Secondary school Hunzenschwil
Bringing the school into the village
The school ensemble in Hunzenschwil, which is located in the village but without making any evident reference to its surroundings, can be seen as symptomatic of the unstructured growth of the community in the post-war period. The extension building with an integrated community hall develops a new, identity-lending presence on Schulgasse and thus integ- rates the ensemble back into the village. The schoolyard is in turn reinterpreted as a cour- tyard enclosed on three sides.
Space modulations in the cross-section
The two offset volumes of the school and hall form a forecourt towards the street. The compact arrangement of the classrooms on the upper floor, their short sides along the façade, as well as additional northern light via a lantern skylight, made it possible to maintain the two-storey layout of the existing school complex. Large sections of the sup- port structure and the façade are constructed of prefabricated concrete elements. These shape the rough aesthetic of the interiors in conjunction with the slurried brickwork, which has been laid with a special earthquake-bracing bond, thus making it possible to do wi- thout any in-situ concrete.
Between rationality and representation
The look of the building borrows both from the structurally pronounced concrete archi- tecture of the existing building and the industrial architecture that has left its mark on the Swiss plateau. Classical themes are also taken up, such as a piano nobile and a strong cornice. A building between the sober rationality of a workshop for learning and the repre- sentative facade of a village schoolhouse.
