Client projects: Voldsløkka School

A desire to learn and community

Voldsløkka School in the Sagene district of Oslo comprises a new building and the refurbishment of the listed Heidenreich building. The secondary school has space for 810 students, divided between 8th to 10th grade. The project was carried out by Oslobygg on behalf of the Norwegian Educational Agency, Oslo Municipality, and opened its doors in August 2023.

"The path to the future is through meaningful activities that stimulate the desire to learn and community"

This is the school’s vision, and with this vision they want to help develop active and curious students, challenge them to make a positive contribution to their own and others’ lives and develop a strong commitment to the environment and their own future. The starting point for the interior design solutions was that they should support the way the school wanted to teach. At the same time, the solutions had to be robust and flexible, and last for many years. It was also essential to preserve the architecture and the building’s distinctiveness.

Allocation

Part 1 – general part

The award criteria in the announced competition, with the most emphasis, were quality and environment. The solutions had to be robust and last for many years. In addition, Kinnarps scored the highest on delivery time and logistics, and emphasis was placed on efficient logistics in terms of loading the vehicles, efficiency and the use of blankets instead of disposable packaging. Another aspect that was highlighted was that Kinnarps had few contact persons in the project, both through ordering, delivery, complaints and reordering, which made the process more effective.

Part 2 – creative task

The task was to design a solution for the library and canteen with varied furnishing that would withstand school use. The task has been evaluated together with the principal, deputy principal, representative from the Norwegian Educational Agency, project manager and assistant project manager from Oslobygg. The evaluation group points out that Kinnarps has the best use of space for many students, that the solutions are good and varied and include areas to retreat to.

Flexible solutions

Emphasis was placed on the flexibility of the solutions, so that they can easily be moved around and changed if needed. Based on the vision of stimulating the desire to learn and community, it was important to be able to easily change the interior design solution according to different learning situations. In addition, good ergonomics for the students was important, and that the solutions invite to work in different ways, encouraging the students to move during the day.

Collaboration

Tone Bergstrøm works as an inventory consultant/project manager and says that the collaboration with Kinnarps has worked very well throughout, with several meetings in the showroom and close follow-up when the final solution was to be delivered. Users and the principal were involved when the textiles, colour palette and solution were presented, together with the Norwegian Educational Agency and Oslobygg.

They are proud that the result has led to good, ergonomic solutions for both students and teachers.