Cerklje ob Krki Elementary School

The existing school is a typical school building from the early 20th century featuring classic classroom typology suited to traditional teaching methods. We recognized the building as integral part of village structure and decided to keep it. The new building responds to the scale of the village. The new school promotes contemporary teaching methods: working in small groups instead of frontal method, curriculum integration, and mixed age groups. Pupil’s pathways are clearly defined. Each school stage is housed in their own functional unit with its own entrance. Gym with zenithal lightning is in the centre of the building. Its interior windows transmit the light to the corridors. The gym becomes the core space of the school. It is accessibility from both the hall and through a separate entrance for external visitors. We placed great care to natural lightning: and designed sufficient facade length. On the other hand, the compact design means significantly smaller facade surface, thus reducing construction costs.