We asked ourselves: what does contemporary architecture look like in state schools? What layouts and interiors are today's architects proposing? In this article you will read about the most compelling public schools built over the last four years.
Contemporary Schools: 10 Impressive Projects Chosen by the Editors
1. Walden Dos School
Location
The school is situated in the north-west of Mexico City. It was built on the site of an older school surrounded by business centres, a motorway and a river — a setting that could hardly be called safe. On top of that, natural light barely reached the school's windows, blocked by the shadows of neighbouring high-rises. The school and its surrounding area were ultimately redesigned from scratch.
Architecture
Inside and outside the school, architect Miguel Montor (Miguel Montor) designed gardens. Floor-to-ceiling glass doors and windows separate the gardens from the classrooms. This means children do not have to go far to play outdoors, and teachers can hold lessons in the fresh air.
For the construction of the school, Miguel chose natural materials: concrete and timber. For the colour palette, he used only the colours found in a forest.
2. Liyuan School
Location
Liyuan Middle School is located in the centre of the Chinese city of Wuxi. The building is divided into two parts, situated on opposite banks of a river, connected by a bridge corridor that houses a canteen with panoramic windows.
Architecture
The team at architectural firm Minax Architects designed the school to resemble a traditional school as little as possible. The undulating, smooth and dynamic façade creates a welcoming and relaxed atmosphere.
Additional rest areas help pupils and teachers feel more at ease. Alongside conventional windows, circular skylights have been added on the upper floors, admitting even more natural light.
3. The Roc School
Location
The building is located in the French city of Tourcoing. It connects two neighbouring schools and houses additional classrooms, a canteen, and a hall where parents wait for their children.
Architecture
The building resembles an enormous block of stone hovering above the ground. This architectural choice was deliberate: the school directors wanted children, looking up at the suspended rock, to understand that anything is possible.
Inside the building, the architects designed seamless transitions from room to room — no sharp corners, partitions or visible joints in the finishes. To make the large dining hall feel more comfortable for pupils, the architects used a specialist plaster that absorbs echo. After lessons, children meet their parents in a space at the school entrance, designed as a forest in which the role of trees is played by slender white columns.
4. The Ecole Jean-Moulin School
Location
The school is situated in a small town in northern France. The building is surrounded by canals, hills and low-rise houses from the 1960s. To allow the building to blend into the natural landscape, it was constructed in the form of a large green wave.
Architecture
The school consists of two blocks. The smaller primary school block is enveloped by the wave of the secondary school block. The architects note that they sought to create a light, relaxed atmosphere in which children would enjoy both studying and resting. This environment is shaped by undulating forms, a green grass roof, light-filled spaces and natural materials: wood, concrete and steel.
5. Hessenwald School
Location
The building is situated between several German villages and houses a primary, secondary and upper school. It also contains a community centre, where adults and children play musical instruments, watch films and tend the school garden.
Architecture
The building is divided into three pavilions surrounding the community centre space. Each pavilion features movable reading platforms. The classroom desks are shaped like ink blots that can be fitted together, like puzzle pieces, into one large blot. Like the desks, the benches in the corridors can be rearranged by pupils as they wish.
Adjoining the pavilions is a structure housing the school garden and a plant science laboratory. The laboratory windows are fitted with specialist solar-control film, and the walls are clad in wood — creating the feeling of standing in a forest beneath the shade of the tree canopy.
6. Nord-Osterdal School
Location
Nord-Osterdal upper school is located in a small town in eastern Norway. The building sits on a hill with views over both the town and a national park.
Architecture
Almost the entire school is built from timber — the client's principal requirement. Exceptions include the rubber floors, the wool ceiling elements and the concrete walls on the basement level.
To maximise natural light in the classrooms, they are arranged around the building's perimeter. Spaces that do not require windows — the cinema, gymnasium and canteen — are placed at the centre. On the top floor there is a smoking room with skylights in the ceiling.
7. Mouriz School
Location
The building is located in the town of Paredes in northern Portugal. The ground floor houses a kindergarten, while the upper floor contains a primary school.
Architecture
The architects gave the greatest attention to the building's layout. The routes schoolchildren take to the canteen or the sports grounds do not cross those used by the nursery children — a measure designed to prevent older pupils from accidentally knocking over the little ones.
On the second floor, the ceilings follow the curves of the roof. The windows may appear to have been placed at random, but through this device the architects created a playful atmosphere in the classrooms, turning them into spaces for creativity and the development of children's imagination.
8. Jean Moulin
Location
The school stands on the bank of the Meuse river in France, on a wooded hillside. Beneath its roof there is a small hotel where students and teachers can stay. The site also includes courts for basketball, volleyball and handball, as well as a track-and-field area.
Architecture
The school occupies the site of a 1960s gymnasium. The original building was constructed from non-ecological materials and generated polluting waste. In 2007, a competition was announced for the redevelopment of the site.
A team from the agency Duncan Lewis Scape Architects won the competition. The architects created an eco-friendly building that seems to sink into the hillside. Every classroom is fitted with panoramic windows, flooding the spaces with natural light. Short flights of steps are replaced by ramps, while lifts serve in place of longer staircases. The architects note that, by eliminating stairs, pupils with disabilities will feel more comfortable — both physically and psychologically.
9. Kibera School
Location
The school is located in Kibera, Kenya's largest slum. It came into being thanks to the Spanish photographer Iwan Baan (Iwan Baan). While working on a photography project about slums, Iwan came across the only school in Kibera. It had no toilets, no electricity, and not even a proper roof. The building was surrounded by rubbish dumps and open sewers, and looked more like a pile of debris than a place of learning.
That same year, at the Copenhagen Museum of Art, Iwan encountered a colourful pavilion. It had been created by the architecture firm SelgasCano. The photographer contacted the architects and asked them to donate the structure to the children of Kibera. The SelgasCano team not only agreed, but redesigned the pavilion to make it more suitable as a school.
Architecture
SelgasCano is known for constructing pavilions from inexpensive yet durable materials: chipboard, plastic and timber. The school in Kibera was no exception.
The two-storey building houses classrooms, toilets, a kitchen, a headteacher's office and a large multipurpose hall. A wide staircase connects the ground floor to the upper level and occasionally doubles as seating. Plastic containers filled with water are also used as seats; they are arranged around the perimeter of the building, effectively anchoring it to the ground.
10. Panta Rhei School
Location
The school is situated in the south of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. From the outside, the building offers little of note, but inside lies what is known as "Panta Rei" — a phrase that translates literally as "flow."
Interior
The school has almost no standard classrooms. Students learn in open, multipurpose spaces. The desks were designed specifically for the school: they come in various asymmetric shapes. By pushing them together, you can form a circle, a square or a star.
The dominant accent in the school's interior is typographic 'pattern'. The designers asked pupils to choose their favourite passages from poems and verse. The best texts were then printed on the floors, walls and desks.
Photos: Onis Lukey, Su Shangliang, Luke Boegly, Jeroen Musch, D'HOUNDT+BAJART architectes.
Read more articles on school architecture in our features:
— A cluster school by Ackermann+Raff
— A futuristic school building by Atelier REC architecture
— A contemporary school by the architecture practice Ecker Architekten
