Understated, ingenious makeover!

Info & Images: Courtesy franz-architekten

 

.

A strategic spurt of multi-colours augments the restructure and extension of the old Gainfarn School in Austria into a brand new community vocabulary...

From recent educational institution architecture examples, we observe a pattern of community living that is ingrained into the students’ mindsets. This coupled with a vibrant ambience makes for a vivified environment that fosters the desire to come to school and consequently, promotes wholesome knowledge sharing.

.

The Gainfarn school building, which is revived by demolishing the wardens’ old residential wing and using the subgrade to construct a new one-storey centre for the school, has besides extending its classrooms and gym hall, used a continuous ceiling of slim coloured bands as its pièce de résistance.

.

A multicoloured lamella ceiling forms significant canopies and connects all access and communication areas of the ground floor and is complemented by a very robust and durable bitumen terrazzo flooring that leads through the entire school and in the shape of large sitting steps, connects the two floors of the new classroom wing like a tribune.

.

The basic classroom module is opened up towards the recess rooms with windows forming sitting niches. This facilitates a feeling of camaraderie as the gym halls located on the ground floor in the immediate vicinity of the outside sports areas, can also be used after school hours by other sportspersons or for external events, because they have a separate entrance and can be sectioned off from the rest of the school.

.

Between inside and outside, dedicated entrances and exits anoint the schoolyard, sports ground, and parking area. The library, a polyvalent room and all sports locker rooms are grouped in free form in the central new block, making it possible to devise the necessary access paths as a walkabout with prospects into the landscape instead of dead ends.

.

The wooden floor in herringbone pattern, plant troughs and floor lamps create an open-air living room; large circular seating furniture with integrated light cupolas provides the ground floor with daylight; on the upper floor, is a large, sheltered roof terrace...  the entire building is designed to conform to low energy standards.

 

.

Elaborating on the construction, the franz-architekten inform us that while the old building parts turned out to be very flexible and adaptable due to their armoured concrete skeleton structure, and are easily absorbed into the new schematic, all dividing walls between classes are erected in lightweight construction and ribbon windows provide consistent lighting and facilitate future adaptation of room sizes.

 

.

With regard to detail construction, interior fittings and façades, old and new building parts are treated alike. Lined with fibre cement tiles in different shades of grey, the entire ensemble forms a new school that presents a very dignified exterior and a very alive interior!