ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TOMO BREJC

LOCATION
Kamnik, Slovenija

CLIENT
Municipality of Kamnik

PROJECT YEAR
competition 2008, Equal 2nd Prize (1st Prize was not awarded)
project 2009 - 2012
construction 2012 - 2014

ARCHITECTURE OFFICE
Ravnikar - Potokar arhitekturni biro d.o.o.

ARCHITECTURE
Robert Potokar, Gašper Topličan

COMPETITION TEAM
Robert Potokar, Gašper Topličan, Samo Kralj

PROJECT TEAM
Robert Potokar, Gašper Topličan, Mladen Marčina, Drago Štefanec,
Marko Tul, Janez Brežnik, Javier Carrera Arias

PHOTOS
Miran Kambič, Virginia Vrecl

The design of the renovated existing school is based on the requirement to preserve the existing street façade. The original building is retained as a clean, prismatic volume, with a new school wing added to its southern side and set back behind a recessed gap. The new volume is connected via an intermediate link containing the main entrance to the volume of the new sports hall.

In this way, the architecture of the existing school remains present in the urban context, while the new addition provides all the additional spaces required by the contemporary programme, expressed in a distinctly modern architectural language.

The gap between the existing and new parts is conceived as a vertical, open volume, terminated at both ends by staircases. The main staircase on the north-eastern side is shifted towards the façade, offering views of Kamnik’s historic centre and the silhouette of Mali Grad.

Bridges inserted into the intervening void provide connections between the two parts of the building, extending the concept of the existing entrance bridge into the preserved volume of the school.