Learning with Openness

On the outskirts of Leonding, west of the state capital Linz, we will realise a new secondary school with a digital focus for 600 pupils, embedded in a large campus with educational and leisure facilities. On the edge of the site, between the HTL school, sports facilities, an outdoor pool, and a car park, we have designed a compact school building that redefines the existing open spaces.

Open Ground Floor

To the west of the site, a shared, prestigious school plaza and meeting point is created vis-à-vis the HTL, while to the east, the L-shaped building provides ample space for a large school garden. Approaching from the school square, the three-storey secondary school presents a welcoming timber façade with large windows; a covered forecourt provides a sheltered arrival area for the pupils. A seating staircase in the spacious assembly hall leads to the upper floors. A lounge area, canteen, multi-purpose room, and school library open out into the school garden. The ground floor also houses rooms for digital teaching and administration. The sunken gymnasiums form the ends of the building.

»The compact building structure is designed and positioned in such a way to articulate a shared forecourt for the two schools on the one side and the largest possible garden for the new school on the other.«

Robert Diem, Franz&Sue partner

Around the Garden

The classes are organised into a cluster system with shared lockers, break areas, and co-working spaces. The classrooms on the two upper floors bracket the southern and western outer façades, leaving a large, open area facing the garden for break areas and co-working spaces with access to the terrace. This balcony zone forms a weather-protected outdoor area for the pupils on the complete northern and eastern sides. Two large open staircases directly connect the multifunctional terraces with the school garden.

»Another highlight is the open terrace framework extending across all upper levels along the school garden; it is open to various functions and enters into a spatial communication with the garden via two open staircases.«

Excerpt from the jury protocol

Flexible Construction

We designed the new secondary school as a reinforced concrete skeleton structure with a simple column grid to ensure a high degree of spatial flexibility and long-term adaptability. The façade is planned as a timber frame construction with prefabricated elements, a method that enables economic and efficient construction.