LB 10 BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS school pfeffingen

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS LB 10 SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN, is the second title of a series of five LONG BOOKS by the architects Oliver Brandenberger and Adrian Kloter.

The two Basel-based architects, regard the needs of future users to be a key aspect of conceiving new buildings, forming the basis of their designs. The resulting spaces have a high quality, where people feel comfortable and can develop.

This volume begins with an interview conducted and written by Niki Zaugg, with the documentary filmmaker Anna Thommen, which is intended to inspire further discourse.

This LONG BOOKS series is aimed at inviting readers to engage with the relevance and function of public buildings. It questions existing structures and identifies requirements, in order to find answers for the contemporary design of public buildings.

Other titles this series: LB 09 COMMUNITY HALL LAUFENBURG Interview with the podcaster and editor Gülsha Adilji LB 11 DOUBLE KINDERGARTEN RÜTI Interview with the organization developer Petra Slembek LB 12 SCHOOL AARWANGEN Interview with the urban psychologist Alice Hollenstein LB 13 SCHOOL BIRRWIL Interview with the author Zoë Jenny

AMAG LONG BOOKS COLLECTION brings together a unique selection of projects that establish new paradigms in architecture.

With a contemporary and timeless conceptual graphic language, the 1000 numbered copies of each LONG BOOK will document works with different scales and formal contexts that extend the boundaries of architectural expression.

4

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

02

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

03

“CHILDREN NEED PLACES THAT BELONG TO THEM ALONE.” AN INTERVIEW WITH THE FILM DIRECTOR ANNA THOMMEN, WITH THOUGHTS FROM THE ARCHITECTS OLIVER BRANDENBERGER AND ADRIAN KLOTER.

Anna Thommen has played many different roles in her life. The former primary school teacher is now a film director focusing on documentaries. She aims to provide viewers with insight on various different aspects of life. Another role that Anna Thommen plays is being a mother.

She spends a great deal of time with her two children and enjoys seeing the world from the perspective of a child.

Why did you agree to take part in this interview?

Anna Thommen: When I received an enquiry about this interview, I was unsure whether I was the right person for the task. I’ve never engaged with architecture in detail. But after talking to the architects for a while, I realised the theme is more related than I had initially presumed.

As a director, I look at people in all walks of life and try to express my observations in the form of a film. The architects used the same method to develop this school building. They engaged in depth with the requirements of the children and let those aspects influence the building. As a former primary school teacher, I know how important spaces are for children.

Pfeffingen School is a very modern school building. Looking back at your own childhood: what memories do you have of your primary school days?

Anna Thommen: I have vivid, sensory memories of my school building. It is an old building and I still know exactly how the corridors smelled. Sometimes mouldy, sometimes freshly cleaned. The school entrance was accessed via two steps. I spent every free moment on those steps. We could run and jump around there, sometimes we argued as well.

I also remember the school’s many dark corners. They were both fascinating and unnerving.

In one such corner, where nobody could see us, we played “marrying” and kissed each other (laughs).

What was your favourite place at primary school?

Anna Thommen: My favourite place was the attic. It was converted into a kindergarten. I liked the way everything was new. The kindergarten tutor had built various little niches in the attic.

One was for dressing up and another was for building blocks. Textiles and walls separated all the areas. I liked it so much in those corners that I spent most of my free time there right up to Year Four.

That sounds fantastic! Returning to the present day: what do you especially like about the primary school in Pfeffingen?

Anna Thommen: I particularly like Pfeffingen School in the way that it can be experienced with all your senses. For instance the spiral staircase. It looks finely structured, but feels hard. I can imagine that children enjoy playing on those stairs, the building’s backbone. The playful brick wall also inspires kids to use it in many different ways. It is very important that the rooms of a school are used in different ways.

From a teacher’s perspective, I like the fact that the classrooms are flexible. That inspires me to change their appearance depending on what is being taught. You can create learning islands and niches and change them around. It reminds me of my favourite place at primary school, the attic. It was a place where anything was possible.

LB10_MIOLO_bbka_school pfeffingen_V05.indd 3

08/11/2022 18:31:41

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

04

Pfeffingen School has gender-neutral toilets. That’s a new aspect for school buildings.

What do you think about the matter?

Anna Thommen: Gender neutrality is a really topical subject, as well as a political one. My daughter recently asked me why there are separate toilets for different genders. I had to think about an answer for a long time. The only reason I could come up with was that I don’t fancy using toilets that have been peed over by men. Another important memory is that during my puberty, I used the toilets to exchange information with other girls in a private environment.

Gender-neutral toilets don’t offer that. Nevertheless, I think gender separation is much too strong in our society and that gender-neutral toilets can improve the situation. After all, we’re all humans that just need to use the toilet.

A question for the architects: have you only had good experiences with gender-neutral toilets?

Architects: Yes, only good experiences (laughter). Apart from when, after a week or so, someone covered up the gender-neutral signs and allocated each toilet to one gender. Luckily, that was put right. As far as we know, everything is going fine with the gender-neutral toilets.

It’s important that this is already addressed in kindergartens and experienced as something completely normal.

Anna Thommen, what must educational buildings provide to allow children to learn ideally?

Anna Thommen: I think educational buildings should not be subject to authoritarian architecture that stipulates what should be done, where and how. It’s important that the spaces in a school are used in different ways. Each school should be grasped as a location where everything is mutually connected. A place where the world can be experienced sensorially. It’s the only way to ensure that kids actually remember the learning material.

Architects: The bottom line is that we believe one can give children a good basis with a certain order, to understand interconnections. Order helps people to focus, to appropriate what is being communicated.

How much freedom do children actually need?

Anna Thommen: Boundaries are very important. But within them, things should be playful.

And one should look beyond the horizon. For instance, a school walkway is also very important for the children’s self-determination. My parents often didn’t know where I was hanging out after school. That was fine. I was very grateful for that freedom. Sure, I grew up in the country, where there may be fewer dangers than in a city. But I believe children need places that belong to them alone. There is so much observation nowadays. Such over-institutionalisation is also a theme in my films. Everything has to be correct so that nothing is out of place in the landscape.

Architects: We believe, such children’s hideouts need protecting. There are so many security standards and laws that force everything into the corners – and nobody from the building authorities wants to burn their fingers. Many people find it difficult to make decisions and assume responsibility, even parents. In the end, it’s up to us to put our feet down and insist on the hideouts or playful elements.

LB10_MIOLO_bbka_school pfeffingen_V05.indd 4

08/11/2022 18:31:44

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

05

THIS INTERVIEW WAS CONDUCTED AND WRITTEN

BY NIKI ZAUGG

LB10_MIOLO_bbka_school pfeffingen_V05.indd 5

What task do you think must a school building assume?

Anna Thommen: A school building must express trust and can feel like home. It must offer various places of retreat, where children can recover. I come back to what I said earlier: niches are very important for children. But a school building must also express a certain freedom.

For instance the large window in the ceiling above the stairs lets children feel that a roof is no limitation. There is always room above, to reach for the stars.

08/11/2022 18:31:44

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

06

07

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

PFEFFINGEN, SWITZERLAND 2017-2019

For the new school building in Pfeffingen, we paid special attention to an easily grasped and childfriendly spatial concept. The standard floors in the cuboid volume are focused on one central entrance hall with adjoining classrooms. We increased the size of the usable space by doing without corridors. The classrooms now have dimensions of 90 m2, rather than 70 m2, since the cloakrooms are integrated into the classrooms.

The scale of children defines the entire building’s design. This can for instance be seen in the horizontal structure of the façade, which makes the floors legible.

Similarly, its verticality can be seen in the upright, densely organised wooden frame that conforms to the children’s desire for small-scale structures. A clearly visible, deep niche marks the entrance to the school and the spacious school foyer. This hall forms the heart of the school building. It has a central floor-plan position, stretches through the entire depth of the building and reveals an impressive view of the open landscape on its north side. From there, all floors are accessed via an open spiral staircase. It winds from the entrance level to the second upper floor, where the four classrooms are situated, including group rooms in between. On the base level, it provides access to the staffroom, toilets and auxiliary rooms for technical systems and storage.

We also adopted the perspective of children with respect to the choice and use of materials.

In designing the school building, we focused on haptic and spatial experiences that strengthen the relationships between the building and the children – for instance using wooden cladding or staggered brickwork patterns with acoustically effective gaps in the school foyer. Consequently, the light that shines in evenly from all sides of the building illuminates the concrete surfaces in a soft grey tone. The classroom furniture is also unusual. Desks and partitioning furniture on wheels can be moved around easily.

Together with the moveable pinboards, they provide a flexible furnishing concept.

The old school building is preservation-listed as a building of municipal importance, with its sweeping roof structures and the semicircular staircase that projects in front of the building, making it a typical example of “Heimatschutz” architecture. The bossage base consists of Jurassic lime, its light colour serving as a reference for the new building. Its façade consists of surrounding, floor-high wooden frame elements.

They are either decorated with windows and slightly diagonal, staggered aluminium elements in the ceiling area, or planked in the area of the walls with rough-sawn wooden boards.

The range of exterior materials and colours is picked up on and modulated in the interior. Exposed concrete and silver fir wood are used for the fittings, furniture and acoustic ceilings. These are combined with whitepainted steel for the balustrade of the spiral staircase, a homage to the staircase tower of the 1914 school building. In the area of the public zones, the lightcoloured brickwork is open for acoustic reasons. To ensure a lively, structured surface, the bricks were, so to speak, laid inversely, with their slightly uneven and non-homogenously coloured side facing forwards.

We regard the building as child-friendly. An open, bright and pleasant atmosphere dominates in architecture that is clearly legible. In doing so, we focused on the colours of the materials. The range of building materials used is limited and their interaction is harmonious. The details are considered and lovingly implemented. Without being obtrusive, the building subtly makes it clear to its young users what architecture can do if potential is exploited skilfully.

The new, more generous spatial organisation fulfils the children’s and teachers’ wishes, while conforming to the Swiss intercantonal agreement on the harmonisation of compulsory schools. The primary aim of school harmonisation is to shape all curricular decisions, from the kindergarten to the further education, in an age-compatible and mutually coordinated way. Consequently, the curriculum has also been amended – moving away from frontal teaching and towards so-called learning landscapes. A lively coming and going should be encouraged, while classrooms should be supplemented with flexibly designed group rooms.

In line with this overriding intention, the new school ensemble in Pfeffingen also integrates part of its daily structure – such as lunch, tuition and rooms for homework and leisure. The old school building was unable to accommodate these additional spatial requirements and the growing numbers of pupils.

The new building represented a unique opportunity to bind together the existing structures in a new ensemble and thereby separate the uses more clearly.

The new playground thereby assumes a central role.

It spans between the new school building and the retaining wall of the existing sports facility, while leading via broad outdoor stairs to the entrance of the multifunctional hall embedded in the hillside. Up the slope, the yard is equipped with high seating steps to create an arena.

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

10

C

11

D

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

A

B

ROOF TOP PLAN

0

1

5

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

12

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

13

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

14

C

15

D

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

A

B

2nd FLOOR PLAN

0

1

5

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

18

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

19

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

20

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

21

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

24

C

25

D

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

A

B

1st FLOOR PLAN

0

1

5

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

26

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

27

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

28

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

29

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

34

C

35

D

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

A

B

-1st FLOOR PLAN 0

1

5

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

36

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

37

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

42

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

SECTION B

43

0

1

5

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

46

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

SECTION C

47

0

1

5

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

48

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

EAST ELEVATION

49

0

1

5

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

54

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

55

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

60

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

61

BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS

62

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN

FEATURED WORK

63

SCHOOL PFEFFINGEN PFEFFINGEN, SWITZERLAND 2017-2019 Client Municipality of Pfeffingen Total built area 2’375 sqm.

Site area 8’450 sqm.

Architecture Brandenberger Kloter Architects Project Team Adrian Kloter / Head of Projec Cédric Odermatt / Project Architect Nesrin Asma Imre Csebits Veronika Mutalova Robert Gemmel Matthias Sutter Landscape Architect Hänggi Basler Landschaftsarchitektur GmbH Construction Management Wirz und Partner AG Structural Engineer Aegerter & Bosshardt AG Electrical / Heating / Ventilation Engineer Alteno AG Plumbing Engineer Roland Rufatti Sanitärplanungen Acoustic / building physics Engineer Lauber Ingenieure AG Signage Designer Howald Fosco Biberstein Images © Basile Bornand / www.fotopraxis.click

LB10_MIOLO_bbka_school pfeffingen_V05.indd 63

08/11/2022 18:33:49