Unter der Laube

Guthirt Primary School complex 

Project: New extension of a primary school with 12 classrooms, 5 kindergartens, a gymnasium, an auditorium and renovation of the oldest existing school wing
Winning entry 1. prize, Open competition 2024 - ongoing
Location: Zug, Switzerland
Team: Shadi Rahbaran, Ursula Hürzeler, Anna-Lena Kriz, Jonathan Schmidt
in collaboration with META Landscape Architecture
Rendering: Papercut


The current school complex presents itself as a conglomerate of buildings with different scales, uses and designs that have grown over the years. At the same time, the basic architectural principles of Godi Cordes' pavilion school are still present and clearly legible. The permeability of the ground floor and the associated covered areas together with the differentiated accesses, the different height buildings that embrace the open space and, of course, the diverse kinds of trees at the center of the plot that have grown over the 70 years from when the school was built. These qualities must be preserved and strengthened, and nevertheless the school complex needs to be densified with significantly more school space that can better fulfill the current and future needs. 

The 'unter der Laube' project proposes to position the new building, with a setback, along Industriestrasse. This allows the preservation of the large open space and almost the entire tree population present. In addition, the creation of a forecourt situation becomes the arrival point and prelude to the Guthirt school complex.

At the ground floor level, the volume is separated into three different uses: a hall for the school and the neighborhood to the north, the semi-recessed gymnasium as the central space, and the four new kindergartens to the south. On the one hand, the design takes up the grain of the existing school buildings and, on the other, creates two paths that serve as passageways to the garden courtyard and covered access areas to the school facilities.

Above this there is a regular structure with classrooms of different sizes and uses - a learning landscape designed as a 'wiggle room*', based on the ideas of architects Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi.

On the courtyard side, the passages connect to form a covered arcade. This space, which stretches along the courtyard, forms the transition to the garden and serves as a sheltered break, play and recreational area. This gazebo forms an important reference point within the school and also within the neighborhood. Formally, the design takes up the existing Schollen theme and complements the existing structure with a large grass island as well as recreational and play areas, which also serve as a planting area for trees.

The new building is designed to be holistic and comprehensively sustainable. This begins with the decision to accommodate all of the functions in a compact building and only construct a basement. As a result, the groundwater table remains undisturbed and there is no need for complex sealing and construction pit reinforcement. Concrete consumption is limited to one basement floor and two stair cores. The rest of the supporting structure and all ceilings and walls are consistently planned in ecological materials: wood, clay and ecological insulating materials.