SCHMUTTERTAL GRAMMAR SCHOOL
The school can already be seen from the station. Anyone who leaves the train in the small town of Diedorf near Augsburg and looks to the north west will notice four building structures positioned in the open countryside. With their gently sloping gable roofs and the grey board facades, it would be easy to think they were barns – which is exactly what the architects wanted. The grammar school is located at the edge of a landscape conservation area, and should blend as naturally and inconspicuously as possible in its rural setting. This is why the rooms for the school are shared out between four smaller buildings, rather than all being grouped in one larger structure. The three-pitch sports hall and the entrance building with the school hall, canteen, library, offices and music room act as a noise barrier to the railway line. These two buildings stand in front of the two classroom complexes, which are thus facing away from the railway line. The buildings are grouped around the school yard that forms the heart of the premises. Here the pupils are protected from the wind and can enjoy their breaks outside. The facades already indicate that the buildings are made of wood. A curtain wall of vertical spruce boards envelops the structures. While appearing to be plain from a distance, a closer view shows a more varied structure with the boards of differing widths arranged in a “wild pattern”. The facade protrudes by about 15 centimetres with each additional storey – an old wood construction principle where the upper storey protects the windows of the storey below. Here the concept was used to ensure that the cassettes for the window blinds are concealed unobtrusively behind the boards. The shadows created in this way give the building a lively, vivid appearance.
The buildings frame a central schoolyard, glazed walkways provide wind protection.
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