BAN canteen and studio building

2013-2022

In Cologne, on the edge of an inner-city park, an association of various educational institutions, the ‘Bildungslandschaft Altstadt Nord’ (BAN), has been established. In addition to the existing grammar school and evening school as well as youth education facilities, five new buildings were realised by gernot schulz : architektur: the last piece of the puzzle, the canteen and studio building, has now been put into use. Like the study centre, it is available to all BAN institutions as a so-called composite building.

The ‘canteen and studio building’ (MAG) picks up on the materiality and polygonal design language of the buildings opposite the park. Repetitive niches and room layouts provide the communal areas of the MAG with ever new learning, recreational and identification spaces.

Due to the high number of users in the canteen, the eight institutions now involved in the educational landscape make it possible to set up a so-called fresh kitchen. A team of chefs can cook and serve up to 1000 meals a day, staggered from kindergarten to evening classes. The fan-shaped architecture creates room compartments that avoid the typical anonymous open-plan space and also make it possible to separate different user groups if required. A well thought-out serving system enables used trays to be distributed and returned quickly. The first floor houses the students’ self-study centre and the student café under the management of the caterer. The room is deliberately designed to be open and is only equipped with loose furniture. It is available to all those involved in the various facilities, whether teachers, parents or children.

On the top floor, the studio rooms expand BAN’s educational programme. There is a studio each for dance, drama, handicrafts and cookery. Here, too, the rooms have been kept free of furniture as far as possible in order to provide space for ideas and development. The dance studio was given a wooden sprung floor, mirror and ballet barre, the drama room a small mobile stage and all the technical equipment in the cookery studio was placed on the wall to maintain the multifunctionality of the room.

MAG’s direct neighbour is a youth facility that is an active part of the educational landscape and has become a lively meeting point for the adjacent playground and park with its colourful kiosk.