A School, A Kindergarten, and a Parking Lot

This month on comeandcheck.it, as we announced here, we’re presenting realizations of Croatian architects from the past year. These are all projects exhibited at the annual Croatian architects’ realizations exhibition that failed to win either a nomination or an award, but we think they should nevertheless be presented on our portal.

Today we present an educational institution, i.e., the Krems School Center in Austria by the Croatian architect Saša Bradić realized with his partners from the Austrian studio NMPB Architekten.

The Krems School Center includes several facilities: a kindergarten, a school, accompanying sports halls and a parking lot. Keep reading to get an insight into the architects’ view of the project.

A characteristic intra-city structure and tall buildings form the spatial context of the new school building. Various functions (a school for special-needs students, a polytechnic and a college, and sports halls) are all integrated into one building facility and organized in such a way that the spatial complexes relate to the various schools’ typologies. A compact volume of the building is situated on the northwestern part of the site, which in turn provides the largest possible open space, planned for various outdoor activities. The interior organization of certain parts is well laid out and connected by short communication paths. The open crossing between the interior and exterior spaces and their accompanying contents ensure diverse spatial usage necessary for a school. Access to the assembly hall is possible from the ground floor and basement.

The location of the kindergarten building is on the southeast side of the site in order to get the best sunlight and largest possible open areas. The two-floor volume of the building with an entrance from the Hamerlingstrasse is in direct contact with green areas in front of common spaces, i.e. open spaces on the green roof of the parking building.

The roof of the parking building is on the site’s southern border and serves as soundproof barrier facing the railroad. 294 parking spots are situated in one underground and 4 variously large surface levels. The entrance and exit are at the ground level. The southern façade with a prominent metal construction forms a barrier protecting the school and kindergarten’s open external spaces.