Studio Gugger | Hebelschulhaus

The further development of the school site must bring back the qualities of the original setting - the generosity of the open spaces, the character of the ensemble, the scale of the neighbourhood. The Hebelmatte must be restored to its familiar size and the southern project perimeter must be reorganised and integrated into the school complex.

By arranging the new classroom on the existing gymnasium, dismantling the single-storey assembly hall annex in favour of a generous axis of movement and dismantling the larger Nilbo pavilion for a park-like outdoor sports area, it is possible to restore the generous spaces and place them in relation to one another. The Brüderlin building, the familiar address on Langenlängeweg, is preserved and repurposed, and its newly opened façade can now relate to the Hebelmatte.

Landscape design

A playground, park, playing field, shaded area, green lung - the Hebelmatte can provide all of this for the school and neighbourhood. The wide yet enclosed space will be restored and intensified in the project. The beautiful and diverse stock of trees on the site will be preserved and supplemented, and the existing schoolyards will be further developed in their design language through partial unsealing and denser, diverse planting. A park-like sports and play area will be created in the southern perimeter, connected to the Hebelmatte via a spacious ramp loosely planted with birch trees.

Building on the existing

In the context of the climate crisis, unsealed areas and mature tree populations are assets worth protecting. The resource of land must be used with care, as school sites must also be able to respond to the needs of future generations.

The reinterpretation of the school perimeter with two spacious break areas shifts the centre of gravity in the area. The gymnasium no longer forms the boundary between the Niederholz and Hebel school sites, but is located at the centre of the school campus. The structural densification in the centre makes sense, especially as the hall area corresponds exactly to the space requirements of two clusters and the currently strongly oriented gymnasium can be reinterpreted as a school building oriented towards both outdoor spaces. In addition, the concentration of the new volume in the heart of the site preserves the familiar small-scale structure at the transition to the neighbourhood.

By continuing to build on the gymnasium, land consumption can be avoided, the existing trees can be extensively preserved and the Brüderlin building, which is still efficient, can continue to be used.
Thanks to a high level of prefabrication and a correspondingly lean construction process, the new building can be erected during ongoing school operations without the need for castling.