center for hearing and language, zurich-wollishofen by e2a architects
all photos by dominique marc wehrli courtesy e2a architects


swiss e2a architects have sent in images of their project - the center for hearing and language
located in zurich, switzerland. the park-like site is dominated by a bulky, authoritative old school
building from the early twentieth century that has had many extensions added. in order to not
detract from this building, the most new building has been set in the garden as a solitary building.
rotated from the existing geometry, the new center faces up to the main building.

the new center appears as a one-storey pavilion versus the main building. physiotherapy rooms
and the entrance area form the one storey porch. behind, classrooms, with related adjoining
rooms, are on four floors. the entrance area, corridors and stairways are thought as one open
space, kept rough and supposedly colorless. the classrooms, are built with colored materials:
wall linings in colored timber products/durable chrome steel, wall plasterwork with magnetite/lime,
floors in oiled oak industry parquet. the new building is clad in raw aluminum and only the main
facades remain free. the aluminium skin is perforated and appears as a woven curtain.

   





















section view


section view


floor plan



floor plan



floor plan


floor plan



site plan

project info:
center for hearing and language, zurich-wollishofen
client: canton of zurich, building department
canton of zurich, education authority
center for hearing and language, zurich
program: 8 class rooms (2 of which useable as kindergarten) max. 5-6 pupils / 4 adjoining rooms
for individualized teaching (e.g. speech therapy) / 1 physiotherapy, occupational therapy room
(divisible) / 1 storage room
foot print: 382m2
gross floor area: 1055 m2
gross volume: 4347 m3

credits:    
architects: e2a eckert eckert architekten ag, zurich
wim eckert, piet eckert
project team: sebastian holzhausen, adrian heusser, vesna brandestini,
stefanie scherer, benjamin nordmann, tom weiss
building managment: oppliger von gunten baumanagement, zurich
structure: urech bärtschi maurer ag, zurich
landscape architect: nipkow landschaftsarchitektur, zurich
façade engineering: roffler ingenieurberatungen, malans
hvsc: huustechnik rechberger ag, zurich
electric engineering: thomas lüem partner ag, dietikon
building physics: leuthard + mäder, bruttisellen