new school design in Warsaw by Medusa Group
Medusa Group has designed Akademia High School in Warsaw with a large central courtyard surrounded by stepped seating that leads to a herb garden roof. The canteen, which has been designed to be “like a fashionable restaurant”, is used throughout the day, shifting from being a restaurant to a cafe, reading room or performance space. Designed as an alternative to traditional schools, Akademia High School has a system of flexible rooms that create an “educational ecosystem” of “ambiguous, multifunctional and inspiring spaces”.
Changes in the public education system in Poland have not kept up with changes in the lives of young people.
This was the basis of creating an atmosphere that would encourage people to stay in the school outside class hours.
Facing the street, a steel frame clad in timber planks surrounds a glazed inner facade, providing privacy and creating an effect of translucency. At ground level, this gap becomes a covered walkway that runs around the entire edge of the school.
The roof garden, as well as housing bee hives, is intended for growing herbs that can be used by the school canteen below, further contributing to the school’s ecosystem. The building achieved a LEED Platinum rating for its environmental and energy-saving solutions.
