Modern, colourful, and absolutely not “typical school”: The floor design with rubber flooring from objectflor is one of the many highlights which make the students dining area something special at the Alexander-von-Humboldt-Schule in Viernheim.

More and more often, school hours are extending until well into the afternoon. That means the demands on organization and facilities are changing considerably, and in Viernheim the Alexander-von-Humboldt-School, a school centre with primary, secondary, and higher levels, has been enlarged by the addition of a dining area and cafeteria: 270 square metres, to improve the quality of the school day by some well deserved breaks and the chance for some relaxation. The Viernheim architect Roland Träger focused on a particularly expressive floor design as a major concept element in the transparent and semi-circular annexe building. His choice was the rubber floor covering ARTIGO KAYAR, a creation from the famous design agency of Sottsass Associati.  The covering is permeated with cocoanut fibres, giving the floor a very specific structure, with a sensation of genuine naturalness. This texture, and the highly expressive colours of the floor covering from ARTIGO, which is marketed in Germany and Switzerland exclusively by objectflor, creates an environment in which children and young people feel particularly at ease.

Artigo Rubber Flooring – something really eye-catching

In the area of the students dining area and cafeteria a lustrous green border (ARTIGO KAYAR K72) at the edge of a grey surface (ARTIGO KAYAR K21) helps emphasise the dynamic form of the annexe building. For evening events, the movable partition wall between the two areas can be removed. The fact that even functional areas such as a very long corridor can become a really eye-catching feature is something that Roland Träger demonstrates to very impressive effect. Here too, the basis in the intensive light green rubber floor covering. Tape measure markings create a visual caesura to the length, while emphasising the sportive dimension of the corridor (numbers in ARTIGO KAYAR K73). In a powerful colour contrast, some of the walls are set in bright orange, bearing quotations from the natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt. Roland Träger feels that a heavy responsibility rests on him with regard to the designing of schools. “In the book “The Little Prince” by Antoine de St. Exupéry, it says: You can’t see into the future, but you can lay the foundation for something “futuristic” – you can build the future. That’s our responsibility and our task as architects.”