Bülach is growing – expansion of the Allmend school
Like many places in the surrounding area of Zurich, the town of Bülach is enjoying a growing population. “Büüli”, the centre of the Zurich Unterland, is growing steadily. By 2040, Bülach should have around 28,000 inhabitants. The city’s foresighted educational space planning office is responding to the corresponding increase in pupil numbers by expanding the existing educational facilities. One cornerstone of this planning is the expansion of the Allmend school. A new school building for 12 classes and a triple gymnasium are to be added to the primary school complex, and the existing school building is to be renovated and reorganised. Within the framework of a competition to address these tasks, the design of the team led by general service provider Erne plus and Ernst Niklaus Fausch Architekten was able to convince the jury. Lüchinger+Meyer assisted the design process in the areas of structural and façade planning.
Both new buildings fit into the existing complex as simple, compact volumes. Timber-concrete hybrids characterise the load-bearing structures of the new buildings and timber façades their building envelopes. The structural design of the school building, consisting of six columns, a few bracing cores and shear walls, and a load-bearing façade of filigree timber columns, allows maximum flexibility for future adaptations. Timber frame constructions characterise the load-bearing structure of the triple gymnasium. The equipment and technical rooms and the cloakrooms are designed as a flanking three-storey building section in concrete construction.
The jury praised the design as “pragmatic implementation of the required space programme” and “consistent reduction to the essentials in the new school building”.
