After the competition had stipulated another purely residential project, the programme was fundamentally altered as it went ahead: a nursery school for two parallel groups and with external spaces now forms the centre of the complex – with a house for the disabled, a small building for short-term stays and an underground car park – all of which has come to occupy a constricted site in the old town. The 1970s statute on construction styles in the old town governed the design. Even though many committed architects did come out in those days against design regulations of this sort, from today’s viewpoint we regard it as an advantage because it can successfully combine new and old into a harmonious unity. Accordingly, the site’s new housing does, in fact, complement the old town’s structures relatively unobtrusively.

To meet the need for space despite the restricted circumstances, we rounded off the nursery school’s ground plan. We have inserted a round stairwell into the building to serve as the main access connecting the levels. Right at the building’s entrance, the children can see up into the attic. The entry floor and the first floor each accommodate a group, with its main and ancillary rooms. The attic accommodates a space for physical exercise. In front of the entrance is an adjoining building raised on pillars. Here children can take shelter from bad weather while they are waiting outside.

As the building is only partially visible from the street, we decided on bold colours: the base has blue render and the white wood-based panels have yellow battens.

Client:
Universitätsstadt Tübingen

Architects:
Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei Architekten, Stuttgart

Team:
Reinhard Staub

Competition:
1983

Construction period:
1985 – 1988

Location:
Lange Gasse 54, 72070 Tübingen, Germany

Awards
Auszeichnung Beispielhaftes Bauen
Architektenkammer Baden-Württemberg

Anerkennung Walter-Hesselbach-Preis
Bank für Gemeinwirtschaft AG

Auszeichnung guter Bauten, BDA

Besondere Anerkennung Leon-Battista-Alberti-Plakette
BDA und Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ziegeldach e.V

Publications
Lederer, Arno / Ragnarsdóttir, Jórunn / Oei, Marc (Hg.):
Lederer   Ragnarsdóttir  Oei 1.
Jovis Verlag Berlin 2012

Falk Jaeger (Hg.):
Lederer + Ragnarsdóttir + Oei.
Berlin 2008

Wolfgang Bachmann (Hg.), Haila Ochs (Texte):
Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei.
München 1995

Walter Kroner:
Architektur für Kinder.
Stuttgart 1994

Deutsche Bauzeitung
7 | 1994

Architektur + Wettbewerbe
152 | 1992

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ziegeldach e.V. (Hg.):
Wettbewerbsergebnisse 1989 | 90.
Ziegeldächer in der Architektur.
Bonn 1991

Bauwelt
2-3 | 1990

Das deutsche Malerblatt
11 | 1989

Baumeister
12 | 1988

Karl Wilhelm Schmitt (Hg.):
Architektur in Baden-Württemberg nach 1945.
Stuttgart 1985

Photos
Roland Halbe, Stuttgart