The Hofacker school grounds, in the Hirslanden district of Zurich, consist of the school building with a gymnasium by Friedrich Wehrli, built in 1898, and a second gymnasium wing from 1938, by city architect Hermann Herter.

These two existing school buildings stand like large and heavy cubes in the center of the plot, maintaining an appropriate distance to the residential buildings that surround them. Despite their architectural quality, for which the buildings have been listed and protected, the site could not fulfill the needs of a modern educational facility, and the buildings needed renovation. The school should also contain more public functions for the neighborhood in the future. In between the two protected buildings, a two-story new construction is inserted.

Text provided by the architects.

La entrada School Building Hofacker se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

Conversion of Historic Barn is a minimal conversion located in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, designed by Oliver Christen Architekten. The barns were originally used to store grain. The structural typology shows a wooden log building, which rests on stone supports over a massive base building. Traditionally, these structures are stacked on top of each other with no vertical connections. The supports are covered with roughly rounded stone slabs. These so-called mouse plates prevented mice from entering the granary. The outdoor space between the base building and the block building was originally unused, allows a clear view and lies in the shadow of the building volume. With the conversion of the barn into a residential building, its preservation could be secured.

La entrada Conversion of historic barn se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

In the wake of the sustainability debate, vacations in Germany have become much more popular again, and many travellers are amazed to discover the diverse landscapes and beautiful natural areas between the coast in the north and the Alps in the south. Sustainable travel is on everybody’s lips against the backdrop of climate change. Our clients, who vacation exclusively in Germany, approached us wanting just that: a sustainable vacation home with quality architecture and to share it with many.

The compact 110 sqm wooden house surprises with a generous, two-storey living space with a variety of room situations, stepped by room steps, following the topography of the plot: Entrance with wardrobe, a few steps down follow the kitchen and dining area with the large balcony under the maple, and finally, more steps lead to the living room and fireplace room. Walking through the house, the wanderer is accompanied by numerous, wide views of the valley and the surrounding area and the feeling of being inside and outside at the same time.

La entrada House on a hill se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

The typology of the school building mediates directly between the interior and exterior space with external stairs – strengthened with an all-round arcade. This covered outdoor space is a development, meeting and recreation room at the same time. The sweeping staircases have the entrance and exit at the same point and directly connect the entrances to the building. The structural-architectural basic principle is based on the need for spatial flexibility. The static framework forms a concrete structure based on a modular principle. An exact grid divides and connects the school premises. A lightweight wooden construction in the form of facade elements and space-defining cupboard furniture and doors in the interior fill and connect the visible concrete skeleton. The raw school building forms the basis for flexible appropriation by future users.

Text provided by the architect.

La entrada New build schoolhouse Brühl se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

The project is located in Villars-sur-Glâne, in Fribourg’s surroundings. The quiet area is facing the countryside. Behind the road, the field is still cultivated, and the trees are still populated with birds, which give the place a feeling of the passing of time. Moreover, the site is close to the city center. This lucky situation demands an ambitious project to build apartment buildings for rental with high-quality materials and spaces while handling the budget. Architectural quality should not be reserved for the owners of their housing.

The two similar buildings are situated lengthwise, from north to south, following the need to optimize the plot. This constraint drives the whole project from the structure to the typology of the apartments, as well as the dormer window’s dimensions. Each floor is composed of two symmetrical apartments. Right after entering an apartment, you can see a long wall that stretches until the south, against which all the rooms are built up. When walking along the wall, you discover the spaces one to one, each of them with its privacy, its function, it’s opening. In the end, the dining room is immersed in light, and the loggia overlooks the trees and the nearby meadow.

La entrada Collective Housing Bel-Air se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

As a result of the restoration of the Skjern River basin in 2002, a vast and rich natural area has arisen, becoming an attractive visitor destination. A framework for the new life of the area has been provided with the rebuilding and extension of three pump stations, in the form of exhibition spaces, indoor and outdoor viewpoints to look out over the landscape, rooms for the organisation of events, and better accessibility.

La entrada Skjern river pump stations se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

The house overlooks the hamlet “La Place”, in Ayent, central Valais. The project takes root in the site’s memory, by reinterpreting the atmosphere and the materialization of its vernacular architecture. Like the barns of the hamlet, the house stands in a meadow that is left blank. Thus, the project frees itself from all boundaries. The grass grows according to the seasons and the livestock can come and graze. The main terrace is on top of the house, away from prying eyes and offering a stunning view.

The materiality of the project recalls the barns’ one, with a mineral cold-looking structure and a wooden roof opened on both gable ends. The roof of the house shifted lengthwise and free from any middle supporting structure, which seems to be floating over the house, which interrogates its primary function which is to shelter a house.

La entrada House in “La Place” se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

This is a vacation house for a family of four, located south of Visby on the island Gotland. Situated in the Baltic sea the nature on the island is formed by a harsh climate and lime-filled soil, dominated by flowering meadows and low juniper bushes. The Gotlandic culture is deeply rooted in traditional sheep-herding and local handicraft, with a building tradition of plain and robust stone houses with strong material presence.

La entrada House on Gotland se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

The question of adapting traditional mountain constructions to the wishes of owners who wish to rehabilitate them into holiday homes poses an often difficult equation between conservation and the modification of the use. The cottages were built in 1956, had characteristic interior typologies to the cottages of the Giffre Valley.

The day parts of the chalets were introverted, minimizing the relationship with the external panorama that surrounds them. The main cottage had already undergone several interior modifications which meant that it had to be completely redesigned.

The renovation project is based on the desire to rethink a typology oriented on the panorama. The structures of the buildings were preserved to the maximum. The conservation of the architectural heritage was the central issue of the project.

La entrada Chalet Samöens se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

A village located on a picturesque bay in southern Sri Lanka is the venue for a small archaic project. An inn with access to the Indian Ocean is created by means of a sculptural interconnection between indoor and outdoor spaces. A succession of yards and walls surround four guest rooms, with outdoor showers and a direct view over the ocean. Two outdoor staircases lead up to a public roof terrace with a fireplace and a raised platform offering a spectacular angled view over the coastline and the sea. The concrete building was constructed in small steps. The raw kept surfaces reflect the local handcraft where available resources are limited. All openings have wind permeable wooden shutters. There are no windows, indeed, there is no glass. The flooring is at different levels allowing for massive rainfall during the rainy season and creating a fine pattern of thresholds and spatial hierarchies.

Text description provided by the architects.

La entrada Guesthouse se publicó primero en Global Spaces.