Weiterstadt boarding school building

In Weiterstadt, a community with 25,000 inhabitants in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district, the Frankfurt-Rhine-Main Chamber of Crafts has been running a vocational training and technology center since 1972. The institution is one of the oldest and largest inter-company vocational training centers in the Federal Republic of Germany: 1,100 places for training, 35 training workshops, ten classrooms and three computer rooms as well as a canteen are available. After three years of planning and construction, a new boarding school was added in 2019.

The five-story boarding school building, which is approximately 60 meters long and 14 meters wide, is built over the former parking lot on Rudolf-Diesel-Straße.

Due to its parallel orientation to the street and in interaction with the existing buildings, a protected courtyard is created inside the complex, which is suitable for various outdoor activities.

The house offers overnight accommodation for up to 115 guests. Common rooms and small apartments for the carers are positioned at the two ends of the building.

Exposed concrete, porous concrete blocks, oak wood in the area of ​​the entrances to the rooms and colored linoleum are the essential materials in the access areas. The guest rooms have exposed concrete ceilings as well as white plastered wall surfaces and linoleum floors.

The facade is made of white concrete blocks covered with quartz sand, the surface of which is broken. The joint material, which is also enriched with quartz sand, gives the facade surface a very homogeneous, slightly iridescent appearance.

Large window openings ensure good use of daylight in all rooms. On the north facade, the side of the building that, in addition to the poor daylight conditions, is also affected by the noise from the nearby railway line, elements protruding from the facade, so-called “butterflies”, provide the necessary sound insulation and allow the direct east or west light in enter the rooms.