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Originally, the site housed a villa-style café from the early twentieth century, which was later converted into an administrative building for the school. At the back, a small wooden shack with a pitched roof from the 1920s served as a space for eurythmics classes. These pre-existing structures influenced the design of the new school building. The new design adopts the general layout and massing of the old villa facing the street, while the eurythmics room's orientation remains towards the campus and school gardens.
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The Freie Waldorfschule Uhlandshöhe, the world's first Waldorf school, is situated in an elevated residential area of Stuttgart, overlooking parts of the city. It is characterized by a panoply of buildings, each exuding distinct qualities in part informed by anthroposophy, with some designed by well-known German Architects. The new school building mediates these existing conditions while asserting its presence through its elevated position on the hill, marking a significant addition to the campus, which is now visible from the city center. The main elevation towards the street features residential scales that echo the nearby villas, allowing it to blend visually into its surroundings.
This structure was developed through an integrated planning process involving architects, MEP engineers, building physicists, and other planners working closely with the client and users. The central aim was to create a sustainable building with high spatial quality, where energy efficiency measures are integral to the architecture. For example, the building's shape supports natural and thermally driven ventilation. Passive measures include optimized use of glare-free daylight, photovoltaic shingles on the south-facing roof, and thermal mass for insulation. Geothermal energy is used for heat generation.
The new school building skillfully integrates with the existing campus and nearby urban conditions, asserting its presence from an elevated hilltop position that enhances the campus's visibility from the city center. The street-facing elevation features residential scales echoing nearby villas, allowing it to blend seamlessly into its surroundings. The geometry of the mansards and the building’s eaves height are determined by building regulations reflecting the surrounding structures, while the folded polygons of the roof mirror the existing roof landscape on campus.
The floor plan, influenced by anthroposophical principles, avoids right angles and treats the building as an organism. High-quality materials include parquet floors in classrooms, linoleum in science spaces, and lime plaster walls for vapor permeability. The color concept, based on Rudolf Steiner’s representation of child development stages, adds depth to the design.
Energy efficiency is integral to the architecture rather than imposed on a design. The building supports natural, wind-, and thermally-driven ventilation through its form, and the façade design optimizes the use of glare-free daylight, reducing the need for artificial ventilation and lighting. Room and window arrangements further enhance daylight usage. Heat demand is met by a combined heat and power plant, a gas boiler, and photovoltaic shingles covering the entire roof, contributing to a low primary energy consumption of 3.5 kWh/m² per year.
"I think the benches and seating areas in the building are great. They provide spaces where you can sit down and talk to friends, which wasn’t possible before." - Student Amelie "Natural light positively impacts the learning atmosphere. The new drawing rooms offer particularly inspiring views, while the physics and chemistry rooms, with their uniquely colored floors, create a very special atmosphere." - Student Sofia-Leticia
Behnisch Architekten was founded in 1989 and works out of four offices – Stuttgart, Munich, Boston and Weimar. The firm enjoys a global reputation for high-quality architecture that integrates environmental responsibility, creativity, and public purpose and produces a rich variety of buildings mainly in Europe and North America. The partners and staff share a vision to push the boundaries of high performance, 21st-century architecture that respects user needs, ecological resources, and local cultures. From the beginning, Behnisch has prioritized the social dimension of architecture and the quality of the urban environment. Its projects respond to the material and spiritual needs of people. In over 30 years, the firm has created a diverse portfolio of projects that is attuned to the culture and climate of place and demonstrates new ways for occupants to inhabit their surroundings.
