By the end of June 2012 the third largest Viennese campus model – Campus Donaufeld North – has been completed and hand over to its future users. The educational concept of the campus model aims to be an educational institution conjoining kindergarten, elementary school and after school education within one place.
The usual idea of this kind of campus is realized by the use of overlapping outdoor areas (with different qualities and relevances), common rooms, circulation and functional rooms within the building. Our design however discards this symmetry in favour of a real spatial conjunction of individual functions without denying their functional identity. The three main functional groups – kindergarten, elementary school and after school education – are not arranged symmetrically. The kindergarten and the elementary school are organized on top of each other creating a simple and in the long run flexible modifiable structure. A second U-shaped structure is shoved below and attached to the main structure combining all the remaining functions. The overlapping of both functional structures creates the essential central courtyard serving as the main entrance to the campus site and an inviting effect towards the Donaufelder street. Visual connections refer to the outdoor space and the after school education as the central innovation of the campus idea. Most of the courtyard is roofed which creates a central meeting point for children and their parents.
Client: GESIBA Gemeinnützige Siedlungs- und Bauaktiengesellschaft mbH
Team: Karin Prieler, Norbert Schindler, Daniel Bergmayr, Jürgen Pichler
Competition: 2009
Start of Planning: 2009
Start of Construction: August 2010
Completion: June 2012
Photographs: Paul Ott