The debate about the facade of the new gymnasium at the Weilheim grammar school continues: There are criticisms of the planned wood paneling from the ranks of the Weilheim Agenda 21.
Instead, it stimulates a photovoltaic facade - as a “showcase example for climate-friendly building”.
Weilheim
- After many discussions, the district council decided at the beginning of October to clad the new gymnasium at the Weilheim grammar school with wood instead of fiber cement panels - “for ecological reasons,” says District Administrator Andrea Jochner-Weiß.
But the “Urban Development” working group of the Weilheim Agenda 21 is not very enthusiastic about it: “To provide such a large structure made of concrete and brickwork with 'wooden wallpaper',” says AK spokesman Peer Prechtel, would lack clarity in the architecture Construction so does not fit the environment.
Although there are “high-quality gyms with wooden facades”, they are “also real wooden constructions”, such as in Obersöchering.
"A lighthouse project with a model character"
With a view to the maintenance costs, Prechtel suggests a completely different, not yet discussed solution for the south and east sides of the gymnasium: a photovoltaic facade.
Another agenda group, the “Energy-Climate-Environment” working group, has already officially applied to the district to examine their technical feasibility and cost-effectiveness.
This would allow "an attractive modern facade design as well as an energetically advantageous solution", AK spokesman Ottmar Back wrote to the district administrator: "This would make the sports hall a lighthouse project with a model character."
+
The Weilheimer Agenda, on the other hand, calls for a photovoltaic facade - based on the example of the Copenhagen International School.
© Adam Moerk / CF Møller Architects
Back refers to the desired climate protection goals of the city and district.
To achieve this, additional PV systems are needed, and not just on roof surfaces.
Facades are also predestined for this, as long as there is no shading.
The new gymnasium with its unshaded east and south facade offers good conditions and could become a showcase project in terms of “facade PV”.
Back assumes that such a system would pay for itself within ten to twelve years, i.e. it would pay for itself with the yield.
"The solar power is used in the school and reduces the running costs for decades", adds Prechtel from the AK "Stadtentwicklung".
"That would be an eye-catcher"
Such a facade, he is convinced, would be “a striking eye-catcher, an eye-catcher, a showcase example for climate-friendly building to save CO2”.
The windowless areas would be "subtly structured" by the modules, which are available in different colors.
Prechtel cites the award-winning new building of the Copenhagen International School in the Nordhafen district of the Danish capital as a fascinating example: Its facade consists of 12,000 solar panels, each of which is individually angled.
Old gyms are likely to be demolished in summer 2022
Since the demolition of the old gymnasium at Weilheim grammar school will probably not begin until the summer vacation 2022 "and the facades will be the last work to be done in 2023 at the earliest", Prechtel believes that rescheduling is still possible.
Otherwise "the chance for a better, ecologically and economically sustainable solution will be wasted".
In the meantime, the district administrator has already responded to the agenda request - and referred to the district council resolution for a wooden facade.
Nevertheless, the Agenda representatives hope for a rethink.
And on the district council groups.
Also read:
Weilheim's asphalt should be greener
