landeck elementary school

existing building
the original elementary school from 1902 was a building harmonious in proportion and façade design, a product of its time. several renovation phases, an additional storey, and an unfortunate extension on the west side—including a new plaster façade—have transformed the original building negatively. the current appearance bears no relation to the historic building; its proportions are now flawed, it is too tall, and not child-friendly.
technically and functionally, the building no longer meets contemporary requirements. particularly, the new, forward-looking spatial concepts outlined in the tender cannot be efficiently implemented within the old building structure. to achieve even minimal openness and fluid spatial transitions within the clusters—or the required openness at the entrance with auditorium, music room, dining area, and library—numerous load-bearing walls would need to be removed at great effort, and the heavy brick walls above would have to be underpinned.
the new gymnasium is difficult to integrate into the old building structure. the required new underground parking would have to be built around the old building, making optimal connection impossible and preventing a space-saving organization of parking spaces.
demolishing the existing elementary school allows entirely new urban development opportunities: a reformulation and enhancement of the education campus (elementary school – new secondary school – music school), a new traffic solution with optimal underground parking arrangement, and, last but not least, a fully optimized elementary school building. moreover, demolition is economically advantageous in the long term, especially regarding energy efficiency. the existing building is a constraint for the project; therefore, demolition is proposed.

urban design concept
demolishing the old elementary school frees up an urban space bounded on three sides by public, partially large buildings such as the church, the new secondary school, music school, klösterle, and the old and new widum. the fourth side to the west consists of small, low private houses.
the new elementary school responds to this context by remaining low toward the small private houses and rising terraced toward the public buildings: one storey in the west and three storeys in the east. a large, cohesive education campus emerges, including the new secondary school, music school, elementary school, and potentially a future kindergarten on the site of the new widum.
this education campus is conceived as a large, paved plaza connecting all buildings up to the church. the very large trees of the old school garden remain on generous green islands, horizontally arranged on the sloped plaza, creating seating and lounging opportunities for students and other users of the public space. the plaza functions as a shared space, with all traffic participants treated equally.

indoor campus
from the new school plaza, a covered, weather-protected entrance leads into the center of the new school. the auditorium, dining area, music room, library, gymnasium with gallery, and bouldering hall form a generous, cohesive play and learning landscape—the indoor campus—which wraps around an inner courtyard, the outdoor campus with a seating arena.
indoor and outdoor campuses provide space for all types of events and serve as gathering points for all students. they invite sitting and observing, serving as recreational, play, and learning spaces while supporting clear orientation within the building.
the spatial conception of the indoor campus reinforces the spirit of the school: openness, clarity, legibility, connectivity, generosity, and light-filled friendliness. in warm seasons, the dining hall, library, and special classrooms can open to the outdoor campus, creating seamless, barely perceptible transitions between inside and outside, allowing for outdoor meals, relaxation, and outdoor workshops.

clusters
clusters are arranged terraced in two levels above the ground floor. two or three classrooms connect with the open learning landscape and changing rooms to form a cluster. large roof sheds expand the vertical volume of the learning landscape and provide optimal, glare-free daylighting.
sliding walls allow classrooms within a cluster to open fluidly into the learning landscape, while glass elements enable teachers to oversee the learning zones from adjacent spaces. all learning landscapes have direct access to the terraced outdoor areas in front. the roof sheds include stepped seating for outdoor classes.

outdoor space
outdoor lessons, even rain-protected, can take place directly adjacent to classrooms and learning landscapes. part of the spatial concept is the extension of learning areas with directly adjoining outdoor space. shading trees in the indoor campus or on the terraced earth mounds can serve as seating or lounging areas. the diverse spatial situations offer a variety of uses for different groups and individuals. areas are open, legible, and multifunctional.

external uses
for external users—the marksmen company and guild, the museum association storage, and external users of the bouldering hall and gym—there is a separate entrance on the west side, allowing independent use from the school operations. the city library has its own prominent entrance on the north side of the school plaza, directly opposite the klösterle and music school, establishing it as an important institution on the entire education campus. the library’s location within the building allows internal connection to the indoor and outdoor campus.

underground parking
the new elementary school allows an efficient and space-saving underground parking layout, as it does not need to be built around an existing building. entrance, exit, and access are located at the northwest corner of the site, with direct internal connection to the elementary school.

fire safety and escape routes
all load-bearing elements are constructed of reinforced concrete, providing an r90-a2 classification for the structural system. the terraced building allows escape from the two upper floors directly onto the terraces and from there to existing ground levels. the underground parking and elementary school basement share an additional escape staircase at the southeast corner. from any point in the building, the outdoor space (courtyards, terraces) can be reached within less than 40 m, with escape always possible in at least two directions.

energy concept
the energy concept is based on passive optimization, including omitting suspended ceilings to utilize the thermal mass of reinforced concrete floors and walls. acoustic elements are suspended to preserve thermal effectiveness.
the base heating of the highly insulated building uses radiant concrete core activation, while peak loads are covered by static heating surfaces as needed. at night, skylights can be opened for rain-protected cross-ventilation, expelling warm air and bringing in cooler outside air. night cooling also restores the thermal mass for the next day. wide canopies or overhanging building parts provide glare-free daylight, prevent summer overheating, and allow rain-protected ventilation. green roofs with thick humus layers absorb and delay energy input, contributing to additional thermal stabilization. evaporative cooling from soil moisture further enhances this effect.

economy and ecology
to allow maximum interior flexibility, load-bearing walls are used only as necessary for horizontal building stabilization. load-bearing elements consist of reinforced concrete columns and floors, partially with reinforced concrete beams. optionally, upper floors can be built predominantly with prefabricated cross-laminated timber panels with acoustic milling on the underside, enabling high prefabrication and fast construction. material selection prioritizes ecological impact, CO₂ emissions from production, transport, and deconstruction.