ZBUZANY, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (COMPETITION)
NORDLAND ARKITEKTER

The new school in Zbuzany is conceived as an open and community-oriented educational environment that connects learning, leisure, and nature. Located on the edge of the village, the school forms a new social and spatial hub where education, sports, and everyday community life come together.

The building is composed of several smaller volumes linked by a flexible ground floor base and a continuous inner street that connects the main public areas — the auditorium, canteen, creative workshops, library, and sports hall. Two internal plazas, the Entrance Plaza and the Creative Plaza, organize the layout and open the school towards both the village and the surrounding landscape.

Teaching spaces are clustered by age and supported by open learning landscapes that foster collaboration and adaptability. The design encourages project-based learning and offers a variety of settings for both group and individual work.

Surrounded by a network of green and active outdoor areas — including gardens, playgrounds, and sports zones — the school extends its learning environment into the landscape. This “school in the garden” concept allows teaching to flow naturally between indoor and outdoor spaces while serving as a shared meeting ground for students, families, and the wider community.

The architecture balances openness and human scale, combining modular flexibility with the warmth of natural materials, and creating a sustainable, future-ready school deeply rooted in its local context.