Company: hammeskrause architekten bda
Project team: Nils Krause, Joep Kuys
Client: Hochbauamt Stuttgart on behalf of Schulverwaltungsamt, Referat Jugend und Bildung
User: Anne-Frank-Gemeinschafts- und Heilbrunnenschule
Effective area: 470 m²
Floor area: 660 m²
Building volume: 3,170 m³
Completion: 2019
Photo credit: Wolf-Dieter Gericke, hammeskrause architekten and Wolf-Dieter Gericke, Philipp Muerdter
Description:
Mensa Anne-Frank-Gemeinschaftsschule und Heilbrunnenschule, Stuttgart
Cafeteria for Anne Frank School and Heilbrunnen School, Stuttgart
There are few projects in which decision-making on the building design through a participatory procedure is more appropriate than in building for pupils. This has undeniably been achieved with the new cafeteria building for the Anne Frank School and the Heilbrunnen School in Stuttgart. The cafeteria is the place for joint lunches and school functions. In terms of urban planning, the cafeteria is positioned so that it succeeds in integrating both school buildings structurally and spatially via the shared schoolyard. This also allows the different pedagogical focuses of both schools and their pupils to meet the intense social demand for lived inclusion. Hence it obviously follows that precisely this involvement in the design process for the cafeteria can be a central aspect of an integrative and participatory procedure. This was convincingly achieved for the design of the envelope covering the roof and the wall. It became the self-evident and intuitive identification and projection surface for the interactive merging and coexistence of both schools on the campus.
The new cafeteria building is located in its access area. In terms of urban planning, it forms both the entrance and the end of the schoolyard. The campus is characterised by several school buildings typical of the 1960s. Rough exposed-aggregate concrete parapets alternate with brown, thick-profiled ribbon windows made of tropical wood. The roofs are flat and hard. Not replicating this in the design of the new cafeteria is due to the desire for a contemporary expression of the positive and enriching diversity that a school should facilitate. Its archetype, combining roof and wall into one strong element, deliberately contrasts with the existing buildings, thereby creating a robust visibility for the new, vibrant building block in the grey, heterogeneous suburban fabric for the students, the teachers and the residents of the district.
In a number of intensive, joint workshops held over a period of several months, the pupils of both schools developed and discussed ideas and variants, from which they elaborated a generally approved colour concept for the new building shell. This hands-on design process was accompanied by the art teachers and moderated by the architects.
The idea of a “flower meadow for a picnic” developed in the workshops could be implemented without any changes. This one, jointly designed layer of four differently coloured aluminium shingles is a symbol for the pulsating heart of both schools and the pupils with their very different talents. Realising that you can make a difference, that you can contribute to making the world a “better place” has become the central message for the children.
Bright and light, the roof-wall element spans the dining and function hall without any supports. Its fully glazed gable opens up the cafeteria towards the campus as an inviting gesture. Due to its eastward orientation, the interior and the schoolyard merge into one another. The interior fit-out and its elements support this spatial connection. Deliberately positioned openings in the walls and roof allow daylight to enter and direct the eye to the outside.
