Conen Sigl
Architekt:innen GmbH
ETH BSA SIA Conen Sigl

The identity of the site, its central location and good public transport connections are outstanding qualities of the area. Between two characterful open spaces, the piazza on Tösstalstrasse and the communal garden facing Mattenbachquartier, a large conglomerate of halls will be left standing, resolutely occupying the centre of the new district. The result is a strong community centre that will become a lively meeting place for residents and businesses and will radiate out into the entire neighbourhood. A wide variety of utilisation concepts are possible in the halls. The extensions to the original hall that have been left standing are topped up with an L-shaped building type and supplemented at the sides by two rows of flats, which create attractive residential and commercial alleyways to the hall conglomerate. From the second floor upwards in the west building, in the centre building and in the entire east building, there are multi-storey flats accessed via arcades. On the roofs, which are harmoniously integrated into the ensemble with their expressive design, there are communal spaces and terraces next to the PV systems, which complete the generous range of shared uses and create a calm counterbalance to the busy atmosphere on the ground floor. The project is characterised by a high standard of sustainable construction, the integration of the new buildings into the existing buildings, some of which are listed, and the creation of attractive outdoor spaces that can be used by the neighbourhood and its residents.

The 'Zum hinteren Hecht' was launched by the association Friendship in Town, which is part of the Reformed Church in Winterthur. The café-bar creates 'meeting place that offers lonely and isolated people the opportunity to socialise'. A former workshop in the old town of Winterthur was converted for the project. The existing structure was largely retained. The counter and toilets are designed as 'built-in furniture' and reorganise the space. Seating niches and space for a small stage were created in between. Where the existing pipes had to be left in place, they were integrated into the furniture (cf. furniture with drinking water dispenser). Certain technical installations remain visible and are supplemented by new exposed electrical cables. Together with the new end-grain parquet flooring, the memory of earlier times is preserved. The carpentry work consists of inexpensive wood-based panels, which are given a very high-quality surface by the oil paint. The colours are striking: during daytime, they create a bright and friendly atmosphere, like in a Viennese café - in the evening, with the light dimmed, the slightly shiny surfaces create a cosy and festive atmosphere. A whole series of special details (drinking water dispensers, peepholes in swing doors, a hidden passageway to the stage, skirting boards that sinuously adapt to the existing building, porcelain lights reminiscent of capitals, etc.) contribute to the character of the bar.

The bar was to be converted into a place where it would be possible to have a drink in an intimate setting. The atmosphere should be like in Adolf Loos’ famous American Bar in Vienna or in the Kronenhalle Bar by Robert and Trix Haussmann in Zurich. The limited budget did not allow a comparable interior design as in these venues, so the atmosphere had to be created with other simpler solutions: the black lacquered ceiling, which merges into a mirror frieze, reflects the warm light of the lamps. The room extends upwards, with the ceiling distorting the life of the bar. The walls are covered with fabric and painted with a characterful blue, which makes the mediation between the black of the ceiling and the brown leather of the comfortable seating niches. The lamps, which are placed at the corners of the niches, are made of a steel base, which carries a ring wrapped in fabric. They give a subtle soft light into the room and to the exterior through the fabric that is placed in front of the windows, which makes it impossible to look in or out contributing to the intimacy of the scene. The bar is a place that allows for a few dignified and relaxed hours in the evening.

   

• Graphic Design: Martin Stoecklin, Studio Atlas
• Photos: Christian Knörr, Roman Keller

Thanks to its architectural and urban presence, the Rosengarten parish hall still characterises the cityscape today. As the first high-rise building in the city of Zurich, the parish hall was built by Hans Vogelsanger and Albert Maurer in 1930-32 and parts of it are still in their original condition. Since 2008, a large part of the building, such as its shell and window openings, right up to the roofs and terraces, has been a listed building. Through the renovation, the Reformed Parish of Zurich is planning a new, wide-ranging use for the prominent building and is referencing the original purpose of the building in a contemporary form by increasingly seeking a relationship with the public. "Living a sustainable community. Discover a successful life!" This is the motto under which the Wipkingen parish centre is to be converted into a church lighthouse project. It was built with the idea of a reformed people's house as a meeting place and neighbourhood centre. The "Haus der Diakonie" aims to build on this religious and social tradition. The planned interventions should therefore be kept to a minimum. Minimal interventions in the fabric of the building will ensure good networking within the centre. In addition, the subsequent installations of the various uncoordinated additions from 1970 will be removed. The design and formulation of the rooms will primarily adhere to the original substance and original planning. A fine balance is to be struck between adapting and separating from the existing building. The aim is not to make a break, but to find a language that is derived from what is already there and creates a new whole.

The series consists of three closets, one wardrobe and a chest of drawers. The wardrobes and commodes are made of three-layered wood board. They are painted in a way that, depending on the incidence of light, the wooden structure is either visible or not. The structure of the furniture consists of four posts, which move upwards and narrow at regular intervals. A support is created with each rebound for the shelf-tray in the cupboard and for the drawers of the commode. The four posts are then encased by the cabinet fronts — boards and doors. The handles are made of massive wooden spheres. The cupboards have a very strong physical presence: they are charismatic objects, shaping the space in which they stand. The colouring and the clear geometric forms support their presence. The stencil-like effect of the colour surfaces makes an almost textile impression. The interior of the cupboards varies from shelves to hanging systems: the rod of the hanging system is fastened with a leather strap, the hanging for the clothes in the wardrobe is made of brass.

The project involves the maintenance and expansion of the headquarters for Zurich's Protection and Rescue Centre (SRZ). The fire station was planned between 1935 and 1937 by Hermann Herter. It is listed in the municipal inventory of art and cultural-historical protected objects. The existing fire station must be operationally optimised and technically adapted. In particular, the adjustments relating to fire protection and seismic retrofitting must be carefully integrated into the existing building. The extension is based on the rational and functional architecture of the existing fire station in terms of expression and materialisation. Shed roofs characterise both the extension on Weststrasse and the new courtyard building in the inner courtyard. They structure both new buildings, giving them a scale typical of the neighbourhood and blending in with the existing buildings (neighbourhood conservation zone). The striking, emblematic roof shape emphasises that this is a special building of public interest and not a residential building or a conventional office block. The project fulfils a high ecological standard (Minergie-P-ECO label) and is highly technical due to its use as a fire station and ambulance station. The project combines high design standards with functionally and technically optimised operation.

The Kunsthaus Glarus is considered one of the most beautiful exhibition centres in Switzerland. With its modernist architecture, the museum, built in 1952 by Glarus architect Hans Leuzinger, offers almost 700 square metres of spacious and flexible exhibition rooms. In addition to two skylight halls, the Kunsthaus has a side-lit hall and two windowless rooms in the basement as well as a light-flooded foyer with cafeteria. The Kunsthaus is designed in a simple, reductionist style, which is particularly evident in the simple roof construction and the use of only brick, concrete and glass. This is one of the reasons why the museum, which was built around 60 years ago, still fulfils today's requirements for the presentation of art. A renovation was carried out in collaboration with the cantonal monument preservation authorities. The monument preservation concept and the interventions were based on Hans Leuziger's original documents from the ETH gta archive. The building was upgraded in terms of energy, building physics, statics, fire protection and operation to meet today's requirements. The Kunsthaus was also significantly improved for contemporary exhibition practice. For example, the museum lighting was redesigned and integrated in an architecturally appropriate manner. A multi-purpose room in the basement was converted into an art education room that can also be used for cultural events. In this way, the decidedly contemporary orientation of the art business has also been made architecturally visible in specific places.

The entire Hochbord site, a former industrial and commercial zone, is undergoing a fundamental reorganisation due to its rezoning as a residential area. The question of how to create an identity-forming place here was fundamental to the project. The co-operative housing project with additional communal uses therefore follows the idea of living in the former market garden. The architectural design incorporates many references to the nursery and the commercial past of the site. For example, corrugated fibre cement panels are used for the façade cladding and elements of greenhouses are used. Public use is planned for the public areas of the construction site on the ground floor. A focus is placed on the public footpath and cycle path along the railway tracks - a bistro is proposed here, which will also serve as a neighbourhood meeting point. The emblematic heading is reminiscent of company lettering as seen on commercial buildings along the railway tracks. In this case, however, a symbolic message is to be conveyed to the neighbourhood and a reference made to the innovative and open residential and living form of the development, which is clearly different from the surrounding residential forms. The planned development is intended to allow affordable, self-managed and sustainable living and working for a variety of uses and a mixed mix of residents. A total of 96 flats and 14 commercial or communal units are on offer. There are different flat sizes and types, from one-room studios to cluster flats.    

• Photos: Roman Keller

   

• Photography: Guadalupe Ruiz

Together with the curators Christian Jankowski and Francesca Gavin, we developed the design exhibition of Manifesta 11 at Löwenbräu and the Helmhaus. The structures should carry all paintings, video works and sculptures of the historical exhibition. The works created by the artists for Manifesta 11 were to be placed and exhibited directly in the rooms on the walls and floors. The structures should lead the viewer through the space and show the “historical” works of art as a collective in space. The scaffold-like structure stands in the room in such a way that it is possible to see the works from behind. The pictures and monitors are arranged in such a way that they have enough space for themselves, but also achieve a compositional effect on the overall view. The scaffolding was developed especially for the exhibition — based on a product that was already available as a standard product for industrial plant construction. The poles are connected by means of flaps, which are lighter than the black steel of the basic structure. The scaffolding, on which the various works of art nest, is given an almost sculptural effect of its own.

The project is the re-conversion and extension of an apartment building of a residential cooperative in Zurich. Seen from the street, the built volume seems very compact. The extension blends into the corner pilasters, forming a new west facade to the garden, and bringing a new, and more clear form to the existing structure. In addition, it appears much more open and picturesque to the southwestern garden through the new annex volume with its characteristic loggias and terraces. It mirrors the tower-like elevation of the existing corner avant-corps to Nelkenstrasse through the pergola-like coronation of the roof terrace. The window proportions are taken from the existing building but are slightly scaled per floor, reflecting the changing window frames of the existing building. The building is extended from its centre: a lively T-shaped figure develops on the west side, which includes living room, kitchen and balcony. The individual room chambers are still recognisable by the supports but at the same time they allow them to merge into a generous living space. The wide wall openings create an open spatial structure which corresponds to a contemporary form of living. The generous doors of the bedrooms to the central hall allow an extension of the spaces (the small room in the southwest corner is the one who benefits most from this). This symbiotic relation make the hall a nice living place. The expression of the addition takes up on certain motifs of the existing building using them in a more reduced language.

The house was built around 1910. It was one of the first houses in the neighbourhood and represents a typical turn of the century apartment building in Zurich. The rooms are rather scarcely cut, with a slightly larger living room and kitchen. The new spatial extensions keep the basic structure of the house revealed, but open up the apartments to the surroundings with two specific interventions and thus convey a more generous feeling of living. Two oriels are added on the shorter sides—the eastern extension is more like an additional room facing the garden, the western extension remains in close contact with the bedroom and acts more like a classic bay window. The garden room is attached to the living room and kitchen as a third element. The new wall openings create a hinge point between the three rooms. The column in the pivot point allows these rooms to be spatially structured and arranged and creates a new focal point in the floor plan. The garden room with its openings is a hybrid room — it can be opened over a large area to the outside or used as a fully heated interior. The cement slab flooring underlines the unity of these interior and exterior spaces. The annexes are designed as timber structures in dry construction and have an intricate appearance. The ornamental balustrades made of painted wood are reminiscent to the branches of the mighty copper beech standing next to the building.

The house was rebuilt into its historical schedule line, with a few breakthroughs and interventions on the building structure, while the appearance of the house from the outside remained widely unchanged. Some insensitive interventions inside the building, dating back to the 1970s, were made undone. On the wall, between kitchen and dining room, a breakthrough was added. Reflecting the enfilade-like transition between living and dining room, the kitchen received a new sitting-staircase that connects exterior and interior space. On the upper floor, the library room was connected to the enfilade on the ground floor by enlarging the opening into a double-winged, almost room-high, door. The coloured sequence of ceiling mirrors reveals a new sequence of rooms. The floor patterns of the parquet and the floor slabs become a new connecting element. of the house, together with the colours and shapes of the ceiling mirrors. The surfaces are covered with various patterns (wall drawings by Sol LeWitt served as inspiration) and a tension and dialogue develops between them. With the help of the color and material sequence, a new entity is created, without the individual interventions being perceived as new or old.

Conversion of an old forge into an multi-family home. The three-part structure of the early building dates back to 1800 and includes a stable, threshing floor and the forge. Further buildings such as a small barn, a laundry house as well as the old residential house of the owner, form an architectural ensemble, together with a small public square and a large garden completed by a fountain. In the 1980s, the southern part of the building was gutted and converted into a residential building. Since this intervention was considered as insensitive and no longer met today’s requirements, it was dismantled and built anew. Nevertheless, as much as possible of the original substance is preserved in the central and northern part of the building. All interventions were carried out to connect the building parts in order to form a new coherent whole. In the old part of the building, the existing wooden beam ceilings have been preserved, while new wooden beam ceilings have been installed in the new part. The hall in the middle of the house is an important typological element. It guarantees a certain publicity and a connection from the street space to the garden space. It was originally used for the adjustment of hay carts and other carriages. In the later use of the forge it was a parking and workplace for agricultural machinery. However, the hall always remained a place of encounter and exchange. The hall has been redesigned as an entrance hall—all apartments are accessible through it. The unheated hall can be fully opened in summer and is used in autumn and spring as a place to stay. It can as well be used for wintering plants.    

• Construction management and costs: Martin Ita
• Photography: Roman Keller

The house, which is located in the village centre, was in a desolate state. The task was to restore the clearly perceptible but strongly superimposed architectural power of the building. The interventions were limited to the interior. Light but earthy shades of grey were used to colour the elongated entrance area, the dining room and the living room, finding inspiration in the colours of Giorgio Morandi’s paintings. The reading salon (a former kitchen) on the ground floor was painted black in reference to the existing charred wooden walls. Its ceiling beam was also painted black and covered with dark, heavy felt curtains. As a result, the central, windowless room is given a new readability and presence in relation to the spatial ambiguity of the house. Individual, object-like additions were made with simple materials. A monolithic fireplace cast in exposed concrete was created in the living room. Despite the contrast with the wooden surfaces, the concrete shows a strong affiliation to the new, earthy mineral plaster of the stone walls. As its counterpart, the worktop of the new kitchen was also cast out of concrete. The uniform lighting was created using porcelain sockets and light bulbs, as well as various metal works made of dark lacquered round steel. All the newly added elements have been designed in the spirit of Giorgio Morandi. In spite of their different materialities they are bound together by their similar colouring, standing in a close dialogue to each other as well as to their existing surrounding.    

• Engineer: Martin Ingénieurs Civils

The former restaurant Hubertus was rebuilt with few interventions for the new use of the association Hubertus Temporary. The wooden ceiling was painted black in order to frame the old, original panelling on the walls and to stand out from the rest of the room. The technical equipment attached to the ceiling disappears into the black. This simple measure makes the defining elements of the room (consisting of the panelling and the large rectangular windows that provide a direct view on the crossroads and the tram stop) more visible. The simple lamps match the unobtrusive room furniture. The panelling remains the central, formative element of the inn. Old wooden bistro tables and colorfully mixed wooden chairs from different eras characterise the interior. It should be a large parlour inviting you to linger in comfort and informality. The veranda has been painted white, contrasting the green exterior.
Graphic design: Hubertus Design

The apartment building on Akademia Utca, in the heart of Budapest, was built in 1873. With its big and representative rooms it was originally planned and built for upper middle class inhabitants. The apartment is located on the first floor (piano nobile) and features room heights over four meters. During Communism the dwellings have been split with big rooms being divided into smaller ones. Today none of the apartments are in their original state. The reconstruction work was limited to a few precise interventions: the non-existent bathrooms have been implemented into trapped and windowless rooms; the kitchen has been arranged against the inner courtyard, as it is originally intended in the buildingʼs typology. The strict separation between living and sleeping is not done by walls as it was usual in the past, the rooms are rather delineated by the furniture.