The municipality of Larvik announced an international architectural competition for the project of the new school this spring. The school should be built on the site of an existing educational institution, whose building is deemed too cramped and inconvenient and therefore will be demolished. The project of the new complex, according to the terms of the competition, in addition to the educational building itself, was supposed to include play spaces and sports grounds, as well as landscaped pedestrian spaces. In addition, the architects had to think over the connection of the new school with the nearby gymnasium and sports center with a swimming pool.
With the solution of the last question, the architects began to work on the project. The building of the new school was raised by 12.8 meters: thus compensating for the difference in relief, the architects equalized its first floor with the main entrance lobby of the gymnasium. A pedestrian "plaza" will be set up between the two educational institutions, which will allow their students to communicate with each other and spend their free time together.
The Mesterfjelle school is designed as a compact five-storey volume, faced with natural wood and with a green roof. In the plan, the building is a complex polygon - this shape is dictated by the desire of the architects to visually reduce the volume, minimize its intrusion into the usual panoramas of the city, and also emphasize the proximity to the mountain.
The compositional center of the entire building is a gigantic atrium, in which stairs and recreation are located. The difference from traditional atriums is that there is no overhead light - instead of glazing part of the roof, the architects cut out huge polygonal windows on the three facades of the building. Thanks to this, all public areas of the school will be very bright, residents of the city will have the opportunity to observe the life of students, and the students themselves, in turn, will see the whole city and the picturesque slope of Mesterfjelle in full view.
A. M.
