Three Feelers into the Green

AHS Sonnenallee, Vienna-Aspern,
Competition Winner

Seestadt Aspern is one of Vienna’s most important and renowned urban development areas. A new district for 25,000 residents is emerging here north of the Danube, with completion scheduled in the 2030s. Three schools have already been built, and now our first project in the Seestadt has finally come to fruition: we are designing a new secondary school for 900 students on Sonnenallee, the four-kilometre-long ring road so characteristic of the Seestadt.

Details

Client

Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft

State

In Progress

Building Costs

33 Mio. €

Awards

1. Preis

Inviting Gestures

From the U2 metro end station, you approach the school entrance via a central forecourt. On the garden side, three “feelers” reach out into the greenery. From the moment you arrive at the entrance, you have a direct view into the school garden. The aula, with its central seating steps, serves as the main hub connecting the cloakroom, multipurpose hall, cafeteria, and teachers’ lounge on the open ground floor. Essential for an all-day school, this meeting and exchange point for educators is exceptionally spacious and includes a generous lounge area with a covered terrace.

Urbanity and Forecourt
Urbanity and Forecourt
Feelers into the Garden

»Both the clusters for the lower grades and the homebases for the upper grades face the garden with sheltered loggias. For me, this represents a natural progression of our endeavours in school architecture: designing high-quality, functional outdoor spaces.«

Robert Diem, Franz&Sue partner

Learning Zones and Home Bases

The lower grades are grouped into five clusters with learning zones located in the two outer feelers of the building. The central wing houses the home bases for the upper grades. In this school, teaching is organised according to a departmental system without fixed homerooms. Allocated to specific subject groups, the classrooms face the street and form a strong backbone for the building. The building opens up toward the garden. The central circulation areas that connect the learning zones are also bright and open, offering unobstructed views of the greenery. As they are situated at the ends of the building, these clusters and homebases receive light from multiple sides and all provide direct access to the outdoors via roofed loggias.

High-Quality Spaces for Lower and Upper Grades
Strong Backbone – Open to Garden

Durable Structure

The building’s strong backbone ensures long-term usability independent of current conventions and teaching practices. The comb-shaped, open layout facing the garden floods the building with natural light. It maintains a strong connection to the outdoors with covered open spaces on every level. The hybrid timber structure with an open column grid docks onto the massive core – a flexible and durable structure that can easily accommodate future requirements.

»We can’t wait to step into this school.«

Excerpt from the jury protocol

[Translate to English:] Lageplan Seestadt

[Translate to English:] Lageplan

[Translate to English:] Grundriss Erdgeschoß

[Translate to English:] Grundriss Regelgeschoß

Index/Count
Type Of Commission

EU-weit offener, einstufiger Realisierungswettbewerb

Client

Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft

Gross Floor Area

12.553 m²

Scope Of Commission

Generalplanung

Location

Seestadt Aspern, Wien

State

In Progress

Building Costs

33 Mio. €

Team

Casper Bellink, Claude Probst, Isabella Merz, Julia Hottenbacher

Awards

1. Preis

Landscape Planning

3:0 Landschaftsarchitektur

[Translate to English:]
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