The St. Franziskus Primary School of the Edith-Stein School Foundation in Halle (Saale) has been expanded laterally with the St. Mauritius Secondary School. The existing building of the primary school consists of two three-storey sections. A new connecting structure on the first and second floor connects to the also three-storey new building.
The new building relies on renewable and fully recyclable materials, which are used according to their properties and can be completely dismantled – wood for load-bearing, clay for an optimal indoor climate. Reinforced concrete is only used for the foundation with strip footings, and no slab foundation is required.
The timber-frame construction is primarily stabilised by the roof and floor slabs, which are designed as shear plates, as well as by diagonals embedded in the walls. This made it possible to forgo OSB panels for stabilization. The exterior walls are constructed using timber panel construction with cellulose blown-in insulation. The partition walls in the stairwells are made of cross-laminated timber (CLT), with the stair side left visible in wood. Non-load-bearing interior walls of the timber-frame structure are made of clay bricks. These are finished with clay plaster on both sides. The floor and flat roof are also constructed using cross-laminated timber (CLT). The flat roof is topped with insulation, extensive green roofing and a raised photovoltaic (PV) system.
The modular construction method and the high degree of prefabrication of the wooden building elements shorten the on-site construction time. The clay brick infills and the clay plaster were applied after the structural framework of each floor was completed, allowing them to be implemented in a closed (weather-protected) part of the building.
