The Brig-Wallis Preparatory School for Boys campus's southernmost building, Aubrey Hall, was built over the site on which the pre-existing residence quarters for the Jesuit priests, their staff and animals, stood. With the purchase of the two properties on Polenstrasse late in 1806, it was quickly decided to raze these southernmost buildings and use Merchant House for the small school's initial residency. Throughout the first half of 1807, while debris and remnants were being cleared from the property, competing architectural design ideas were being commissioned. By June, a comprehensive design had been approved. The new campus would incorporate three new, inter-connected buildings to be constructed to the south of, and connected to, both Merchant House and the Chapel. A general contractor had been hired, and various construction companies--Swiss, Italian, French, and German--had been hired to perform the task.
It should here be put forward the fact that the Order of Osiris at this time was much smaller than its current numbers. In fact, membership consisted only of the High Council (13), thirteen alternates, and anywhere from six to thirteen junior members. The predominant makeup of the membership at this time was of European lineage with the largest contingent having shifted over time to a predominantly northern European base, which was different from its former Mediterranean base. This is undoubtedly why an Oxford University, Merton College-type of design vision won out over the more open Franciscan-style cloister monastery look that was favored by the Italian, Spanish and Greek representatives. The harsh Swiss winters (despite the presence of hot springs in the valley) proved to be the determining factor in this decision.
The open-to-the-elements "grand colonnade" or cloisters hallway on the first two floor of Aubrey Hall was one of the concessions made to the design being put forward by the Mediterranean contingent. This choice was met with further support and ease when the idea of the in-floor subterranean water pipe heat-delivery system was presented.
Overall, a French-influenced Gothic style of construction was decided upon--a style that would later be labeled the "Collegiate Gothic" style. As mentioned, this was based upon the design of Oxford University's Merton College "Mob Quad," incorporating an enclosed series of buildings constructed in way that a rectangular outdoor atrium or commons area would be completely surrounded and enclosed within four sides of a rectangle.
Though all three new buildings were to be conjoined and constructed of the same neo-Gothic style, it was decided that Aubrey Hall would be alone in the way it was going to incorporate a ground level cloisters-style colonnade, open to the elements on its north-, Quad-side; due to perceived heating issues, it was decided that Facilities Hall (later remodeled and renamed Engineering Hall) and Châtelaine Hall were to be fully enclosed, ground to roof.
After geological site surveys had determined that deep excavation tactics would have an unpredictable, at best, success rate, the original desire to build a southernmost building as a two story structure over a fully functional basement within its foundations was scrapped in favor of the alternate, back up plan: a three storey construction. Since 2010, the height of Aubrey Hall (which is continuous with those of both Chatelaine Hall and the later and final remodel of what is now called Engineering Hall), ground level (in the Quad) to rooftop peek, finished at a height of 12 meters (40 feet).
Though Aubrey Hall was built without a basement, it did employ a system of subfloor heat pipes. The sub-floor heat conveyance system was devised to to provide ambient heat to the flagstone flooring of Aubrey's externally exposed grand colonnade or cloisters. To avoid winter freezes of the subfloor heat pipes the school has been through several trial methods including air, steam, and the more passively heated water-based system that was used in modern times. These systems, housed in Facilities/Engineering Hall, just to the east end of Aubrey, were served, over time, by a succession of stoves and boilers that used dung/peat, wood, coal, and, in the end, propane as their source fuel.
Besides regular roof and interior maintenance, the final major design change made to Aubrey Hall came in 1848 when it was decided to have the Quad-side arch windows of the first floor enclosed with leaded glass windows instead of leaving them open to the elements as they had originally been constructed. The first-year boys using the three six-person suites on that floor were quite happy with this new change, though the staff and senior Order members worried that they would be, in fact, "spoiling" the boys. Otherwise, heat for the upper levels of Aubrey was entirely dependent on natural thermodynamics: heat rises; earth-bermed buildings benefit from an ambient sub-floor temperature of 10 degrees (50º F)--so long as the building foundation depth remains deeper than that of the annual frost levels.
Over the years, the greatest expense in the maintenance of Aubrey Hall has been the roof--both the upkeep and occasional full replacement.
It should here be put forward the fact that the Order of Osiris at this time was much smaller than its current numbers. In fact, membership consisted only of the High Council (13), thirteen alternates, and anywhere from six to thirteen junior members. The predominant makeup of the membership at this time was of European lineage with the largest contingent having shifted over time to a predominantly northern European base, which was different from its former Mediterranean base. This is undoubtedly why an Oxford University, Merton College-type of design vision won out over the more open Franciscan-style cloister monastery look that was favored by the Italian, Spanish and Greek representatives. The harsh Swiss winters (despite the presence of hot springs in the valley) proved to be the determining factor in this decision.
The open-to-the-elements "grand colonnade" or cloisters hallway on the first two floor of Aubrey Hall was one of the concessions made to the design being put forward by the Mediterranean contingent. This choice was met with further support and ease when the idea of the in-floor subterranean water pipe heat-delivery system was presented.
Overall, a French-influenced Gothic style of construction was decided upon--a style that would later be labeled the "Collegiate Gothic" style. As mentioned, this was based upon the design of Oxford University's Merton College "Mob Quad," incorporating an enclosed series of buildings constructed in way that a rectangular outdoor atrium or commons area would be completely surrounded and enclosed within four sides of a rectangle.
Though all three new buildings were to be conjoined and constructed of the same neo-Gothic style, it was decided that Aubrey Hall would be alone in the way it was going to incorporate a ground level cloisters-style colonnade, open to the elements on its north-, Quad-side; due to perceived heating issues, it was decided that Facilities Hall (later remodeled and renamed Engineering Hall) and Châtelaine Hall were to be fully enclosed, ground to roof.
After geological site surveys had determined that deep excavation tactics would have an unpredictable, at best, success rate, the original desire to build a southernmost building as a two story structure over a fully functional basement within its foundations was scrapped in favor of the alternate, back up plan: a three storey construction. Since 2010, the height of Aubrey Hall (which is continuous with those of both Chatelaine Hall and the later and final remodel of what is now called Engineering Hall), ground level (in the Quad) to rooftop peek, finished at a height of 12 meters (40 feet).
Though Aubrey Hall was built without a basement, it did employ a system of subfloor heat pipes. The sub-floor heat conveyance system was devised to to provide ambient heat to the flagstone flooring of Aubrey's externally exposed grand colonnade or cloisters. To avoid winter freezes of the subfloor heat pipes the school has been through several trial methods including air, steam, and the more passively heated water-based system that was used in modern times. These systems, housed in Facilities/Engineering Hall, just to the east end of Aubrey, were served, over time, by a succession of stoves and boilers that used dung/peat, wood, coal, and, in the end, propane as their source fuel.
Besides regular roof and interior maintenance, the final major design change made to Aubrey Hall came in 1848 when it was decided to have the Quad-side arch windows of the first floor enclosed with leaded glass windows instead of leaving them open to the elements as they had originally been constructed. The first-year boys using the three six-person suites on that floor were quite happy with this new change, though the staff and senior Order members worried that they would be, in fact, "spoiling" the boys. Otherwise, heat for the upper levels of Aubrey was entirely dependent on natural thermodynamics: heat rises; earth-bermed buildings benefit from an ambient sub-floor temperature of 10 degrees (50º F)--so long as the building foundation depth remains deeper than that of the annual frost levels.
Over the years, the greatest expense in the maintenance of Aubrey Hall has been the roof--both the upkeep and occasional full replacement.
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