Ties Rabe Opens a New Education Centre

Today the Education Minister, Ties Rabe, opened the “Centre of Language and Exercise” on Rotenhäuser Damm in Wilhelmsburg. Along with the coordination group, consisting of representatives from various educational institutions, he participated in a colourful celebration featuring music and dance performed by a large number of children and young people from different schools on the Elbe islands. The building contractor Ewald Rowohlt, Director of MH Gebäudemanagement Hamburg GmbH and SBH | Schulbau Hamburg, and the Director of the International Building Exhibition IBA Hamburg, Uli Hellweg, gave the welcoming address to mark the completion of the building. Andy Grote also made a speech about the new centre, capturing and bringing together the educational themes of language and movement.

At the same time, the “Centre of Language and Exercise” serves as a hub for different educational establishments on the Elbe islands, which can benefit from one another if they are able to connect up and work together. The actor Fahri Yardim, who stars in a crime drama set in Hamburg, is sponsoring the project.

Hamburg, 16 January 2013 - “The ‘Centre of Language and Exercise’ is an outstanding example of the principle that things are better combined. The many associations, institutions, and educational establishments of the Elbe Islands will fill the centre with life and make it into a place where language, sports, and many other fields of activity can be tackled at the same time,” said the Education Minister Ties Rabe. The “Centre of Language and Exercise” in the Reiherstieg district is intended in particular to promote the acquisition of German language skills by children, their parents, and other residents of the Elbe islands. By offering advanced training for the employees of local educational establishments, the centre can help to improve language learning in the area by combining it with exercise. A hub for the network of sports associations and educational and counselling services is taking shape with the building of the new sports hall at the Rotenhäuser Damm School and the Wilhelmsburg Youth Centre. According to the Director of GMH Gebäudemanagement Hamburg GmbH and SBH | Schulbau Hamburg, Ewald Rowohlt, “The ‘Centre of Language and Exercise’ takes an innovative approach to education, and when combined with the building’s architecture this forms a compelling overall concept.” This philosophy is based on the particular idea that combining core competences by teaching language through movement will benefit children and young people, while promoting exercise and mobility at the same time as strengthening language skills. According to Andy Grote, Head of the Hamburg-Mitte District Authority, “The opening of the ‘Centre of Language and Exercise’ today marks an important step in the ‘Elbe Islands Education Drive’. The centre is one of the key projects in the Wilhelmsburg S 5 (Southern Reiherstieg District) Redevelopment Area, and the Hamburg-Mitte District Authority, which has been directly involved in funding the construction, will continue to be committed to this project.”

The new building by the Hamburg-based firm of architects eins:eins stands adjacent to the “University of the Neighbourhoods” and is set against the striking backdrop of the “Energy Bunker” and “Rotenhäuser Feld”, at the heart of the Reiherstieg district.

According to the Director of the IBA Hamburg, Uli Hellweg, “The ‘Centre of Language and Exercise’ will offer a comprehensive range of curricular and extra-curricular programmes to everyone from the district. The centre will be a place where local people can meet up, as good language skills are the key to social integration between different cultures, as well as being vital for successful learning. From an architectural point of view, it is also beneficial to combine the different functions of the building.”

A double-pitch sports hall and meeting and seminar rooms are also to be made available to the future users of the “Centre of Language and Exercise”. A café in the foyer opens onto the adjoining park and can be used for a wide range of events.

The project is being jointly funded by the State Ministry for Schools and Vocational Training, the State Ministry for Urban Development and Environment, and the IBA Hamburg. Funding for the “Centre of Language and Exercise” has also come from the Department for Urban and Landscape Planning in HamburgMitte and the urban planning programme of the federal government.

The State Ministry for Work, Social Affairs, Families, and integration has also contributed to funding for the project.

The “Centre of Language and Exercise” is a building block of the “Elbe Islands Education Drive”, a cross-cutting IBA Hamburg project. In close cooperation with more than 100 educational and counselling services, the appropriate authorities, and Hamburg-Mitte District Authority, the “Education Drive” is creating an educational programme that offers systematically networked services for all residents of the Elbe Islands.

Specific project proposals are being implemented in three sub-regions (Veddel, Reiherstieg, and “Harburg Upriver Port”) in order to improve the educational programme quickly and markedly, and gradually to connect up the educational establishments with one another.

The latest images of the “Centre of Language and Exercise” project can be found via the following link:
http://iba-hamburg.eyebase.com
Pin-code: Dph8JMs3

For queries please contact:

IBA Hamburg GmbH, Rainer Müller, Head of Press Department, rainer.mueller@iba-hamburg.de,

Tel.: 040 / 226 227 335, or Anna Vietinghoff, Press Department, anna.vietinghoff@iba-hamburg.de, Tel: 040 / 226 227 – 331 or email presse@iba-hamburg.de

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