Heinrich Hertz School

Located in central Berlin, wedged between large scale residential and office buildings this new school creates a strong urban figure that also encourages an open learning landscape between inside and outside.

Inspired by the open-air schools, the terracing of the building structure offers the possibility of opening the school directly into the open air. The several roof terraces create a diverse learning landscape where learning, experimenting, exploring, playing and also relaxing are possible. The terracing mediates between the green behind and the urban in front, and creates the outdoor spaces as a path on the house. The space in between the neighbouring buildings becomes a differentiated schoolyard with a variety of facilities.

At the same time, the terracing serves as an external access, which is opposed to the internal access as a sequence of central learning spaces. Both the terraced outdoor spaces and the stacked halls of the inner development can be individually connected to the respective floors / compartments or as a whole, as a terraced schoolyard landscape or inner hall layout.

The desired flexibility (pure compartment school vs. partly home base) finds form in the duality of inner development as a sequence of rooms and outer terraced schoolyard landscape as appropriate spaces, as part of everyday learning and communication, as the identity of this new school.