Draw-Design-Build: Stephanus Grundschule Berlin
Within TU Berlin’s Summer University, ten participants drawn from varied academic and professional fields took part in this year’s “Design-Build” course—a two-week exploration centered on reinvigorating the outdoor areas of a Berlin primary school.
This is one of series of micro-scale design-build projects that aim to deliver maximum benefits for all stakeholders within a limited timeframe and with minimal budget.
The program is designed to deeply engage participants in creative learning, emphasising social responsibility while nurturing the growth of their creative, practical, and professional skills through hands-on drawing, designing and making. The primary educational objective of this course is to cultivate insightful decision-makers who are deeply aware of the imperative to proactively contribute to the creation of a balanced living environment - socially, culturally and environmentally. This endeavour aims not only to educate, but to stimulate a committed awareness of the need to promote sustainable communities for the future.
Images and Plans
Technical Description
This project concentrates on enhancing existing features and spaces within the school grounds through the addition of new elements. The methodology prioritizes sustainability by emphasising reuse, recycling, upcycling, and refurbishment, with the goal of achieving optimal outcomes on a limited budget.
Expert guidance was provided by professional carpenter Alex Tiller, who has extensive experience with on-site training. Alex supervised the use of timber as the primary material. Most of the wood consisted of reclaimed timber planks—some warped or cracked—sourced from a local outdoor furniture manufacturer. These planks were systematically sorted, with the most suitable sections allocated to corresponding parts of the construction. As a result of this targeted reuse and upcycling strategy, approximately 80% of the wood employed in the project was salvaged waste material.
Funky Fence / Screening:
Because a significant portion of the available timber consisted of shorter pieces, a custom fence/screening system was devised to accommodate these dimensions. Three steel threaded rods were positioned at the corner points and set into concrete foundations. A row of bricks served as a base layer, preventing direct ground contact for the wooden components. Wooden planks were drilled with holes and subsequently threaded—layer by layer—onto the rods and screwed down tightly. Multiple consecutive layers were assembled, with locking nuts employed to stabilise the lower sections. Additional layers were added until the intended overall height was reached.
Chillout / The Grove:
For the wooden deck in the grove, recycled concrete slabs serve as supports, carefully positioned between the roots of the existing trees. The form of the deck recalls paper airplanes and also responds to its specific location at the base of the tree. New 3m long decking boards were used to surface the deck. The two gently curving loungers are framed on either side by film-faced plywood panels, which carry the substructure supporting the bench slats. Animal silhouettes mounted on trees, along with a few tree trunks marked in biological forestry spray, lend the grove its own distinctive atmosphere.