In 2017, the city of Cologne invited tenders for the construction of three new three-form entry elementary school, each with a single gymnasium, in order to cope with the rising number of pupils. The planned locations were "Gaedestraße", "Statthalterhofallee" and "Thessaloniki-Allee". In order to ensure a relatively short construction period, the schools were to be designed and built as modular structures. Hahn Helten Architektur from Aachen, which was awarded the contract, designed the three new school buildings, which are also identical in terms of their spatial program - including the GGS Alfons-Nowak-Straße on Statthalterhofallee presented here.

In the course of the planning process, the City of Cologne commissioned a so-called "phase zero" for requirements planning, which preceded the subsequent planning phases. As a result, it was determined that the pedagogical concept for all three school locations should take into account the "cluster school" concept, which is currently the school concept favored by the City of Cologne. The year groups should therefore be grouped together in individual, defined areas as so-called clusters. In this way, small, manageable school units are created within the large institution of the school, and communication and orientation are encouraged. The structure of the elementary school reacts to the immediate urban environment with the separate sports hall as an ensemble of solitary buildings. The school building reflects the learning clusters with two separate building volumes. They are connected to each other via a building component in which higher-level functions are arranged floor by floor. In this way, both the functional division of the building and the scale of the individual learning clusters remain directly legible on the building structure.

The first floor is accessed from Alfons-Nowak-Straße via a vestibule. The sculpturally protruding plinth marks the accessibility to the building. The central foyer opens up directly next to it. This defines the common center of the building as a daily meeting point, event area and central element of the main circulation. The foyer and the dining room are designed as an open spatial continuum and extend over the entire depth of the building. The school library is located in front of the foyer on the northern side towards Statthalterhofallee. From the foyer, the central staircase and elevator provide direct access to the two upper floors, while the central air space provides sufficient lighting for the interior spaces and an appropriate ceiling height for the large rooms, which are oriented around the foyer.

www.hahn-helten.de

Photos:
Jörg Hempel
www.joerg-hempel.com

(Published in CUBE Cologne Bonn 02|25)