Get out!

The design of the schoo­lyard no longer met the needs of today’s schools and pupils.

The Vosges Stadium is the result of the rede­sign of a schoo­lyard used by three schools in the north of Basel.  Instead of reno­vating old plant troughs and foun­tains, MET Archi­tects installed a bold playing field, acti­vating three schools and a roof area.

The Vogesen, Pesta­lozzi and St. Johann schools in the north of Basel form an open block peri­meter around a schoo­lyard with an under­ground gymna­sium and swim­ming hall. The hall, built in 1980 by the archi­tects Gass and Hafner, is spanned by six concrete girders.

With just a few inter­ven­tions, MET Archi­tects cleared the schoo­lyard of struc­tures that had fallen out of time. 

The schoo­lyard was cleared of above-ground struc­tures such as skylights, a foun­tain and plant troughs, as well as the old insu­la­tion and pave­ment. The new floor was insu­lated and sealed to prevent water from seeping in again. On top, a 12 cm thick concrete distri­bu­tion slab was installed for the traf­fi­ca­bi­lity of the surface. The areas adja­cent to the surroun­ding buil­dings were sealed with rolled asphalt.

Laid out with synthetic sports floo­ring, the cour­tyard now offers two basket­ball courts. The blea­chers were dismantled down to their supporting struc­ture, revised and supple­mented with two covered grand­stands for spec­ta­tors, which extend across the entire width of the court and form a stadium-like space that can be used by the schools and the neigh­bour­hood for recess, sports and leisure acti­vi­ties.

The pitch has been visually extended beyond its edge and forms the new schoo­lyard as a unity, even when viewed from above.

The two roofs, each projec­ting about six meters, feature very promin­ently from the schools. In order to protect the concrete from perme­a­ting mois­ture and do justice to the high visi­bi­lity, the roofs were covered with the same red synthetic surface used for the basket­ball courts.

The playing field is opti­cally extended over the upper floors of the surroun­ding buil­dings.

The Vosges Stadium is a great example for acti­vating public spaces and rooftop areas in an incre­asingly dense urban context.