Friedberg Technical College Schoolyards on different levels with ecological water management

Architecture and open space react strongly to each other in structure and colour in this almost square plot. Areas with hard surfaces, lawns, vegetation and furniture are zoned, responding to the glass and wooden surfaces of the east-west building facing the garden with parallel rhythms, and to the lamella facade of the north-south building with stripes running in and through.

The dark asphalt surfaces of the break deck at entrance level are graded down to light-coloured paving, slabs, lawns and hedge backdrops in the south courtyard. This drains with a one-sided slope into the transverse 90m long water channel, which also receives the roof water. The barely perceptible slope of the courtyard becomes spatially effective at the lateral horizontal retaining walls.

The canal retains the water and clarifies it before it seeps away. As an aesthetic element, it can make the ecological goal of water management tangible.