camponovo baumgartner architekten
Pour Denise
best architects 24
renovation and addition
Place
Zurich, Switzerland
Studio
Photos
Denise Chervet
Description
The «Pour Denise»
project in Bienne involved the conversion of the second floor of an apartment
building dating from the 1970s. Consultation rooms on the upper floor recall
earlier plans for a medical centre in the building. We suggested creating a
completely new world inside this rather severe seventies architecture, as a
complementary point of reference. The openness of the floor plan, almost free
of doors, to some extent also leaves its use open. On the one hand, the spaces
are architecturally particular and defined; on the other, they are use-neutral
for that very reason. It is easy to imagine the apartment in this building
being used very differently later on. For the interior layout we used curved plasterboard
walls, visibly inserted between ceiling and floor. This creates a spatial
continuum in which residents can freely circulate. The physical partitions are
loosely distributed in the space and encourage a dynamic, flowing spatial
movement, but the curves also offer recesses and quiet nooks. The spatial
continuum can be divided into separate units by hanging noise-absorbing
curtains. Another special feature of the rounded walls is that they accommodate
built-in furniture and fittings on the inside of their shells, such as
bookshelves or the kitchen. The walls are finished with a carefully selected,
warming clay plaster. The existing concrete ceiling is left bare, contrasting
with the texture of the wooden floor.