We are very pleased to have won 3rd prize in the competition for the new extension to the Carl Maria von Weber College of Music in Dresden.
The new building from 2008, the back of which was pushed against the hat factory in favour of plane trees and a courtyard for the quarter, has remained a torso as it was deprived of its second elevation. The proposed design for the current extension therefore systematically complements the building from 2008, completes the solitaire and rounds off the overall ensemble.
This overall new building (consisting of the new building from 2008 and the extension to be added in 2021) fuels the conceptual idea of an urban ensemble between the old and the new. The resulting new solitaire enhances the historical, eclectic school building of the Wettiner Gymnasium (1898) as an antagonist. The spatial sequences in the basement, on the ground and first floor, which are typical of the building from 2008, are supplemented in a very obvious way. For example, the concert hall, the existing rehearsal stage and both the new studio stage and the new rehearsal stage/jazz are all situated directly on the entrance level. They are surrounded by a central, enlarged foyer, which starts at the main entrance to the new building, with a new staircase at the side. As a solitaire, the overall new building with its dynamic ground plan forms different, greened urban, street and block core spaces. This consistency results in the opening up and accessibility of the block’s interior.
