse system. Looking at an aesthetic purpose, the façade will play an essential role as it is closed with green fabric. The façade will constantly change its color every season; for example, the green fabric will turn yellow in autumn, it can be white, covered with snow in winter, and again green in spring and summer. Copenhagen has trees called cherry blossom, and if planted in the building frame, the façade can play one more role of pink colors.

This proposal was given before we did not even know the term COVID, who knew the whole world would happen to be virtual. In today's scenario of experiencing the COVID 19 pandemic, where the education system has uplifted to the virtual classroom, this school inspires kids to create their playful setup in their comfort shell and self-learn and explore. It will serve as a pilot design for many other schools as well.