Steiner Academy Project Team Visit Norway

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Friday, 24 March 2006

The design for the Hereford Steiner Academy must reflect the uniqueness of its location, its curriculum and the communities it serves in the 21st century. This was the clear outcome of the flying visit to Norway to see the Stavanger Steiner School and meet its architect, Espen Tharaldsen and members of the school’s staff. Twelve members of the project team including the project manager, architects, environmental engineer, landscape architect, and representatives from the Steiner Schools Fellowship and HWS arrived in snowy Stavanger to a very warm welcome from Espen and his colleague Svera. Four members of the teaching staff generously gave up two days of their half term break to show us round the school, share their experience of using the buildings. They also fed us and made us feel very welcome and at home. The Stavanger school was designed 20 years ago but has yet to be completed. Although the State contibutes 85% of the running cost of the school it provides no capital funding so the school has to raise funds for new buildings. Like so many Steiner schools it lacks a Hall and has its fair share of temporary buildings (although these were palaces compared to our portakabins!) The school is a bold architectural statement. Espen explained that his aim was to avoid the iconic gestures which have characterised Steiner schools, particularly in Europe. He had set out to design a building specific to its time and place which met the pedagogical and wider needs of the school community. He talked in depth about the evolution of ‘anthroposophical architecture’ and how this influenced his design. He emphasised the importance of expressing the ‘universal’ as well as responding to local forces. The Stavanger school includes design motifs which, in a very literal way, are a celebration of local history, including battlefields and Viking ships. They also convey a strong and defiant sense of the building setting its jaw against the harsh external environment. (This includes the architectural quality of neighbouring buildings as much as the weather!) But the building opens its arms to the unspoilt natural landscape. The use of a repeating structural module has economic advantages but leads to a rather rigid building form. However, the individual modules are differentiated by varying window forms, internal colour schemes and other subtle details. The second day of the trip was spent discussing the Hereford project and the architects introduced some tentative ‘first thoughts’ about the siting of the new buildings. The visitors came home with much to think about but with the conviction that the project is heading in the right direction and that we have the capacity to come up with the goods. Watch this space!

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 01 May 2007 )

 

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