Special School Sursee

Mark Dudek

Description

This modern structure could be a stylish headquarters building for a public corporation. In fact it functions extremely well as a school for children with physical and learning difficulties and adapts the requirements of its brief to the existing context. The three open cortiles which puncture the coherence of its glazed façade to the west not only provide light and ventilation but also create a sense of openness inside, promoting the idea of spatial transparency from the outside. It is a simple effect yet also one which represents a distinctive approach to this building type. It is open and closed at the same time, secure from general public access, yet displaying its life to the surrounding city streets and adjacent primary school, rather than hiding its functions away from view, as is often the case with special schools.

In fact the relationship this special school has to the existing school with which it shares the site is an important one. Rather than closing itself off from the primary school the design endeavours to encourage actual physical contact between the two. Not only does it share external play areas, with a lower entrance play court and an upper area for sports (both linked by a broad connecting staircase beneath the new building), it actually shares the sports and multi-purpose hall, both visually and physically. The architecture therefore acts formally to encourage contact between the two schools. The school’s main entrance at the north end of the new block hooks onto the existing school’s hall, and provides direct access to bleacher seating which overlooks activities in the multi-purpose hall by way of openable windows/doors. The highly glazed entrance is also used as a gallery for the work of the students which is visible from the outside. This provides a setting where both ‘sides’ can, from time to time come together and celebrate the shared experience of education and social interaction.

Other shared spaces on the ground floor further extend this concept of compatibility, with a library and what the architects describe as a ‘retreat’, a sort of soft lounge area where students can chill out and relax outside the confines of a formal school setting. Above ground floor the special school retains its own autonomy by emphatically separating the main teaching areas from the ground floor shared social zones. On the first floor, there are practical teaching areas, workshops for arts and crafts and the schools’ demonstration kitchen. There is also a small staff kindergarten and teacher’s rooms. On the second floor there are classrooms with smaller therapy rooms interspersed along the length of the block. The open double-height courtyards mentioned previously encourage a spatial flexibility with students sharing areas and maintaining visual and verbal connections between the two levels of accommodation. This contributes significantly to the social coherence of this relatively small learning community. The complex sectional drawing shows how the new building runs along the site slope, accommodating the site level change between the upper outside play area on the west and the lower court on the east. The design also incorporates a large basement storage archive for the city, a further representation of its functional and spatial dexterity.