Denmark

The school was designed as timber construction, making it one of the country’s first wooden schools in recent times. The school’s shape is not optimal in terms of achieving a low climate impact per m², as due to daylight requirements for virtually all rooms there is a need for a large façade area per m² floor area. At the same time, the building is in 1-2 storeys, which significantly impacts the roof and terrain decks per m² of floor area. Therefore, the materials have been optimised considerably with a wood column-beam construction, wood on interior surfaces and wood as façade cladding. To support the pedagogical ideas and learning attitudes, the architecture is designed as a series of simple and open geometries – a tight grid of columns where each part has been designed with different elements together with users in a co-creation process. The school is characterised by a multitude of different types of spaces that support the activity-based teaching method. Large common rooms, typical classrooms, small learning spaces and small niches.

Life cycle modules 
[kgCO₂e/m² reference area * year]

Type of emissions
%

When do emissions occur?
[kgCO₂e/m² reference area * year]

The system includes key modules from the product, use and end-of-life stages according to Danish industry practice by the time. The project lies below the current limit value of 12 kgCO2e/m2a specified in the building regulations. Generic values for building services are included to complete the inventory.
In the second figure, Operation includes B6, while materials include A1-A3, B4, C3-C4.
In the third figure, Upfront includes A1-A3, scenarios include B4, C3-C4, and D is shown separately.For a timber construction, upfront carbon is low while high in the end-of-life stage due to the biogenic carbon balance.

GWP / reference area [kgCO₂e/m² reference area]

Material inventory: All materials
Life cycle modules: A1-A3, B4, C3-C4

The low-rise structure results in the highest impacts from the roof and the ground floor deck.
The timber column and beam frame are low-carbon optimised.

Building element quantity / reference area [kg building element / m² reference area]

GWP of building element / building element quantity [kgCO₂e / kg building element]

■ Quantity/Area ■ GWP/Quantity

Material inventory: All materials
Life cycle modules: A1-A3, B4, C3-C4

Building element quantity per building reference area is a measure for the material intensity, while element impacts per element quantity is a measure for the elements’ carbon intensity relative to their weight.

The ground floor structure and foundation products dominate the GWP ranking due to the low building height.

Product quantity / reference area [kg product / m² reference area]

GWP of product / reference area [kgCO₂e/m² reference area]

■ Quantity/Area ■ GWP/Area

Material inventory: Top 10 products with the highest impacts
Life cycle modules: A1-A3, B4, C3-C4

Construction product quantity per building reference area is a measure for the material intensity, while product impacts per building reference area is a measure for carbon intensity.

Also at product level, ground floor structure and foundations rank the highest, followed by roofing material and windows.