Hinter Gärten school building | Riehen
Hinter Gärten school building | RiehenCompetition 1999 | 2004 - 2006
Project management: Dominik Hutz, Dipl. Arch. HTL
Colour concept: Jörg Niederberger, Niederrickenbach
Photographer: Heinz Unger, Zurich
The new primary school with a double sports hall is located beside a gently sloping green space to the south that is used by a market garden. The neighbourhood is characterised by free-standing structures of different heights, consisting of single-family homes and apartment buildings.
The project reacts to the scale of the neighbourhood with a composition of three volumes: a taller building for the classrooms and two lower structures for the sports hall and bicycle building, with pooled construction stages and functions. The arrangement of the three volumes and the perpendicular inserted connecting halls create differently articulated school yards, giving the primary school an appropriate scale despite its size. The colour concept of the coarsely plastered façades increases the spatially concise nature of the defined yards and increases the facility’s sculptural quality.
Each wing has its own covered entrance, as well as covered connections to the neighbouring buildings and outdoor spaces. This structure combines with the colour concept to increase the rooms’ recognition factor within the school, thereby aiding wayfinidng to classes.