New Primary school Stará Boleslav

The new Primary School building in Stará Boleslav makes the most of its contextual view of the Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and the Basilica of St. Wenceslas, thus creating an educational space with a ubiquitous reference to the school’s location. The linear low-rise mass stretches across the site, segmented via vertical green atriums defines a division that decreases the scale and forms an urban synergy between the school and its surroundings. The Learning Landscape - a continuous inner corridor that provides a multifunctional space in between home rooms, green terraces, and vertical atriums, brings a timeless and flexible approach to the design of an educational institution. The school is conceived as an amalgamation of educational, sports, and cultural elements that interconnect without defined boundaries. The rationality and simplicity of the precast concrete structure prove to be an ideal way to achieve a variable and easily reconfigurable internal layout based on the constantly evolving educational system.

The architectural layout, which was highly praised by the jury, stands out due to its integration into the surrounding environment. The concept of the building is based on repeating groups that connect the south-eastern and north-western corners of the plot – the access points – through an elegantly curved diagonal. The ground floor provides permeability to the sports complex to the north and a sheltered outdoor space. Due to its orientation and location on the site, the sports hall fits organically into the overall concept. The ground floor contains shared areas for community use, while the first and second floors, although functionally separated for the school levels, are at least connected visually to each other by atria. This concept of organization is also reflected in the clusters, where classrooms are openly oriented towards the outdoor space, allowing for spontaneous use of space in accordance with specific learning needs. In the jury's opinion, this is an exceptionally compact project in terms of ideas and concept, which deserves future care in its refinement and adaptation, and which can then be transformed into a school that will be loved by its pupils and teaching staff. It is essential to further develop this project in collaboration with future users while maintaining its key strengths. Some of the objectives are to reduce internal pathways, to make the gym directly accessible to all classes, to maintain open space on the ground floor, or to review the supply route and adequate lighting in the kitchen.

We propose a new primary school that will be a major asset to the town - throughout the weekday in its basic educational function, but also in leisure time as a centre for sport, recreation, social and cultural activities and supplementary education. The extensive building program is divided into three compact volumes that correspond to the functional zoning and will fit better into the surrounding urban fabric of the city. The house will be energy-efficient, constructed of prefabricated timber, which will result in a pleasant indoor environment, significant investment savings and environmental viability of the development. The new school will be set in a residential park environment, equipped with sports and recreational facilities.

The concept of three pavilions interconnected by one central space – the hall – meets the demands of school operation very well. Its location naturally divides the site into a publicly accessible space and an easily separable and therefore protected private outdoor area of the school. The proportions of public to private space are well chosen. The Jury is positive about the decision to locate two main pedestrian accesses from the south and north of the site, the integration of the site into the transport infrastructure of the city and the associated proposal for two separate K+R car parks. Two entrances are also proposed. The proposal responds adequately to the site's boundary conditions, does not appear intrusive to the surrounding development and maintains sufficient setbacks from it. The outdoor sports pitch is of sufficient capacity but remains compact, and the internal layout of the school is very convincing. The design of the first and second level pavilions, in addition to meeting the current requirements of the client, also allows for relatively easy adaptation to possible changes in class capacities during the planning process. The jury is also positive about the simplicity of the design, which, combined with its compactness, leads to optimum construction and operating costs. On the other hand, the natural ventilation and shading and some aspects of the house's operation, such as the kitchen supply, need to be addressed. The jury appreciates the essentially collision-free design of the house – a sure way to a good result. But perhaps too sure.

The phenomenon of today‘s time is the increasing amount of time spent indoors. The advent of modern technology has made people spend more and more time on computers, smartphones and social networks. Unfortunately, this also applies to the youngest generations, who, instead of spending their free time running around outside with friends, are fixated on computer games and social networks. However, this raises problems not only with the lack of children‘s physical activities, but also at the same time increasing social isolation and the breaking of social ties. This basic problem of the younger generations was a fundamental guide in the design of the new elementary school. The new joint school responds to this issue mainly by accentuating the outdoor environment, which naturally passes through the floating landscape of the ground floor and the teaching landscape. The aim of the design is to provide an environment in which children will feel inspired and supported in their curiosity and discovery of the world around them. New school in the gre en. Community multi-purpose space that connects social ties and serves as a place for meetings and social activities, for community development. A place that will encourage social interaction between children, parents and educators. A school that maximally connects teaching with the outdoors and transfers the main events outside. An active school that encourages children to move, explore their surroundings, develops their creative thinking and improves their concentration. A place where students will be able to get to know local ecosystems and develop their relationship with nature through practical teaching. An environment that will contribute to the overall health and development of children.

The jury appreciates the urban design of the proposal, which respects the surrounding residential development and places the main entrance including public spaces on the northern part of the site. This suggests the possibility of further development to the north of the site but this is not a certainty. The enclosure of the site to the south and its fencing appears to be problematic. The addition of three houses to the south of the site is offered as a solution but prevents connection to direct pedestrian access from the town center. The division of the mass of the house into smaller volumes according to the school's operations is functional and clear, and the connection of the interior to the exterior on each floor is much appreciated. The interconnection of the two levels, including the location of special classrooms, works very well, as does the location of the day-care and public areas of the school, which is absolutely collision-free. The design of the grid is very rational, allowing flexibility while offering a creative and thoughtful atmosphere.

To cultivate the development of a whole person, a school should facilitate a diversity of interactions between people, places, ecologies, and things. These interactions exist at multiple scales: at a student’s desk, in the classroom, in communal spaces shared by a single grade/several grades/the whole tier/the entire school and in the world beyond it. The courtyard, at the heart of the school, is an assemblage where the whole diversity of the school comes together.

The jury decided to award this proposal with an honorable mention for its strong volumetric concept. The proposal suggests a considerable number of volumes that group around a central courtyard, encircled by a one-story colonnade like corridor. While on the one hand the diverse building units are tailored to the needs of their individual programs and take the children’s scale into consideration their heterogeneity makes them still fall apart. The strong idea of a central courtyard provides various insights and outviews, but in the same time separates the differently used volumes. The school clusters on the ground floor seems to block; a more publicly placement of the commonly used areas would have been stronger (like the canteen).