New wooden-built kindergarten meets most stringent ecological standards

Constructing buildings to minimum energy (Minergie) standards is commonplace these days, but the new Hasenberg kindergarten in Steinhausen meets much tougher Minergie A-Eco standards and is the first building in the whole canton to do so.

Building to these higher standards means much more than installing solar panels on the roof. So many other aspects, such as the quality of the air inside, the whole electrical installation and the sealing of the floor covering, all have to meet stringent requirements.

What is more, over 80 per cent of the wood used actually came from the municipality itself, hence Barbara Hofstetter, the mayoress of Steinhausen, was presented with an award by the Swiss Wood Association (HSH) at the inauguration ceremony of the kindergarten in front of 200 guests last Saturday.

As Markus Amhof, a representative of the HSH and a forester himself, said, the amount of wood used in the construction of this building would be re-grown within seven minutes in Switzerland, mentioning, too, that with the timber from the trees blown down in the Burglind storm in January of this year was enough to make 25 such kindergartens.

“Opting for this ecological style of building has been well worthwhile,” said kindergarten teacher Beatrice Shelbert. “One has the feeling the rooms can breathe.”

There is much space in the new school, too, with corridors wide enough to provide play areas and there is plenty of storage room, too.

And how did the children react to it? Most were happy to make use of all the opportunities to play there though one boy was more fascinated by the fact that the windows could be operated electronically. It was prior to the inauguration that the children had sung about their new school and the fact that had been made of wood.

As a gesture of inclusion, the school was consecrated not only by Ruedi Odermatt of the Catholic church, but also by Hubertus Kuhns of the Reformed church and Anel Hadic, the chairman of the Bosnian-Islamic community of the canton of Zug, a consecration ceremony, one could say, as pioneering as the way the building was constructed.