Optimal acoustics in the new state-of-the-art Karl-Böhm school

School is a place to live and learn, where children and adults feel at home, respect each other and learn with and from each other.

This is true of the Vaterstetten primary and middle school in the town of the same name in Upper Bavaria, around 17 kilometres east of Munich. Almost 50 teachers educate approximately 400 children from years 1 to 10 in the new state-of-the-art school building, which has recently been named after the native Vaterstetten actor and founder of the first German-Ethiopian town twinning partnership, Karlheinz Böhm. The building complex replaces the ageing schools in Gluck- und Johann-Strauß-Straße.

The school complex consists of three individual but connected three-storey buildings, which are open and welcoming thanks to plenty of floor-to-ceiling glass elements and wood-effect façades. The large playgrounds are located in the surrounding open space. The U-shaped new build for the four primary year groups and one middle school group with supervised lunch club also contains a sports building with multipurpose sports hall on the ground floor and a swimming pool on the lower ground floor. The sports building can be accessed separately for club sports.

Inside the school, several classrooms are arranged around a central ‘market square’ featuring seating alcoves and wide windowsills, which create a welcoming environment for learning and hanging out. Modern learning landscapes include group rooms, cloakrooms, WC facilities as well as a team room for teaching staff.

The classrooms are bright thanks to additional windows which facing into the market square and are surrounded by emergency escape balconies. In keeping with the oak parquet on the floors and walls, which are a combination of wooden panelling and exposed concrete, colour-coordinated Troldtekt acoustic panels have been installed on the ceiling to guarantee optimal acoustics throughout the bustling school day.