Roskilde Festival High School
Built in a former concrete factory and designed by acclaimed architecture offices MVRDV and Cobe, the Roskilde Festival Højskole is a High School based on the ideals of the world-famous Roskilde music festival, which every year turns the small town of Roskilde on the outskirts of Copenhagen into the fourth-largest city in Denmark. The ideals and values of this festival are very much influenced by the volunteer engagement, the humanistic focus and creative power, that every year forms and characterizes the event and the community of Roskilde festival.
The school is an example of the Danish system of folk high schools, which deliver a “non-formal adult education” following the concept of “lifelong learning”. This system is based on the ideas of 19th-century Danish intellectual N.F.S. Grundtvig, who believed schools should educate their students to be active participants in society. The Roskilde Festival Højskole is the first purpose-built school of this type in Denmark in 50 years, and aims to further the values of the Roskilde Festival through courses in music, media, leadership, politics, art, architecture, and design.
“Our design, just like the school itself, was inspired by the spirit of the Roskilde Festival. It is all about music, art, activism – but most of all, freedom. The Roskilde festival combines ‘having a good time’ with innovation in an informal way, giving a special vibe that we wanted to capture in the design of the interior of the school.”
The design is based upon a “box-in-a-box” concept: colorful modules fill the warehouse-like shell of the main building, all arranged around a central spine cutting from one side of the building to the other. Alongside this route is a wooden tribune that acts as the communal heart of the school. The boxes host a variety of different functions including an auditorium (named the Orange Stage in a nod to the main stage of the Festival) for 150 people, a music studio, a workshop, and classrooms for dance, art, and architecture. These functions are arranged into three zones: some host pursuits of the mind, including writing, thinking, debate, and leadership; others are focused on students’ use of their bodies, including dance and music functions, while the third zone hosts activities focused on the hand, including visual arts, architecture, and design.
I´m repeating myself here saying that the Roskilde festival is my favorite one, but with examples like this, who wouldn't fall in love with the festival?
Find out more about Roskilde Festival Højskole
All photographs including cover by Ossip van Duivenbode
