Experimental

The Appenzell vocational training center, designed in 1975 by Peter Möhrle, serves the cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Innerrhoden. Built on a slope with a height difference of about 8 meters, it stands out as a rational, flat-roofed volume among buildings with pitched roofs.

The proposed extension transforms the school into an evolving and coherent infrastructure, respecting the existing building and developing new volumes on its footprint, forming a continuous whole beneath a shared roof. This new gabled roof visually connects the project to the neighboring school buildings.

The extension subtly references the existing structure - maintaining the rhythm of openings, scale, and materiality - without erasing the legibility of the original building. Inside, the concrete structure is extended with a light wooden structure on the new upper floor. The new sports hall follows the structural logic of the current nave. The various areas (teaching, sports, library, cafeteria) are organized with functional autonomy, interconnected by well-positioned vertical cores. At the southern end, next to the new cafeteria, a sunny plaza emerges, an outdoor extension of school life and a social gathering space.

This project is an exercise in critical continuity, sensitively updating a public infrastructure that is prepared for the contemporary challenges of vocational education.