Structural and open space planning design competition
with town-planning idea part
The design of the Goethe-Gymnasium campus provides a simple and modern four-storey building which follows the existing heritage protected building cubature and alignments. It is completed by a single-storey entrance hall featuring an underground level, a lowered sports hall and a schoolyard wall.
The building arrangements form an urban continuity towards the historic city. The idea of sequenced squares as seen in the historic districts of Gera (Marktplatz, Kornmarkt, Johannisplatz) is referenced and continued with the forecourt (Ehrenhof) and the newly designed campus lawn and enclosed schoolyard. A fluent transition towards the large scale residential buildings of Reichstraße is made through the staggering heights of the buildings and the green city terraces. The green “city terraces” have their origin in so called Zwingergarten, the space between the former inner and outer city wall, graduating from above the school garden to the sports hall’s green roof. The schoolyard wall running east at the same height, including a garbage storage and bicycle racks, continues up to the main entrance and forms a spatial border.
The terrain’s staggered height differences and the lowered sports hall with its tree-lined green roof form an attractive foundation and blend harmoniously into the overall concept.
The surrounding neighborhoods are linked by the arrangement of the buildings while the urban main axes are emphasized. The public passageway between the Reußian government building and the new building will be newly designed and upgraded. It leads into the existing courtyard (Ehrenhof) that is open to the public and will only be slightly changed.
