Education centre, Haderslev

The proposal by the Danish architects aart architects and ZENI Architects together with engineers COWI has been appointed as winner of the visionary competition 'Education Centre of the Future' at the waterfront of Haderslev in Denmark.

The five-storey, 6500 m² education centre will be the new headquarters for VUC (adult education centre) in southern Denmark and sets new standards for the education facilities of the future by focusing on healthy indoor climate, low energy consumption and cultural experiences.

The winning proposal provides a framework for the education facilities of tomorrow, where cultural experiences will be a natural part of everyday life thanks to the public ground floor, which contains a café area and large concert hall for lectures, concerts and theatrical performances.

The education centre is designed as a democratic building where the public space is included as a natural part of the building by creating the best possible link between indoors and outdoors. A link between indoors and outdoors that is underlined by the great glass facades and large terraces of the building, which allow direct access to fresh air and make it possible to use the outdoor areas during, between and after classes.

'We believe an open, democratic environment and the inclusion of outdoor areas provide a sense of freedom that is essential regarding education of adults and young people. In that way we have tried to rethink the framework of how society ensures that adults and young people can be guided and further educated so they can continue to be active team players in a modern knowledge and information society,' says Anders Tyrrestrup, partner in aart architects.

The social focus is being reflected in the strong emphasis on creating visual contact between the five floors of the building. The heart of the building therefore consists of a large atrium in which the different floors are connected by a dynamic staircase and wide walkways, which invite students and teachers to meet across age and discipline.

A healthy indoor environment means less disease, greater comfort and better concentration, and is thus a condition of a good learning environment. Therefore the building is designed so it ensures a healthy indoor climate all year round without burdening the environment – for example by using the large terraces as sun protection, which both protects against and takes advantage of the heat of sunlight.

'We have benefited from our expertise in indoor environment and energy design and thus made it possible that all the elements of the building have multiple functions which ultimately contribute to an optimized energy consumption and a healthy indoor climate,' says Tyrrestrup.