Promptly, in the academic year 2014/15, the first classes of the new school Gymnasium Grünwald were able to take on ownership of their “School of the Future”. The educational establishment also fulfils future demands thanks to its architectural and pedagogical concept, which is distinctly different from the traditional building and teaching methods of the past decade. Thus, the full-day school was created as an extensive campus which ‒ with its Think-Tanks, team work surfaces and student laboratories, for instance ‒ offers a lot more than a traditional lesson structure requires. The sports facilities on offer were also given high priority in the planning process: Today, pupils can pursue numerous activities both in the large sports hall and also outdoors in the open air. Outdoors, sports flooring made from Polytan ensure professional play, training and competition conditions on the all-weather pitch, the football pitch with artificial turf and the athletics track and field facilities encompassing a running track.
“The Gymnasium school, as an extensive campus, is intended to offer pupils, teachers and parents a habitat; a place of inspiration, which awakes curiosity and provides encouragement and which also serves as an interface between education, sport and culture,” Heinz Durner, a Representative for Science and Secondary Schools in the district of Munich, explains about the pedagogical concept of its “School of the Future”. He developed the “pedagogical architecture”, in keeping with the concept, together with the architectural firm Bauer Kurz Stockburger & Partner from Munich.
Individual building structures come together to form an extensive campus
The Gymnasium school consists of two-storey – and sometimes three-storey – independent building structures, which are interwoven spatially with each other in such a way that not only is the campus idea rendered, but also the noise pollution of traffic from the very busy street was able to be reduced significantly.
This means that, in the north, a long stretched development building with an assembly hall, recreation hall, cloak room and triple-purpose sports hall on Oberhachinger Straße functions like an oversized noise barrier for the whole area. The sports hall is embedded in the ground at floor level so that its visible construction volume can be reduced considerably. Additionally, along Oberhachinger Straße are the entrance and exit of the underground car park, bus stop, right of way sign to cars as well as covered bicycle stands. The representatively-designed, glass main entrance, above which the library appears to be visibly floating, can be accessed from the direction of the town centre across a large, leafy forecourt.
Three wings for the classrooms, in the south, dock onto the development construction and, thus, form two inner courtyards. In one of the courtyards, a reading garden offers you the chance to study and, in the other, an art garden has been constructed. A canteen, music rooms and full-day care rooms are located in a freestanding “Garden Pavilion” on the southern property boundary which occupies a special place on the campus grounds thanks to its oval shape and solitary position. The large playground is embedded between the classrooms and the canteen and is well-protected from sight thanks to intensive green areas along the street.
Outdoor area with a diverse range of sports and leisure activities
The mahl.gebhard.konzepte team, which is based in Munich, is responsible for the design of outdoor space measuring approx. 45,000 m². Even in its planning stage, the topic of noise insulation was given high priority: In order to save the neighbouring inhabitants at the eastern edge of the property from the noise from athletes and their spectators, the whole area of the artificial turf pitch was lowered by 3.5 metres with a circular running track including athletics facilities for the long and high jump and for shot put. Around 80,000 cubic metres of gravel were dug out and copses and shrubs were planted in the dug-out embankment. However, the all-weather pitch with a neighbouring beach volleyball pitch between the running track and the canteen is shielded acoustically by 2.5-metre-high noise protection walls made from glass. A further feature of the entire concept is a direct, subterranean entrance into the dressing rooms of the sports hall. As the sports grounds aren’t just used by the pupils, but also by the local sports club, TSV Grünwald, coach cubicles and benches as well as blocks of seats round off the facilities.
Low maintenance, good playability and pleasant skin sensation
Due to the low maintenance and good playability, the landscape architects decided on the artificial turf system, LigaGrass by Polytan, with a 30 mm-thick elastic layer as the foundation, for the approx. 7,900 m² large football pitch. The extremely resistant, and yet still soft, product with textured (crimped) fibres is multifunctional, as it has both the approved FIFA Recommended 1 Star Standard for football pitches and also holds a licence for the World Hockey Association, FIH, as a surface for hockey. The LigaGrass is significantly softer than other crimped systems thanks to a high-quality PE formulation. For good stability and high wear resistance, the thickness of the fibres is around 200 micrometres.
“Reseda Green” for a harmonic overall impression
The athletics track and the all-weather pitch consist of the synthetic coverings Polytan S or Polytan WSS. So that the sports surfaces fit in well on the campus grounds in terms of colours with its numerous shrubs, plants and hedges as well as roof planting, natural and artificial turf surfaces, the landscape architects chose the UV-resistant and non-fade colour tone “Reseda green”.
Even though they have the same colour tone, the sports surfaces distinguish themselves due to a varying structure in terms of their properties: About 4,750 m² Polytan WSS form the effective basis for the athletics in the running track area. It is a texture-coated sprayed-on surface for use in athletics stadiums, competition tracks, and school sports and multi-purpose facilities. As it is water-permeable, the pitch must not only be drained of water from the surface. Due to the somewhat thicker wear layer, its lifespan and durability are increased.
On the all-weather pitch, the water-permeable artificial surface Polytan S was also used. Thanks to its flat, but still slip-resistant, surface, it still possesses good ball-bouncing properties and is ideally suited for all kinds of ball sports.
The parks and the sports facilities were realised by the company Majuntke from Mainburg.
At the start of the academic year 2014/15 the first groups of children from years 5, 6 and 7 were taught in the new Gymnasium school. In the coming years, the capacity will be steadily increased to around 750 pupils, i.e. 24 classes. An area for a future building extension has already been identified on the premises.
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