School in Fribourg
The project is located in a large park occupied by two existing schools, whose different buildings stand well apart from each other. The proposal is made out of two new insertions that respond to the character of the park and the two isolated existing school buildings. One part is a monolithic cube, located between the two existing schools, and the other part is mostly underground, creating an esplanade in front of the old building of Ste-Agnès, underlining its monumental facade. The program is organised in a very clear way: the cube above ground contains the new classrooms, and the sportshalls, special teaching spaces and parking are located below the esplanade.
The project is about delamination. A monumental stair spirals up the cube, divided into two by a glass curtain wall. This stair offers parallel but separate circulation spaces: one is external and public, the other internal and dedicated to the school. The stair is developed as a vertical extension of the pathways in the park, inviting people to walk up past entrances to all floors of the building, through the canopy of the park’s trees, before arriving at the roof terrace of the cube, a belvedere over the city.
