The European School Copenhagen

Educational spaces in the historic Carlberg City

The European School is located in the heart of Carlsberg City among the district’s high-quality heritage buildings. It is a modern take on a school that refers architecturally to its surroundings.

On the corner of Ny Carlsberg Vej and Pasteursvej, close to the Elephant Gate, the Machine Storage Building, the Winding Chimney, and the Storage Tank Cellar, The European School boasts a highly prominent location in the very heart of Carlsberg City.

The European School is an internationally accredited state school in Copenhagen, comprising a school, leisure activities, a sports hall, and outdoor areas. The European School is a division of the internationally known secondary school, Sankt Annæ Gymnasium.

It is an international school, offering languages, science subjects, and music, creating an excellent framework for friendships and networks across local and international families.

The School in the City

The design and position of the school have been carefully planned to interact with the existing buildings and create urban spaces on a human scale. Experiences, passageways, smooth transitions between indoors and out, urban life, and spaces for socialising are a top priority.

In terms of space, The European School is a 5-storey block. To the south, the ground floor is connected to the School’s freestanding sports hall. Between the School and the sports hall, there is an expansive, public, urban landscape. The ‘floor’ of the City from Ny Carlsberg Vej to Franciska Clausen’s Plads continues through the school on two levels: through the large open canteen on the ground floor; and through a public urban landscape above the roof of the canteen. On the ground floor, the School’s more public, communal facilities serve as an extension of the City’s space, creating an active peripheral zone.

The open ground floor and the public roof landscape help create an identity and urban life in an educational universe, in which zones for contemplation, discussion, and physical expression are an integral part of both The European School and the neighbourhood. Conversely, though, it also encourages the residents of the neighbourhood to come in, making it easy to use the School’s facilities for a wide variety of purposes.

The School is designed with large spatial variation, featuring close interaction between indoors and out. On Franciska Clausen’s Plads, the building opens up towards the City in a playful, multi-level learning landscape. With an architectural reference to the artist who gave the square its name, the area has a unique character and identity.

The sports hall is positioned to serve as a covered expansion of the square: a direct continuation of the City’s floor.