Landwirtschaftliche Fachschule Güssing
The teaching building and stables of the Güssing Agricultural Technical School set new typological standards. Built primarily of wood, energy self-sufficient, and extensively greened, they are grouped around an open courtyard and extend finger-like into the surrounding landscape.
Animals and plants are an integral part of the curriculum at an agricultural school, and the Güssing facility is a model example. Ten horses, 45 to 50 cattle, 23 breeding sows, 50 chickens, beekeeping, hunting, fishing, and—on 107 hectares—fields, orchards, and conservation meadows that include 50 hectares of grassland all create a distinctive learning biotope. The new teaching and farming complex is situated slightly above the renovated existing school building, where theoretical instruction takes place. Around 20 educators are currently teaching about 70 students to become traditional farmers, horse breeders, and ecological farmers—the latter with a focus on organic agriculture, and including renewable energy production.
Two animal welfare specialists were part of the planning team. “Eighty years after classical Modernism, we finally implemented Modernism for animals as well,” the architects state. The terrain was modeled using recycled excavation material so that the stables, arranged like fingers around an open courtyard, become part of the landscape. Their extensively planted green roofs buffer surface heat and store rainwater, which flows into a retention basin and is slowly channeled into the public sewer system from there.
To provide the animals with fresh air and outdoor access, the farm building has an open load-bearing structure made of V‑shaped timber columns and rod assemblies that let wind flow through. The material use follows constructive logic: To avoid contaminating the groundwater, the floors of the machine halls and stables are made of impermeable concrete. Elements on the ground are made of concrete, those rising up are from wood. The green roof rests on glued laminated timber beams.
A roughly 30‑meter-long, 20‑meter-wide, freely formed, open courtyard with a tree creates the heart of the complex and interfaces with the public: This is the entrance where tournaments, show riding events, and carriage rides take place and from where the four stable wings can be surveyed in sequence. Close to the entrance is an airy 40‑meter-long riding hall with a special floor surface made of sand mixed with shredded textiles. The specific needs of each animal species are addressed. Cattle are sensitive to drafts, so their stalls protected from the wind with translucent tarpaulins; horses, on the other hand, sleep best in the company of other herd animals such as goats and sheep.
All buildings are connected by a continuous roofed walkway around the courtyard, allowing weather-protected access to the stables and the 80‑meter-long teaching building. This forms a barrier against the west wind and houses a seminar room with a ceiling height of five meters, along with classrooms, breakrooms, offices, changing rooms with a dirt lock, and a machine hall. To the northwest, a feed storage facility completes the ensemble. Photovoltaic panels on parts of the roofs provide renewable energy. In its holistic and sustainable approach to landscape, resources, plants, and animals—and through the quality of its learning spaces—the architecture communicates the school’s ethos directly and tangibly.
[ Güssing Agricultural Technical School ] Architecture: Pichler & Traupmann Architects ZT GmbH. Client: BELIG Beteiligungs und Liegenschafts-GmbH, on behalf of the State of Burgenland. Structural engineering: RWT Plus ZT GmbH. Procurement procedure: Invited competition with implementation. Planning and construction period: 2013–2015. Usable floor area: 3 097 m². Address: Stremtalstraße 19, 7540 Güssing, Burgenland.