URBAN ROOFSCAPE

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In the new Reininghaus district of Graz, a new elementary school is to be built on the edge of the development area. On the side facing the city, however, there is a steel mill and other heavy industry in the immediate vicinity. Therefore, in the call for proposals for the competition, a four-story development facing this side was suggested as a noise barrier for the entire area. The advantage of this situation is that from there all students have a view from the 1st floor on the Graz "Schloßberg", the heart and soul of the city. This topographical reference seemed important to us to make experienceable for the students.

The classes are oriented to the new part of the city, the terraced silhouette allows each class to have an outdoor class and a class garden from which one can access the general break and play areas in the outdoor space. We understand the school as a landscape and also as a place of security for the development of the children, therefore we propose "school apartments" instead of classes, which each class community can arrange itself with its teachers. We want to avoid rigid corridors and work on the experiential space for children through which they can move every day with pleasure, both inside and outside. Discover and take possession of, create and use with joy.  In this school, the child and a soul development should be in the foreground and not the specifications of the school board, how efficiently the cleaning machine gets through the building. Maybe that's why we didn't win, but the well-being of the children in cooperation with the teachers is more important to us: Sometimes you just have to set priorities. 

By the way, all the award winners did not leave the right angle.