#Sports facility #Biel/Bienne #1932
Logengasse 2
2502
Biel/Bienne,
Switzerland
Public transport: Diamantstrasse
Access: Public building, free entry during working hours
Today's use: gym & assembly hall
Description
Integrated into the three-part Neumarkt school complex, the block-like volume breaks with the traditional design principles of its neighbors. The building has an almost square ground and is a solid construction. It combines two gymnasiums, one above the other, whereby the upper facility has functioned as an assembly hall since the renovation. The facade is divided into six large windows, while the narrow sides have five smaller window axes per floor. The basement houses a practice cellar for the wrestling club. It appears to the outside as a plinth set back on three sides, alternating with windows and wall panes, and lends the building a certain lightness.
The flat roof is designed as a terrace and originally served as an open gymnastics area. Today it is glazed. To the northwest is a five-story annex with a parapet containing checkrooms, toilets and various other rooms. The top floor is again designed as a roof terrace. The front sides of each floor are articulated with a three-part horizontal window, while the front facing the Logengasse has four window axes.
The access cores are located at the street-side corners. The northwest main entrance is covered by a concrete slab painted red-orange. It corresponds in color with the reddish-brown brick pier. This material is repeated on the door frame and creates a strong accent on the building, which is lightly plastered throughout. Similarly, the entrance at the northeast corner was added in 2007. It creates a separate entrance for the new assembly hall in the former upper gymnasium.
The interior spaces are colorful, with walls painted in various mineral colors. The original staircase consists of granite stones, which were cleaned and reinstated during the renovation.
Description
Integrated into the three-part Neumarkt school complex, the block-like volume breaks with the traditional design principles of its neighbors. The building has an almost square ground and is a solid construction. It combines two gymnasiums, one above the other, whereby the upper facility has functioned as an assembly hall since the renovation. The facade is divided into six large windows, while the narrow sides have five smaller window axes per floor. The basement houses a practice cellar for the wrestling club. It appears to the outside as a plinth set back on three sides, alternating with windows and wall panes, and lends the building a certain lightness.
The flat roof is designed as a terrace and originally served as an open gymnastics area. Today it is glazed. To the northwest is a five-story annex with a parapet containing checkrooms, toilets and various other rooms. The top floor is again designed as a roof terrace. The front sides of each floor are articulated with a three-part horizontal window, while the front facing the Logengasse has four window axes.
The access cores are located at the street-side corners. The northwest main entrance is covered by a concrete slab painted red-orange. It corresponds in color with the reddish-brown brick pier. This material is repeated on the door frame and creates a strong accent on the building, which is lightly plastered throughout. Similarly, the entrance at the northeast corner was added in 2007. It creates a separate entrance for the new assembly hall in the former upper gymnasium.
The interior spaces are colorful, with walls painted in various mineral colors. The original staircase consists of granite stones, which were cleaned and reinstated during the renovation.
History
The double gymnasium, completed in 1932, is part of the Neumarkt school complex: a representative school building in the neo-Renaissance style was erected in 1889, followed in 1912 by a historicized solid structure with a gable roof. The building, which was erected by the Biel Municipal Construction Office under the direction of Ernst Berger, was renovated between 2004 and 2007 by spaceshop Architekten GmbH. In the process, they also intervened in the existing building and realized a second entrance at the northeast corner, which at the same time entailed a different facade design at the front of the side wing through a new staircase.
History
The double gymnasium, completed in 1932, is part of the Neumarkt school complex: a representative school building in the neo-Renaissance style was erected in 1889, followed in 1912 by a historicized solid structure with a gable roof. The building, which was erected by the Biel Municipal Construction Office under the direction of Ernst Berger, was renovated between 2004 and 2007 by spaceshop Architekten GmbH. In the process, they also intervened in the existing building and realized a second entrance at the northeast corner, which at the same time entailed a different facade design at the front of the side wing through a new staircase.
Sources
