The urban appearance of the school quarter is characterised by loose individual buildings. Large areas to the south and east and the clearly visible Jura chain to the north are characteristic. The new school building is also proposed as a free-standing extension of the existing school building. It forms a structural closure of the school area to the south and gives the existing playground a spatial closure.
With its positioning, the new building respects both the outdoor facilities of the existing building and its visual references and creates space for a second spacious break area. This can also be understood as a prelude to further future development of the site with additional public buildings.
The old and new school buildings will thus form an ensemble in the future, which will be accompanied by merging outdoor spaces of varying quality. While the two buildings appear as individual buildings that are related to each other via their common outdoor spaces, they are functionally connected to each other underground via a corridor.
This is designed as an attractive continuation of the basement of the existing building and leads directly into the central foyer of the new building. This ensures the exchange of pupils and teachers between the school buildings can be guaranteed at all times and in all seasons.
The new building is designed as a reinforced concrete skeleton structure on a uniform construction grid to ensure the greatest possible flexibility of use with variable room sizes. For the same reason, the emergency staircase was relocated to the outside of the building. The inner logic becomes a reflection of the external appearance.
The system of order not only structures the interior spaces, but is also transferred to the design of the façade. Narrow and elegant exposed concrete screens rhythmise the exterior of the school building and provide a variable appearance depending on the viewing angle or location. The panels are less deep to the north and east than to the south and west.
They thus react to the varying intensity of the sun and are an integral part of the energy concept. The clarity and openness of the construction and the façade are also noticeable inside the school building. The floor plans are zoned with few means - stair cores, sanitary cells and shafts. A central foyer is formed, which is surrounded by the learning rooms.
Some of these are openly connected to each other and to the foyer via glass surfaces and, if desired, enable a communicative exchange. The materiality is simple and direct: the structurally relevant parts are made of exposed concrete, the variable, space-creating elements are made of wood or glass.
Wherever possible, technical equipment is placed on top of the surfaces. This creates a studio atmosphere that invites use and gives freedom of action for different forms of learning.
