In Germany, approximately 12.3 million students attend general and vocational schools. Today, in light of pedagogical issues such as the PISA study, or all-day school concepts, the public is again paying more attention to the topic of schools than was the case a few years ago.
A whole array of complex demands are made of a school's architecture and building services equipment, due to the special type of usage.

School buildings comprise very different areas (classrooms, corridors, atria, sport halls) with different usage periods. High occupancy densities in the classrooms, which entail high internal thermal loads and strict air hygiene requirements, must be taken into account. Adequate lighting conditions, glare protection, sun protection, and indoor acoustics are also important for studying and working in comfort.

Because the school building should aid study, not hinder it, and should also enable energy-efficient operation. The Gebhard Müller School is a business school in the Kreis-Berufsschulzentrum Biberach (Biberach District Vocational School Centre). This new building meant that the school was to have its own building, oriented towards the contractor's very ambitious requirements with regard to comfort, flexibility of the indoor areas, and energy consumption. The construction project includes an innovative energy concept, with a heating requirement of approximately 30 kW/m² p.a. ("3-litre house"). The room concept should allow considerable flexibility, and alongside closed classrooms, should also provide open study zones.

Room temperature control occurs by means of thermal activation of the reinforced concrete slabs. Ground water serves as the main heat source and the only cold source, via a heat pump system when heating, and directly through a heat exchanger when cooling. The entire building is ventilated mechanically. The design also incorporates optimal utilisation of daylight, as well as effective sun protection and glare protection. Due to the innovative concept, the school's new building is facilitated and evaluated as part of the support initiative "Energy-Optimised Construction (EnOB)", which is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi). One area on which the Biberach project is focussed, is on optimising the operation of system technology. The building was handed over in September 2004, and at the beginning of 2005, it was possible to start the two-and-a-half-year phase of optimisation of operations and measurement.