primary school wattens – 1st place

‘THE POWER OF THE SIMPLE’ In terms of urban space, the new positioning of the elementary school creates a clear structure as a counterpoint to the middle school building opposite.  The school building confidently fits into the differentiated development on the church square and creates peace in its simplicity.  The building maintains a distance from the yellow zone on the Wattenbach and at the same time generates high-quality open space. A striking overhang on the upper floors signals the entrance loggia in a central location and forms a new address that creates identity. The central axis between the auditorium and the central cloakroom revitalizes the center. The open entrance floor with student cloakroom, auditorium, music and afternoon care communicates with the public urban space. An “access landscape” folds over a spacious staircase in the airspace of the central atrium from the entrance level to the upper floors. A conscious division of cluster areas and administration into the upper floors and the sports facilities into the basement creates easy orientation in the school building. On the upper floors, the market squares with covered loggias are oriented towards the garden, but also towards the central, light-flooded center of the building, the open atrium as the heart of the school building. The building, designed as a hybrid (basement floors in concrete construction, upper floors in solid wood construction), is characterized by a wooden column facade system with vertical profiles both inside and out. A sunken garden courtyard in the north generously illuminates the gymnasium on the 2nd basement with direct daylight. The clearly designed school structure generates open space adequate for an all-day school, which the large-scale development of the old school did not previously have. All green areas are not built under, maximum areas are unsealed, the “sponge city” principle with newly planted trees ensures climate-friendly green spaces in the best possible way in times of climate change and allows for a “real” school and play garden with the appropriate quality.