The apartment building was planned and built in 1954 by a local engineer together with a master builder. The building has a well-proportioned façade with ribbon windows and conically recessed balconies and may be classified as a subtly designed representative of its time.

A downpipe in need of repair led to a complete overhaul of the existing bathrooms and kitchens. The depth of intervention was adjusted to suit the life cycle of the building. The main rooms were rather narrow for the needs of today, the load-bearing structure was weak and the floor construction was suboptimal for today's noise requirements. The recessed balconies remained energetically problematic. A remaining useful life of 20 to 30 years was specified for the construction.

The intervention to the service zone enabled renovations to the bathrooms and kitchens. By merging the WC with the bathroom, space is created for a larger kitchen in the 3.5 room apartments and for a utility room in the 2.5 room apartment. Large passageways through the corridors create a more open connection between the street and the courtyard. In this central space, concrete stone slabs play with the spirit of the original substance.

In the habitable areas, the living rooms and bedrooms are combined. Tapering walls merge the geometry and spirit of the original balconies with the new building, defining more clearly the living area space. In the 3.5-room apartment, this arrangement creates a central dining area in front of the balcony. The sequence of rooms continues with a studio, which can be separated by a sliding door and used as a study or playroom. The new lengthenend orientation of the rooms, relieves the previous somewhat unfavorable room proportions. In the 2.5-room apartment, the living space is separated from a new combined dining and kitchen area. A freely laid oak parquet with frieze, finishes off this enfilade.

We retained the color concept of the façade developed in the eighties by the regionally known artist Hans Anliker.

Client Private

Services Baumgartner + Partner General planning, architecture, site management

Planning Team Civil Engineer: MWV Bauingenieure AG, Baden HLKKS engineer: Hossle GmbH, Brugg Building physicist: Amstein + Walthert, Zurich

Realization August 2018 to March 2019