It should be a special place, a place for learning, for the very little ones and for students, but also for adults. On Tuesday, Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) and city school councilor Florian Kraus (Greens) inaugurated the new campus on Aidenbachstrasse in Obersendling, the heart of which is a primary school. “With the new elementary school, we offer our children an optimal learning environment based on the learning house concept and several options for afternoon care,” said Reiter. The campus sets new standards and is much more than just a school.
In the past six years, a primary school, a day care center, a day care center, the school of imagination, a singing and music school, an adult education center, a gymnasium with a sports field on the roof and rehearsal rooms have been built on a wasteland opposite Ratzingerplatz for 87 million euros built for musicians – that was a concern of the mayor.
Children and guests at the opening of the new campus.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Mayor Dieter Reiter personally advocated for rehearsal rooms for musicians on the new site.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
“The new rooms promote togetherness and offer everyone the opportunity for education and participation,” said city school councilor Kraus. The education department is particularly interested in promoting educational equality. “The campus is a particularly successful example of this.” It was created as part of the Munich school construction program, which includes more than 100 construction projects for a total of 7.84 billion euros.
Learning has been going on in the elementary school for a few weeks now, and the 390 students from the Zielstattstrasse elementary school have been accommodated in the building until their new building is finished. In probably five years the school will then become its own school location. The current students welcomed the guests, and while the speakers gave greetings, the children jumped rope in the playground, did gymnastics on the climbing frame or watched what was going on in their auditorium through the large windows. Headmistress Monika Engelmayer said it was important to her that classes continued on the day of the ceremonial inauguration. “The children are the most important thing here.”
The primary school on Aidenbachstrasse was built according to the learning house concept, which enables group learning in addition to classrooms and additional rooms. The school has space for 500 children. In addition to the singing and music school, the same building also houses a district center for the adult education center. 120 courses are offered there – so far unique, for example the combination of Pilates training and learning French. Every Thursday there are senior courses at half price.
The roof is also used: a sports field was built above the sports hall.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Construction officer Jeanne-Marie Ehbauer said the shortage of space in Munich was a gigantic challenge. “The answer lies in clever but also courageous educational building concepts like this one.” The rehearsal rooms for musicians are located in the basement of the school building, and there is also an event area that is used by the music school for concerts. The sports hall is sunk four meters deep into the ground, and an all-weather pitch was built on its roof – not only used by the students, but also by surrounding clubs.