Châtelaine Hall was built in place of a row of open-ended stalls that had been built into the south-side hillside slope by the merchant family that had first occupied and built upon the property in the mid-eighteenth century. Before this time, the low-grade, slowly-ascending grassy slopes of the south-facing hills had been farmed for feed and grain for the Jesuit priests' beasts as well as for their grains to make their own bread, gruels, and mueslis.
When the Order purchased the properties from the Jesuit priests and the neighboring merchant family in 1806, their intention from the beginning was to construct a quadrangular style complex of buildings in which to house the boys and staff training school.
The continuation of the in-floor piping system used in Facilities and Aubrey Halls was rejected with regard to Chatelaine Hall due to the fear that warmth could not be maintained over such a length (over 40 meters). Years later, in 1957, a separate hot-water system was successfully installed in the lower level of the campus' southwest corner, where Aubrey and Châtelaine join. This was able to provide hot water to the west end bath- and shower-rooms of Aubrey Hall as well as for simple bathrooms and water flow to the classrooms (science room's wash basins) of Châtelaine.
Though Châtelaine Hall was given electricity from that inception in 1883 (with upgrades in 1941 and 1983), the building did not have its own water system until 1957 when an independent storage and pump system was installed in the two first floor classrooms for the first floor gaming and exercise rooms. The building's heat has always been mitigated by the natural earth berm effect (the soil temperatures remains an ambient 10ºC/52ºF if you stay below frost levels, which, in southern Switzerland, at an altitude of 700 meters, typically translates into depths exceeding 1-1.5 meters). Though both Aubrey and Châtelaine take advantage of berming techniques, Châtelaine had long been required to be far more reliant on thermal resources. The West facing wall of Chatelaine contained no windows as its thick, tapered, poured stone and concrete walls moderate heat extremely well; the building is totally reliant upon the first floor's Quad-side wrap-around open hallway system for ventilation--unlike Aubrey, whose three dormitory suites have south facing bedroom windows and whose second floor single rooms also have shutters and windows facing the Italian south. Though secondary to the former residential rooms above Engineering Hall's Dining Hall, Chatelaine's four second floor classrooms are used mostly for small group meetings, club meetings, and storage.
The two large rooms on the ground floor, as mentioned above, are occupied by the Gaming Room and the Exercise Room--though this latter is not furnished with shower facilities. The school's four main classrooms on the first floor--usurped for "command central" in the Osiris Plan timeline--were the most trafficked academic classrooms.
Though the facades, window and hallway structures and French slate roof design of Châtelaine Hall continue the Collegiate Gothic style consistent with the design of Facilities and Aubrey halls, and, later, Merchant House, the ornamentation of the Hall's interior is far more simple, even austere, in comparison to its neighboring halls.
When the Order purchased the properties from the Jesuit priests and the neighboring merchant family in 1806, their intention from the beginning was to construct a quadrangular style complex of buildings in which to house the boys and staff training school.
The continuation of the in-floor piping system used in Facilities and Aubrey Halls was rejected with regard to Chatelaine Hall due to the fear that warmth could not be maintained over such a length (over 40 meters). Years later, in 1957, a separate hot-water system was successfully installed in the lower level of the campus' southwest corner, where Aubrey and Châtelaine join. This was able to provide hot water to the west end bath- and shower-rooms of Aubrey Hall as well as for simple bathrooms and water flow to the classrooms (science room's wash basins) of Châtelaine.
Though Châtelaine Hall was given electricity from that inception in 1883 (with upgrades in 1941 and 1983), the building did not have its own water system until 1957 when an independent storage and pump system was installed in the two first floor classrooms for the first floor gaming and exercise rooms. The building's heat has always been mitigated by the natural earth berm effect (the soil temperatures remains an ambient 10ºC/52ºF if you stay below frost levels, which, in southern Switzerland, at an altitude of 700 meters, typically translates into depths exceeding 1-1.5 meters). Though both Aubrey and Châtelaine take advantage of berming techniques, Châtelaine had long been required to be far more reliant on thermal resources. The West facing wall of Chatelaine contained no windows as its thick, tapered, poured stone and concrete walls moderate heat extremely well; the building is totally reliant upon the first floor's Quad-side wrap-around open hallway system for ventilation--unlike Aubrey, whose three dormitory suites have south facing bedroom windows and whose second floor single rooms also have shutters and windows facing the Italian south. Though secondary to the former residential rooms above Engineering Hall's Dining Hall, Chatelaine's four second floor classrooms are used mostly for small group meetings, club meetings, and storage.
The two large rooms on the ground floor, as mentioned above, are occupied by the Gaming Room and the Exercise Room--though this latter is not furnished with shower facilities. The school's four main classrooms on the first floor--usurped for "command central" in the Osiris Plan timeline--were the most trafficked academic classrooms.
Though the facades, window and hallway structures and French slate roof design of Châtelaine Hall continue the Collegiate Gothic style consistent with the design of Facilities and Aubrey halls, and, later, Merchant House, the ornamentation of the Hall's interior is far more simple, even austere, in comparison to its neighboring halls.
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