Sophie Radich school in Lillestrøm is a large modern solid wood school built to meet the rising need for school places in a growing municipality.
The school is named after Sophie Radich, the first female teacher in Lillestrøm, and is a three-level lower secondary school (classes 8-10).
The school is designed to provide a modern and forward-looking learning environment and also acts as a local meeting place for the neighbourhood. Sophie Radich school is a hub for creativity, interdisciplinary knowledge-sharing and community.
The building, which is laid out like a four-leaf clover, has a striking design distinguished by the red colour of the outside walls. The “clover leaves” tie the building into the landscape. To the southwest, the school looks out over the town and its own grounds, which are designed to guide students, staff, and visitors into the main entrance. In the same way, the school site connects to existing and future access routes at each corner.
The school is on three storeys and is finished mainly in wood with a supporting structure of solid wood and glulam columns and beams. The project is designed to make maximum use of daylight with a lot of natural light entering through glass facades and skylights. The building has open areas with a lot of wood used in the interior, creating warm surfaces and a good indoor climate.
The school is designed to provide a good learning environment for both pupils and teachers. They can enjoy the interplay between inside and outside in a position that relates to the surrounding countryside.
The school site also provides good facilities for culture and sports for pupils, teachers and local residents in Lillestrøm, including a multi-function hall and a learning centre, and an outdoor area which offers the school and the neighbouring area great scope for activities.
The design of Sophie Radich school also places great emphasis on environmentally-friendly features. The project was required to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases compared to a reference project, and is BREEAM certified as ‘Excellent’. The building and the outdoor space are designed to handle and contain precipitation, and digital tools have been used to support an environmentally friendly project.
The whole project was managed in close collaboration with the contractor Kruse Smith and the municipality of Lillestrøm, and both pupils and teachers at the new school were involved in parts of the development phase. This resulted in a well-run school that offers excellent learning facilities for the pupils.
