2016 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

2016 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Type: competition
Client: City of Tour de Peilz, Switzerland
Size: 5.500 mq sb / 12.000 mq terrain
Location: Tour de Peilz, Switzerland
Status: idea
Copyright: 2015 © Najs Architects
Team: Raphael Chatelet, Renata Taseva

The project for the competition of the new Coubert school complex was dealt with working carefully on the functional program, in such a way as to minimize unrelated  phenomenons to the real needs of the complex and, at the same time, give back to the volumes a strong  identity, capable of tying  to the city and to the park without modify the current balances.

It develops into two main volumes, in the smallest we can find  the canteen, the multipurpose room and the library, in other words all the places with a public function, that thanks to the terraced step / theatre, tie themselves to the park and then to the city in an efficient way; inthe main volume we can find a basement  triple room  used for sport activities, connected to the park through a balcony that extends along the entire perimeter of the gym, and allows to the public to be present at the events being at the same height  of the ground level; at the first and second floor there are the classrooms and laboratories, whose spaces communicate with the exterior in two fundamental ways and between them complementary: through two interior patios thanks to is guaranteed a passive ventilation of the whole building, and through some loggias / greenhouses positioned as an interconnection between the classrooms and the park, spaces where students have the chance to experience the care of different crop and develop on the field the love for the nature.

The building structure is completely made of wood, with the exception of the gym pillars which are in steel. The technology chosen for the wooden structures is  x-lam type, a system that allows to facilitate hugely the architectural process, especially in a building in which the division among the classrooms has an unvaried rhythm and as a result the wooden bearing “walls” can be put in order in simmetry and exploited to the best of their potentiality.

 

It is also important to talk about the paths system that cross the building, which can be “used” in different ways, based on need of the user; for example, walking through before the outer terraced step and then the terraced step that connects the library and classrooms, it can get to school, “climbing” two real theatres, the first that has as stage the park and the second looking towards the library. Through the connection hub between the volumes you reach the classrooms in a simple way using the stairs. Finally who comes from the park can get to school walking through the gym at the balcony height and continuing until to get the stairs, you reach the scholastic spaces after visiting the sports spaces along a “promenade” that looks forward to the centuries-old limes of the park.