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Show your colours. 03 | 2008 MOVEMENTS IN ARCHITECTURE 03 | 2008 Refurbishment pulse For your customers. A new lease of life Hotel Daniel in Graz The Busch-axcent switch by A2 HOTELCONCEPT range brings colour into your and STUDIO AISSLINGER life. Inspire your customers with Busch-axcent powerful colour tones in red, Fusion architecture – on how we treat blue, yellow, green or sophisti- existing buildings cated white. Present the Electrical installations in modernizing uncompromisingly straight-lined old buildings design and set new accents. Concert hall in Köthen by Busmann + Haberer Interaction between old and new – a visit to Anderhalten Architekten www.BUSCH-JAEGER.com » Editorial Stefan Forster Architekten Stefan Forster is dedicated to residential archi- tecture and has won countless prizes for his modernization of prefabricated housing estates. To the point: Building in existing settings pulse, in discussion with Stefan Forster of Stefan Forster Architekten In the past, modernization tended to be the longer be profitable to rent owing to the then What do you find most important with your ugly duckling of architecture – but perception inordinately high ancillary costs. projects? has changed. Why is that? You have specialized in residential construc- The modernization must always result in an The reason is that today there is an immense tion for over a decade – what is it about mod- apartment that can hold its own on the free mar- backlog of buildings waiting for modernization ernization projects that attracts you most? ket. It must be sufficiently neutral to appeal to as while at the same time new construction activi- First of all, conversion work is simpler than the many potential tenants as possible and do justice ty has dwindled. The huge modernization effort original design. While you face the creative to the standards people expect in their homes in east Germany, which is now as good as com- problem of white paper when it comes to new today. That entails a sense of “modernizing for plete, meant that over the last 15 years almost buildings, modernization involves an existing eternity”: The architecture we provide is designed no more investments were made in moderniz- object to tackle. to last for several decades and be open to further ing structures in west Germany. And it is high What special knowledge do you need to mod- transformation. We take our cue from late 19th- time we caught up. ernize residential properties? century buildings: They may be over a century In which building category do you discern the I do not believe that you need any particular spe- old, but they have emerged from conversion and greatest future potential for modernization? cialist skills. Rather, the focus is on understand- modernization elegantly. Unlike many structures Without doubt, the most important area is res- ing the logic of the existing edifice and harmoniz- sold today, they really are “sustainable”, i.e., what idential buildings. There, with energy costs ing the architectural intervention with the exist- people used to term enduring or durable. continuing to rise, the focus must be on con- ing system. Which means working not against What high-profile building would you like to verting of and upgrading energy-related facili- but with the building. At the end of the day the modernize some day? ties. If this does not happen in the medium question is always the cost/benefit ratio as the Ernst Mey’s “Heimat” housing estate in term, then many of the buildings will no key criterion for realization of the project. Frankfurt. 02 pulse 03 | 2008 “The transformation of the serial always involves a somewhat bizarre and idiosyncratic element” > p. 04 Get Bach to riding arena > p. 14 Çiragan Palace – magnificent sultan’s seray, halfway between Orient and Occident > p. 20 Hotel with the full lifestyle factor > p. 24 Old buildings, new concepts > p. 28 “I’ve enjoyed becoming disrespectful over the years” > p. 32 04 Macro 28 Visions Fusion architecture – modernizing existing Old buildings – new concepts buildings. 32 Interview By Johann Jessen and Jochem Schneider Interview with Anderhalten Architekten – 10 Micro exciting dialog between old and new Electrical installations in modernizing 36 Workshop old buildings. By Dietmar Half “House-Technology-Future”: the transforma- 14 In Practice I tion of the light switch into a control unit of Concert hall in Köthen – once an indoor tomorrow riding arena, now a center of culture 38 Materials 20 In Practice II Eike Becker on glass as a building material Çiragan Palace Istanbul – the fairytale seray 40 Insights on the Bosphorus blends past and future News and products from ABB/Busch-Jaeger 24 In Practice III 42 Food for thought Cover photo: Peter Riedler Hotel Daniel in Graz – an edifice from the The prize quiz question on this issue’s topic Image editing: Raphael Pohland / stilradar 1950s is modernized to create a trend hotel 43 Imprint 03 Rob 't Hart » Macro Fusion architecture – the treatment of existing buildings The trend has been evident for almost ten years: Construction investments are focusing on existing architecture. Not, though, as used to be the case, on old or even historically significant structures. Rather, in Germany and Europe it is the buildings constructed between 1950 and 1980 that are under scrutiny. Aspects relating to protecting listed buildings tend to become sidelined. By Johann Jessen and Jochem Schneider This essay is based on a In the second half of the 20th century the architectural detect in this building clear signs of a paradigm change in study conducted by the debate over existing buildings was primarily directed at dealing with contemporary architecture and historical authors on behalf of the the architectural legacy from the time prior to World War built fabric. Wüstenrot Stiftung Lud- wigsburg. See J. Jessen/ I. What emerged were tried-and-tested methods of deter- J. Schneider: Umbau und mining use and design, which were founded on the scarci- Current design strategies Umnutzungen im Bestand – ty of the old and the importance of preserving substance. Seamlessly incorporating the built environment seems Neuere Tendenzen in Deutschland und Europa. Efforts were made to ensure that only such new uses to be an unusual option for historical buildings. Another In: Wüstenrot Stiftung (ed.): should be permitted in the old building that can be recon- approach can be seen in dealing with the highly profane Umbau im Bestand, ciled with preserving the fabric. Carlo Scarpa most deci- and functionalist architecture in the second half of the (Stuttgart/ Zurich, 2008), sively shaped this manner of dealing with existing archi- 20th century, which is now up for conversion. In this con- pp. 38-81 tecture. His museum in the Castel Vecchio in Verona from trasting strategy “old juxtaposed with new” is deprived the year 1964 can be seen as an incunabel of modern con- of its decisive foundation, namely, that which is special version architecture in Europe. It is based on the concept about the existing architecture and makes it stand out. that old and new in the converted object can be expressed Consequently, in recently realized projects it is evident in in a collage principle of layering and merging. The fact an altered fundamental attitude to aesthetic design: The that historical substance can be treated quite differently existing architecture becomes a freely accessible material is evident in the Diocesan Museum in Cologne (architect: for the production of a “new whole”. Generally speaking, Peter Zumthor) that opened in fall 2007: The old in its preservation of listed buildings plays little if any role at Spectacular rooftop house varying components is quite literally incorporated and all. In an initial exploration it is possible to identify four extension in Rotterdam – fused with the new to create a new whole. Ten to fifteen different conceptional approaches to existing architec- Didden Village by MVRDV. years ago an alternative to a respectful distance to the old ture as “material”. Only seldom are they manifested in a The mass produced becomes unique; the design is an exam- and a contrasting presentation would hardly have been pure form, frequently there is an overlapping of at least ple of the covering strategy. conceivable for such a project. A fair number of observers two of these strategies. 05 Roos Aldershoff / www.merkx-girod.com The strategy of overhauling continues to serve as an icon in England’s second-largest Strategy of adaptation: This strategy is characterized by a sweeping moderniza- city. Indeed, the conversion of old office buildings into Merkx + Girod transformed an old Dominican Church in tion of what exists, which tends to preserve the naked apartments seems to be a new trend that has gathered Maastricht into a bookstore structure of the old building and creates a new use of the pace in England and the Netherlands. (above); for the project space, new technical installations and façade. It is no ”Alvéole 14” a former sub- longer possible to tell from the appearance of the build- Covering strategy marine bunker was converted into a center for new art ing – inside and out – whether this is a new building, a In the covering strategy the existing substance remains forms (right). Architects: modernization, a conversion, or a new use – nor is this recognizable in the new building as a whole even though LIN Finn Geipel + Giulia Andi. considered important. The Münchner Rück building in it is radically altered. Frequently, the transformation of Munich (2002) is representative of this trend. “The build- the serial lies in the somewhat bizarrely unconventional – ing has been converted but looks like a new building.” It a breaking away from the inconspicuous in a sense. Fairly would be difficult to find a more apt description of the often conversions read like an ironic comment on the conversion of the headquarters of this international most recent architectural and cultural history.

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