The existing Cecilien-Gymnasium building, which opened in 1958, is one of a series of school buildings that were realized under the leadership of the Düsseldorf Building Department during the reconstruction years after the Second World War. Its director, Julius Schulte-Frohlinde, had become the target of modern architects after the war due to his involvement in the Nazi regime. With a mixture of traditionalism, classical art in construction and moderate modernism, he shaped the typical architectural language of the school. In 2004/2005, the first comprehensive renovation of the ensemble became necessary. Following the expansion of the school from three to five classes, PASD Architekten from Hagen developed an extension in 2019 that offers pupils and teachers a modern learning environment.

Instead of a single-storey building with pavilions, a new three-storey solid construction with an extensively greened flat roof was built on the school grounds on Schorlemerstrasse, preserving 80 percent of the existing trees. Along the eastern boundary of the site, the schoolyard is given a new shape and for the first time forms a clear spatial edge. Connected to the existing school building via a glass connecting structure, the grid façade of the neighboring building is taken up in the design and reinterpreted. The classroom area is characterized by a clear window grid with aluminium cladding, framed by a light-coloured clinker brick façade at the ends of the building. This sustainable and economical solution, designed for durability and low maintenance requirements, is complemented by generous glazing in the corridor zone and the canteen. The generous openings ensure that the façade grid of the elongated structure is perceived as neither austere nor monotonous. The color spectrum of the new building is also based on the existing building, albeit more restrained. Both form a new ensemble that respectfully preserves the independence of the individual buildings and the historical building phases.   

The extension is accessed from the schoolyard side at ground level - the main access will continue to be via the existing building. The elevators in the extension will make the school completely barrier-free for the first time. When implementing the room program, the clear, straightforward building structure enabled a high degree of space efficiency. The result is classrooms, specialist rooms, multifunctional rooms and ancillary rooms as well as a "cook&chill" canteen with 80 seats and a 130 m² outdoor terrace. They are separated from the classrooms and specialist rooms by spacious common areas that divide the corridors and provide both communication and natural lighting. The new building is heated by a combined heat and power unit with a gas boiler. It is equipped with energy-saving LED lighting throughout, which is controlled by a presence detector. Rainwater is used to flush the toilets. The building meets the Düsseldorf guidelines for energy efficiency in new buildings and is 36.5 percent below the requirements of the Energy Saving Ordinance.

www.pasd.de

Photos:

Dirk Matull
www.dirkmatull.de

(Published in CUBE Düsseldorf 03|21)