Community Primary School Caesarstrasse

2006-2009

In dialogue with the existing brick building of the sports hall, an ensemble is created around an old plane tree, which transforms the existing hidden backyard into a small urban situation of alleys and squares. A precise spatial edge is set to the north, marking the edge of the festival meadow. A single incision in the volume marks the visual relationship to the church tower opposite. To the south, the building has a sculptural form. Projections, recesses and overhangs mark the square and entrance. The uniformity of materials on all surfaces emphasises the sculptural nature of the building.

The idea of ‘making the hidden visible’ is continued with the yellow clinker brick. It echoes the materialisation of the interior of the sports hall. Visitors and users of the new building are first welcomed through the small entrance hall, from where they are distributed to the individual rooms and floors. The entire OGTS area with childcare rooms and dining hall, as well as the associated functional rooms, are located on the ground floor, with additional classrooms and classrooms with natural light above. Teachers’ rooms are located on the upper floor. All wall surfaces of the pathways and common rooms are also made of yellow clinker brick. Only the classrooms are plastered in a ‘neutral’ white colour. Coloured cubes mark the classroom entrances. In the stairwells, the use of clinker brick as a floor covering provokes an interplay of material, light and movement, turning the building into an architectural school.