Photographer: Thomas Jantscher

Photographer: Jean-Michel Landecy

Photographer: FRAR

With the forest of Jorat as background, the new building is conceived as a simple compact volume in the upper part of the designated land. A new public space is hence created in front of the building, looking towards the old village and extending an invitation to it.

The building contains a full secondary school programme of 16 classrooms with several special activity’s classrooms and teacher’s quarters. In addition, there is a cafeteria and a twin sports hall which can accommodate 300 spectators when the movable seatings are deployed. As a result, the interior is spatially more complex than the exterior would let believe.

The project tries to introduce a rather new typology in school buildings using dimensions normally associated with industrial buildings or warehouses. It follows that construction techniques are also borrowed from industry with medium to wide spans, all in steel. Balconies are inserted in each floor in order to give a more domestic character to the interiors and more depth to the facades.

The skin is in indigenous wood, quite present in the village as a whole. The different sizes of the vertical boards give a richer, more institutional, perception of the building.
Built in 16 months, the building uses light materials fully in line with very strict environmental criteria.

Awards:
SZS Suisse Steel Award 2009 (mention).
LIGNUM Suisse Wood Award 2009 (mention).