Article source: Despang Architekten

The new day care center of Göttingen University is the most recent case study of several typological educational prototypes Despang Architekten has investigated in within the last years. The strategy of this project is a symbiosis of architecture and nature with a high ecological standard. The symbiosis was achieved through mainly berming the building and opening it with a passive solar “curtain wall” towards the south. Part of the goal was the development of a by the best value of the inflationary term sustainable building, which besides other performative aspects has a very low heating and cooling demand. Critical and fundamental in the design process was the maximum exposure to the south and closure to the north with optimized insulation. Access to the building is given from the east and utilizes the given infrastructure of the two adjacent buildings.

Image Courtesy © Olaf Baumann

• Architects: Despang Architekten
• Project: Kita Göttingen
• Location: Göttingen, Germany
  
• Photography: Jochen Stüber, Olaf Baumann
• Year of construction: 2010
• Builder-owner: Georg-August-University Göttingen
• Occupant: Studentenwerk Göttingen
• Architectural design: Despang Architekten (Dresden, Munich, Hannover, Honolulu ( University of Hawaii Manoa, USA) Günter und Martin Despang / project team: Dipl.-Ing. Philip Hogrebe, Dipl.-Ing. Jörg Steveker
• Passive house design: RAUMPLAN Architekten und Ingenieure, Hannover (Certified Passive House Designers), Dipl.-Ing. Architektin Stefanie von Heeren mit Dipl.-Ing. M.Sc. Architekt Matthias Wohlfahrt
• Structural engineering: Drewes + Speth Beratende Ingenieure im Bauwesen, Hannover
• Building services engineering: Ingenieurgesellschaft Grabe mbH, Hannover
• Landscape design: Landschaftsarchitektur und Umweltplanung Dipl.-Ing. Gerhard Kohl, Göttingen

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