Expansion school house and new double gymnasium
Mägenwil, Switzerland
Competition 1st prize 2012
Project and execution 2014-2018
Mägenwil
school.
Overview
Client
Municipality of Mägenwil, Switzerland
Architecture
jessenvollenweider architektur, Basel, Switzerland
Team ZPF
Isak Buljubasic, Heike Egli-Erhart, Rafael Häni, Flavia Hofmeier, Antje Käser-Wassmer, Jacqueline Pauli, Susanne Peterson, Nico Ros, Flamin Tröster, Robert Vögtlin
The Mägenwil schoolhouse, built in the 1970s, was first extended eastwards in 1993. It has now been converted, receiving a westward extension and the additions of a double gymnasium and multifunctional front plaza.
Gymnasium
The new double gymnasium urbanistically adds to the length of the existing school complex and continues its architectural language via the selected materials: a reinforced-concrete plinth with a superimposed wooden structure, an extensive roof overhang, wooden windows, a wooden facade and a sheet-metal roof skin. The front of the hall, with the entrance, faces the new plaza, which connects the ensemble to Hauptstrasse as a new village centre.
The gymnasium's plinth is realised as a solid reinforced-concrete structure. The wooden structure above opens out towards the surrounding landscape on three sides by means of large windows. Longitudinal laminated-timber beams span the double gymnasium, each resting on two exterior columns and one interior column. The wood-concrete-composite ceilings in the front structure facing the village plaza span between large lateral beams, which in turn rest on the main columns and hang from the main beams. The beams and columns are made of laminated timber and partially visible. A tier of transverse beams acts as a secondary support system. The gymnasium is reinforced by an exterior wall and by two concrete lift-shaft walls, which are extended to the height of the gymnasium; the roof layer is reinforced by an additional tier of clamped panels.
Schoolhouse
The conversion of the schoolhouse encompasses several changes, such as the conversion of a gymnasium into an assembly hall, to take the enlargement of the school into account. The extension structure, with its basement floor, ground floor and two upper floors, inconspicuously extends the schoolhouse along three axes, with six classrooms, group rooms, a staff room and a supervision room.
Up to and including the 1st upper floor, the extension's support structure is made of reinforced concrete with a regular column grid, measuring around 9 x 9 m. Downstand beams run between the columns, making it possible to have thin ceilings and therefore optimised room heights. The 2nd upper floor was placed on top as a lightweight wooden structure with wooden windows and a wooden facade. Reinforcement is provided by the concrete wall between the old and new structures, by individual walls on the ground floor and basement floor, and by filled-in arrays of columns on the 2nd upper floor.