Designing an addition for four different sites is not an easy task. Our solution was an L-shaped building that creates a central outdoor space between the existing buildings and the new construction, seamlessly connecting them. The shape helps define the outdoor space in the existing schoolyards and the proximity of the all-day care facility to the school building fosters synergies and ensures short pathways.
White Arkitekter proposes circular timber frame expansion for Ludwigsburg elementary schools
The city of Ludwigsburg in Germany recently held a competition to design an all-day care facility that could be built on four different school sites in the city. Our proposal was an L-shaped timber frame structure that is prepared for future re-use, fosters synergy with the existing school buildings and ensures economical production while maintaining a low carbon footprint.
This idea is further emphasized by a distinctive roof that slopes towards the courtyard. The sloping roof also provides optimal natural lighting for the all-day care rooms. A wide roof overhang provides effective protection against sunlight and weather and the courtyard is framed by terraces, seating steps, and wooden decks that invite play and relaxation.
The supporting structure is designed entirely as a timber construction with a foundation of reinforced concrete with recycled aggregates. The raised timber floor slab is what allows us to minimise the amount of concrete and shape the outdoor space with stairs and raised terraces. Simple construction principles ensure that a broad range of firms are eligible to bid and ensures economical production with a high degree of prefabrication and slim structural dimensions.
The construction prioritizes circular, pure, robust, low-maintenance, and low-emission materials. These are reversibly assembled, making them easy to reuse or recycle and the building truly circular. Unfortunately, our proposal did not win this time and we want to congratulate D‘Inka Scheible Hoffmann Lewald Architekten for winning the competition.