Weimar, StadtLandSchule

Weimar, StadtLandSchule is a project aimed at creating innovative schools that respond to the dynamic changes in education, such as new forms of schooling, full-day teaching, inclusive education, energy efficiency, digitalization, and more. These changes require new pedagogical and spatial solutions. However, many school building guidelines and standards are based on outdated school models, which hinder the development of education. The old classroom-corridor system is no longer adequate.

The city of Weimar and its State Community School with a pedagogical profile based on the Jenaplan concept faced precisely these challenges. Due to high demand, the State Community School in Weimar became the largest school in the city in a short period of time. The resulting need for space and the high demand for future-oriented pedagogy and its spatial representation led to the successful application of Weimar city and the school at the IBA Thüringen in 2014.

Under the guidance of an experienced school building consultant team, an intense development and negotiation process was conducted with the city administration and the school community as part of a so-called ›Phase Zero‹. Numerous workshops on individual topics, as well as excursions to good practice examples, formed the basis for courageous decisions. In a feasibility study based on the results of Phase Zero, the feasibility of renovation or alternatively, a new building solution was examined. As a result, the Weimar City Council voted in favor of the new building option.

To ensure that innovative school building is not reserved for individual municipalities, the project partner Montag Foundation for Youth and Society developed the digital platform Schulbau Open Source, schulbauopensource.de, from the pilot project in Weimar. Several model projects supported by the foundation nationwide are fully documented on this platform. This digital planning tool, structured according to comparable criteria, makes all planning knowledge openly available for imitation and further development to municipalities, schools, and planners.

Each of the learning lofts is grouped into a building, with access located at the front and pedagogical areas extending into the outdoor space in a balcony-like manner along the longitudinal sides. Three of these buildings, which are already standing as raw structures on the construction site, are villa-like and located within the valuable park property.

The renovation and modernization of the existing sports hall on the site is also part of the IBA project. Due to the consistent use and separate funding, it was developed through a conventional process. The main focus was on integrating it into the overall concept and addressing ecological aspects, such as the building's fully renewable energy-based technology and a facade made of renewable resources.