Outdoor lessons at the St. Veit an der Glan vocational school
School construction, Carinthia
The St. Veit an der Glan vocational school is breaking new ground in education and is the first of its kind to introduce outdoor lessons. This new place of learning in nature is intended to sharpen the students’ senses and thus gain new perspectives. The focus is on sustainability and digitalisation.
Project information
Use:
Open-air wooden classroom in the form of an octagonal wooden pavilion
Location: St. Veit
Material: Larch glulam in visible quality
Joinery service: 2.65 m³ larch glulam in visible quality
Project partners
Client: St. Veit an der Glan vocational school
Connectos: Sponsorship of the companies Weyland-Steiner and SIHGA
Sustainable outdoor lessons at the St. Veit vocational school
Test
Solution approach
For the structural timber construction, the decision was made in favour of glulam made of larch in visible quality and instead of roof boarding, 3-layer panels were mounted on the top of the rafters. In our joinery service centre, the glulam components were processed exactly according to plan. As part of an excursion, a second class of apprentice carpenters from the vocational school in Spittal an der Drau visited us with their teacher Mr Schwarzenbacher and were able to experience the progress of the project at first hand. In their presence, we carried out the joinery work and were able to draw on the expert support of the budding carpenters. The octagonal purlin crown was joined together using corner sheet connections. In the upper third of the roof structure, a rafter change was provided on each side of the roof, which was connected to the side of the hip rafters using dovetail joints. Two standard rafters were then inserted into these rafter changes on each side of the roof, which in turn were connected to the rafter changes using dovetail joints. The headbands, as bracing for the construction, were integrated into the purlin crown and the columns using tenons.
The eight corner columns and the centre column were glued, planed and cut by the carpentry apprentices at the Spittal an der Drau vocational school from solid larch posts that first had to be trimmed and dressed in the carpentry workshop at the Spittal vocational school. The students then mortised the mortises for the connection of the head bands in the pillars. The fasteners for assembling the structure were also screwed onto the timbers by the carpentry apprentices from the Spittal an der Drau vocational school in the school’s carpentry workshop.
We are convinced that this learning space offers the pupils a unique learning experience and are delighted that we were able to be involved as a project partner.
Achieving
great things
together
