Schoolhouse Marzili, Bern

The project
Due to increasing numbers of children, the Marzili elementary school needed additional school space. The best solution proved to be an extension of the school complex with a new building in the western part of the site. The new building includes eleven classrooms with group rooms for the middle school, further rooms for group work and special lessons as well as a day school for 100 children. In addition to the new building, the three existing pavilions on the school grounds were repaired and adapted to today's requirements.

The construction
The light-looking three-story skeleton building is a hybrid of reinforced concrete and wooden elements. Concreted floor slabs with very large spans rest on wooden columns. The vertical columns are enclosed by insulated elements and thus form the load-bearing exterior walls. Horizontal pilaster strips made of spruce wood characterize the façade. Thanks to their trinity, they are more durable than if they were constructed from one piece of wood.

The challenge
We paid special attention to the connection of ceilings and walls. A foil protects the wall elements and the integrated beams against penetrating water and moisture from the wet concrete.