MARELD has transformed the schoolyard at Malmö Latinskolan through circular and resource-efficient landscape architecture, using existing qualities and materials as the starting point. The school is a heritage-listed environment, and the outdoor space needed to complement its historic character while meeting the needs of today’s young people and the climate challenges of the future. By reusing stone from Malmö City’s own storage facilities, materials already present in the city have been given a new life. Together with new trees, visible stormwater management and carefully considered additions, a robust and greener schoolyard has emerged.
Malmö Latinskolan is a place with an unusually long history. Teaching has taken place here for more than 600 years, and the current main building, dating from 1879, is a distinctive part of Malmö’s cultural heritage. In front of the classical school building was a large and rather hard-surfaced schoolyard that had become worn over time and was also affected by standing water.
The starting point was simple: minimise, reuse and complement.
Instead of beginning by selecting new materials, Malmö City’s existing material storage was surveyed. It contained setts, large granite paving stones, granite slabs and kerbstones that already had a history elsewhere in the city. These materials were brought into the project and became an important part of the new design. This also meant allowing the materials themselves to influence the design.
The stones varied in size, quantity and character, requiring a responsive and flexible approach. Rather than being discarded for being imperfect, the variation of the reused materials became a quality in itself. By combining the existing stone with carefully considered additions, a new whole was created with a clear connection to the architecture of the site.
Planting Design
The design principle was to maintain a strict axiality, drawing inspiration from classical heritage environments. By introducing trees that will gradually form a light, dappled canopy, the hard surface is softened and the schoolyard will appear increasingly green over time.
The trees have been selected to withstand the site’s extreme conditions: a dry, sun-exposed and windy environment. The selection includes fast-growing species that develop into large trees without becoming overly dense, such as Kentucky coffeetree, empress tree, honey locust and elm.
When the conditions change
The project initially aimed to minimise interventions and preserve the existing trees. However, soil testing revealed contamination, meaning that large parts of the schoolyard had to be excavated. Some of the trees could not be retained, and the conditions for stormwater management consequently changed.
Rather than seeing this as a setback, the necessary earthworks became an opportunity to rethink the design. The new ground structure could be designed with a porous load-bearing layer and structural soil, allowing stormwater to move through the ground. Drainage pipes were connected to the trees’ root zones, allowing water to reach the trees from below. In this way, stormwater becomes a resource rather than something that needs to be quickly carried away.
Water has also become part of the design. A defined floodable area functions as a temporary reflecting pool even during smaller rainfall events, making something that would otherwise remain invisible – the movement of water through the schoolyard – part of the experience.
