Nr. Vium culture centre

The transformation of Nr. Vium School brings renewal without compromising the integrity and authenticity of the buildings. The site’s cultural, historical, and architectural values are both preserved and reinterpreted as the spaces are transformed into new uses.

A SCHOOL BECOMES A VILLAGE

Nr. Vium Parish is a rural area with no formal village center. For generations, the school building served as a natural gathering place for the entire parish. When the school closed, a group of local residents took the initiative and reactivated the site as a new meeting point for everyone in the community – regardless of age or interests.

Their ambition led to the development of a multifunctional community hub, with spaces for a kindergarten, a multi-purpose hall for sports and culture, a sensory motor room, a library, a communal kitchen, workshops, informal meeting zones, as well as outdoor facilities including a playground, barbecue area, parkour course, and crossfit zone.

The school has become the village that never existed. It is now the place where people pass by, meet, hang out, drop off and pick up children, and engage in shared everyday life – the place for a casual chat over the hedge and the natural focal point of local community and leisure life.

CAREFUL TRANSFORMATION, HONEST ARCHITECTURE

The project respects the existing buildings and reduces interventions to what is necessary. Selective demolition has opened up a new spatial logic, creating larger, interconnected rooms that support movement, play, performance, and gathering. The architectural strategy fosters openness and transparency: people encounter one another through former classroom doors, now repurposed as French balconies overlooking the new multipurpose hall.

Where buildings have been removed, the remaining facades are left with visible traces – architectural “scars” telling the story of transformation. These are wrapped in wood-clad external insulation, expressing change while also improving energy performance. In another part of the site, the brick walls of a demolished teacher’s residence are preserved and transformed into a new parkour landscape.

A COMMUNITY-BUILT VISION

The project is rooted in equal collaboration between local citizens, institutions, and architects – a process that has solidly anchored the transformation in the local community. Cornelius Vöge, as consultant architect, developed the competition proposal and led the architectural design through all phases up to tender, in collaboration with Erik Brandt Dam Arkitekter.

Literature:
50 Buildings – Danish Architecture 2016-2022, Arkitektens Forlag 2023
Arkitekten 04, Arkitektur 2016-2019, maj 2020, vol. 122

Awards:
Vinder af REnoverprisen 2017

Photo: STAMERS KONTOR

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