Volksschule Lauterach Dorf Lauterach
Like two protective arms, the newly built classroom pavilions form a semicircle around the historic school building, weaving their way in varied spatial constellations between the trunks of the beautiful old trees.
The 1930s schoolhouse in Lauterach, Vorarlberg, was originally slated for demolition and replacement by a new building, yet it soon became clear that the structure held significance for the community and its residents. Part of the collective memory and repository of many stories, it has been preserved and now provides a calm and stable counterpoint to the new classroom pavilions, which are scattered like islands across the school lawn. To safeguard the valuable tree population that lends the site its changing seasonal atmospheres, each of the four single-story clusters has a different shape and contour.
The architecture respectfully allows nature its space, at the same time integrating it as a vital element of the design. Functions are clearly divided between the existing building and the new pavilions. The sensitively renovated old structure, together with a small west-facing extension, houses the shared and cross-class uses such as workshops, auditorium, lunchroom, library, administration, and an underground gymnasium. The four newly constructed room islands each accommodate a cluster of four classrooms and a common marketplace, which acts as a multifunctional center. With their own external entrances, each cluster forms a social unit within the larger whole. Open, covered walkways connect the pavilions back to the main building, while providing barrier-free access to the surrounding outdoor areas.
Several wooden terraces form open-air classrooms, and even the green roof is accessible at several points and can be incorporated into teaching. Winter gardens are arranged along the classrooms to act as climatic buffer zones and connecting corridors, which—depending on the season and outside temperature—use the sun’s rays as a heat source or protect the rooms behind them from overheating. For most of the year, they are used as exciting additional learning zones.
Inside each cluster, the diverse spatial experiences deliberately resist standardization. Floor-to-ceiling glazing and sliding partitions create a spatial continuum between classrooms and the shared open learning zone.
The marketplace is the communicative heart of the unit: simultaneously a workspace and living room for children and teachers. All around there are child-friendly niches and corners, intimate retreats, raised reading platforms, and many other atmospheric spaces to support diverse needs throughout the school day. The spatial solutions demonstrate that the architects take the students as well as the teachers seriously. Carefully considered spaces enable joyful learning and teaching, allowing for both concentration and quiet as well as movement and community. Numerous thoughtful details arose from close collaboration between architects and educators—for instance, the deep wooden drawers integrated beneath the classroom seating platforms.
This appreciative, flexible architecture fosters togetherness and creates a relaxed and stimulating atmosphere that reflects the broader ambition for schools as living environments. The hybrid construction also places great emphasis on materiality: In dialogue with wood, even the exposed concrete takes on a warm and welcoming presence.
[ Lauterach Dorf Primary School, Lauterach ] Architecture: Architekturbüro Feyferlik/Fritzer. Client: Marktgemeinde Lauterach Immobilienverwaltungs-GmbH & Co KG. Structural engineering: DI Johann Birner. Procurement procedure: Restricted, single-stage design competition with implementation (above EU threshold). Planning and construction period: 2012–2018. Usable floor area: 3 634 m². Address: Schulstraße 5, 6923 Lauterach, Vorarlberg.