Baumberger & Stegmeier

Description

The new building completes an ensemble of schoolhouses from various eras located on a terrace opposite Laufen’s Old Town. With its multipurpose hall, it is an important public building. A city square is hence created on the school grounds, which is then continued spatially on a lower level by the open gymnasium and multipurpose hall. The primary school section is designed as a roof structure atop the base housing the gym. Just as the setting’s history as a quarry plays a role in the sunken gym and multipurpose hall, so do the courtyards on the school level merge seamlessly with the surrounding gardens. The broad expanse of the gym is made possible by a folding roof, with a central truss and two diagonal support axes. Between these support axes, the gym ceiling is hung from the folding roof by tensile supports. The articulation of the roof and the façade match the building to the scale of its surroundings and create a unique ceiling landscape inside. Bush-hammered Jura limestone concrete, with a parapet from the same material, allude to the history of the site and blend the new building into the existing development.