2013 1st rank, project competition open, executed
Derendingen, Canton of Solothurn

With the new centre buildings, the community of Derendingen wants to give itself a new middle ground by incorporating the existing buildings. In order to integrate the large-volume usage program planned for this purpose into the context, the proposed urban development oscillates between a compact consolidation of all three areas of use (multipurpose hall, school and administration) in favour of generous outdoor spaces and a differentiated form of the structural shell and its surface design as a reference to the surrounding buildings. The result is a building structure that offers a dignified and ordering framework for the existing solitary buildings. Because of its urbanistic setting, it forms three squares of different quality.

The new centre is an open house whose aspects and insights are oriented towards the respective squares. Large cantilever constructions point to the entrances and invite visitors to linger: The citizen-oriented administration, the accesses to the assembly hall and the foyer of the multipurpose hall are oriented towards the large central square. The schoolyard spreads out between the existing school building, the multipurpose hall and the new school building. The outdoor sports facilities and the temporary parking spaces flank the building to the northeast.

The new centre buildings can be read in three scales: The areas of use (multi-purpose hall, school and administration) are readable from the outside due to the different materialisation and give the large volume a scale appropriate to the location. Through the vertically structured façades in fair-faced concrete and glass, the building parts then enter into a dialogue with each other again and connect the utilisation into a whole. A third scale level overlaps the second, vertical level by offsetting the window levels on the plinth floor and by suggesting window pockets with a horizontal principle of order.