Architects:
Cook & Hawley

Engineer:
Klaus Bollinger & Groman Bauleiter, Herr Kòlb

Designed: 1989-90

Constructed: 1991

Gross Area: 950 m sq
(excl. kitchens)

The StŠdel Academy is part of a small group of educational institutions that offer distinctive and independent art and architecture education in Germany. The academy was built in the late nineteenth century echoing the stone clad neo-classical style of its associated neighbour, the StŠdel Museum. The school supports a small community of students, academics and artists who acted as the client for the Kantine, a social and dining facility, located in a hitherto unused courtyard along the South Western edge of the building. The Kantine is divided into two distinct areas, the kitchen and canteen located within the existing building, which are then connected to the seating area which covers the old courtyard. The glass skin used to enclose the space was seen as a direct contrast to the heavy material of the existing building. The existing stone columns were used for basic structural support but it is the superimposed steel structure that is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the space. The roof is constructed from a set of arched steel beams whose bottom members are post-tensioned steel cable. Similarly the front facade is supported by triangulated post-tensioned cables rather than a rigid frame.The attitude towards the engineering of this space simply followed the ethos of the design in that it should be as light and insubstantial as possible. Two thirds of the roof canopy is openable along its entire length; this is activated by a set of hydraulic rams and allows for rapid cooling and a space that is more substantially open to the air in the summer.