Nuuk School takes its inspiration from the stark beauty of the Greenlandic landscape, integrating the city with the mountains and the tundra while creating outdoor spaces that satisfy children’s need for a safe and functional school environment. The school’s name, Atuarfik Nasarsuaq, means “School in the Tundra”. The city’s cultural center is just to the west of the school, while to the east, residential standalone houses give way to tundra.
Since land is not considered to be private, Nuuk is characterized by homes that rise straight from the landscape without clear fences or yards. This organization encourages a strong connection with the tundra. The natural landscape flows between the houses, but the unprogrammed nature of the spaces between buildings does not encourage public life. The schoolyard therefore includes some programmed areas for the children, but balances this with more open areas that relate to the character of the city. The plan includes both safe spaces, screened from the outside but with clear sightlines within the schoolyard; and places with wide open views of the mountains. The buildings also reflect the overall organizational structure, with the heights of the buildings rising from the separate low preschool building to the east to the taller buildings in the west where the older children learn. Their roofs, meanwhile, echo the shapes of the distant mountains.
Open water channels lead meltwater away from the buildings, mimicking natural valleys. In Nuuk, the hard bedrock is very close to the surface, necessitating the use of dikes rather than pipes to move surface water throughout the city. The channels around the school are designed to create an informal but clear boundary between the school and the city, while the central east-west channel runs right through the schoolyard. The dikes inspire unique opportunities for learning and play; a dike creates its own microclimate, fostering growth and life near the water and shelter from the wind. The dikes are fortified against erosion with stone set in concrete.
In one of the northern courtyards, a ball court set into a shallow bowl doubles as an overflow basin for the central east-west dike, preventing the water level from rising too high during the spring melt. A second, smaller overflow basin features elevated play equipment. In the center of the east-west ditch, a small wetland area further improves the appeal and biodiversity of the schoolyard. It also nods to the history of the site, which was a wetland before it was built up as housing. Where the wetland meets the main ditch, a low wall retains water in the wetland while a small pipe ensures that the water can still run out, preventing stagnation. Teachers will enforce that this wetland is a learning space and not a play space, so that more delicate plants such as cottongrass can grow and thrive there without being stepped on. Vega reused topsoil from the site wherever possible, allowing the natural seedbank contained in the soil to re-vegetate the schoolyard and the wetland with native plants.
The school’s outdoor spaces consist of a series of courtyards in the south, and a connected schoolyard in the north. These spaces have different purposes and themes, defining a transitional space from the busy city to the open tundra. The westernmost courtyard is an urban plaza that welcomes the city’s cultural center. It faces the afternoon sun and includes a set of sitting steps. Facing the city to the south, two open courtyards echo the urban typology of Nuuk with large entry decks at the same level as the indoors. Similar decks are found around residential buildings throughout Nuuk. In the context of the school, the decks allow outdoor learning in the summer while elevating the entryway above the snow in the winter. Robust worktables expand the possibilities, while the steps down from the decks function as a social sitting area. Farther to the east, playhouses and tool sheds provide opportunities for structured play for younger students. The northern and eastern courtyards open out with unprogrammed natural terrain that brings the tundra right up to the feet of the buildings. The central east-west dike runs through this space, connecting to the wetland learning zone and the sports field basin. Made with local stone, a cast-in-place concrete path system allows natural flow in and out of the buildings.
• All architecture offices involved in the design:
ISTAK, KHR Architects og Verkis.
• Other credits you need or wish to write:
Pictures: Arnor ISTAK, KHR Architects, Rasmus Hjortshøj
• Location of the project
23 Aqqusinersuaq. Nuuk 3900, Greenland.
