American School Switzerland

The context

An American independent school wanted to open a boarding campus in the Swiss Alps for 500 students. The brief asked for a seven-star boarding experience. It also included a listed former sanatorium, an approved design for a new STEAM building and three sites spread across an entire Alpine village.

The idea

Rather than build a campus apart from the village, we proposed a school woven into it. The three sites became a distributed campus. Students would move through the village each day, and sports and cultural facilities were planned as shared community assets. We designed from the inside out. We began with the experience the school wanted students to have – belonging, wellbeing and a daily connection to the landscape – and let the architecture follow.

Design response

The sanatorium’s rational grid and generous ceiling heights made it a natural home for teaching and learning. Frame tests showed how classrooms, a library and collaboration spaces could sit within its heritage without erasing it.

The approved STEAM building was replanned to improve daylight and give a better floorplate for teaching. A double-skin façade was added for environmental performance.

In the boarding houses, common rooms were designed as living rooms rather than lounges, and bedrooms open to views of the valley. Outdoor classrooms, edible gardens and ecological corridors link the campus to its setting. Timber construction, renewable energy and greywater recycling set a low-carbon standard.

Experience and value

The project paused at RIBA Stage 2 because the required land could not be secured, so these are design intentions. The work still shows how listed buildings, new specialist spaces and residential life can form one coherent school experience across a whole village.

Sports Building

New York Subway meets Swiss Tradition

Elevated Classrooms