Win-Win-Win

©Andreas Schwarzkopf/Wikipedia

The famous summer hole is approaching, so it is only natural that our mayor pulls a rabbit out of his hat that he calls Win-win-win.

The center pillar of the win-win-win situation is a historical and listed building named Lycée Turenne. My faithful readers know the name Turenne well.

This impressive building was constructed in the Neo-Renaissance style at the beginning of the 20th century and served as a teachers' seminar until 1933. In the Nazi area, various organizations of the Third Reich used the complex.

In 1954, the French occupation force made the building into a lycée, a high school for their children naming it Turenne. In 1992, after the withdrawal of the French troops, the building passed into the possession of Freiburg. Following a renovation, the city uses part of it for school purposes. However, the southwest wing comprising the historic gymnasium and a festival hall with around 4,000 square meters of usable space, has not been renovated. It can, therefore, not be used despite the urgent need for classrooms in Freiburg. Nevertheless, the city spends 24,000 Euros in upkeep costs yearly to keep the southwest wing alive.

 

An impressive building
overlooking the Oberwiehre quarter (©Ingo Schneider/BZ)

At the start of his press conference, Lord Mayor Martin Horn explained the three wins, "We are planning something big. We are filling the Lycée Turenne with life again, creating an attractive school campus - and saving an expansion building for the Bertold Gymnasium (high school)."

What Mayor Horn calls a castling goes like this: Following a renovation of the southwest wing of the Lycée Turenne, the present German-French Gymnasium (DFG) with its approximately 800 students would move from its current premises, i.e., could return to the historic site. The charm of the solution is evident.

In return, part of the Bertold Gymnasium would occupy the classrooms of the then-former DFG. Freiburg's Mayor for Building, Martin Haag, said, "Every new building consumes a lot of energy (they now call it gray energy) and pollutes the environment. If we can refrain from building on the sports field of the Berthold Gymnasium and instead renovate the listed Lycée Turenne, we will protect the climate and preserve a green area and the old building. This green solution will be cheaper too."

An inscription above the entrance to the old gymnasium
of the Lycée Turenne in the spirit of the Second Reich:
Obeying the body wears down the marrow,
taming the body makes you strong and resilient
(©Andreas Schwarzkopf/Wikipedia).

The city will throw in a new sports hall for the "new" DFG. Refurbishing the historical gym (sports hall) - unused for decades - would result in a cafeteria for the entire school campus, i.e., the neighboring Emil-Thoma-Schulen (elementary and secondary schools) and the Richard-Mittermeier-Schule (special-needs school).

Imperial eagle and crown (©P. Seeger)

In the end, Freiburg's School Mayor Christine Buchheit indeed must have had the inscription above the main entrance in mind "First probe, then praise. First weigh, then dare" when she cautioned, "The planning is still at the very beginning."

*