The new schools complex in Ratzeburg is located in a mainly residential cityscape, in the middle of an area of low-density detached housing, characterised by brick architecture and pitched roofs that make up the neighbourhood’s identity. To meet the requirements of the brief for creating empty spaces for school playgrounds and to protect some existing trees, we designed the primary and secondary school buildings with free, flowing forms that sensitively link together the project’s internal and external spaces. An overall view of the scheme’s layout is very organic, reminiscent of a plant pattern with a very strongly marked central core and branches that extend towards the site’s boundaries and contain spaces for the various school functions.
