camponovo baumgartner architekten

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.