Baumberger & Stegmeier: Schulhaus Dorf - best architects 15

Baumberger & Stegmeier

Schulhaus Dorf

best architects 15

public buildings

Place

Dietlikon

Photos

Roland Bernath, Zürich

Description

The new two-storey building is home to six foundation-stage classrooms and the new municipal library. In conjunction with the existing schools on the edge of the old village centre of Dietlikon, the new building completes an ensemble enclosing the schoolyard and picks up on the typology of the large barns common to the area. It joins two existing buildings in solid masonry construction to form a three-sided courtyard. The barn theme is evoked by timber construction with a deep overhanging porch, a circulation system via large foyers that extend right through the building, a visible structural frame, and the lining of the interiors with painted clapboards. The opaque light-grey tone of the painted façade, along with the outdoor space created by the broad roof overhang, abstract this look as befitting a public building and fuse the new volume with the existing school buildings into a cohesive unit. With a bend in the middle and a finely proportioned façade, the schoolhouse blends into the scale of its setting. It has an efficient hybrid structural frame of prefabricated timber elements with classic wood frame construction.