Description

The site of the former anti-aircraft gunners’ barracks in Fallenbrunnen, built in 1936 on the outskirts of Friedrichshafen, is to be redeveloped as a site of learning. Three of the U-shaped barracks buildings have already been converted for educational purposes and the recent relocation of the main campus of the Zeppelin University (ZU) to the site marks a new direction that could inform the future development of the site.

as-if Architekten’s conversion softens the military rigour of the barracks buildings, but unlike its neighbours does not use the architectural means of inserting openings, gutting the interior and using uplifting colours. On the contrary, the new two-storey platform they have inserted into the courtyard has no qualms about meshing directly with the existing building, subverting the original building’s uniformity. Only the barracks’ unusually steep roof remains as a characteristic element – and becomes an almost surreal backdrop to the roofscape of the new insertion.

At the same time, the architects responded to the different lengths of the side wings of the barracks building by placing an entrance demonstratively in front of the shorter side wing. This urban gesture defines a second, smaller entrance courtyard that makes it clear just how oversized and one-dimensional the original barracks courtyard was. The new two-storey building docks onto the former barracks building at four points, each with a staircase, connecting the various parts. The rigid U-form of the original building with its central corridor and cellular structure is converted into a complex structure whose spaces can be reached via various paths: through the old building, via the roof or straight across the new building.

Very few university extension plans have been so meticulously prepared: over a period of two years, students and teachers at the Zeppelin University examined the question “How does one build a university?” The privately-funded university, founded in 2003, had long outgrown its campus adjoining Lake Constance in the centre of Friedrichshafen and needed space for a total of some 1200 students. The design of the new main campus needed to reflect the progressive teaching concept with architecture that is communicative and variable, that is not prescriptive but provides spaces for appropriation and informal interaction.

As with their design for the Gallery of Contemporary Art in Leipzig, Paul Grundei and Stephanie Kaindl of as-if Architekten developed a carefully differentiated and variable concept in response to the detailed schedule of required spaces. The smaller spaces and functions, such as offices and faculty departments are located on the ground floor and first floor of the existing building where only minimal changes to its rigid cellular structure were required to convert the soldiers’ quarters into offices. This pragmatic decision made it possible to work more freely with the remaining space. The seminar rooms are spread across two communicative structures: a ring of spaces is located in the roof of the existing building, which received six expressive dormers that allow students to step out of the interior and out onto one of the most impressive places in the university campus: the expansive roofscape sheltered by the surrounding red tile roofs of the barracks. The remaining seminar rooms are distributed on the two floors of the new building as insular rooms with rounded corners, each adjoining an open courtyard. Arranged seemingly freely within the open floor plan, they form intermediary spaces between them that can also be used. A system of curtains controls views in and out: the windows of the insular rooms can be closed off with green curtains, while the intermediary spaces can be divided with full-height, opaque curtains. The spatial concept invites its users to shape it without seeming contrived using means that are decidedly analogue: alongside the curtains, the walls can be used and re-used as needs or whims dictate. Entire sections of the walls function as blackboards, and in some rooms as whiteboards: whether lunch menus, teaching plans or upcoming events, the walls speak – often artistically – to the building’s users.

The dense arrangement of functions, which at first glance appears rather cramped in the plans, has been skilfully resolved in three dimensions: the open courtyards adjoining the existing barracks building, the full-height glazing, the open flowing space of the foyer, cafeteria, forum and library allow one to see right through into the depths of the complex and give the new building a remarkable, all-pervading sense of transparency. It acts like a doorway opening onto the existing building, allowing it in turn to retain its own characteristics.

Originally published in Bauwelt 26.2016, pp. 16-23, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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