Construction of a new building to replace the Hinwil District Court
Hinwil, Switzerland
Competition 2021
Planning 2021-
Start of construction 2025
Bezirksgericht
Hinwil.
Overview
Client
Hochbauamt (Building Department) of the Canton of Zurich / Obergericht (High Court) of the Canton of Zurich
Architecture
ARGE Koya Architektur, Basel & Haller Gut Architekten, Bern, Switzerland
Team ZPF
Oliver Fricke, Markus Stebler, Chiara Stegmüller, Christoph Wallhorn, Manuel Wehrle
The Hinwil District Court is one of twelve civil and criminal courts in the canton of Zurich. The planned new building will create a modern courthouse that meets the functional requirements of judges, employees, parties and the public. The aim is to optimally support operational processes, increase security standards and provide sustainably designed space.
Particular attention is being paid to the aspect of interdisciplinary sustainability. The architecture is characterised by elements related to the building's energy balance. The new building is planned as an elongated, slender structure. The structure and the façade above ground level are primarily made of wood and are supplemented by low-CO₂ wood fibre insulation. Photovoltaic modules are installed in the parapet area and in the canopies of the façade. Inside, clay boards and clay plaster are used.
A central architectural element is the double helix staircase. The alternating use of office space and courtrooms on each floor consistently separates public and internal pathways.
The supporting structure is based on a wooden skeleton construction; the foundation and the load-bearing components in the basement are made of reinforced concrete. From the ground floor upwards, concrete is only used in the stiffening cores and in parts of the ceilings and staircase. The remaining load-bearing elements are made of solid wood and glued laminated timber. Vertically, the load is transferred in a skeleton construction using glued laminated timber (glulam) floor slabs, which transfer the loads to the regularly spaced supports. The linear wooden beams rest on three supports and span the width of the building, with the outer supports set back from the façade so that the glulam floor slabs extend beyond them. The resulting additional room height is ideal for the horizontal distribution of building services.
The chosen column-beam grid allows for flexible use and facilitates future adjustments or extensions. The high degree of prefabrication of the building elements has a positive effect on construction time and cost-effectiveness. The project planning takes resource and climate protection into account. The aim is to achieve Minergie-P-ECO and SNBS Gold certification.