Rolandstrasse Primary School in Düsseldorf
Designed by Paul Schneider-Esleben, the school dates from 1961 and is an outstanding example of post-war German architecture. Not only does it bear a certain relation to Mies van der Rohe’s IIT building in Chicago; Schneider-Esleben was convinced of the pedagogic effect of an open structure with views out of the school, and he also sought to create links between modern architecture and art. Installations by Otto Piene, Günther Uecker and Heinz Mack still grace the entrance areas today.The complex consists of two parallel classroom tracts, with two staircase links between them and covered entrances at each end. The central courtyard continues beneath the raised eastern tract into an open playground area. Along the road, the playground is flanked by a covered walkway that leads to the gym. The ensemble was placed under conservation order in 1990, and a preliminary competition for the facade had the aim of bringing the school up to modern energy standards without impairing the outer appearance. The winning architects, Legner and van Ooyen, proposed the replacement of the old facade with a rear-ventilated curtain-wall construction, the dimensions of which would correspond precisely to those of the existing uninsulated concrete skeleton-frame structure. In 2004, the architects were able to develop their concept in collaboration with Schneider-Esleben himself, who died in 2005.
