Ernst Niklaus Fausch Partner

Description

4 houses – 2 arcades – 1 roof

The school landscape Stalden in Konolfingen engages with the topography: The school building has a single storey facing Hübelistrasse, two storeys on the courtyard side and three storeys along Thunstrasse. All levels provide access to the three school clusters with classrooms, as well as to the general cluster housing the auditorium and day-care facilities. Each cluster, or «house», is organised around a central staircase and occupies a segment of the school landscape. They are all directly connected to the shared roof terrace via one of four geometrically shaped stairwells. Two arcades connect the four schoolhouses. The curtain wall is set back behind the loggia, with external sun shading, while coloured curtains form the inner layer. The entire building is modular, with a high degree of prefabrication in its structural system and façade. All walls, stairs and built-in elements are designed as adjustable components to ensure a high level of flexibility. The choice of materials emphasises the studio-like character of the learning environment. Untreated wood wool panels ensure pleasant room acoustics, hard concrete floors provide thermal mass for night cooling, and Profilit partition walls and timber inlays structure the rooms. Coloured curtains allow for individual adjustments to the room structure. Through the interplay of architecture and use, individual schoolhouses are created within the interconnected school landscape.