![School Complex in Chermignon / Frei Rezakhanlou Architects - Facade, Windows](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5433/3b03/c07a/80cb/e800/0065/newsletter/portadaCHE_4_024%C2%A9ThomasJantscher.jpg?1412643569)
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Architects: Frei Rezakhanlou Architects
- Year: 2010
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Photographs:Thomas Jantscher, Jean-Michel Landecy, Nicolas Sedlatchek
Text description provided by the architects. The facilities are used by five distinct villages and propose a kindergarten, a primary school and a multi-purpose hall (sports, music, theatre, events). In consequence, The competition site was chosen just outside the village of Chermignon-d’en-Bas on the main road connecting the villages to each other and to the Rhone valley at the foot of the mountain.
![School Complex in Chermignon / Frei Rezakhanlou Architects - Lighting, Column](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5433/3aba/c07a/8024/cc00/0055/newsletter/CHE_17_197%C2%A9ThomasJantscher.jpg?1412643496)
On this rather steep site, the brief required several outdoor (flat) surfaces as in the kindergarten’s playground, the schoolyard and for gatherings in general. The project responds to this by providing a central forum (or agora) around which the buildings and retaining walls are set. The new sixth village becomes a significant public facility serving the whole region.
![School Complex in Chermignon / Frei Rezakhanlou Architects - Chair](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5433/3a5f/c07a/8024/cc00/0052/newsletter/CHE_14_243%C2%A9ThomasJantscher.jpg?1412643387)
The school and the multi-purpose hall touch at an angle retaining the mountain to the north. Being under the same roof greatly facilitates the use of the sports hall by pupils and vice-versa the school’s refectory from the foyer for spectators when the hall is used for other events.
![School Complex in Chermignon / Frei Rezakhanlou Architects - Windows](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5433/39b2/c07a/8049/f500/0055/newsletter/CHE_12_248%C2%A9ThomasJantscher.jpg?1412643232)
The kindergarten is a lower two storeys volume set to the south and overlooking a spectacular alpine view across the valley. The enclosed playground is a mid level platform accessible from both floors of the kindergarten.
![School Complex in Chermignon / Frei Rezakhanlou Architects - Facade, Windows](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5433/3a97/c07a/8024/cc00/0054/medium_jpg/CHE_16_208%C2%A9ThomasJantscher.jpg?1412643454)
In line with a certain tradition in alpine architecture, the buildings are in reinforced concrete, here both inside and out. This gives a formal unity to the whole that is further accentuated by the use of similar-sized windows on all facades. In some interiors wood is used next to concrete, which is also usual in mountain architecture. The multi-purpose hall is entirely covered in larch wood, as it is the noblest part of the complex.
![](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5433/3c11/c07a/80cb/e800/0067/newsletter/CHE_Ground_floor%C2%A9FRAR.jpg?1412643839)