Co-upgrading the Schoolyard

Co-creating new outdoor spaces for Ordrup High School

Client: Ordrup High School
Our role: Co-Designing with the students, Developing concepts and designing
Location: Ordrup, Gentofte Municipality, Greater Copenhagen, Denmark
Year: Jun - Oct 2018
Status: Completed

Students as the designers
In this project, arki_lab worked with Ordrup High School to convert the previously monotone and characterless outdoor areas into vibrant learning and activity spaces through the participation of students. The students were the co-developers of the new outdoor environment that not only matches the school’s history and visual identity, but also allows for different activities and events. Through participating in a series of innovative engagement workshops and seminars, the students developed concrete design solutions for the outdoor spaces as well as ideas about how to best facilitate life between buildings.

An interdisciplinary approach - and innovative methods
This project emphasizes the interdisciplinary aspects of urban planning and architecture. Through participatory practices, around 80 students got to work with alternative and creative learning methods, through which they learned about design-thinking, ethnographic methods, etc. This allowed the students to strengthen their skills such as imagination, creativity and problem-solving, which are rarely incorporated into the school curriculum.

From analysis to design
The process began with collecting the experience and knowledge of key stakeholders, such as the student council and the school janitors. This led into the "define" phase, where a wider group of students were introduced to different ethnographic and design tools for brainstorming. During the "discover" phase the students analyzed the current material, social and geographical characteristics of the outdoor spaces using the tools and knowledge gained in the previous phase. In the following "dream" phase, students tested their conceptual ideas through 1:1 prototyping to rethink and finalize their designs. Finally, in the "design" phase, the students moved from ideas to reality, based on all the collected knowledge, to design collages, models, etc., which formed the foundation for the final design, carried out by arki_lab.



global goals for sustainable development FNS 17 verdensmålSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
We strive to use the Sustainable Development Goals as a structuring framework for our projects. This is how this project contributes to a more sustainable future


Global Goals quality education fns 17 verdensmål kvalitetsuddannelse

4 QUALITY EDUCATION
Involving young people in designing the spaces they live in strengthen the educational system as a places that promotes an active and engaging attitude towards your surrounding society.






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