Secondary School, Flöha

The Secondary School in Flöha is an ensemble of buildings designed to respond respectfully to the idyllic, poetic landscape and to make a prominent, identity-shaping statement. The architectural concept envisions a place of integration, where a diverse student body can come together.

To minimize the visual impact on the landscape, the ring-shaped building is elevated on four-meter stilts and appears to float above the river meadow. Inside the ring, a courtyard dotted with trees acts as the school’s social center – a meeting place for pupils of all ages and all backgrounds, equally accessible from all areas of the school. The blueprint throughout the school interior follows a simple, logical principle. The upper ring has classrooms, conference rooms and labs. One section of the ground floor houses staff rooms and administrative offices. The cafeteria and kitchens, designed as a “room within a room”, are enclosed within the ground-floor break room under a pitched glazed roof facing the courtyard. The architectural concept creates a place where students can come together, a place with which they strongly identify and a place that can inspire and strengthen their sense of community.

Allmann Sattler Wappner received the 1997 German Architecture Award for the Secondary School in Flöha.