Walka School Building, CH-Zermatt
In the Walka district, one of the oldest parts of the village of Zermatt, the existing school complex is to be replaced with a facility offering a significantly expanded program. Although Zermatt’s village structure features a wide range of scales even among its historic buildings, the narrow spaces typical of the area — nestled between tall houses and rocks — form the basis for the urban design of the new school.
Above ground, four volumes are visible that are structurally interconnected. Their slightly rotated arrangement relative to one another, as well as their staggered heights, harmoniously extend the densely built-up, winding streetscape of the neighborhood. The two large-scale building volumes — the double gymnasium and the auditorium — are largely housed underground within the basement levels. The staggered arrangement of the school buildings relative to one another ensures that the school building receives light from both sides, despite the steep slope adjoining it to the north.
