Ennetgraben secondary school, Affoltern am Albis
completed
Caretta+Weidmann Baumanagement AG, 8047 Zürich

Renovation and extension
Competition / 1st prize, architecture
Volumetric expansion and overall renovation of core and shell.
Planning 2013 / Construction 2016

Built in 1971 by architect Roland Gross, the secondary school complex consists of four parts: two nearly identical classroom sections, a hall, and a sport and special events wing. The raised entrance courtyard ties the individual buildings together as a whole. Gross’s original design was primarily guided by the desire to create ‘as self-contained a campus as possible’, utilise ‘simple construction’ and celebrate ‘pragmatic utility’; these principles were maintained in the renovation. The expansion of the classroom sections and enlargement of the sports hall with a new multi-purpose hall have lent the complex a new sense of spaciousness. The chessboard pattern on the completely renovated building shell visually unites the buildings and creates a shared identity.