Zoological and Botanical School Wilhelma in Stuttgart, Germany

El concepto de diseño se basa en su relación con el sitio, vecino al «Moorish Compound», un pintoresco conjunto de edificios y jardines establecidos en la mitad del siglo 19. La Escuela de Wilhelma se integra a este contexto histórico con una respuesta contemporánea y sin pretensiones. El resultado es un sistema transparente de pabellones con una cubierta en voladizo que lo rodeo totalmente, apoyada en paredes conformadas por paneles sándwich de piezas prefabricadas de hormigón.

El interior del edificio se estructura en tres áreas: un salón de clases con tres de sus lados acristalados, un núcleo de servicios sanitarios y un área de back office para el personal docente, así como una sala para los animales con un aviario, un acuario y jaulas para los animales pequeños.

Original Text in English

Wilhelma School is an educational institution of the zoological-botanical garden in Stuttgart. Previously accommodated in provisionally fixed wooden barracks, the Directorate and the governamental building authorities decided for a new building in the same place. The design concept is based on a relationship with the site, neighbouring the «Moorish Compound», a picturesque ensemble of buildings and gardens stablished in the middle of the 19th century. The Wilhelma School was to be integrated into the historically grown context as an unpretentious and contemporary answer.

The result is a transparent, pavilion-like building with an all-around cantilevered roof, which is based on wall panels, sandwich elements from precast concrete parts. The interior of the building is structured in three areas. It houses a three-sided glazed «class room», a core with sanitary facilities and a back office area for the educational staff as well as an animal room with aviary, aquarium and cages for small animals.

Engaged along the length of the south-side the unobtrusively designed forecourt provides for activities in the open. Reaching north to the visitor walk-about, wooden element make up a second room layer. The newly planted bushes will increase in volume over the years. Only then, when the upper edge of the roof over the «green wall» appears as a horizontal line, will the architectural concept be fully stablished.