Detail design visualisations have been completed for a school library retrofit in Switzerland. These renders illustrate the composition and materiality that the project will embody when complete.
The Four-Forest School is positioned on the banks of Rotsee Lake in the Swiss city of Lucerne, with the building having a strong relationship to the rural expanses that cradle its urban context. Dense deciduous woodland, transparent lagoons and the distant wall of the Alps provide pupils with endless intrigue to the natural landscape.
The proposed design references this spirit for adventure, with a tree-house-like frame being inserted into the existing ground floor lobby area. The double height space has been utilised to accommodate a mezzanine, accessed via a small set of stairs, that provides pupils with compartmentalized zones for reading, play and break-out activities. This elevated network of timber walkways alludes to the low-slung canopy layers of forest surrounding the school. The library anchors the structure in place, located at the heart of the installation, adding further intrigue to the books that inhabit its shelves. Storage, seating and a cloakroom have been incorporated to provide much needed functionality and organisation.
This intervention will minimise waste and construction time, to form a compelling space that has previously been under-utilised.
