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In terms of form and style, the design of the school building refers to the neighbouring family and cultural centre: there is a colour connection between the iridescent, sky-blue / midnight-blue-violet glazed, rear-ventilated clinker-brick façade of the new school building and the blue-white glazed entrance portal of the Jewish cultural centre in the front part of the site. The colour blue has had a special significance throughout the history of Judaism right up to the present day: reminiscent of the blue of the sky, this shade is the colour of divine revelation. It was of central importance for the architects that this symbolism should also be prominently reflected in the architectural language of the project and communicated far and wide in the urban space.
Adjacent to the site of the Chabad Lubavitch Family and Cultural Centre in Berlin's Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district and surrounded by heterogeneous residential and commercial architecture, the new school building with its organically curved form is a free-standing structure embedded in a green school garden with diverse open spaces for different uses, such as playgrounds and sports fields. Together with the cultural centre, the educational centre forms the Jewish Campus Berlin, a milestone for the future of Jewish life in Berlin and Germany. In the coming years, the community centre will be expanded and the synagogue inside will be converted and enlarged.
When choosing the façade materials, the focus was on high-quality clinker brick, a natural building material that is particularly durable and low-maintenance. The resistant bricks of the façade were laid and grouted on metal brackets in tiers. These bricks are specially manufactured extruded ceramic clinkers in the standard format for facing bricks, pressed from white Westerwald clay. They were dried, glazed twice and then fired at around 1200°C (2192 °F), giving them high structural strength and low porosity. The two colours of the bricks were specially developed for the project. Their surfaces vary between a smooth or textured finish. The result is a varied, deep-blue façade and, in sunny weather, with a shimmering effect on the organically curved building.
Constructed in masonry and concrete, the building immediately catches the eye with its colourfulness and materiality. This is where its name, ‘The Blue House’, comes from. The building’s amorphous curved shape was chosen in reference to the interior of the Chabad-Lubavitch Centre, where the contemporary additions to the rectangular, Neoclassical existing building were deliberately executed in the same organic formal language with rhythmic horizontal banding that appears in the structural form and façade of the new building. The vertical slits of light within the horizontal bands on the school's façade are also a motif found in the interior panelling of the neighbouring synagogue. The school’s main entrance is accessible from street level. Its walls are adorned with two kabbalistic trees of life – light installations by the Berlin artist Anna Nezhnaya: an oak and an olive tree, they symbolize the two countries - Germany and Israel. The two-storey entrance hall has a mirrored ceiling as a special design element. The concrete wall on the street side shows graffiti by the Berlin street artist TOBO.
Our campus sets an example in the heart of Berlin. It is a symbol of living together, between people with and without a Jewish background. We stand for a peaceful coexistence between those who are interested in education, culture and sport (the three pillars of the campus) - regardless of faith, religion or origin.
TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten design, plan and build for national and international clients in the public and private sectors. With over 170 highly qualified, interdisciplinary employees and many years of experience, the company, with its offices in Hamburg, Berlin and Dresden, offers architecturally and functionally sustainable solutions for a wide variety of building tasks in Germany and abroad.
In addition to residential and commercial buildings, the firm’s focus includes the planning of hotels, commercial centres, office complexes and industrial facilities, leisure, educational and social facilities, as well as conversions and revitalisations in listed buildings. For these projects, TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten has always taken on all architectural services up to and including general planning.
