Landscape Design for an Elementary School , Salzburg - AT, 2011
Invited competition, 1st prize winner
The landscape proposal intends to create a space of communication and exchange between the school and its surrounding. The forecourt should become a triggering place where children can discover their surrounding in a playful interaction.
The rotation of the existing school building in relation to the site creates residual areas currently used for parking. To createa new forecourt for the school we introduce a fluid, adaptable, non-hierarchic and dynamic field of vectors. The field produces different heights and densities, directions and counter movements, drifts and whirls. It smoothly adapts to its boundary conditions creating a heterogenous terrain. Out of a 3 dimensional output of the simulation, a topographical map of the landscape is deducedthat can be interpreted by the pupils as islands, valleys or hills. The articulation of the landscape through topography, materials and other sensory triggers such as sound, light and smell of plants create differentiated sceneries and atmospheres children can discover and transform. Functions like the school stage, learning islands, open classrooms, playgrounds, etc. are not fixed but are defined by the pupils themselves in a playful interaction.
rendering / ©soma
