Without corners and edges

The tranquil town of Zeven lies in the heart of the Elbe-Weser triangle between Hamburg and Bremen. The educational work at the primary schools in this small town in Lower Saxony is strongly characterised by offering socially disadvantaged children a solid foundation and uniting the 19 different nationalities. Not least, these framework conditions have led to an individual change in the teaching culture: In addition to classical frontal teaching, Zeven increasingly practices workshop teaching, learning at stations, free work and project-oriented work.

Project

New building for primary school

Client

Joint municipality Zeven

PPP-Partner

Aug. Prien & G2-Landschaft

Service

1-5 HOAI

Area

about 3.000 m² GFA

Location

Kanalstraße in Zeven

Photography

Christian Haase

Small gestures with a big impact

Although the new building is embedded in a rather small settlement, it blends harmoniously into the surroundings thanks to its urban positioning. The rounded building opens up towards the street with a welcome courtyard, in the middle of which a tree with a bench invites you to stay. The asymmetrical legs of the h-shaped building relate to the cafeteria opposite and form the opening for the children's break, sports and play yard at the rear. In terms of design, the brick façade continues the predominant material of the surroundings. Green and yellow colour accents on windows, doors and seating elements make the colourful core of the school visible from the outside.

The entrance area in the form of a colourful, light-flooded forest makes children's hearts beat faster.

Please: with colour!

The adventure forest already reveals the predominant colours within the school in the foyer. Shades of green, yellow and orange playfully guide the children through the learning clusters. In addition to the colours, large pictograms and symbols on the walls ensure that no child gets lost here. All teaching areas have optimal natural lighting. On grey days or in the winter months, the pleasant artificial light in combination with the warm wall and accent colours ensures a good mood. In the foyer, the light even comes from above: Two skylights and the mullion façade ensure maximum light output, which is supplemented in the dark months by the spherical luminaires suspended at different heights.

Sustainable use through flexible spaces

Even the foyer can be used multifunctionally as an assembly hall, entrance area or stage. And the differentiation areas between the classrooms in the learning clusters also ensure that teaching here does not follow a standard pattern. For larger groups or parallel use, several rooms are simply connected and the space thus increased.

Exterior privacy and sun protection elements provide cooling in summer and green roofs provide more vegetation and less sealed surface.