At Frederiksbjerg School, movement and exercise are an integral part of everyday life for the pupils.

Frederiksbjerg School in midtown Aarhus boasts a unique learning and school environment, which has taken the national requirement for 45 minutes of daily exercise for pupils quite literally. A total of 40 ‘movement zones’ have been integrated into the school’s indoor and outdoor architecture. According to the principal, the architecture will invariably force pupils to exercise at some time during the school day. Teaching and movement come together, and the entire building is unmistakably characterised by a ‘DNA of movement’.

Children learn differently, and therefore the school has been designed with environments that cater to children’s differences with regard to development, wellbeing and learning, and the outdoor areas are considered just as important for children’s development. There are no breaks at the school, because children should learn all the time. Outside school hours, the outdoor areas are open for use by local residents – and so children and adults are encouraged to be active and exercise.

In collaboration with a lighting designer and the School of Architecture in Copenhagen, KADK, Henning Larsen examined the relationship between lighting and pupils’ concentration, and this resulted in new lamps, which also help reduce noise.