HEINRICH-HOFFMANN-PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY IN DARMSTADT

City - park - school or city - park - nursery are the three formative ideas for the design. For the nursery children, pupils and citizens, a city-park, a park-school and at the same time a city-school are to be created here. The same pairs of concepts can be defined for the day care center as well.
In order to preserve the important green spaces within the historic city, we decided to place two compact cubes freestanding in the grown open space. The landscape can flow around the bodies like a pavilion in the park, forming urban spaces in interaction with the historic buildings. Thus, the two cubes are aligned as clear structures parallel to the large form of the Art Nouveau baths. The structure facing the baths has three floors above the entrance level and houses the elementary school. The daycare center and gymnasium are located further south in a structure with two stories above ground. The two new buildings fit in between the characteristic city blocks at different heights: The Art Nouveau baths receive an adequate counterpart in the form of the three-story school, which shapes the street space. The school and the two-story daycare center close off the street space to Mühlstraße to the southeast. In a westerly direction, the buildings span as much open space as possible to the Hinkelsturm and the historic city wall in order to maintain the view of the important buildings in the cityscape. The separation of the functions of school and daycare center plus gymnasium into two individual building blocks preserves the scale in the surroundings and ensures the independent address formation. Due to the compact building form, the buildings with a square footprint reduce the encroachment on the existing open spaces and the associated sealing. In addition, by embedding the buildings in the terrain, they take advantage of the natural drop in elevation to the south, so that the school with its lower courtyard and the daycare center with its lowered gymnasium can each be reduced by one story. The green facades and roofs of the structures compensate for the structurally occupied parking areas and, with the use of natural materials, meet the highest ecological standards.
The main entrance to the Heinrich Hoffmann School is from the east via a triangular forecourt that "collects" students and teachers from three directions. It is oriented in terms of traffic towards the parking lot for parents, the nearest bus stop and bicycle route. On the first floor of the school are all the functions that should also be available to the public after school hours (library, media library, music room, auditorium, canteen, kitchen) They form an urban forum through a flowing, open floor plan. In the center of the forum there is a staircase that leads generously down to the administration and the art area as a play and seating staircase and there, through a small auditorium, provides access to the break yard at ground level. The elevator is located centrally to the staircase and connects all four floors barrier-free. The central staircase leading upwards is freely curved and ends in each case in the open. pedagogically usable lounge area of a cluster. Around the atrium there is a gallery that provides access to all classrooms and ancillary rooms.
The atrium is separated by glass partitions on the upper floors in the area of the pedagogical common areas in order to ensure a quiet learning atmosphere here. Year clusters 1 and 2 are combined with a common all-day area and teacher support point on the 1st floor, year clusters 3 and 4 are housed identically on the 2nd floor. The group rooms are located between the all-day rooms and the classrooms and can be interconnected via mobile partition walls, thus offering maximum flexibility of use. The 1st and 2nd escape routes are via an external escape corridor with two RW staircases. Thus, there are no fire protection requirements for the interior free stairs and the enclosure of the atrium with glass partitions.