Page 87 - AIT0521_E-Paper

Entwurf • Design Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei, Stuttgart
Grundriss Erdgeschoss • Ground floor plan
Grundriss Obergeschoss • Upper floor plan
Bauherr • Client Erzbistum Köln
Standort • Location Clarenbachstraße 1, Köln
Nutzfläche • Floor space 5.300 m 2
Foto: Zooey Braun
Fotos • Photos Roland Halbe Fotografie, Stuttgart
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More info on page 134
SCHOOL EXPANSION
IN COLOGNE-LINDENTHAL
With a new building, the Cologne Archdiocese wanted to
expand the premises of the Liebfrauenschule, the Dom-
singschule as well as the Kölner Dommusik. What at first
seemed like a manageable building task for architects,
turned into a major challenge upon close analysis – the
intended location is directly adjacent to the Church of the
Resurrection of Christ designed by Gottfried Böhm.
T he monumental construction inaugurated in 1971 is exemplary of
Böhm´s church buildings: strong, geometric forms which success-
fully merge into a big picture and evade any symmetry in the process.
A sculptural type of architecture which has enormous presence and ra-
diance. Building in the shadow of such a striking construction requires
quite a lot of courage – and probably a certain deal of pragmatism as
well. This is because of the question of how to react with an annex to a
building whose architect one highly appreciates? By being awestruck,
subordinating oneself to the existing building stock or by creating a bold
alternative concept? Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei from Stuttgart cleverly
solved this task with a design which, although resting autonomously
next to the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, does not even try to
enter in competition with it – an elegant balancing act between respect
and lightness. These efforts are not noticeable in the school building –
as if it had been standing there between the old trees, the Domsing-
schule and the Church of the Resurrection of Christ all along. With a
brick façade that takes up the material of the church in its colouring, a
soft transition is produced. A one-story structure where the new central
canteen for the schools finds room produces a distance to the second,
more voluminous main part of the new building. The latter´s spatial ar-
rangement has rehearsal rooms for individual and group instruction to
ensure the musical training at the Domsingschule. The class rooms are
complemented with residential units on the upper levels with a sepa-
rate access. The quality standards of the builders not only show in the
careful dealing with the context but also in the level of the details re-
garding the interior construction. In the dining hall, the construction of
truss girders remains visible whereas large arched windows at the short
sides produce a visual reference to the nearby park. In the main buil-
ding, much importance is attached to good acoustics as well as to a
well-balanced lighting concept. The careful design not only results in vi-
sual successes – a high quality of stay for the users of the rooms is also
produced. A concept which definitely has a sustained impact!
AIT 5.2021 • 087