Vocational school for construction trades
The new vocational school for construction trades is located in a central area of Zurich, Switzerland. Gunz & Künzle Architects designed the building to maximize the number of classrooms while also creating valuable public spaces for the neighborhood. The slender building follows the street and creates a spacious
courtyard that connects to the public functions on the school's first floor. This piano nobile, which acts as a truss frame structure, is suspended over the gymnasiums that extend from the basement to the ground floor. While the upper floors of classrooms are organized efficiently in a grid, the piano nobile forms an open landscape that the school can occupy flexibly. Robust materials, multifunctional furniture, and curtain partitions allow for exhibitions, events, and even practical building workshops.
The concrete structure provides a sturdy framework that can be filled in and refined as needed. This construction kit offers a versatile architectural vocabulary that is distinctive yet open to appropriation and adaptation. The result is an architecture that is not based on preset images but rather makes the construction process itself its subject.
