I can look back on a thoroughly successful first business year. During the course of 2021 I found myself in the favourable position of having many different and exciting projects to work on. These were done partly in collaboration with other firms. At this point, I would like to take the opportunity to give my heartfelt thanks to the various clients, owner-builders and the collaborating firms for the work and most especially for the good cooperation.
Das bestehende Anwesen stammt aus der Zeit um 1828/34. Im Laufe der Zeit wurde das Haus um zwei Anbauten ergänzt – einer Scheune mit Kuhstall und einer Wohnraumerweiterung. Das gegenwärtige Ziel ist, aus dem bestehenden ungenutzten Dachgeschoss und dem Kuhstall mehr Wohnraum zu schaffen, während die Scheune als teilweise gedeckter Aussenraum in den Wohnbereich mit eingebunden werden soll. Da keine Bestandspläne vorhanden waren, war meine erste Aufgabe den Bestand zu dokumentieren. Die Bestandsaufnahme dient als Grundlage für die Weiterentwicklung des Projektes.
The attic space was underutilised and in addition, the house lost a great deal of thermal heat through the uninsulated roof. The client wanted to extend the habitable area by incorporating the attic into the rest of the house. As there were no existing building plans to house built in 1878, I first had to document the building and subsequently I accompanied the owner through to the implementation of the conversion. The preparatory work included creating a proposal for the floor layout, calculating the costs, obtaining the building permit, making applications for subsidies and coordinating the handworkers. After receiving the building permit, the client set forth implementing the attic conversion.
On behalf of the client and the architectural office Bötschi Architekturbüro SIA GmbH, I made a concept study for a replacement building, as a substitute for the existing house on the site.
The aim was that the new house, should blend in harmoniously with its surroundings and tie the wonderful lake views into the main living areas. The initial situation subsequently changed, resulting in a discontinuation of the project in this form.
The house dating back to 1849/50 was an addition to an existing half-timbered house and originally consisted of a living area with a restaurant and an attached barn. Over the course of time the building had undergone numerous changes, the most recent one being the conversion of the barn into a garage and workshop. The client had the opportunity to purchase this property under the condition that the building was converted into either one or two apartments using a very tight budget. My task in the pre-project phase consisted of concept planning for the two variants. In collaboration with Mr. Rüdiger Sielisch, a certified contaminated site diagnostician, the costs for the conversion were calculated. Unfortunately, the client lost the bid for the building to a competitor, therefore the project was not executed in the proposed form.
In order to enable a disabled family member access to the house, as well as to facilitate movement within the house, I was asked to assist the family in implementing the necessary building alterations. The budget for the addition and alterations was rather restricted. Thus, only the essential measures were carried out. The most import was the installation of the lifting platform to transport the wheelchair-user from the garage forecourt into the house. In addition to this, the bathroom was made more accessible to the wheelchair. Minor alterations included widening the clear width of doors and the removal of thresholds to the raised ground floor level. My work encompassed design proposals, establishing the costs, obtaining the building permit, coordinating the handworkers and setting up the schedule for construction. The client carried on from here overseeing the implementation of the building alterations.
The design and use of materials of the apartment building reflect the period in which it was constructed. The kitchens and sanitary facilities had been previously renovated, however, apart from maintenance work, no refurbishment measures were done to the facade or roof. On request of the client, the building envelope is to be thermally insulated and clad with a low-maintenance membrane. A new elevator is to serve the existing floors and is to ensure access to the new attic floor, where the pitched roof was. The project is still in the pre-project phase and is being developed in cooperation with Bötschi Architekturbüro SIA GmbH and ADP Baumanagement GmbH.
In collaboration with Bötschi Architekturbüro SIA GmbH I processed the project documents in such a way, that the plans could be used for various applications, be it for fundraising, the media, website or general information. The current status is that the community of interested people have purchased the castle and are now fundraising to implement the various conversion and refurbishment measures.
The house, built in the seventies, still had the original windows dating back to 1969. The insulating effect of the double-glazed windows no longer met todays standards. The opportunity arose to replace the former windows with triple glazed balcony doors, allowing direct access to the garden via a terrace from all bedrooms. In oder to implement this, all radiators under the old windows had to be moved to the side. At the same time the floor finishings were either renewed or adjusted to the new situation. Along with the thermal upgrade of the windows, the existing thermal insulation in the ceiling was replaced with 22cm thick sheep’s wool.
The beekeeper’s vision was to create conditions on a site in the agricultural zone, that would provide a home not only for his honey bees, but for various wild bees and other small creatures. In oder to achieve this an infrastructure was needed. Based on the requirements of the beekeeper, my commission was to obtain a building permit for the beehive with an adjacent centrifugal room. Taking the slope of the site into consideration at a lower level, a storage facility for the beekeeping material was created. Furthermore, provisions for a friendly environment for bees and small animals was to be made. A biotope, a dry-stone wall for lizards and the like, a Sandarium for wild bees, and indigenous trees, including a 40-meter-long indigenous hedge and meadow completed the concept.
