Word Trees

The city of Bernburg has merged three secondary schools into one all-day school "Campus Technicus". So they want to do something about the fact that almost 20 percent of the students drop out their secondary school without qualification and the need for skilled workers of local companies may no longer be covered by the offspring of the region. Before the start of the new school building, the city has asked us to implement an installation at site, which shows the visitors of the IBA Urban-Redevelopment-Exhibition the concept of the planned school-building.
So called Wordtrees (Wortbäume) mark the shape and corners of the future school »Campus Technicus«. The 69 wordtrees are up to 6 meters tall, the branches are inscribed with texts. The wordtrees and the texts were designed and made together with the students of the future school. During a workshop trhe school pupils wrote their test on the branches of the wordtrees.
Five high seats give the visitors an overview of the area, boards in the high seats inform about the educational concept and the construction of the "Campus Technicus". Path-ways are marked with bark-mulch within and between the future school buildings and the auditorium as an important gathering place.
Some areas between the word trees are the so called teaching- and learning -fields. Beach volleyball, balance exercises on a slack-line, a herb garden, make the »Campus Technicus« come alive.
A large bookshelf at Käthe-Kollwitz-Strasse marks the entrance to the area. All materials and objects will be recycled or reused after removal.