Nominated for the National Architecture & Sustainability Award 2017
New pedagogical concepts ask for new architectural forms. To transform the elementary school in Edlach into a contemporary cluster school, the new building arranges the master classes and group rooms as small units and offers a wide range of spatial configurations. The circulation space is reduced to a minimum.
Parallel to the existing gym, the 70-meter-long new main building arranges the teaching rooms on two levels. The classes open to a glazed central core, generously flooded by daylight. It expands in some places and defines zones for group work and for relaxation. Roofed, wood-clad, incised balconies on the narrow sides also serve as outdoor classes. The link between the school and the gym is the glazed, multifunctional hall, also the main entrance to the school. On the ground floor there are a library, special classes, meeting and teacher rooms as well as wardrobes and toilets. Two free-standing concrete staircases lead to the classroom level.
Wood is omnipresent – in the framework, the cladding of the facade and the interior design of the classrooms. The gymnasium, whose façade is also clad in silver fir panels, has undergone thermal upgrading. The use of natural products and the attention to detail make this building a harmonious and cheerful place of teaching and learning.
PROJECT DATA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EDLACH, DORNBIRN
Client: City of Dornbirn
Location: A-6850 Dornbirn, Edlach
Architecture: Dietrich | Untertrifaller
Project management: Peter Nußbaumer, Anna Norrgard
Competition: 2012 / 1st price
Construction: 2015-2016
Area: 3.770 m²
Ecology: lowest energy standard, 17kWh/m2/year
Capacity: 300 students / 12 classes
Partners
Site management: Flatschacher, Hohenems
Structural engineering: gbd and Nagy, Dornbirn
Building engineering: Cukrowicz, Lauterach
Electronics: Meusburger, Bezau
Geotechnics: 3P Geotechnik, Bregenz
Building physics: Weithas, Lauterach
Photos: © Bruno Klomfar/
Plans: © Dietrich | Untertrifaller