In Baar, WALO installed seamless flooring for the new Wiesental School across an area of 13,320 square metres – from the classrooms to the gallery, with walls that were only erected once the floor had been completed.
The assignment: Flooring for an entire school complex
The municipality of Baar replaced the ageing Wiesental School with a new building designed by the architectural firm PENZISBETTINI. WALO Ebikon’s flooring division carried out the build-up work for the majority of the complex: the classrooms, corridors, equipment room, basement level and gallery were fitted with DURATEX® hard-wearing concrete, most of which was polished to create a SURFATEX® E natural terrazzo finish; in the changing rooms and shower areas, seamless PUROLISS® flooring was installed.
Key figures: flooring
- 13,320 m² total floor area
- of which 8,800 m² is SURFATEX® E, 4,200 m² is DURATEX® and 320 m² is PUROLISS® (165 m² for changing rooms, 155 m² for wet rooms)
What makes it special: one floor, two looks
During construction of Wiesental School, WALO became involved in the building process at an unusually early stage: the walls were only erected once the flooring had already been laid – an unusual process in which every millimetre had to be spot on right from the start. The technical movement joints in the substructure were deliberately designed to be oversized. The WALO team also sanded down the concrete plinth in the gallery, which had been constructed by the building contractor, to achieve a seamless finish.
SURFATEX® E and DURATEX® are both made from the same type of hard-wearing concrete. It is the finishing process that makes all the difference: left unground, it remains the robust DURATEX® industrial flooring. Once ground and polished, it becomes SURFATEX® E natural terrazzo – a finish that makes practically every surface unique. For the Wiesental School project, WALO also made minor adjustments to the mix and optimised the installation process in order to achieve the best possible result.
In terms of colour, the project drew on two distinct schemes: in the classrooms and common rooms, SURFATEX® E and DURATEX® were chosen in white and black pigmented finishes. In the changing rooms and shower areas, the PUROLISS® flooring adds a bold, pink accent. The clear colour scheme provides pupils with a sense of orientation throughout the school day and creates a calm, focused learning environment in the classrooms.
Azdren Banushi says: “With SURFATEX® E, the colour of the cement matrix can be adjusted to almost any shade – from a calming white to bold accents. This gives each surface its own unique character.”
The delivery stage: around four months for over 13,000 square metres
WALO began its initial work in smaller plant rooms and on the cement floor finishes as early as March, with the main construction work getting under way at the end of July. It took WALO around four months to complete the SURFATEX® E and DURATEX® surfaces, including the floor build-up with fill layer and insulation. Work to install the PUROLISS® flooring in the changing rooms and shower areas followed shortly afterwards.
Azdren Banushi, Construction Manager at WALO, says: “If the walls are fitted after the flooring, you don’t a second chance with the floor. We had to be precise right from the start – and it worked perfectly.”
The result: prize-worthy
With this project, sustainability is not just a buzzword, but is reflected in the construction method: Wiesental School meets the Minergie-A-ECO standard. WALO’s seamless floors meet these requirements: they are robust, easy to maintain and designed to last, as necessitated by the intensive demands of school life.
In 2026, Wiesental School also won the Swiss Arc Award’s audience prize – a distinction for the overall project delivered by the architectural firm PENZISBETTINI. WALO made a solid contribution at ground level: 13,320 square metres of seamless flooring. At the interfaces with other trades, the WALO team worked with all those involved to find practical solutions – resulting in flooring that will withstand the rigours of everyday school life for years to come.
