Several tasks are fulfilled simultaneously with the skilful positioning of the compact three-storey building that makes up the Primary School. For one, the gap to the north between the existing school buildings is closed off, whereby the new building allows and maintains the view to St. Mary's church by means of a slight bend in its facade. For another, the school grounds are divided into two clearly defined, easily-scanned outer areas. By means of a central link to both, the desired school campus effect is produced with a multiplicity of changeable and exciting spatial situations. The playground of the Edith Stein School obtains a spatial setting through the new building. The construction is presented here with its upper storeys turned slightly to the east as a component of an ensemble that incorporates the sports hall with natural ease. North of the sports hall, the primary school playground is converted into an attractive, functional exterior space with clumps of trees, a small school garden, playground items, climbing frames and varied types of paving. The building is developed as a compact construction, aiming at attaining low energy- expenditure levels while keeping the amount of free space at a maximum. At least equally important is the aim of creating attractive living space for both pupils and teachers in the form of a building that not only has lots of potential identity, but also qualifies as a place where people want to stay. Large rooms, flooded with light, exciting spatial sequencing and attractive places to linger in are just as important here as the use of natural materials and congenial colours. This is especially valid in fore-grounding the pedagogical concept aimed at and the projected daily school round.
The building excels in its optimised area-to-volume ratio. The window area of the facades was calculated exactly in accordance with the parameters of heat-loss, protection against heat during the summer months and the daily quota of sunlight. The outer surface of the building shows good constant heat-control data. On the basis of these decisions, the heating requirement is lowered considerably and the energy needed to heat the building accordingly reduced.
