Campus Bornholm

Rønne

GOAL no. 3, 4, 7, 11, 12

Rural areas often struggle to provide quality education and thus minimize the outflow of young, educated citizens. Campus Bornholm brings the island’s secondary education programmes together under one roof to enhance the learning environment and strengthen the local community.

All over the world, urbanization leads to a concentration of knowledge and education in large cities, while small, local communities face depopulation and a decline in the number of young inhabitants. This is also true for Bornholm. Many of the island’s young people leave to pursue education options elsewhere, and the majority does not return.

Campus Bornholm gathers all youth, adult and vocational education programmes under one roof in one of the island’s largest building projects ever. Located in the main town of Rønne, the 20,000 m2 campus can be reached by public transport from any town on the island within an hour. This makes it possible for young people to pursue upper secondary education in their local community close to their family and friends. The concentration of programmes at the new campus promotes knowledge sharing and collaboration across the programmes and makes it easier for local businesses to recruit qualified local labour.

The shared campus functions are gathered around a large central square while the individual study programmes are organized along small squares and streets. The facade is clad with recycled copper and zinc, the flooring is granite from local quarries and the roofs are covered with sedum. Campus Bornholm covers its heating and cooling needs by reusing geothermal energy in thermo-active slabs. The intelligent geothermal system continually adjusts its output as needed, which contributes to a healthy indoor climate. An active solar system on the industrial roofscape covers the building’s electricity needs.

This project demonstrates how an attractive learning environment can strengthen the local community. The project is also an example of how natural resources can be used to minimize a building’s energy consumption.

Project details

Where: Minervavej 1, 3700 Rønne

Completed: 2018

Client: Campus Bornholm

Architects and advisors: Cubo (main) and Nova5 Arkitekter, Henrik Jørgensen Landskab (landscape), Dominia (engineer), Lars Ørtoft (engineer)