Crossing Paths / 2018

Crossing Paths is a competition entry for a new school in Rinkeby, Stockholm. The new school building is proposed on a site in the center of Rinkeby. The placement along the main street allows the building volume to extend and frame the main square.

School is one of the most important institutions and functions in a society and this should be manifested in its architecture. The proposed school building is slightly higher than the surrounding buildings and richly ornamented. In this project the volumetric line, path or toolpath, becomes a way of creating spaces for circulation through the building and the site as well as producing ornaments and a specific material character.

The structure and envelope of the building is made by cross laminated wood. This construction material is given a treatment by a non-figurative ornament - a line. The crisscross of lines can be reminiscent of ornaments and building techniques from different parts of the world - mashrabiya screens, arabesques, cassette ceilings and half-timber work. Here, the linear cavities are made through cnc-milling of the facade elements, which, together with the color treatment gives a new material expression. The first floor of the building is clad with ceramic tiles resembling the material expression of the upper floors, produced in another material.