Architectural Design IV: Material und Ort (R. Boltshauser)

Abstract

We are focusing on the disused cement factory in Brunnen. The centrality of the area and the numerous unused existing buildings offer the opportunity to integrate public uses and contemporary forms of housing into a condensed overall urban vision. Circular materials and hybrid construction principles will be used to extend the lifespan of the robust existing buildings.

Objective

• Addressing dense, sustainable, circular, simple building • Development of in-depth material-specific knowledge and hybrid joining principles developed from this knowledge • Holistic design of spatial atmospheres in the interplay of concept, context, construction, climate, sustainability and materiality • Research and development of architectural themes resulting from energy and climatic considerations • Practical work with models, plans and visualization programs as part of the design process

Content

Today, derelict industrial sites are often not immune to demoli-tion. This also applies to the site of the disused cement works in Brunnen, where the design and structure plan, which has already been partially implemented, envisages the demolition of a large proportion of the existing buildings. Contrary to a purely economic logic, we are endeavouring to take a holistic view of climate-conscious design. The existing, raw and unused structures are seen as a resource. They already store a lot of grey energy and offer strong potential and arguments for a transformative reinterpretation thanks to their central location and supra-regional connections. We ask ourselves, how can we deal with the architectural heritage of a derelict industrial site to-day? What potential and challenges do these structures offer? What is worth preserving, what serves the future development of the site and in what form, and what might hinder it? Our shared vision is a mixed, lively neighbourhood with living, working, leisure and rec-reation. The transformation of industrial sites as a contemporary task is exciting in many aspects. Production, for example, is constantly changing: The cement industry made the ‘boom’ in the 20th century possible; now we have to reorganise our production and structure it sustainably. Here, clay, which is now being experimented with and researched at the former cement plant in Brunnen, symbolises the necessary change in the construction industry as a successor ‘tech-nology’. Building on the knowledge we acquired in the previous semester through our intensive research on various regenerative materials, this semester we are focusing on hybrid structures. We will devel-op hybrid construction principles, build them physically as mock-ups or construction models and look for sustainable and forward-looking visions for the densification of existing structures. The preservation and further development of existing buildings offers great potential as cultural heritage. The historical witnesses are identity-forming for specific places that would not be possible to design without their existence. We want to explore this history and continue writing it in the light of current conditions. We will address the issue of sustainability in its entirety and, in addition to the aforementioned social aspects, we will study and work on the issues of gray energy, reuse of building components, circularity, sufficiency, use of passive climatic systems and sim-ple, reversible constructions.

Resources