Page 97 - AIT1120_E-Paper

Entwurf • Design Scheibler & Villard, CH-Basel
Grundriss Erdgeschoss (Gesamtanlage) • Ground floor plan
Grundriss Obergeschoss (Neubauten) • Upper floor plan
Bauherr • Client Stiftung für Taubblinde, CH-Zürich
Standort • Location Alte Dorfstraße 3d, CH-Langnau
Nutzfläche • Floor space 6.800 m 2
Fotos • Photos Rasmus Norlander, CH-Zürich
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More info on page 118
CENTRE FOR THE
DEAFBLIND IN LANGNAU
How do you build for people whose hearing and vision
are severely impaired – or even non-existent? With the
design of two new buildings for Tanne, the Swiss foun-
dation for deafblind people, the Basel-based office
Scheibler & Villard broke new architectural ground. To
date, there have been no comparable reference pro-
jects that the architects could have used as a guideline.
T here are many examples of homes for the blind, but not for
deafblind people," explains architect Sylvain Villard. The que-
stion therefore was what architecture has to achieve to enable
people with doubly impaired sensory perception to find their way
around? What possibilities are there to make rooms tangible not
only visually, but also haptically, acoustically and olfactorily? The
foundation's two new extensions – a residential building and a
school and facility building with integrated cafeteria — provide con-
vincing answers. First of all, a colour family was assigned to each of
the buildings, whose basic concrete structure is surrounded by vo-
lumes built of wooden elements. Within the colour family — red re-
spectively green — especially light-dark contrasts play an important
role. A short self-experiment clearly reveals why: the more you
squint your eyes, the more colour information is lost. Contrasts, ho-
wever, remain discernible for a long time. It is therefore no coinci-
dence that the walls, floor and steps of a staircase are finished with
striking differences in brightness to provide spatial orientation. The
same principle applies in the sanitary areas: high-contrast joints
make the tile laying pattern particularly prominent. Depending on
whether the joints run diagonally, vertically or horizontally, the pat-
tern provides information about which level you are on. In addition,
this can be perceived haptically. Similarly, the walls of the central
concrete volume were executed with corresponding relief structures.
The rooms can even be experienced on an olfactory and acoustic
level. Different materials – concrete, wood and linoleum – allow dif-
ferentiated scent qualities to develop. And these, in turn, allow con-
clusions to be drawn about where you are in the building. Acoustics
also play an important role in orientation. Every room has its own
sound identity. In the classrooms, for example, attention was paid
to particularly short reverberation times in order to optimise audi-
bility in the room. This showcase project is exemplary proof of the
strong influence architecture can have — on all (!) of our senses.
AIT 11.2020 • 097