primaryschool roppen – 1st place

The existing elementary school building, kindergarten and the gymnasium behind them form an ensemble on the “edge of the village” with limited openings. Behind it sits the listed parish church of St. Leonhard – an impressive sight that needs to be preserved during the renovation of the school! The proposed conversion of the attic combines the existing building with a clear design approach and puts the height into perspective. The addition and expansion of the existing gymnasium are designed to be calm, and the lightweight wooden construction can be visually experienced from the outside! In our concept, the required learning landscape leads to the addition of two wooden building floors, which appear to be striving towards the sky due to the facade structure. The two-story roof structure is clad in a uniformly structured cladding. Precisely planned openings consider the qualities of the existing building (sgraffito) and enable targeted views of the village center and nature. The new learning landscape also enriches the existing building, and the location of the sanitary rooms hides underexposed areas towards the forecourt. Two spacious clusters of 4 invite you to linger on the 1st and 2nd floors, both in the existing building and in the new one. The entire learning area runs like a lifeline through the two teaching levels. At the entrance level you can easily find the school administration rooms as well as the new dining area with a warm-up kitchen for healthy snacks, which can be used synergistically by everyone thanks to its central location. On hot summer days or at celebrations, the dining area can be extended outdoors. To give the school more space on the sunny side, seating steps and raised beds in the afternoon care area could be extremely upgraded – without much effort – by eliminating just 3 parking spaces. The existing structure is massively monolithic, but open-pored due to the addition of floors: the slatted structure of the wooden building is in communicative exchange with the surroundings and, in the evening, acts as a “light body” and sets a signal for a place of education and a contemporary design approach to roofs in the historic preservation area!