NEW WEISSENSTEIN SCHOOLHOUSE AND DOUBLE SPORTS HALL
The Weissenstein school complex is extended by adding a schoolhouse and a double sports hall, each in a separate volume. The two buildings define a new schoolyard that is divided into different areas for play and recreation.
The facades of the new buildings adopt the light-coloured clinker brick used in the complex, employing it in a new, contemporary way in Flemish and stretcher bond. Omitting the headers in the parapets creates a perforated grid (for night-time cooling), while projecting headers at the ends of one building and above the windows of the other create an unmistakable play of light and shade and give the new buildings a specific identity.
In both buildings an internal hall shapes the character. And not just spatially, as these halls also serve to naturally cross-ventilate all the spaces. This enables a sustainable structure to be created that does not require highly serviced ventilation technology. Areas of colour articulate the halls of both the school and the sports building, giving them individual identities within the context of a shared architectural theme.
The schoolhouse becomes a «school environment» with a central internal space, the two-storey school hall. Thanks to a coordinated fire protection concept this hall can be fully used for teaching purposes. Through its precise topographical positioning at two levels the sports hall is integrated in the sports complex. This architectural and site planning concept becomes part of everyday school life.
