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German School Madrid
The rediscovery of traditional construction methods has been combined with organic forms in Madrid: the designers of the German School in Madrid worked under the proviso that school buildings should be progressive in their approach and assume a key position for building culture and sustainability. In addition to the sustainability of the building in energy terms, social aspects also stood to the fore – it was felt that the school should also fulfil its task as a formative environment for school students from an aesthetic point of view.
How the judges assessed it:
“In urban and conceptual design terms, this project impresses with its intelligent approach to the task and the contextual response to the school as a special place that provides an exemplary model for education while also ensuring a high degree of identification in building terms. Both the architecture and the variedly designed open spaces respond to the special climatic conditions in central Spain. The energy-based concepts and architecture are combined to form an intrinsic whole and enrich the new school complex in a self-evident manner. A good address for German construction culture and energy efficiency made in Germany.”
Building concept
At the new site in the north of Madrid, the aim was to continue the tradition of this successful private school. By means of diverse visual and spatial relationships and social amenities in the building, group identification and intercultural encounters are strengthened.
The diverse areas of use can be read as clear units in this ensemble. The houses for the different school areas each surround their own courtyard with covered terraces that provide a modern interpretation of the concentrated atmosphere of a cloister and allow the huge expanse of the Sierra to be experienced through the openings to the landscape. The buildings merge into one another like an organically growing structure. All communal areas – the foyer spaces, canteen, 1,000-seat concert hall, library and gymnasium – frame the forecourt and link the school houses together.
Energy concept
The hot summers of Madrid determined the energy concept for the building. The elevated buildings, covered external spaces and recesses in the facades reduce the summer heat loads and, combined with large storage masses, increase the amenity value. An appropriate insulation standard and ventilation with heat recovery promise to ensure low heating and cooling loads and, given the high number of people present in the school, a good air quality. The generously dimensioned earth-to-air heat exchangers ensure preheating or precooling of the air in accordance with the season. Indirect evaporative cooling provides environmentally friendly refrigeration for cooling the supply air. Special rooms are cooled via an absorption chiller using waste heat from a natural gas-fired CHP plant. The waste heat produced from the CHP plant in winter covers the basic heat loads. A solar power system with thin-film cells on the roof reduces the peak electricity requirement of the building and feeds electricity into the grid so that, in combination with the CHP plant, 39% of the primary energy requirement is met across the year. It is to be hoped that the detailed elaboration maintains the quality of the concept and that the production energy is also taken into account.
A special feature is the thermo-labyrinth that extends under the building with a total length of around 600 metres. In winter the temperature of the external air will be raised from an average of 0 °C to around +8 °C and in summer it will be cooled down from 36 °C to around 19 °C.