The extension of Absam Dorf Primary School is located in the historic village centre of Absam in Tyrol, set against the backdrop of the Karwendel mountains. The brief comprised the addition of a kindergarten, nursery, triple sports hall and music school to the listed primary school – on a tightly constrained site and in close proximity to the existing school building.

The design responds with a precise spatial layering: the sports hall is placed entirely underground, with the two-storey kindergarten above it as a lightweight timber structure. This keeps the volume in scale with its surroundings, while creating a protected courtyard between the existing building and the new extension. The low ridge line, mineral roughcast façade and finely detailed window surrounds refer to the village context without imitating the existing building.

Inside, the kindergarten unfolds as an open landscape for play and learning. Group rooms, niches, cloakrooms and communal areas are not arranged additively, but interwoven through visual connections, thresholds and flexible room divisions. A broad staircase with a surrounding gallery and skylight forms the spatial centre of the building. The underground sports hall is supplied with daylight through a long, slot-like skylight; exposed concrete, mineral surfaces and warm timber elements translate its position below ground into an atmosphere that is robust yet bright. Beneath the historic roof of the primary school, the music school completes the ensemble and continues the idea of a condensed place of education.