Mörrum's new school - an educational, inspiring and safe learning environment at the children's scale

In Mörrum, in Karlshamn municipality, FOJAB has designed a new primary school for 550 pupils in grades F-6. Great emphasis has been placed on creating an experiential and sustainable architecture for children. A building that connects the interior and exterior learning environment and creates an educational, safe and inspiring place at the children's scale.

Mörrum's new school is part of a larger project to renew and consolidate the schools in Karlshamn municipality. The new school houses dormitories, special rooms and other common facilities such as a library, workshops, school restaurant and sports hall. FOJAB has worked on the project from the very beginning, and has, among other things, produced a strategic premises study for all schools in Karlshamn. The focus has been on participation and a large number of workshops have been conducted with those responsible in the municipality as well as educators and students.

The design idea for Mörrums Nya Skola is based on a project vision, a local program and a site analysis. The school building is divided into six smaller two-storey volumes that blend in well with the surrounding residential area of Mörrum and adapt to the scale of the children. Inside the building, activities are organized in smaller home zones with 75 children in each, where each home zone is designed as a complete learning environment with a palette of different types and sizes of rooms. The rooms can be used in a flexible way for different types of teaching and all communication areas have been minimized, which is important from a sustainability perspective. The school also has a large sports hall that can be used by sports clubs in the evenings and at weekends.

- The goal has been to create an experiential school environment that inspires learning. An environment where the choice of materials, visibility, good light and sound conditions interact. The architecture is designed for children and creates opportunities for flexible use throughout the school day. "We have worked according to the motto 'When you open the door, you are there' to create a seamless relationship between outside and inside with many entrances for a sense of closeness and accessibility," says Charlotte Kristensson, responsible architect at FOJAB.

Students at Mörrum School are involved in the design of the outdoor environment. Right now, all 350 pupils are developing their thoughts and ideas under the theme 'My dream schoolyard'. The drawings and models will form the basis for the design of the schoolyard.

- It feels great that we can incorporate the children's dreams into the design. That has been our starting point from the beginning - to create a school environment from the children's perspective," concludes Charlotte.

In addition to its sustainable architecture, Mörrum's new school has solar cells on the roof and will be heated by waste/ district heating. The goal is a certification Miljöbyggnad silver, which is the second highest level of certification for environmental buildings in Sweden. Construction of the school will begin in the summer of 2020 and is expected to be ready for occupancy in the fall of 2022.