a competition entry for a new volksschule in graz, austria (in collaboration with jörg thöne).
1 – encounters with education. education in public. opening up education. learning happens outside of the classroom. the classroom happens outside of the school. education in public. the building becomes an active part of the entire environment.
2 – superstructure. new landscapes. the building creates multiple orientations and is a starting point for new landscapes emerging from the interaction of the building with the site.
3 – axonometric of the volksschule. as a single hexagonal form the volksschule building has a low surface area to volume ratio.
4 – entry level floor plan. openness, closeness and separation describe the spatial arrangements of the volksschule where productive encounters will occur between a variety of individuals and groups.
5 – longitudinal section. a large staircase cuts through the building inviting the public sphere into the school. the stair becomes an interior street, encouraging activities beyond locomotion - gathering, social exchange, performance, studying, etc.
6 – south elevation. square window openings are punched deep into the exterior facades of the building to provide the opportunity for external shading and glare control.
7 – scale model. thermal compactness encourages program density and overlap where the properties of thermal mass intensify an active interior environment.
the competition entry for the volksschule design provides an encounter with education that operates under the assumption that everything is in everything. learning occurs at a variety of scales and the environments for learning should encourage openness (to larger cultural contexts) while maintaining closeness (between participants) and separation (defining specific use).
the concept for the neubau volksschule mariagrün is based on a compact geometric form that intensifies internal social activity while providing inertia against exterior conditions. in response to passivehaus standards, the building enclosure creates a spatial barrier that controls exterior climate fluctuations. starting from this spatial barrier, the school’s position in the site establishes a boundary from which new landscapes begin – folding out from the building as extensions of human activity: entry court, bike storage yard, sports field, grounds for play, paths for access and exploration. the enclosure and occupation of the building creates a grounding point for the activities of the new landscapes corresponding to the six exterior surfaces of the plan geometry.
the volksschule plan is a dense organization of activity. program areas overlap and flow together to create diverse scales of learning within a unified building form. movement within the plan occurs from space to space (place to place). there are no hallways. transitions between places are articulated by partitions and furniture. the student homebase areas are located at the perimeter of the building enclosure defining an interior territory where the study islands overlap / coincide to create a zone for the teachers to work and interact. science stations, bookcases and reading pits, positioned in the study island areas, anchor specific places for learning while allowing an open relationship between individual and collective experience. the productive overlap of program areas frees up space for un-programmed zones. the large staircase which cuts through the building volume provides an area for the children to linger and gather while at the same time inviting the public sphere into controlled areas of the school for after school third party activities.