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Education centre, Torshavn

BIG commissioned to spin up a sizable vortex of learning on the Faroe Islands.

TORSHAVN (DK) - Located approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland, the remote Faroe Islands might seem an unlikely place for new, innovative architecture. However, in the near future educational programmes and institutions in the region will find focus in a newly commissioned, stratified and spiralling structure of dynamic proportions. The planned Education Centre in Torshavn will combine three existing schools, and has been designed to mimic a tightly coiled volume, its sprawling wings pivoting around a central nucleus that appears to burrow into the rolling Faroese landscape, effectively becoming a part of it. Both radiating and introverted, the design's sculptural form expresses the architects' ideology behind the visual play of this educational campus. At its hub, a spacious rotunda will function as a gravitational point for social activity, bringing together the diverse scholastic pursuits of the building's various wings and layers. (Dutton R. Hauhart)

BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) and a team of consultants have won the largest ever commission on the Faroe Islands for a 19200 m² Education Centre in Torshavn. BIG, in collaboration with Fuglark, Lemming & Eriksson, Sámal Johannesen, Martin E. Leo and KJ Elrad will design the new Education Centre in Marknagil, situated on a hillside on the outskirts of Torshavn, to serve as a base for coordination and future development of all educational programmes in the region. As the largest educational building project in the country's history, the institution combines Faroe Islands Gymnasium, Torshavns Technical College and Business College of Faroe Islands in one building housing 1200 students and 300 teachers. The winning design was chosen among five submissions by a unanimous jury, comprised of an architect and representatives from the Ministry of Culture and Landsverk, together with principals from each of the three schools.

Says Bjarke Ingels (Creative Director, BIG), 'The school is a pedagogical diagram turned in the form of a building in the open, hilly landscape formed by the considerations to the internal functional needs rather than external limitations. The architectural expression of the new Education Centre in Marknagil captures the essence of form follows function.'

Located on a hillside 100 metres above sea level with a panoramic view overlooking the sea, mountains and harbour of Torshavn, the project is designed as a vortex, radiating out towards its surroundings while at the same time focusing in on the school's inner landscape for learning the lessons of life. Each institution is organized as a school within a school, with ideal conditions for each, while creating a sense of community for learning. The generous surroundings provide unique opportunities to shape the school from the inside out – as a functional sculpture formed by the schools' internal needs.

Each school will function independently, comprising the space it requires with room to grow in the future. Additionally, by combining the three schools under one roof they will create the synergetic effect of a vertical campus. At the school's heart is an open rotunda space, creating a natural gathering point across floor levels and academic interests. A stepped interior reflects the undulating Faroese landscape with its alternating plateaus, stairwells and terraces serving different social and academic activities.

According to Jakup Pauli Johannesen (Partner, Fuglark Architects), 'The architecture of the school emphasizes an educational equality, with lobbies and the central rotunda space promoting a sense of community across the three different schools.'