School Building in Zürich

The school complex comprised a central tract built in 1865 and two adjoining gymnasiums dating from 1916 and 1973. Compact extension structures were added to the 1970s hall, doubling the teaching space of the main building. The internal organization is based on urban planning models: the new central space is conceived as a forum and the heart of the complex, about which staircases and corridors are laid out in the form of streets that widen to forecourts in front of the classrooms. The boundaries between public and private space in this city within a city are delineated by colour and light. The calm design of the teaching rooms in white and grey is con- trasted with the bright colours of the circulation spaces – in pink, orange, yellow and blue. This concept, which lends the building a special identity, reaches its climax in the central hall. With the aim of creating a unity of colour and architecture, the architects and the artist responsible for the project sought to design a pictorial world for children. To achieve the expressive force of painting, the colours were built up in layers, bringing out not only the material qualities of the concrete and the irregularities of the shuttering, but the brushwork as well. The concrete was not uniformly coloured; traditional Lascaux materials were applied on a white ground. The tonal quality is accentuated by the effect of daylight, which enters via the numerous roof lights.