German Gymnasium Langenhagen

2018-2022

The spatial complexity of a school for 1,700 pupils and 200 teachers is met with the simplest possible basic structure for the new school. School life in the new building is to be characterised by easy access to all areas via the shortest and simplest possible routes and contact with the openness, airiness and diversity of the surrounding landscape. The roof of the ground-floor volume is designed as an extended part of the schoolyard. The year groups, organised as clusters in ‘stepped houses’, have direct access to the outdoor areas via pergolas. A ring-shaped school boulevard links all ground-floor functions and, together with the foyer and the assembly hall, forms the ‘heart of the school’. This boulevard is designed as a ‘pathway space’, enabling a variety of uses: work niches, group tables, presentation areas on walls and in showcases, meeting points and retreat areas. The entrance is inserted into the ring-shaped boulevard via a large entrance courtyard to provide space and atmosphere for the school community to arrive each morning. The sports halls and canteen are combined in a building that celebrates these large spatial volumes and shields the school grounds from the noisy street to the west. Wherever building and fire protection regulations permit, wood is chosen as the primary and finishing material.