Rapid Palace / Visiondivision

After a grade school in Sweden, with a very limited budget, contacted Visiondivision to transform their schoolyard, the team decided to use the school’s existing budget for asphalt maintenance as the means to improve the yard.  Limited budgets always pose a challenge for projects, yet the team saw this as the opportunity to experiment with different materials to stay within their monetary restraints. “With the help of the fast growing Swedish bamboo Salix, we managed to create a large visual impact on the boring asphalt yard that also was relatively inexpensive,” explained the architects.

More about the palace after the break.

“A pattern combined from plans of palaces from all over the world is created by tearing away parts of the existing asphalt,” explained the architects.   After removing the vast area of asphalt, the voids were filled with Salix, a material known for its strength, height and  its rapid growth.   The sculpted bamboo forest creates little niches for play areas and larger areas for outdoor teaching when the weather permits.

When the children return to school, the Salix walls of the palace will already reach half their height of 4 meters and create “a magnificent palace to play in and cultivate their imagination”.   And, in twenty five years, the architects have planned to “harvest the Salix and ship it as eco fuel to the nearby heating plant or it can become furniture for the new castle that will rise for the next generation of kids.”

Existing area

Type: Client

Status: Under review

Birth:  2008

Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

Credits: visiondivision through Anders Berensson & Ulf Mejergren

www.visiondivision.com