Gymnasium, Neustadt, Germany
29 september 2021
Project: Gymnasium, Neustadt a. d. Waldnaab | Germany
Architect: Brückner & Brückner Architekten, Tirschenreuth I Würzburg
Fabricator & Installer: Thiel Montage GmbH, Feucht | Germany
Façade System: Riveted/Screwed
Year of Construction: 2021
Product: ALUCOBOND® PLUS naturAL Reflect
Photos: mju-fotografie
GET AWAY FROM GREY
A new school type emerged all over Europe and Germany in the 1970s: large-scale and spacious to cater for the growing number of pupils. These schools were built in concrete because it was cheap and the material of choice at that time. As the importance of social interaction had already been recognised, school layouts included open spaces, internal courtyards and galleries. Fast forward fifty years; these buildings are now dilapidated and their energy efficiency and fire safety measures are outdated. The unmitigated starkness of the exposed concrete façades which clashed with mature surroundings also meant that their appeal was short lived. Yet these existing schools feature floor plans which are more relevant than ever, offering a great deal of scope and freedom for new forms of learning. So when Brückner & Brückner Architekten were asked to renovate one of these concrete giants, a grammar school in the Upper Palatinate town of Neustadt, the main task was to enhance the existing building structure and update technical facilities. So, how do you go about adapting an oversized school building, with its grooved pre-cast concrete façade, to make it fit in better with a small historic town and a large surrounding forest? How do you retain the cultural identity conveyed by the building and its obvious architectural and educational history whilst destigmatising it? The architects achieved truly amazing results with a clever trick: they screwed strips of naturAL Reflect ALUCOBOND® into the grooves on the concrete façade. Extensions, such as the staircase at the front, which were necessary for fire safety compliance, were clad entirely in naturAL Reflect ALUCOBOND®. The reflective surface does not completely disguise the massive concrete volume but it is partially dematerialised and linked with its surroundings. Set in a new context between the mirrored images of trees, the coarse concrete surface is and is no longer urban, hard and intransigent. Reflections of the natural world also expose the organic origin of the façade material: rough rock, stone and pebbles. This makes the concrete walls more ambivalent, more archaic, more complex and less weighty, and it introduces light reflections where there used to be nothing but dull, dense grey. Inside the school, the architects have also enhanced the characteristic features of the existing building: they have painted the masonry white, ensured light penetrates into the rooms and retained the typical 70s brickwork texture on the walls. They have also added seating alcoves, door and window elements, staircases, wall cladding and parapet capping in wood. In so doing, their design successfully ties in with the 1970s look, except its mood is more contemporary, more refined and much less implacable.