Scheitlin Syfrig Architekten
Lower station of the Dietschibergbahn funicular
best architects 18
single family homes
Place
Luzern / Switzerland
Studio
Photos
Ben Huggler
Description
For 66 years, visitors were able to take the funicular up Dietschiberg hill in Lucerne. And now that the station has been converted into a residence, a train car has once again entered the station. Like the originals, it is clad in aluminium and lined inside with oak. It accommodates bedrooms, a kitchen, bathrooms and the usual home facilities.
The station has stayed the same and merely been technically upgraded and renovated to create a heated living room all around the live-in train car. The gate towards the slope still opens onto the old funicular line, which is now a flowerbed. The station had a floor that sloped upward on the hill side. The old tracks and a buffer stop are still there, now concealed beneath a stepped terrazzo floor. Windows were cut out of the wall to bring light into the house and connect the living room with the garden.
The windows of the main station portal were replaced by similar-looking but insulated counterparts. The train car is a timber frame structure, fitted with glulam planks covered in aluminium-clad resin plates. The components have been joined very precisely, with zero tolerances, a technically demanding endeavour. What was once a flat roof with saddle roofs at the side has now been replaced by a simplified version with a rooftop terrace.