Sandgruben Secondary School, CH-Basel
The Sandgruben educational district is well connected and located near the Badischer Bahnhof in Basel. The two existing school buildings there, Sandgruben I and II, were built in the 1950s and are now located in the immediate vicinity of other educational institutions, such as the Vogelsang Elementary School and the School of Applied Arts. To achieve the goals of school harmonization and after-school care, an expansion of 27 classrooms is planned for this site, along with corresponding spaces for group and specialized rooms, a teachers’ lounge, an auditorium, a library/media center, rooms for after-school programs, and gyms with locker rooms.
The orientation and placement of the new building reflect the simple juxtaposition of Schwarzwaldallee and the green space leading to the vocational school, as well as the arrangement of numerous other linear buildings in the neighborhood. Four distinct floors define the building’s character: the basement houses sports halls and building services; the ground floor contains public and administrative areas; the first floor features rooms and classrooms for specialized educational purposes; and the second floor accommodates the learning clusters.
On the opposite side of the building, the sports clubs’ lobby area serves as a second hub, from which the gyms can be accessed via a connecting corridor. Similar to the ground floor, the teachers’ facilities and the media library are located on the northwest side of the first floor, while the remaining space is occupied by specialized rooms. The second floor is dedicated exclusively to learning environments, including clusters, group rooms, and so on. This layout offers a quiet and prime location. Accessibility and the proximity of the clusters are organized like addresses in a row of houses.
