Lessons In Color

Bright red, bright blue or intense green: Today, schools are no longer gray and boring, but light, fresh and cheerful. Andrea Eschbach The future starts today. And that with the education of the next generation. But modern education not only needs innovative concepts, but also the right environment - in color. Of course, this should not be just decoration, but accompany the building, accentuate it, support the requirements of the users, act on the senses and motivate them. Three examples from Switzerland show what this can look like. Shortly before the German border, in Basel-Riehen, there is a glowing red building in the “Hinter Garten” residential area. The school building of the architectural firm Daniele Marques combines buildings and colors into a coherent whole. The "Hinter Garten" primary school, which was built in 2006, fits into the living environment with the three floors for the classrooms and the connected low component of the two gyms. The school reacts to its surroundings, because in Basel you can often see red sandstone and burned bricks in the cityscape. Red clay can also be found in the forest above the school, where children often play. The coarse, bright red trowel plaster of the outer facade takes up these colors again. “When the red soil gets wet, it rubs off on the clothes of the children playing. Then they look a bit like their school house,”says Jörg Niederberger. The artist from Niederrickenbach, Switzerland, was responsible for the school's color concept. He lets color and architecture “intertwine”. The result is impressive:The long sides of the gym and the front of the school building are in brick red, the long sides of the classroom and the short sides of the gyms glow in a warm orange red. The colors meet at the edges. The interior continues colorfully: the stairwells are intensely green, the corridors deep blue, the yellow classrooms throw colorful shadows into the corridors through skylights. Depending on the time of day and lighting conditions, the colors of the interiors stand out through the windows. The biggest surprise, however, is the classroom itself: Not only do the walls and floors of the rooms shine in bright yellow, but also furniture, lights and even the washbasins - as if a sprinkler had just started and covered everything with color. "With my concepts I try to achieve cheerfulness,a bright and happy mood,”says Niederberger. "I hope that the students like to go to their schoolhouse - especially in the cloudy season." How will this splendor of color age? Jörg Niederberger points out that one would not ask this question with beige and other dirty colors: "There you would not fear contamination". He expects a "fresh patina" for the exterior facade. Unfortunately, for reasons of cost, the plaster was not completely colored, and the first white signs of wear soon adorned the walls. Two extensions While the school building in Riehen represents a kind of color kaleidoscope, things look different in Zurich Hardau. The district is characterized by high traffic loads and residential density as well as rare green spaces. Work on upgrading the neighborhood has been going on for some years;the expansion of the primary school and the neighboring vocational school BWS Hardau is part of it. The vocational school, built by Otto Glaus in 1963/64, is a listed building with its architecture based on Le Corbusier. The Zurich architectural firm EM2N supplemented the low exposed concrete building, which is grouped around various courtyards, with an elongated block made of exposed concrete. The upper floor is divided into five classrooms with a group room and a multifunctional corridor. The yellowish green glass of the class doors sets a strong color accent in the otherwise reserved building. Toilets and cloakrooms are also cave-like rooms with a blue-painted glass fiber covering, in stark contrast to the bright school rooms. The extension to the primary school is based on a more distinctive color scheme. He extends the existing school building by three classrooms, group rooms, reading island, three kindergartens and three daycare centers. Like the vocational school, the interior design is characterized by simple and robust materials. Hard concrete floors and exposed concrete in the corridor area contrast with the warm surfaces of the school room. The simple classrooms are painted white, gray linoleum covers the floor. Monika Kiss Horvarth, an artist, was also brought in for the color concept. Based on the blue tones of the existing primary school, the color consultant and architects decided, after trying different, sometimes quite colorful color combinations, to design the extension with the surrounding walls in an intense blue. To strengthen the gesture of the binding ribbon around the two school buildings,the transverse walls have been painted in a light blue. The main entrance, the kindergarten entrances and the three atriums were marked with a strong orange - in contrast to the blue of the building. The color concept was applied to all components: even window frames and window sills were designed in the color of the plastered facade. Industrial construction becomes school In July 2007, the advisory services for training and employment in Aargau and the cantonal school for vocational training moved into a former BBC workshop on the outskirts of Baden. The color and design concept for the renovation of the vocational training center Schmiede was created in 2006 as a diploma thesis at the Zurich House of Color. From 14 theses, an assessment committee selected four for revision,After a presentation, the concept was determined by Claudia Walter for execution. The final thesis of the color designer from Illnau aims to give the building a lively color design. The color distribution is tied to the different room functions - divided into access zones, career advice, vocational training and areas of residence. A special feature is that the colors pass into the next room volume or the wall surface and thus create a connection between the room functions. "The color should flow from one room to the other," explains Claudia Walter. Mineral colors were used after a print run by the city of Baden. The light gray color of the three-storey building is integrated into the reserved colors of the former industrial area. A red accented main entrance signals the opening to the inside. The red continues into the entrance hall and accompanies the incoming visitor via the main stairs to the forecourts. Dark gray door frames form contrasts and create their own rhythm. The color concept ensures clarity and orientation in the spacious building. There is a warm atmosphere on the ground floor and mezzanine of the building. There, green-blue ceilings convey tranquility in the information center, and the soft light yellow ceilings provide a sunny atmosphere in the consulting offices. The bright school and teacher rooms on the floors above take up the colors of the surroundings. "When entering the yellow-green painted corridors, the senses of the user experience distraction," says Claudia Walter. "I was surprised myselfhow present this color is now”. Schools pose a particular challenge for color concepts. Jörg Niederberger: "It is a matter of harmonizing color composition and architecture in such a way that a unity is formed". And a kind of temporary home opens up to students and teachers alike - friendly, surprising and of course motivating.

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Primary school behind gardens, Basel-Riehen Architecture: Marques AG, Daniele Marques, Lucerne Color concept: Jörg Niederberger, Niederrickenbach Primary school and vocational school, Hardau Architecture: EM2N, Zurich Color concept: Monika Kiss Horvarth, Zurich Execution: Klaus Baumberger AG, Zurich Vocational Training Center Schmiede, Baden Architecture: Roman Fischer, C + K Architects, Küsnacht Color concept: Claudia Walter, Illnau Interior work: Meier Schmocker AG, Bellikon Facade: Rolf Zünd, Baden