RIBA Award for the A. P. Møller School - C.F. Møller. Photo: Julian Weyer
28.5.2010

RIBA Award for the A. P. Møller School

C. F. Møller Architects has won an RIBA Award for the A. P. Møller School, a school for the Danish School Association of Southern Schleswig donated by the The A. P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation. The RIBA Awards by The Royal Institute of British Architects are annual, and have been running continuously since 1966.
RIBA Award for the A. P. Møller School - C.F. Møller. Photo: Poul Ib Henriksen
RIBA Award for the A. P. Møller School - C.F. Møller. Photo: Poul Ib Henriksen
RIBA Awards are awarded to buildings that have high architectural standards and make a substantial contribution to the local environment, mainly in the UK, but also nine buildings in the rest of the EU have been awarded. The A. P. Møller School is situated at a scenic site in Schleswig in Germany. The school's physical location and design take a point of departure in the site's interaction with the town of Schleswig and Schlei Fjord. The interior, unified by a large sloping copper roof, is an open 'Learning Landscape' in which not only classrooms, but the entire school provides a teaching environment for individual work, group work and plenary sessions. The school's interior openness and organisation accommodates modern, personalized and democratic teaching in a varied educational environment. "We are extremely happy to receive an RIBA Award, especially since it is awarded only on the basis of a serious evaluation where the committee personally visits the nominated buildings and focuses on much more than mere looks. This prize to us confirms the positive feedback we have had regarding the building's function and atmosphere, which are all-important things to us," states architect and partner in C. F. Møller Architects Julian Weyer, who together with partner Mads Møller has been responsible for the school's architecture. Director of the A. P. Møller Skolen, Jørgen Kühl states on the experiences of the first year of the school: "The unique architecture of the A. P. Møller School, with its generous spaces flooded by daylight and the exceptionally good acoustics in every part of the building, is creating a positive and motivating learning environment. During the first year, we have found that the students have been performing considerably better. The building facilities, and the options for flexible, personalized learning they provide, play a vital part in motivating the students, resulting in them exceeding our expectations, and wanting to spend more time at school." The school was earlier this year similarly selected as a finalist for the German Architects Association BDA's grand architecture prize.