School Building of the Year 2026: Atuarfik Inussuk wins both the Industry Award and the Public Choice Award

There was cheering at Atuarfik Inussuk in Nuuk, as the school’s pupils and staff watched Nohrcon’s awards ceremony via livestream and were told that their school had won both the public’s choice award and the industry award for School Building of the Year 2026.

”This is a fantastic honour, and we are, of course, both delighted and proud to have won both awards. We’ve been in close dialogue with the school’s users throughout the project, so it means a great deal that Atuarfik Inussuk has received such strong support from both professionals and the general public,” says Janina Zerbe.

A school on a child-friendly scale

With capacity for around 1,300 children, Atuarfik Inussuk is one of Greenland’s largest schools. It is organised like a small village with interconnected buildings, where each age group has its own base on a manageable scale. From here, the children can gradually explore the school’s spaces and communities as they get older.

The architecture is closely linked to the site. The characteristic profiles of the roofs reflect the mountain landscape, whilst the colours of the façades draw on Greenlandic building traditions. Motifs of local animals and plants help the children find their way around and, at the same time, form part of the learning environment. The Arctic climate has also influenced the design, with a focus, amongst other things, on making the most of daylight and creating sheltered outdoor spaces.

The school is not only intended as a place of learning, but also as a meeting place for the local community, offering opportunities for activities outside school hours.

Architecture rooted in its location

For Janina Zerbe, the awards are also about highlighting the importance of good physical environments for children and young people in Greenland.

”All children deserve a school where thought has been given to both the big picture and the small details of their everyday lives. One of the things I particularly like about Atuarfik Inussuk is how all these different considerations have been incorporated into the same architectural design. It is not a school that could simply be built anywhere. It has been designed specifically for Nuuk and the people who will use it,” says Janina Zerbe.

”I also think the awards are a fine recognition of the excellent interdisciplinary collaboration that underpins the school. We have succeeded in bringing together many different considerations to achieve a result we can all be proud of,” says Janina Zerbe.