According to his ideal of organic construction, Hans Scharoun wanted to plan the architecture of schools based on the needs of the children and young people.
It was an entirely new concept: schools with class “living spaces“, where pupils were meant to feel at home, and that had been designed specifically with their age group in mind. In the Westphalian town of Lünen in the northern Ruhr Region, the architect was able to put his ideas for a humane school design into practice. Scharoun's school in Lünen was one of the most unusual schools in the entire Federal Republic of Germany at its time and is still today a model for innovative school design.

In 1960 -1968, Scharoun designed another school: as the people of Marl wanted a school building for the pupils that would be a noticeable departure from the old barracks-style schools with their intimidating doorways and long corridors. In the newly created district of Drewer, Scharoun designed a primary school according to his ideals. The centre for this design is the auditorium which was constructed based on the model of the Berlin Philharmonic. The auditorium was built in the middle of the school and classrooms and other facilities were grouped around it.

Initially, Scharoun had presented a completely new design for a primary school in 1951 at the “Darmstädter Gespräch” symposium “Mensch und Raum“ (People and Space) which instigated much heated discussion. In Darmstadt, philosophers and architects debated questions regarding contemporary architecture. Architects introduced eleven projects for rebuilding the city of Darmstadt, of which five came to fruition between 1954 and 1960.

In his Darmstadt design, Scharoun developed three different types of classes. For the youngest children he designed a nest-like structure with a cave-like quality. For the middle school children, he envisaged closed units which would provide possibilities for retreat, and for the oldest pupils he designed rooms where they could expand and test their newly-developed confidence. These classrooms, as “organs”, formed a complex school body that had been developed from the inside out, but at the same time incorporated the surrounding landscape.

In these different units, smaller rooms or places for retreat were created for various group sizes on the one hand, and, on the other hand, rooms for relaxed gatherings of larger groups, or the entire school community.

Drawing on the architectural philosophy of Hugo Häring, Scharoun spoke of an organic architecture, which would be based on the creation principles of nature. Scharoun, however, did not aim to imitate organic appearances in nature, such as, creating a honeycomb structure and said: “The form of the school will organically mirror the essence of school life. For this reason, our system of organization cannot be based on the principle of addition. Lining up any number of technically functional rooms is not enough. The different sections of the school are all parts of the whole and work together like organs in an organism and organisms within wholeness.” In the multidimensionality of his architecture, Scharoun saw parallels in the cubist art of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Georges Braque (1862-1963). His colleague Paul Bonatz criticized this complexly unique architecture, which was based systematically on the ages and needs of children, and presented it as an example of “non-thinking“.

The term “organic architecture” combines architectural direction since the beginning of the 20th century, where the buildings and landscapes were meant to be harmoniously adjusted to one another. In particular, “organic” structures developed from their specific functions were preferred in order to achieve a socially, psychologically and biologically purposeful architecture. This approach emerged as a departure from historical architectural styles and forms. Important names among this first generation were Antoni Gaudi, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright.