Diesse Plateau School, Prêles

The Project
The new school is located on the plateau of the village of Prêles, where a natural ice rink used to form during periods of extreme cold. Thanks to its ideal elevated location, the building offers a magnificent view of the natural surroundings and the region’s recreational areas. The decision to use wood from the municipal forest for construction was made during the initial discussions, and the expertise of the Timbatec firm proved to be a major advantage for the project’s development. Currently, 1,159 tons of CO2 are stored in the structure of the new building, which comprises a total of approximately 2,800 m² of classroom, extracurricular, and office space.

The Construction Method
The load-bearing elements were constructed entirely of wood using the post-and-beam principle, including the vertical circulation cores, which consist of encapsulated CLT panels. A wood-on-wood ribbed ceiling, supplemented by a weighting layer that allows for the partial integration of building services, ensures rapid construction and perfectly meets sound insulation requirements.

The Challenge
The successful integration of wood from the community forest into the construction project was crucial to the project’s implementation. A quality assessment of the wood, based on representative samples from the selected forest, allowed conclusions to be drawn regarding the properties required for the project’s execution.