Client: City of Zurich

Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Date: 2025

Type: Education

Area: 3640m2

Budget: CHF21,5 million

AZPML

Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Maider Llaguno-Munitxa, Ivaylo Nachev

DGJ Landscape

Daniel Jauslin, Bas Koppers, Daphne Keegstra

Walter Bieler AG

Enrico Fromm

Our project for the Sports Hall Seefeld is aimed to resolve the requested program within the very limited spatial constraints of the site.

Our proposal is to build a physical structure that:

1.Provides optimal conditions for the different programs included, maximizing accessibility and connectivity with the existing school facilities.

2.Create a building with a discrete character that does not compete with the school building.

3.Create a building which will optimizes environmental performance using both active and passive technologies.

Site Plan Organization

The new building volume will be located facing the old school, forming a school courtyard in between with a hard paved floor for sports and school activities. A reglementary Basketball field is lodged on the north side and there is a Ball U.U Schnurr/handball field. To the paralelepipedic volume of the main building we have added a volume containing the Mensa and the Multipurpose hall on the South East side which creates a more intimate space for play and events below the large trees on the NE side of the building. That space has been paved with a wood deck to be used for classes and smaller-scale activities under the large existing Platanus.

The two areas along the North and South edges of the site, are proposed to be paved with rubber tiles and sand, to host the playground areas that need to be relocated to make room for the new building.

Programmatic Organization and Massing

We have placed all the school related facilities and common rooms on the ground level so their connectivity both with the school and with the street level is optimized. A single level of common facilities is sandwiched between the two sports courts. The sports courts are located parallel to the old school building with the adjacent facilities placed on the South-eastern side. There are two levels of facilities for each sports court, including equipment storages, cloakrooms, toilets and teachers areas. One of the sports courts is located underground at -7, 808m, and lit through skylights on the SW and NE sides. The other sits above the common facilities floor at +3,925m. Above this top level court, an Allwetterplatz is provided at level +12,763m for open-air sports.  The courts are contained in a volume parallel to the existing school measuring 38,3 x 18m.

The common service facilities have been distributed by locating the Mensa and the Multipurpose Auditorium on the SE corner, the Music Rooms on the SW corner, the Aufenthalt rooms on the north side, and the offices and administration on the West side, facing the school. The kitchen and logistic area have been located in the midle zone of the East facade, with a logistic access from Wildbachstrasse.

All faciliities are accessible through a vertical circulation core/fire exit located on the SE area, where an independent access area has been located for external access to the sports facilities on the South side. Internally, an interconnected system of wide corridors, (3,50m) will provide access to all facilities.