A NEW CANTEEN FOR A SCHOOL CAMPUS IN NEUNBURG, GERMANY / STEIDL ARCHITECTS

An  accent  in  material  and  colour  –  A  new  canteen  for  the  school campus

The further development and change of the primary and secondary school in Neunburg vorm  Wald,  a  town  in  the Upper Palatinate a  part  of  Bavaria,  Germany  made  it necessary to extend the campus with a new canteen besides other conversions in the existing building structure. This gives the option for the schools to offer full-day care. 

 

Deriving  from  the  schools  which  were  designed  in  brutalistic  style,  and  which  got colourful  accents  in  the  90s,  the  project  team  from  Architekturbüro  Steidl  realised  a contemporary extension with a new canteen. With  a  panoramic  view  over  the  fields  of  the  Schwarzach  Valley  and  its  surrounding forests the school campus is situated at the edge of the city of Neunburg vorm Wald.

 

Here  natural  green  clashes  at  the  strong  monotonous  materiality  of  the  existing buildings  from  the  70s,  which  are  characterised  by  its  rough  concrete  surface  and  a design which is not only sculptural but puts emphasis on its construction. It was already in the 90s that architect Michael Steidl was commissioned to renovate   the  school  complex:  „We  added  colour  coding  to  the  facade  to  structure  the  growing building,  which  also  has  the  effect  of  being  a  guidance  system  within  the  complete complex.”  Being  in  the  style  of  the  zeitgeist  of  the  90s  the  colourful  accents  are surprisingly decent and timeless. The design for the new canteen was now developed out of the building stock. 

 

The clear and  compact  building  volume  follows  the  aligning  of  the  existing  building  mass.  The main  hall  with  its  legible  cubature  can  be  easily  found from  the  outside,  because  the next  rooms  are  lower  and  set  back  in  the  facade.  The  colour  coding  from  the  former renovation, red and yellow window frames of the building stock, compose the basis for the  design  of  the  envelope.  The  facade  plates,  which  differ  in  size,  color  and  shade overlay,  interweave  each  other  and  insert  the  new  colourful  mosaic  into  the  school context.  In  contrast  to  that  the  interior  of  the  canteen  is  dominated  by  a  clear  colour concept and the warm, welcoming surface of the exposed concrete.  

 

Architect and Interior Designer Barbara Steidl said about the materiality: „It was the love for  surface  why  we  choose  concrete  for the  interior”.  An  extraordinary  quality  and special  texture  could  be  realized  with  the  chosen  framework,  which  was developed together  with  the  executing  construction  firm.  

 

Further  on,  importance  is  attached  to puristic details like a simple water outlet at the concrete wall with a sculptural white sink below.   The canteen opens on the one side with a big sliding window to the school yard and on the other side to the free greenery in front of the school, where a herb garden will be created as a class project in spring.   The project can also be seen as an emancipation of concrete for the interior space: It is not the rough infrastuctural material anymore, as it was in brutalistic times and it is not necessary anymore to hide it behind plaster and colour. 

 

The further development of the existing colour coding, a clear attitude in the reduction of materiality, puristic detailing and a clear colour concept set a concise identity and create a spatial accentuation at the school campus Neunburg vorm Wald.