Schools & cultural buildings

Urban architectural concept

The new vocational schools IV (BBSIV) in Oldenburg are basically built along a north-south axis and, as far as possible, located close to the eastern boundary of the site.  In connection with a superordinate development plan, which had been changed, the result is a large, park-like open space available for public use, incorporating an informal path linking the new ‘Im Brook’ residential area to the buildings on Johann-Justus-Weg at its southern extremity.  At the same time, the landscape flows past the building to the west and east.  There is no barrier.

The building itself is designed in clearly different styles, with a linear, north to south, 2-storey block on the one hand, which creates space and a square, and the radial wing with classrooms on the other.  The glass-ceilinged entrance and recreation hall has been created as a linking joint between these wings, with their different functions and architectural styles.

The 2-storey block, which serves specific formal functions at various points (media library, assembly hall and cafeteria), clearly defines the architectural space towards the main point of access in Posthalterweg.  The cafeteria rounds off the complex in an obvious manner  towards the open space in the south.  The teaching wings provide and define the transition between the green space in the east, which is open to the public, and the semi-public schoolyard area which forms a continuation of the building.

The clear structuring of the open spaces is accentuated by the positioning of the desired watercourses, whose surface water is fed into a pond system.

Materials have been combined in deliberate arrangements to create the dynamic juxtaposition between the massive brick façade and the light, suspended composite design with its wooden features, thus accentuating the basic architectural concept.

Functional concept

The central functional and design element of the building is the bulbous ‘fish belly’ recreation hall located near the main entrance and assembly hall, at the spatial and functional heart of all the utility areas.

This recreation hall, which has been conceived as more than just an all-weather schoolyard, provides direct access to all the functional units, thus providing users and visitors alike with optimal clarity, and enabling them to orientate themselves.

The teaching areas have been designed in such a way that the rooms for general teaching are situated on the ground and second floors, while the areas for specialist teaching are in a self-contained area on the first floor.  There is potential to extend each of the teaching areas individually to the east.