Demetra
The former agricultural village of Iberg, which is part of the Seemer Aussenwachten, has undergone significant structural development over the past thirty years, resulting in an increased need for school space. By 2029, a central, modern school building for twelve primary classes will be built to create an optimal learning environment for the children of Aussenwachten. In the open competition organised by the city of Winterthur, the «Demetra» project by the WALDRAP / Lüchinger+Meyer / Jungenergie team came out on top against 50 other submissions.
The design provides for a new school building as a compact, three-storey structure with parallel, gabled roofs, supplemented by a single sports hall. The jury was particularly impressed by the project’s sustainability, cost-effectiveness and flexibility. These premises were also followed in the development of the building structures by the structural engineers from Lüchinger+Meyer in collaboration with WALDRAP.
«The building is a very structured timber construction.» (Jury) Wooden beam ceilings span the classrooms and the central section. Clay panels are inserted between the beams to pragmatically fulfil the requirements for fire resistance, acoustics and storage mass. The ceiling beams rest on longitudinally spanning beams, which transfer the loads to the columns. The simple column construction makes it possible to flexibly adapt the room concept in the future. Wooden walls are activated to stiffen the building. The sports hall is spanned by glulam beams. The roof structure is made from locally felled timber. All timber components can be easily separated and reused in the event of dismantling in the interests of the circular economy. In addition, by largely dispensing with basement levels and arranging the buildings to follow the terrain, the excavation volume and the mass of GHG-intensive reinforced concrete can be reduced to a minimum.
From 3 to 17 April 2024, the ranked works will be on public display in the superblock at Pionierstrasse 7 in Winterthur.
(Visualisations: WALDRAP)
