Schule am See Hard
No skewed angles, yet plenty of room for imagination: Three clusters each form a small school for 6- to 14‑year‑olds, with generous spaces tailored to the needs of its age group.
The building on the outskirts of the village of Hard could easily be mistaken for the headquarters of a mid-sized company: a three-story structure in an imposing format of 125 by 50 meters with three recessed courtyards. At first glance, you wouldn’t guess that this is not a company headquarters but a school building: a primary school for 350 students and a middle school for 300 students. Shouldn’t a building for children look more “childlike,” colorful, and a little playful? Is the monumentality of the edifice, the floor plan without oblique angles, not a return to the rationalism of the twentieth century?
A visit during school hours leaves a different impression. Despite its “hard” appearance, the school is an open framework that enables each age group to appropriate the spaces in its own way. Large covered terraces on every floor allow users to spend time outdoors. Color and movement are introduced by the children themselves, while furnishings and equipment are adapted to their specific needs. What makes the architecture child-friendly are the pleasant materials, tactile surfaces, and diverse lighting moods. Every detail is carefully considered and executed; the building services are deliberately kept low-tech.
A distinctive feature of the school is the joint teaching of several years in a single cluster. Every cluster includes a team room for teachers, three classrooms with glass partitions, and three smaller rooms for special instruction or project work. The shared central space can be used flexibly. The school is organized into nine such clusters, three of which, stacked on top of each other, form a small school in their own right and are assigned to a courtyard or terrace: The youngest pupils (6–8 years) occupy the lower floor, the 9- to 11‑year‑olds the middle level, and the 12- to 14‑year‑olds the top floor. This cross-grade teaching system allows teachers to respond more individually to students’ needs and offers all children a sense of achievement when, as older children, they can support the younger ones in their learning.
The reason the school became so monumental is due not least to its location directly near the large sports center that Hard built for its renowned handball team. The school complements the sports center with a triple gymnasium, raised off the ground and resting on support pillars. Between the sports hall and the school, an almost urban street space is created—using a great deal of asphalt—that provides a beautiful view of the lake in the background. With its white awnings and nestled in the vastness of the landscape, the school looks like a ship about to set sail on a journey.
[ Am See Primary and Middle School, Hard ] Architecture: Baumschlager Hutter Partners. Client: Marktgemeinde Hard. Structural engineering: Mader & Flatz ZT GmbH. Landscape architecture: terra.nova. Procurement procedure: Restricted, single-stage design competition with implementation (above EU threshold). Planning and construction period: 2014–2018. Usable floor area: 11 207 m². Address: Seestraße 58, 6971 Hard, Vorarlberg.