The Swiss studio Haller Gut Architekten has completed the extension of a school in Aeschi and equipped the classrooms with colorful accents and cladding made of thin white wooden boards.

Haller Gut Architekten expanded the school, which was originally spread across four freestanding buildings from different decades, to include additional classrooms and administration rooms.

Instead of building a new, stand-alone structure, the Bern-based firm Haller Gut Architekten decided to connect two of the existing buildings, which stand at right angles to each other, and to fill the gap between them “as naturally as possible” in order to better enclose the schoolyard.

“This approach connects the two existing buildings and creates a coherent school building inside,” Marc Haller, co-founder of Haller Gut Architekten, told Dezeen.

“In addition, all three buildings could be connected seamlessly across all floors with just one elevator,” he added.

The extension not only creates new traffic areas for the existing school buildings, but also offers space for administration on the ground floor as well as classrooms and a cloakroom on the first floor.

The extension curves along the inner edge, enclosing the schoolyard.

This creates a covered access across the grounds on the recessed ground floor and large windows provide a view of the classrooms above.

“On the ground floor, the city administration installed individual very large windows with closed ventilation flaps that frame the view and allow plenty of daylight into the work spaces,” explains Haller.

“The ribbon-like windows of the classrooms on the upper floor allow you to look into the distance.”

The structure was constructed from a mixture of concrete slabs, exposed brickwork, and wooden columns and beams.

In the classrooms, the brickwork was painted white and the wood left exposed, creating a simple backdrop for accents of color in the light green window frames and bright yellow coat hooks.

“The wooden supporting structure of the roof creates a warm atmosphere in the classrooms and accommodates the lighting in the spaces between them,” said Haller.

“Individual elements such as cupboards, coat hooks and the windows are treated with different colours and deliberately form a contrast to the white walls and the wooden construction.”

The outside of the extension was clad with vertical wooden boards, the curved ends of which form a jagged edge.

“The expression of the new building appears light and delicate like paper as a complement to the two wall buildings,” described Haller.

Other education projects recently featured on Dezeen include a concrete secondary school in Romanshorn shaded by pale pink shutters and a school built from logs by AOR Architects.

The photography is by Karina Castro.