FERLACH TECHNICAL SCHOOL 2016

The new extension to the Ferlach Vocational and Higher Technical School building is conceived as an independent, compact building, oriented towards the town of Ferlach rather than to the existing school. Strategicaly placed in the centre of a new public plaza it aspires to take on a role corresponding to its educational, cultural, social importance beyond the local context.

Towards the west, the building steps back, creating a small forecourt, while its staggered four-storey volume establishes a dynamic relation to the scenic surroundings of the Rosenthal valley and the mountainous formations. Towards the north, the building presents itself as two-storey in response to the scale of the buildings along the street. To the south, the wedge shaped in-between space brings the existing and new buildings into a spatial dialogue: Below the trapezoidal bridge connector, the public passage leads to the generous, representative double storey main entrance to the school. This threshold zone will become the spatial and programmatic connector between the two buildings, between the inside and the outside, the public and the school community, the horizontal public plaza and the vertical atrium.

The new school building is conceived as an interdisciplinary workshop, a unique didactic tool. Its two lower storeys constitute a generous, flexible, open plan workspace endlessly adoptable to users’ needs. Above, two levels of classrooms and an intermediary public level with the school’s library and multipurpose room encircle the three-dimensional public atrium - the ideal place for open interaction between students, teachers and visitors in support of social, intellectual and creative learning.

With regards to construction, the new building combines a concrete structure for below ground and the atrium core with a timber modular system for the upper levels. The prefabricated 3x9m box elements correspond to optimal design and guarantee swift assembly on site. Each ' box' is made of beech veneer plywood and conventional glued laminated timber elements (CLT) to which removable timber partitions, translucent glass partitions, window elements and adequate acoustic and fire protection insulation would be fitted. Thanks to the efficient prefabrication of the 44 classroom elements, the four above ground levels can be assembled in only 2 weeks.

In its external material expression, the building appears industrial. The façade consists of thermally insulated timber elements on a steel substructure and openable window elements, externally clad with concave and convex curved perforated metal panels. At certain programmatic instances, expressed windows project upon the façade, framing specific aspects of the surrounding context.