Restoration Project of Pärnu Old Town Primary School Completed

15.06.2014

Amhold Ltd completed the construction project of restoration/reconstruction of the gym and the school building of Pärnu Old Town Primary School. We performed architectural, interior design, structural, water supply and sewerage parts of the project, also ventilation and heating, electrical and weak current parts, control engineering and architectural-historical, engineering technical and environmental surveys.

The design and construction of the historical building of Pärnu Old Town Basic School started in 1901 and the building was completed in 1902. The author of the design was August Reinberg with Baltic German origin, who was a member of Riga Architects Association. Designing and construction was performed simultaneously and many alterations were made during designing, for example, the building was decorated with five mouldings instead of one that was originally planned. Increase in price of the building didn’t allow building an expensive stone roof, therefore a board roof characteristic to Pärnu was built, which was painted so it would look like a stone roof from a distance. With a correct maintenance the board roof last nearly half a century. The rest of the building was built of stones and had a steam (classrooms) and wood (living quarters) heating.

The school building has a shape of letter E. The building has a full basement floor, where most of the usable rooms are on the North and South wing. As it is an architectural monument, the aim was to preserve the original lay out as much as possible.

The existing basement has various rooms of different sizes. The new solution preserves the historical general lay out, while enlarging the usability of the rooms by removing the partition walls annexed later unsuitable to the environment. Most of the rooms on the basement floor are also equipped with small windows ensuring partially natural light. According to the project, a kitchen block with new design and technology with necessary ancillary premises are planned to the basement.

The primary objective of the project is functional rooms with good indoor climate, acoustics and well-advised interior design. The interior design solution is meant to deliver the general conception of the original colour solution of the building based on colour surveys of interior design and special conditions of heritage conservation.

Aesthetic look, materials characteristic to the era and durability were considered when selecting the materials.

An area of leisure events is planned in the school yard, which fits a portable stage, benches for spectators and an area for cafés with all necessary communications.

The gym at 19 Pühavaimu St. is also part of the school. It is located in the heritage conservation area of Pärnu Old Town and resort and is entered as an architectural monument as well. In 1906 the wooden gym building at the corner of Nikolai and Lõuna Street burned down. On the fifth day after the accident the insurance company paid off the insurance money and in a sitting of the City Government two days later it was decided to establish a gym to the location of a gunpowder cellar that has lost its function. At the same time another problem important to the city needed a solution – to place the city archive in a more commodious and fireproof room. The new repository had to be a stone building built on the gunpowder cellar and be as an architectural compound with the school building completed in 1902.