Primary school on Karl-Marx-Ring
The compact ensemble of three buildings, built according to the "learning house" concept, appears refreshingly expansive and urban in the midst of a spacious 1960s housing estate. It replaces a previous building on the same site, built in 1972, which had become too small and outdated. The new children's house with a crèche, nursery and after-school care centre, the municipal singing and music school, the triple gymnasium and the school building have all been given facades of irregular waterstruck bricks, which visually ground the buildings.
Inside, bright surfaces and exposed concrete elements characterise the space. Sweeping animal line-drawings in the different entrance areas of the buildings welcome the children and indicate the different uses. Inside the school, they continue over a large area on the concrete elements. Developed by artist Sabine Heine, they reflect a light-footed signage concept in which the five learning houses are assigned to one of the continents of the world to facilitate orientation and identity formation. Designed for 4 x 25 children and 10 teachers each, the learning houses have large central corridor areas and a glazed atrium around which are grouped classrooms, all-day rooms, inclusion rooms, teachers' rooms and ancillary rooms.
