Founded in 1899 as a primary school and steadily expanded over time, the Emmi-Bonhoeffer-School grew into a patchwork of buildings serving nearly 940 students. To transform this heterogeneous mix into a cohesive whole, Trapez Architektur restructured the site through a design rooted in a Phase Zero process, where students, teachers, administrators, and local officials helped define the school’s goals and needs.
The first step was the transformation of Tract C, a building from the early 2000s. An additional story was added, creating a generous learning landscape that now anchors the upper-secondary area. This versatile new level provides a distinctive identity of its own while expanding much-needed capacity. The focus now shifts to Tract D, which is currently under construction. This new building extends the campus into the surrounding landscape.
A three-story foyer with generous stairs, open galleries, and a transparent library will form the welcoming main entrance and social heart of the school. From here, three projecting “fingers” will reach into the landscape. Each will house clearly defined learning and functional spaces, while the growing distances between them will form a central spine.
Instead of a traditional corridor, this spine becomes a sequence of widened zones and niches designed as flexible learning landscapes — places for group work, independent study, or casual encounters.
Together, the completed Tract C and the future Tract D will transform a fragmented ensemble into a coherent campus. The interventions expand capacity, strengthen connections, and establish a clear architectural identity that reflects and supports the school’s evolving pedagogical mission.
Renderings: moka-studio GbR
