Berlin-based Sehw Architektur has completed a series of school buildings using timber construction in Cologne, in the North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
For a special school in Dünnwald, Cologne, timber modules were lifted over the existing listed buildings to extend the school. The extensions are finished in red brick to blend with the existing listed post-war buildings. The interiors are designed to maximise daylight and feature classrooms with adjoining annexe rooms.
A modular timber extension to a community primary school in Lindweiler, Cologne, accommodating nine classes, was built in nine months. The compact, light-coloured brick facade features wood-aluminium ribbon widow elements, responding to the existing school building. The entrance to the new building faces the existing school building, forming a shared courtyard.
At the Nußbaumerstraße Primary School in Neuehrenfeld, Cologne, Sehw Architektur’s building houses a canteen and five rooms to replace old prefabricated buildings. The new building uses modular timber construction to create a two-storey passive house with a green roof. The ground floor accommodates the canteen and communal areas, with further interaction areas between the classrooms on the upper floor. A terrace area designed to be used as an outdoor green classroom is integrated into the volume.
The proposed expansion and renovation of the Andreas primary school in Essen involves the renovation of two buildings from the 1950s and the addition of new structures to create a ‘learning village’ of four buildings. The new building in the first phase continues the language of gabled roofs of the existing buildings. The new buildings provide classrooms for 100 pupils and a school canteen. The constraints of the inner-city plot were a key reason for using prefabricated timber construction. The resulting building features vertical timber cladding and freely composed window openings. Passive house standards, heat recovery ventilation, green sloping roofs and sustainably produced district hearing emphasise the sustainability of the project. Photo by Helin Bereket of the existing and new building at the primary school in Lindweiler. Sehw Architektur