Competition for a school cafeteria

Wilhelm-Bölsche-Schule, Berlin Friedrichshagen, 2010


Task

Design of the entrance and rear walls of a school cafeteria, which is being set up in the former gymnasium of the Wilhelm-Bölsche School in Friedrichshagen.

Background

The most striking design elements of the Bölsche School are certainly the two monumental entrance figures. They were intended to programmatically convey the mission of the Wilhelmine school system: to lay the foundation for a strong, nationally minded youth and a wise old age. In addition to the drawn sword resting on the young man’s knees, the political aspect of this message was reinforced by the inscription on the medal to the right (“Für König und Vaterland” – “For King and Fatherland”), which has since been chiseled away (Fig. 1).

The second site for programmatic representations is the auditorium as a ceremonial hall, where the emphasis is on the humanistic aspect of education. In addition to the zodiac signs, particular attention is drawn to the depictions of groups of young men or students dressed in classical styles (Figs. 3, 4). As future bearers of culture, they are shown writing, drawing, or singing. Their fate and opportunities are also shaped by personal character traits, which are predetermined by the zodiac signs. In this context, the various animal representations also fit, providing a more nuanced interpretation of individual character and moral qualities. Conventional symbolic imagery (bee = diligence, owl = wisdom) is combined with references to mythology or fairy tales (ravens, wolf) and natural science (jellyfish) (Figs. 5–8).

Since the Bölsche School building contains unusually extensive iconographic directives that go far beyond mere decoration, it makes sense to respond to these guidelines in the cafeteria design using similar means. However, the closed worldview that once guided the choice of symbols no longer applies today. Consequently, the meaning of individual elements and their interpretation must remain open.

My proposal consists of three overlapping layers.

The side walls of the room, with their windows and arches, exhibit a strong and logical structural system. In contrast, the entrance and rear walls are unstructured and have no connection to the side walls. This lack of cohesion makes the room feel incomplete. My design aims to provide the room with precisely this sense of unity.

1st Layer (dashed lines)

The most obvious architectural approach would be to transfer the structural system of the side walls with windows to the remaining walls. The result is shown by the dashed lines. When adopting the proportions, however, the doors on the entrance side are not centered within the arch axes but are slightly shifted. They symbolize the possibilities where theory and practice do not always coincide.

2nd Layer (colored areas)

The second, colored layer is therefore aligned with the actual conditions of each wall: with the doors on the entrance side and the kitchen installation on the rear side – and accordingly shifted upwards there. The shapes and proportions are derived from the windows.

The semicircles of the side windows originally corresponded to large painted laurel wreaths in the ceiling panels (cf. Fig. 2), which I echo with a near-circular form. The colored band below corresponds to the free space between paneling and window. By shifting the area (green) above the kitchen installation upwards, the color field extends slightly into the ceiling area. To compensate for the resulting optical shortening, I use a technique from quadratura painting: the depiction is distorted so that from a fixed point in the room it appears as a perfect circle.

Colors: The circular forms and color bands present two different color systems: an example of a technical color space (circles: red, green, blue) and the familiar artistic color space (red, yellow, blue) of the bands. They envelop the room like a universe – just as the zodiac signs in the auditorium surround the space above. The color fields are divided into shades, as in a pattern book or based on the uncovering of old paint layers. Laterally, they blend into adjacent tones. The colors are generally based on the pastel tones used elsewhere in the Bölsche School (auditorium, corridors).

Ornaments: The color areas are overlaid with different ornamental patterns, similar to the geometric forms that cover the ceilings of the auditorium and entrance areas like fabric. The motifs are created from pictograms of various sports. In addition to referencing the room’s former function as a gymnasium, they generally symbolize rules and order, including social norms. This also includes the two different measurement scales applied to the color band below the circles: one divided into tens and one into threes, as used, for example, in grading systems.

3rd Layer (figures)

Large symbolic-allegorical figures, like silhouettes, are placed in front of the two wall-bound layers. They refer less to the two monumental entrance figures of the school than to the groups of figures on the ceiling of the auditorium. Thematically, they revolve around concepts such as risk, balance, protection, responsibility, and social competence – skills that students are meant to develop in school and carry into later life. The figures deliberately remain ambiguous in meaning.

Execution

1st and 2nd layers: stencil-painted ornamental patterns and dashed lines.
3rd layer: figures made of 5 mm aluminum sheet, milled and black lacquered, mounted about 3 cm in front of the wall on metal bolts. They are positioned high enough to be out of reach.

Wilhelm Bölsche-Schule, Friedrichshagen 1905/06: Eingangsfiguren "Jugend" und "Alter", Aufnahme 30er Jahre Turnhalle, Aufnahme 30er Jahre Aula – Figurengruppen "Literatur" und "Zeichnen" Aula – Symbolische Darstellungen im Deckenstuck