Living-school

Living-school is a redevelopment project of a school building, based in the city of Leipzig, in the district of Grünau, that needed an increase of adequate spaces for the new teaching methods. The project is based on the research “1+4”, and it provides new types of educational environments where students can learn by doing, exhibit, socialize and create.

As in other schools of this type, the building is provided with a large adjoining space dedicated to outdoor activities, and with a small building that functions as a gym. These spaces are not adequately equipped and therefore they are mostly unused. By recovering the existing building, a new one is created, using the space belonging to the school, achieving the doubling of the number of students and offering additional spaces. The existing building has been reorganized exclusively for classes and administrative functions by adding a floor and some volumes on the front, this last specifically dedicated to services and to the relaxation zones. The complementary functions to the teaching environments have been moved to the back, so as to create a series of separate volumes distributed around a central core. These new volumes will contain the creative ateliers, and each of them refers to specific areas of expertise provided with the right equipment, like a technologic studio, a scientific laboratory, a computer and standard labs. The entrance hosts an exhibition space dedicated to the displays of students’ work, thus becoming a shared space between the school and the community. The classrooms allow flexible solutions in order to have different activities, such as taught class, spaces for teamwork, isolated workstations for individual tests and spaces for presentations or debates. In the new building, the green areas are an integral part of the project, becoming elements to separate the different spaces. A library can be found, inside which multimedia stations and small private study halls are present, along with the canteen, meant to be usable during the rest of the day as a shared space. It is also important to note the central staircase that, other than being places of transit, become places where leisure time. The remaining spaces are dedicated to sport activities: a climbing area, a small playground and a gym, that can act as an auditorium if necessary, can be found. In the roof, at lower volumes, areas dedicated to educational gardens are present ad in the remaining roof’s spaces host play areas.