Kast Kaeppeli Architekten

Description

After around 20 years of being rented out, the Enge school complex has become a public school again. The main building, built in 1911 in a historicist style, and the sports hall, added in 1931 in a modernist style, were adapted to today’s structural, pedagogical, ecological and technical standards in cooperation with the conservation authorities. In order to preserve or restore the existing building structure and the original atmosphere of the rooms, the renovations were carried out according to the original model, and the boundaries between old and new were blurred. Referring to archival plans, the entrance area of the sports hall was converted into an open play hall, which now connects the previously separate buildings and enables barrier-free access. New interior elements – such as cupboards, doors, partition walls and ceilings – were crafted to match the era of the original construction, blending in rather than standing out as obvious new additions, thereby maintaining a consistent spatial ambiance. The original colour scheme was determined, adapted to the project and complemented with a few new colours. The architectural art project «communicating tubes» winds its way through the palace of education like a red thread in dusky pink. In a harmonious and characterful way, the integrative and interpretative interventions have brought the old school buildings back to life.