Heumaden Werkrealschule Gymnasium by Vora, Estudi08014 and Amunt

Description of the project by Vora

The sports pavilion for the Heumaden Workschule is located in a low-density residential neighbourhood, on the outskirts of Stuttgart. The building should hold both scholar and civic uses.

The project is suited to this double use and responds to the physical and cultural preexistences of the context.

The building is located at the northwest corner of the site. A strategic position in relation to Heumaden (defining a 'urban corner' towards the arrival from the center of the neighborhood) and also in relation to the school (it encloses an entrance to the school complex, and frees an empty space for the school sports field).

The building is compact. It has an almost square plan and one floor height. Three patios are extracted from this compact volume, in order to preserve some existing trees.

The main spaces (hall, swimming pool, entrance porch) are placed in the perimeter of the building, widely open to the outside, defining a functional relationship between indoor and outdoor uses.

The program is structured around 5 chained square rooms, which solve the circulation without corridors and define polyvalent spaces in terms of use. The bigger room is placed in a central position. It has a central skylight. It is a multipurpose space, much more than a distributor. This central room opens to 4 lobbies located at their corners. Each one drives to an independent functional “package”.

An easy management of the opening or closing of the doors to these lobbies allows a lot of possibilities to use the building in an efficient way, in terms of surface use, but also in terms of energy expenses.

The volume is an aggregation that responds to its interior space hierarchy. It establishes a dialog with the traditional architecture of the area. This architecture is characterized by pitched roofs as an efficient shape to react to climate conditions.

The enclosure is defined by a perimetral fence with a uniform height. Three pitched roofs emerge over this cornice line in order to bring singularity to the main spaces of the building. The rest of the spaces are covered by a slightly 4-sloped roof culminating in a central skylight.

Unlike the outside volumes, the inside of the building is defined by ceilings with an autonomous geometry, creating rich and surprising environments (higher slope of the roof over the central room, vaulted ceilings over the hall and swimming pool, etc).

A fast execution process and a zero CO2 emissions balance are the goals in terms of construction materials and techniques. It is an almost 100% dry construction building, based on timber, and mostly built out of the site (on the site, mostly just assembly). It is all 100% removable and consequently recyclable.