CHF 18.6-million gymnasium at Cantonal School opened

After a two-year period of construction, a new CHF 18.6-million gymnasium was opened at the Cantonal School on Wednesday. Not that pupils will be the only ones to benefit, as the premises are to be made available to clubs, too.

Present on the occasion of the opening was Stephan Schleiss, the director of education in the canton, among other dignitaries from the world of education and politics, including Urs Hürlimann, the director of planning in the city, who has been very involved in the project, and who presented Schleiss with a golden gym shoe.

The building, which was designed by the Wiederkehr Krummenacher firm of architects from Zug, provides seating for 299 and is capable of staging major events, with markings for a variety of sports. It has been built on the same site as the previous one dating back to Seventies, the choice of materials used determined by how easy they are to maintain. Indeed, as Hürlimann explained, it has been built according to functionality, ecology and cost-effectiveness, not least with regard to energy, adding how pleased he was, prior to his taking leave of office, that he had been able to conclude his political career in being involved in a building such as this.

Prior to the project having been given the go-ahead back in January 2015, there had been discussions about building two separate gymnasia on this site, but it was decided to build this larger one instead, the roof of which can also be used for sporting purposes.

If you would like to inspect the building yourselves, you will be interested to know an open day is planned for Saturday 15 December, between 10am and 3 pm, with guided tours starting at 10.30am, 12 noon and 2pm.