ABSTRACT
The sunflower is a metaphor and a symbol of organic growth. The light of the sun makes its form, it is the source of its life. Education, knowledge, is the light which illuminates children’s minds. The nature of ourselves depends on the quality of education we have received. Organic development of our mind demands an organic environment, an organic architecture, the spirit of nature embodied in stone. Education is an organic way of conveying knowledge, from one human being to the other. We plant 201the seeds of knowledge not the knowledge itself I can’t imagine an organic education in a mechanical soulless environment. School is not a production plant. We produce nothing. On the contrary, the results of education are invisible and mostly impossible to evaluate, until much after, sometimes too late.
Architect’s statement Roof plan with shadows. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs15_1_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Site plan. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs15_2_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>In the architect’s own words, this is a building which is like a ‘big family house’. There are numerous places in which the pupils can hide, and create their own sense of mystery. This is no place for the casual visitor with its labyrinthine passageways and spaces between spaces. The architect’s approach is a highly personal attempt to recreate the complexities of the city with its walkways, passageways and cul-de-sacs. The school therefore becomes the city.
The Heinz Galinski School is the first Jewish primary school to be built in Germany after the Second World War. As a result, its construction was not only a functional necessity but also an act of great symbolic significance. Located in Charlottenburg at the northern edge of the Grunewald Forest, the school programme called for a mixture of both large and small spaces. There is a multipurpose hall for 500, which can be used as a synagogue, a dining hall and two kitchens for meat and milk, in accordance with Jewish tradition. The smaller spaces consist mainly of cellular classrooms. This conceptual drawing appears like an abstract piece of sculpture drawn in two dimensions. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs15_3_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Basement plan. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs15_4_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Ground floor plan. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs15_5_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> First floor plan. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs15_6_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Figure CS15.7 Second floor plan. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs15_7_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Geometric layout. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs15_8a_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Early conceptual sketches translating the abstract idea into three dimensions. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs15_8b_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> View of the main entrance from the public courtyard with access doors discreetly set back behind the thick sculptural walls of the building. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs15_9_C.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> (Photo: © Michael Kruger.)
Because of the many trees on the site, the form of the school was adapted to retain the mature specimens. The rotating sunflower form of the plan focuses on to the entrance court, where all the disparate parts meet to form a semi-enclosed public space. Other more private and smaller scale courtyards have their own individual character. The structure consists of 36.5 cm thick brick load-bearing walls plastered both inside and outside. High insulation values have been ensured by the use of concrete in the floors and ceilings Cheap corrugated metal for the external cladding of corridors and other exposed links is adopted, and chunky triple-glazed timber windows.
The building almost defies categorization. Its message is highly symbolic and yet paradoxical. It is closed and secure, a fortress against a hostile world perhaps, yet its form is also playful and overtly optimistic. Given the context this is the only way to look, forwards rather than backwards, an optimistic investment in education for the new Jewish community of this once troubled city. The geometry unfolds at the rear service side of the building where the walled city metaphor becomes even more appropriate. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs15_10_C.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> (Photo: © Michael Kruger.) A corridor on a meandering and playful route, emphasizing the sense of spatial diversity captured within the plan. However, the classroom forms are conventional (see also plate 18). https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs15_11_C.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Sports hall interior with exposed industrial-style metal roof and laminated timber roof beams gently curving up towards the ventilated north-west elevation to create natural air movement throughout the year, Haute Vallée School, Jersey. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/pla1_15_C.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> (© Architecture PLB, Winchester.) View from lowest level 3 showing the main playground with the castle in the background, Elementary School, Morella, Spain. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/pla1_16_C.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> (© Carme Pinõs.) The architecture at Admiral Lord Nelson Secondary School, Hampshire, has a strong horizontal emphasis with the accentuated cantilever supporting projecting terraces; it appears like a grandstand overlooking the landscaped areas to the south, it's immense scale stating unequivocally the importance of the educational environment. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/pla1_17_C.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> (Hampshire County Architects. Photo: © Paul Carter.) Internal corridor gently curving, full of afternoon sun, Heinz Galinski School, Berlin. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/pla1_18_C.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> (Zvi Hecker. Photo: © Michael Kruger.)
