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Auen

School.

Overview

Auen school complex, conversion, renovation, and expansion

Frauenfeld, Switzerland

Competition 1st prize 2014
Start of planning 12/2014
Commencement 01/2018
Completion 05/2020
Launch: Gymnasium 11/2019, school complex 08/2020

Client

Sekundarschulgemeinde Frauenfeld, Switzerland

Architecture

jessenvollenweider architektur, Basel, Switzerland

Construction Management

Roland Grandits, Architect HTL, Frauenfeld, Switzerland

Awards

Prix Acier 2021 - Swiss prize for steelworks

Team ZPF

Konstantinos Adamakos, Isak Buljubasic, Heike Egli-Erhart, Antje Käser-Wassmer, Franck Mahler, Kata Aletta Orbán, Nico Ros, Robert Vögtlin, Manuel Wehrle

The 1960s Auen school complex in Frauenfeld by architects Barth and Zaugg is an exemplary work from the so-called “Solothurn School” and is listed under “noteworthy post-1959” in the Canton Thurgau Heritage Preservation Office’s reference inventory. The renovation and extension of this complex enhance the pre-existing ensemble and make its original concept perceptible again.

 

Along the complex’s central axis, three pavilion-like new structures sit between the pre-existing buildings. This “third lane” leads to a densification, in which the ensemble’s original composition is preserved and simultaneously reinforced.

 

The architecture of the new structures (pavilion, break shelter and bicycle shelter) incorporates the structural logic of the pre-existing buildings. However, as open steel pavilions placed in the open space, they do not have a corporeal presence, but appear primarily as roofs supported by columns. Also to emphasise the relationship between the two new buildings, both pavilions’ steel support structures are on the outside. Consequently, the steel columns are shifted away from the corners and, despite all the similarities, make the different nature of the new structures in comparison to the pre-existing ones apparent.

© jessenvollenweider
© jessenvollenweider
© jessenvollenweider
© jessenvollenweider
© jessenvollenweider
© jessenvollenweider
© jessenvollenweider
© jessenvollenweider
© jessenvollenweider
© jessenvollenweider
© jessenvollenweider

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