Schulanlage Guggach III
The heart of the Guggach Primary School in Zurich is the atrium, designed as an unheated intermediate zone. Open in summer and closed in winter: With manually operated sliding doors, the atrium adapts to the changing conditions of the seasons.
This is where the children start their day, study in the open-air classrooms, and enjoy breaks outdoors. It opens up invitingly to the neighborhood park - like a large stage. On the first floor, it creates visual links to the street space and provides access to the neighborhood's facilities, such as the library, the underground double sports hall, and the assembly hall. The roof, which originates from a greenhouse construction, can also be opened, and the integrated sun protection provides shade when required. In combination with air vents and the sun’s energy, the users can influence the indoor climate. The quality of stay and atmosphere vary in line with the environment.
Depending on the situation, an outdoor space becomes an indoor space - or something in between.
The symmetrically arranged school clusters are designed so that, in addition to their actual function, there is still room for the unplanned: “spaces for possibilities” that are freely available and whose use can be constantly renegotiated and redesigned. These include the two open-air classrooms on the park side, which complement the facilities on offer, and the large staircase in the atrium, which can be used as a seating platform.
Foldable partition walls in the group rooms or the multi-purpose room also offer the option of adapting rooms at short notice. A diverse range of rooms is provided that can react flexibly to needs and is robust simultaneously.
The school building is designed objectively and rationally. The building was constructed as a skeleton structure to optimize weight, material consumption, and long-term flexibility of use. Columns, beams, and ceilings are industrially prefabricated parts braced by wind bracing on the façade. The open primary structure ensures efficient natural lighting of the lower room levels. The consistent separation of structure, building services, and finishing can be experienced in many places and is deliberately incorporated into the atmospheric design. The atrium was constructed simply and cost-effectively as a usable layer outside the insulation perimeter.
