Marte.Marte Architekten

Description

Sturdy, earthy, yet subtly sophisticated, the Griss Equine Veterinary Practice is located between the south-western outskirts of Rankweil and the wide Rhine Valley. The clean-lined volume made of rough reinforced concrete and untreated wood is home to animals as well as humans. An apartment for the veterinarian is combined under one roof with the equine practice – including a pharmacy, treatment rooms, office and stables – in such a functional way that the private and public areas are able to congenially coexist. In order to arrange all these different functions on just one floor as a single unit, the architects applied the pavilion principle. A base slab, a reinforced concrete floor of the same size and four massive angled wall slabs make up the building’s support structure. A big sliding door can be opened to reveal the centre of the equine practice: the examining room. All the practice’s other rooms are grouped around this central point. The above-average ceiling height of almost four meters throughout the building lends an almost sacred look and feel to this »place of healing«. The doctor’s apartment faces away from the road and features floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto the open marshlands.