Friedrich-Engels-Schule

In Berlin's Reinickendorf district, the existing Friedrich Engels Grammar School was converted and extended into an all-day-high school with five parallel classes. A three-storey new building was planned for 12 classrooms, 3 group rooms and a canteen with kitchen, which was erected next to the Wilhelminian-style main building. The school is located directly adjacent to the ‘White City’, a large Berlin housing estate built in the 1920s by Swiss architect Otto Rudolph Salvisberg.

The central staircase is a special feature of the new building. It begins free-standing on the ground floor and leads up to the central stairwell on the upper floors. A skylight provides natural light from above. Generous openings allow views from the stairwell across the corridors to the outside. A mezzanine becomes a meeting place and invites visitors to linger.

The corridors revolve around the central staircase. Where they meet the façade, spacious work zones with built-in furniture open up for pupils and teachers. They offer plenty of space for informal collaborative work. Large windows with loggias in front of them open up wide views of striking landmarks in the surrounding area: the ‘white city’, the extensive sports facilities, the old oak tree in the schoolyard. The outer skin of the simple masonry building is clad with light grey-yellow brick.