Stars of the West
“Stars of the West”, as the project was named, was a collaboration between arki_lab and Høje-Taastrup High School. The school’s profile focuses on health and exercise. The main goal of the project was to involve the students in the redevelopment of the school’s cafeteria and large empty outdoor areas. The students were involved in redesigning the two places, adding new activities which could benefit both the school and the local community.

Co-Creating with the Students
The project was built around a comprehensive engagement process with the employees, and especially the students at the high school. In total, 100 students from the subjects P.E. and Arts participated in a series of workshops where they were introduced to design and architecture as well as ethnographic methods. The workshops gave the students new ways of thinking about their surroundings and the tools to work creatively with developing them. Analysis and problem solving techniques gave them an understanding of how to incorporate different users into the development of new design solutions.

Connecting the High School with the Surrounding Community
The outdoor area of ​​Høje-Taastrup Gymnasium is openly connected to the surrounding area. Therefore, the project focused on developing design solutions which would create a stronger connection between the two. An overall theme was to create space for different user groups and activities. Building on an already established path, the students worked with the idea of ​​a health track with various activating and recreational elements along the track. They came up with design proposals for the elements, which underwent a voting process at the school, and were subsequently reduced to fewer proposals and qualified by arki_lab. The final designs were presented at an open exhibition. Here, the participants, consisting of pupils, teachers, representatives from the municipality and the local community, could vote on which designs they liked best.