Vocational School For Building Trades / Gunz & Künzle Architekt*innen

Architects: Gunz & Künzle Architekt*innen
Area: 10,200 m²
Year: 2025
Photography: Federico Farinatti
Lead Team: Mathias Gunz, Michael Künzle
Design Team: Sandro Christen, Lilian Pala, Ariane Senn, Jana Läpple, Elettra Carnelli, Guillaume Guisan, Takahisa Nakagawa
Construction: Bildungsdirektion Kanton Zürich / Baudirektion Kanton Zürich
Manufacturers: RAICO, Troldtekt, DLW, Embru, Kvadrat, Mosa, Seledue, Silent Gliss, TULUX, Wicona
City: Zürich
Country: Switzerland

Vocational School for Building Trades, an educational facility by Gunz & Künzle Architektinnen* in Zürich, introduces a layered structure that merges pedagogical clarity with civic openness. Completed in 2025, the design stacks classrooms above a multifunctional piano nobile suspended over gymnasiums, optimizing limited urban space. A concrete kit-of-parts system ensures long-term adaptability while supporting exhibitions, workshops, and public use. Material durability and visible construction logic emphasize sustainability and transformation over fixed architectural image, framing the building itself as an educational tool.

Vocational school for building trades / gunz & künzle architekt*innen

The Vocational School for Building Trades in Zürich, designed by Gunz & Künzle Architekt*innen, was developed following an open design competition in 2018. The project responds to the demands of its dense urban context by layering educational, athletic, and public functions vertically within a narrow site. A linear volume aligned with the street edge generates a protected courtyard that connects directly to the building’s public-facing first floor. This design move strengthens the relationship between the institution and its neighborhood while maintaining clarity in circulation and use.

The first floor, conceived as a structurally expressive piano nobile, is suspended above two full-height gymnasiums located in the basement and ground levels. This intermediate level is supported by a truss frame and forms the core spatial gesture of the building. The architects envisioned this platform as an open and flexible landscape that could adapt to changing uses over time. While the upper floors are organized in a rational grid of classrooms, the piano nobile accommodates a variety of programs, including exhibitions, events, and practical workshops for vocational training.

Material strategy plays a central role in the project’s adaptability. Robust surfaces, mobile furniture systems, and curtain-based partitions allow for spatial reconfiguration without compromising the building’s coherence. This flexibility supports evolving pedagogical models and encourages appropriation by its users. The concrete frame operates as a modular construction kit that enables both structural integrity and long-term transformation, avoiding reliance on fixed formal imagery.

By emphasizing construction as both process and expression, the architecture presents itself as a working tool, one that teaches through its tectonics. The building complies with Minergie-P-ECO and SNBS Gold certifications, reinforcing its commitment to ecological performance and lifecycle-conscious design. Materials were sourced with durability and acoustic control in mind from manufacturers including RAICO, Troldtekt, DLW, Embru, Kvadrat, Mosa, Seledue, Silent Gliss, TULUX, and Wicona.

The program includes 31 classrooms, model-making and preparation rooms, collections spaces, a multipurpose hall, staff areas, and fitness and gymnastic facilities for three sports classes. The total usable floor area is 10,200 square meters. The project, scheduled for completion in 2025, was led by Mathias Gunz and Michael Künzle, with support from a dedicated team of architects and consultants.