Topping-out ceremony for the Riedberg-Gymnasium near Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt‘s Deputy Mayor and head of education, Jutta Ebeling of the Green party, shared an interesting fact at the topping-out ceremony on 12th September: the Riedberg-Gymnasium is the first new school of its type to be opened in Frankfurt for 100 years.
Just how much has changed during these hundred years was shown not only by a model of the school, which, with its adjacent youth center, can be used as a full-day school, but also by its design: the school is to be built as a zero-energy building that provides a pleasant learning environment without the need for traditional heating and cooling systems.
Frankfurt‘s Deputy Mayor and head of education, Jutta Ebeling of the Green party, shared an interesting fact at the topping-out ceremony on 12th September: the Riedberg-Gymnasium is the first new school of its type to be opened in Frankfurt for 100 years.
Just how much has changed during these hundred years was shown not only by a model of the school, which, with its adjacent youth center, can be used as a full-day school, but also by its design: the school is to be built as a zero-energy building that provides a pleasant learning environment without the need for traditional heating and cooling systems.
The gymnasium was designed for 1350 pupils and consists of three classroom wings, an assembly hall and two wings containing specialist facilities. Adjacent to it are a three-pitch sports hall and a youth center.
Construction work started in November 2010, and since it is progressing on schedule, as reported by the Managing Director of Hessenagentur, Mr. Friedhelm Flug during his speech, the school is expected to be completed in the spring of 2013.
City councillor Prof. Dr. Daniela Birkenfeld (CDU) praised the concept of the school, which is already operating in temporary buildings on a provisional site next to the Riedberg Campus of Frankfurt’s Goethe-Universität, with which it cooperates. Science subjects are taught bilingually.
The building complex was designed by the Tübingen-based architects Ackermann and Raff, who won the invitation-only design competition held in 2009. The three-floor classroom wings are to the north and have no basement. The wings for specialist facilities and the assembly hall are to the south; they have two floors and basements in some parts. All the buildings are made of concrete and have flat roofs. The wide-span roof construction of the three-pitch sports hall, in which the topping-out ceremony was held, was built using 41 m long laminated timber trusses.
KREBS+KIEFER Ingenieure, Darmstadt is responsible for checking the structural design and for construction supervision. The checking engineer responsible is Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Günter Ernst.
