branching out — ekineryilmaz

Branching Out

(Re)making of the Albert Gutzmann Schule

How can a school feel spacious and green in a big city, while making students feel independent as well as protected?
Branching out aims to materialize these contradictions for the students and educators who will spend their days on the Albert-Gutzmann Campus in Wedding, Berlin.

Layers of school restructuring have left their mark on the existing campus, draining open spaces of the lush x potentials and reducing the quality of spaces available to students. The school buildings are all ripe for major renovations, just in time to redesign spaces to support the school’s growing specialization in educating students on the autism spectrum, cohabiting with the spatial qualities and materiality of wooden structures.

List of figures

Ekin Eryılmaz

index

works

Group work

Master’s Design Studio III
TU Berlin
Fall 21/22

Team
Selen Sönmez
Matt Straub

Instructors
Prof. Dr. Mechthild Stuhlmacher
Thomas Fischnaller
Nandini Oehlmann
Katharina Paschburg

In contrast to the new volume along the fire wall, the main school building has to find space for new programs between an existing structure.

The structural grid of the existing structure guided the placement of larger and smaller spaces, and was continued as the arms were extended outward. The extension line is visible not only through the plan scheme and structural system, but also through varying materiality and atmosphere of the two spaces.

A shared vocabulary of timber members unite the interventions with each other and create a unified learning environment. Both inside and out, timber defines most spaces where students and educators spend their time, as well as the quality of most interior spaces, where the transition from the existing to the new structure remains visible.

26.1

26.2

27 28 29

The detailed façade design serves as both the school’s face and a functional space.
Most spaces are designed to be open, ranging from more to less formal classrooms, independent study spaces, and other learning zones.

1
Extension of the extisting classroom volumes: view from double-height learning street
Fragment created by the author

2
Mapping the site: an analysis
No scale, mixed collage created by the author

3
Searching for new alternatives and tools to imagine a school with less barriers more interactions
No scale, mixed collage created by the author

4
A fragment of the extensions, material studies and tectonics
No scale, created by the author

5
Site plan evolution
No scale, created by the author
From top to bottom:
Existing condition, Demolition plan, Proposed additions, Proposed site plan

6
90 degree axonometry of the proposal
No scale, created by the author

7
Axonometric view of ‘Branching Out’
No scale, created by the author

8
From top to bottom:
(8.1) The outdoor sports areas of the Oberschule and gym building, which were under demolition process, were almost unusable and inaccessible in places.
(8.2) Courtyard of the main building connected to the Mensa
(8.3) The 22m firewall bottlenecking the entrance to the playground along Panke
Photos 8.1-3 are from Matt Straub’s archive, 2021

(8.4) 1/100 physical model of the intersection of the tower and the main building

9
Merged ground floor plan
See the scale bar, created by the author

10
+5.00 m plan of the main volume, the second floor of the welcome volume and classroom clusters are visible
See the scale bar, created by the author
(10.1) classroom, (10.2) retreat room, (10.3) open classroom/learning street, (10.4) teacher’s room, (10.5) therapy room, (10.6) toilets, (10.7) inner courtyard, (10.8) amphitheater, (10.9) informal learning areas

11
Spatial diagram
Revised by the author

12
Design diagrams of the main campus building
No scale, created by the author
From top to bottom:
(12.1) Preserving the existing ‘arms’ housing the classrooms and the courtyard on the northern side, (12.2) Introducing the bar building , (12.3) Extending the arms of the main school building, (12.4) A new welcome volume brings the four arms back together and makes each level accessible while the Kita+Mensa volume encloses a second courtyard

13
Studies on the thresholds between the closed and open
No scale, created by the author

14
Cross section showing the level differences throughout the campus and how the design is dealing with it
See the scale bar, revised by the author

15
Longitudinal section of the welcoming volume: Generous skylights bring daylight through the roof in to the multi-story spaces
See the scale bar, revised by the author

16
Interior view, double height arts and science workshops, study areas upstairs
Fragment created by the author

17
The ground floor corridor connects lower level classrooms to the upper level and circulates through the main building, preserving and enhancing the split-level character with added material and spatial qualities
Fragment created by the author

18
Lateral section perspective of the tower, ground floor gains extra height since the site’s topography gently rolls down towards the Panke canal
No scale, created by the author

19
Section perspective of double height learning street
No scale, created by the author

20
The conceptions of the learning scape allows science, art classes and all other messy activities to occur in a number of spaces throughout the school, wherever they integrate well with the learning plan
No scale, created by the author

21
From left to right:
(21.1) Tower section
See the scale bar, revised by the author (21.2)
The existing 22m-long white firewall elevation
See the scale bar, created by the author
(21.3) System section of the tower
No scale, revised by the author

22
Tower ground floor plan
See the scale bar, revised by the author

23
Section perspective showing learning spaces in relation to open and semi-open areas of the campus
No scale, revised by the author

24
Longitudinal section perspective
No scale, revised by the author

25
1/100 Physical model: existing (concrete framework) and additions (timber structures)

26
Axonometric view of the extensions (additions with thicker lines):
(26.1) First floor, (26.2) Second floor

27
Main building classrooms’ extension intervention system section and plan
See the scale bar, created by the author
(27. 1) Roof construction: 3 mm welted sheet aluminum; 27 mm wood boarding, 60 mm battens, sealing layer, 180 mm wood-fibre thermal insulation, 260 mm stacked plank roof element , (27.2) Catwalk: 60 mm oak boarding, 120 mm wide on, 240 mm solid oak beams, (27.3) 100 mm oak suspension members connected by Ø 20 mm beech dowels, (27.4) Wall construction: 180 mm six-layer solid timber element, 220 mm six-layersolid timber element, (27.5) 50/25 mm oak handrail on Ø 5 mm timber balustrade, (27.6) Double glazing in ash frame 4mm 16mm 4mm, (27.7) 170 mm slaked lime,15 mm mineral-fibre sheeting, 180 mm stacked plank floor

28
Main building classrooms’ extension intervention plan detail
See the scale bar, created by the author
For numbering refer to fig.27

29
Intersection of the welcoming volume and classroom units, facade and material details
See the scale bar, created by the author

30

Main building North-West facade elevation
See the scale bar, created by the author

mail

are.na