Masterthesis Anna-Lydia Capaul

Anna-Lydia Capaul/ ss2013

the sky is the limit -

stepping from a dense village center to the nature.

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„An architectonical designed environment determines, how hight the sky is seen.“

(Rudolf Arnheim, 1980, p.9)

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the view from Planken

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An important quality of Planken is its green spaces. They surround the houses and shape the identity of the place. The small village is set in an open space in the middle of the forest. There are only some buildings and fruit trees. The meadows hold everything to-gether. The relief has always been an important element. But if the people build along, Planken will be covered by a carpet of houses. To avoid this it is necessary to reflect on the existing building regulations. Nowadays one can build a two story high house anywhere on his plot. The only regulation concerning the meadows is that half of the plot shout be kept as green space. (Bauordnung, 2008). My first reaction regarding my urban planning strategy was to keep these meadows.

I divided my work in four phases. As a first step I made an analysis of the existing structures and qualities. These findings I summa-rized in a catalog. Based on a list of criteria, I made a ranking for forty-four existing buildings. This should be a guideline for the community to use when deciding which buildings should be under protection. After the selection I showed two possible interven-tions; two old houses the Mena- and Rechenmacherhaus. The second phase was the urban planning with the change in the buildings regu-lations. In the third part I imagined what a detached house could look like based on these new regulations. I chose the plot between the Menahaus and the church. This building is the centerpiece of

University of Liechtensteinsumersemester 2013

Visiting Professor: Conradin ClavuotAssistant: Robert Mair

Student: Anna-Lydia Capaul

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my work which I spent most of my time on. I was compelled to design a tower house, inspired by a memory from my childhood. Once my two siblings, my parents and I were travelling by car somewhere. We were drawing our dream house, each of us on a sheet of paper. I remembered that we drew the entrance into the soil, where you could find different cells under the earth and then you entered the rest of the house, which was inside of a tree trunk. You always went from one chamber to the next through small connections, and the direction of the arrangement of the spaces was vertical, it had to be like that, because of the shape of the trunk. This connection to nature must be related to the circumstances I grew up in. The special thing was the surrounding. Lots of meadow and trees close to the edge, where the terrain goes steeply down to a river, named Flem. We often played outside and explored its nature. I found it interesting how I imagined the perfect home as a child, without any knowledge about construction, using just by intuition. So I asked myself how I could design a house like this while integrating the knowledge I have today as an architect. I think I was influenced by this memory, because the building has an obvious, strong connec-tion to nature and also what I liked as a spatial experience, to go from one space to the next. As a last step I designed an apart-ment tower house in the center. This building should be similar to the detached house but not as radical. I worked with a split-level system to keep it simple. If there would be a need for a public function, this would take place on the ground floor of these towers. The main question for me was, if the insertion of towers, as a new typology, brings structure and emphasizes the natural surroundings of Planken?To find the answer to these questions I had to know what requirements the towers would have to fulfill to fit in the context. On one hand I am sure that it is a question of the scale, but on the other one of detailing and integrating existing qualities. During the semes-

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ter I worked a lot with models in different scales, to visualize my interventions in the spatial surroundings. To convince people of my radical urban planning idea it is necessary to highlight the advantages of building towers. I was also thinking about how it is possible to generate a home. What does a building has to offer to its inhabitants? What make them feel sheltered and secure. How individualized has a building to be for the inhabitants of Planken? Therefor I was dealing with the questions of ornamentation and color within architecture.

“The urgency to ornament his face and everything which is accessi-ble, is the very beginning of the visual arts.” (Loos, 1982, p.78)

Loos writes about the negatives aspects of ornamentation. He argues that the absence and functionalism of ornaments is a sign of high cultural progression. But this text was written in the year 1908. I wondered, whether this opinion even applies today. Or if we need ornaments more then ever, since the digitalization and age of in-formation. I could imagine that there is the need for ornaments. To have something, that is individualized, personal and which even has a meaning. If I think about Planken, I see a lot of decorated entrances or gardens. The ornaments there give another layer to the urban space. They make the life in the village visible. But how could ornamentation become integrated with modern architecture? In the final chapter of my thesis book, I summarize my work and finish it with a critical reflection.

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Introduction

1.1 A journey to Planken

1.2 My personal interests

1.3 The system of experiments

Approximation to nature

2.1 Save the meadows

2.2 Vertical menace and utopias

Go upright

3.1 Being vertical

3.2 Living vertical

3.3 Building vertical

Zooming in to Planken

4.1 Generating home

4.2 Bring back the ornaments

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Epilog

5.1 Insights

5.2 Expression of thanks

Appendix

6.1 Bibliography


6.3 Declaration

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1 Introduction

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1.1 A journey to Planken

I have never been to Planken before. I did not know anything. That made me nervous in the beginning of the semester. But on the other hand it had also positive aspects. I visited the place completely open minded. Before we started with the general research, we went to the village on a Thursday morning. It was February and very cold. We had an open discussion with the major and he gave us the first in-puts for our work. Planken is a small settlement in Liechtenstein. It is located above Schaan. With its 423 inhabitants, it is the smallest community in Liechtenstein. The name has his roots in the Romansh language and means ‘pile’.

Afterwards we walked around. Later, at home I summarized my first impressions. The view from the village is amazing. You can see the Rhine Valley and the mountains on the other side. I liked this feel-ing of being above the other cities. Another aspect which caught my attention was the meadows with thei¬r fruit trees. I found it very appealing to have these open spaces within the built area. The third element is the forest, which surrounds the whole village. This gave me the feeling of being close to nature. I also noticed that the newly constructed buildings have nothing to do with the identity of the place and could be placed anywhere. After seeing them I understood why the community asked us for a recommendation for the future.

One part of my work was to collect a number of houses in a catalog. The aim of this work was to show the community which buildings are worthy of preservation. I made a book in which I rated forty-four houses. In our studio at the university we made a list of criteria. I chose six of these criteria and applied them to Planken. There I documented the buildings, which caught my attention and rated them with numbers from one to six, where six is the optimum grade. In the end I calculated the average points of each house. Along with

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cataloguing these rated houses, I also observed the qualities of Planken. I had already begun to think about how these virtues could be kept. This task was ideal to help fill my backpack with impres-sions and details of the old wooden houses, which turned out to be an important part of my analysis. In Planken it is common for each family to own a house. There are only a few rented apartments. The settlement is very close to Schaan, a five-minute drive away. Most of the inhabitants spend their evenings and nights in Planken, and go to cities for their work. This is the reason for its bad reputa-tion as a “sleeping village”. This gives the areas a calm quality and because the village is rather small, the locals have a strong feeling of being a community. They know and take care of each oth-er. This is one of the main reasons why people choose to live in Planken. While at the same time, one of the inhabitants also told me also that it is important for him to be able to do whatever he wants. He appreciates the privacy in Planken.

What I personally liked while walking and exploring the settle-ment was the beauty of its natural surroundings. There are many dry meadows with wild orchids, which are extremely rare. Beside that they have long-established fruit trees in these meadows which are traditional gardens from the time the Walsers settled down there. Further out from that, entire area is surrounded by forest. Past inhabitants didn’t place their gardens directly next to their houses, they picked the best part in the meadow as their location and protected against animals, etc. using wooden fences. Another characteristic element of Planken is the topography. The village starts with a steep slope, the middle part is a bit flatter and the uppermost part is steep again. It gives the terrain a fluent relief, which is only interrupted by the houses and the trees.

If we look at the history of Planken, towards the end of the 13th

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Century the Walsers populated the area. The village name was men-tioned for the first time in a document in the year 1361. Like most of villages of its kind, Planken has not been spared from the rav-ages of fire. 1869 a major fire destroyed several homes in the center, including the school. In former times, Planken was only accessible by foot from the valley. In the year 1868 the road from Schaan to Planken was built and people were able to make the journey with wagons. This connection brought lots of improvements. Later the in-habitants became independent of location, because of the car. This helped Planken to be discovered and appreciated as an attractive place of residence. (Manfred Wanger, 2013)

In 1961, the parliament created the financial compensation program for Liechtenstein municipalities. For the former parish council the time had come to consider a land consolidation. In a special church meeting the voters decided in favor of the installation of drainage and water supplies in the meli¬oration roads. Before the meliora-tion Planken was in bad shape. There were hardly any new buildings erected. The management of the village was extremely difficult due to poor access. The landowners had to go through foreign plots to reach their own land. The plots were fragmented due to inherit-ances and mutations and were barely usable. For the first modifica-tion, a trail network was designed, which allowed the exploitation of these land parcels. The time from the originating around 1865, the cadastral plan was not suitable for processing. First a survey of the elderly population had to be made. The air intake could be coordinated with that for the melioration of Triesenberg. Before the flight, the points, had to be marked by white cardboard panels. The Commission estimates put the maximum class of 80 Rp/m2. In 1966 was the desire negotiation. Each landowner could express his wishes in writing on the plan and was invited for an interview. With this information, the engineer was able to create a map, which showed

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the wishes which could be easily implemented and also where there were conflicts of interest. 25 objections were raised against the draft worked out by a total of 119 owners. The number of trees in the plots was estimated, and the new owner charged. Two years after the decisions of the melioration were implemented the population of Planken increased. Planken is a good example for the success of this amelioration. The agricultural use of the land has been simplified and the yield increased. The development of the economy was promoted. The disadvantage of the melioration was that with the new network of roads, public life has been weakened along the main road.If we look at Planken nowadays, the village is designed for cars. The problem is that the main road has lost its function as public space. The inhabitants of Planken asked us to define a center for the village. A lively place where people can meet and spend their time, but there is clearly a conflict between the interests of the pedestrians and the cars.

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planken in 1972http://www.vaterland.li/var/upload/newsticker/image/18265_640.jpg

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1.2 My personal interests

From the beginning of the semester I knew that I would like to cre-ate a very personal project. This decision was based on the first impression I had from the village. The surrounding forest and the view from above gave me a feeling of intimacy. Therefore I began researching those fields of interest, which could be integrated into my work. I remembered, when I was sixteen years old, I had to decide on which profession I would pick for an apprenticeship. I remembered how I went to my mother and told her, that I would like to become an interior designer. She answered, that this is a good idea, but there were no interior designers in Flims, the place where we lived. So she sent me to Hans Peter Fontana, an architect my parents know. In the first year of my education I was involved in the planning of wellness area for the Park Hotel. I was building the model, where I had to adapt to the changing design requirements. In this project Hans Peter collaborated with an interior designer from Zürich. She designed all the color and material concepts for the interior. I was still fascinated with this profession. One of my favorite aspects of architecture continues to be the creation of spaces which are very detailed. While another interest of mine is to produce books. Not the writing, but the graphical work. It is the same as with modeling you create something physical. It was clear to me that I wanted to integrate these principles into my project. These are general interests, but what about my goals for Planken? I always imagined how I would react if I was an inhabit-ant of this village. To change the perspective is very important. I would like to have a center area along the main road, but also a goal to keep the green spaces as much as possible, while help-ing the plots maintain their value. Another objective would be to create a wider range of housing types for the residents. I would like to have a few apartment buildings, either for elderly or young inhabitants. My wish for Planken would be for it to have a clear readable structure while retaining its original qualities and for

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it to become a more pedestrian friendly place. I could imagine that there will be the need for a public function such as a small café after the number of inhabitants rises.

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1.3 The system of experiments

This semester was my last chance to try out new working methods. In the beginning of the term I reflected on my own weaknesses. I knew for instance that I always had problems with the conceptual part of my work. In the past I tend to make fast decisions on the concept. I was always thinking a lot about my concepts but my fail-ing was that it was not always comprehensible to others. So it was clear to me that I had to work on that part of my process. During my exchange semester in Copenhagen I was forced to concentrate on the research phase for a very long time. And the working method was more experimental. We knew from the beginning that it was all about our process and not on the final result. That eliminated the pressure. But how could I apply what I had learnt during my thesis? I also knew that it is better, if I work on different things at the same time. I decided to make the additional catalog about the cultural heritage of Planken. The writing part for the thesis book helped me to reflect more on various decisions I had made. From my experience during the past semester I realized that I like to have a very clear work structure. Being well organized gives me a feel-ing of security. Therefore I set myself a timeframe. I worked every day of the week except Sunday from seven in the morning until five in the evening. I did not do that because I am lazy. It helped me to think more about what I had produced during the day. This turned out to be the most efficient way for me to work. It helped me greatly to work with models in the beginning, by visualizing the thinking process in the clearest way. So my goal was to produce something but also having the time to reflect on it. The advantage of this method was that I always knew on what I had to begin working on first in the mornings, as it is easier to make decisions with a fresh head. I also read a text in Hochparterre magazine. Andres Herzog writes that the model comes first. In the office of EM2N they have even their own workshop. They work often with models, because it can explain a complex project very clearly. Oliver Elser says, that

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in recent years, the model has often been stated as being dead. (hochparterre, 2013, p.20) But what we see in reality is the op-posite. The digitalization makes it even easier to produce precise models within a short time. From my own experience I would even say that it is easier to convince a client with a model, than with two dimensional plans, renderings or sketches. They can hold an object in their hands. The model convinces because it can connect directly to our emotions. It is somehow exiting to see and experience a min-iature version of something that is going to be built, and it is of course easier to understand the space. Andres Herzog points out in his text that the architect does not only sell his project with the model but also himself. The model comes with a strong internal dynamic, it can be seen as a small monument. It is local and exclu-sive because you have to go to the model to see it. It stands in contrast to the flooding of information in our daily lives. On the internet you find thousands of renderings, but the model radiates the message of creating spaces not pictures. Oliver Elser compares this movement with a similar debate around 1900, as the more and more perfect perspective drawings generated a certain skepticism. The picture relays a controlled atmosphere. It is a calm, where as a model is proof that an idea works, at least in the miniature version. Working with models also grants more freedom. If you cre-ate a rendering you have to decide very early on surfaces, details and materials, where in the model you can leave space for personal interpretations. When I was studying in my third semester, Andreas Hagmann told us we should photograph our final model to show the in-ner spaces, because we could not manipulate the light as we could do in a rendering.

“As more computer as more models.”(Zumthor 2013)

It is interesting to note that as more architects work or design

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with the computer the more they have to prove their steps with physical models. This phenomenon is comparable to the development of the printer. Instead of using less paper we use more, because it is an easier and faster to produce. (Hochparterre, 2013, p.23) I remember that I had to draw all the plans by hand in the first year of my education as a draughtswoman. This forced me to think a lot about what I was drawing. If I made too many mistakes I had to re-draw the whole plan. If you work on the computer this awareness gets lost. To work with models also gives me the opportunity to conduct more experiments. You produce something and it has to be only as precise as you wish it in order to express a particular message. The model does not have to be finished, it shows one decision, which leads to the next one. I knew that I would like to work with models but also on a more experimental level than in other semesters, as it was my last change to try things as a student. I especially ap-preciated this difference between the studio and the architecture office, where the projects are going to be built. In the studio I can try things and if it does not work I can reflect on it. This is a very efficient way to learn.

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1

historicwooden public addition

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list of qualities in Planken-

the view on the valley-

to be surrounded by forest-

the meadows with traditional fruit trees-

the historic wooden houses along the main road-

the friendly inhabitants-

the good infrastructure-

the topography

1 church2 historic house with barn3 rechenmacherhaus4 two family house5 two houses with barns6 house with annexes7 fire sation and school

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entrance

hobby room

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kitchenvestibule

supply

bench

loggia smalllibrary

fireplace

storage

dinning terrace

bedroom

bedroom

living room

loggia

technical room

loggia

kitchenbedroom

living

bedroom

loggia

bedroomkitchen living

entrance

loggia

entrance

bedroom kitchen dinning

living

bedroom

loggia

entrance

bedroom

bedroom

bedroom

loggia

bedroom

living

kitchen

1first sketch

2room organisation concept

3groundfloor plan from the mid-crit.

8working with different heights

9room division around core element

7sketch with room division

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5volume model 1:200

6changing direction of core element

10adding the garage next to the building

11model to check the roomheights

4sketch central siarcase

12massive core surrounded by a wooden envelope

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2 Approximation to nature

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2.1 Save the meadows

The identity of Planken is characterized by the green spaces. The meadows occur without mextensive cultivation. It is not possi-ble to fertilize them, this would destroy the biodiversity of the plants, after a time only greensward would remain. Most of the soil is well drained, fresh and dry. The meadows are sunny. They are characterized by their diversity. Two meadows are significant as there are wild orchids, which are very rare. In the village itself there are smaller islands of rough pasture. These meadows are worth protecting because of the rare species of wildlife present. They form habitats for insects, amphibians and numerous bird species. The biodiversity of plants in the area is very high. The hay is of high quality, as it is naturally occuring and not artificially treated. Another special feature in Planken are many traditional tall fruit trees. These are usually apple or pear and are old va-rieties which are worthy of preservation. They are resistant to disease and pests. In the village core one can find an intentionally laid out orchard, which is labelled. On the meadows you often find young newly planted fruit trees. These elements are distinctive to the town image of Planken. The old fruit trees provide shelter for numerous bird species and nesting places. The surrounding forest is mainly a beech and spruce, ash and birch are also present. Be-low the town pine and larch can be found. The report by the Office of Forests, Nature and Landscape Vaduz shows that there is still a small population of oak and willow. The advancement of the forest towards Planken poses a problem, so forestry work is essential. Another feature of the area is the stripe of meadow next to the forest. Here there is rich subsoil, because it is shady, fresh and cool. Creating an environment for ferns, moss and grass, which is also a perfect habitat for amphibians. The surrounding forest pro-vides many wildlife species with an important shelter. The historic buildings, with their traditional wooden structures have become a habitat for species such as bats and swifts. The gardens which were

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laid out around the houses were separate islands of open terrain in earlier days. These gardens were marked off by wooden fences. Along the “Gass”, which previously functioned as a public space, old stone walls can be found. These dominate the townscape. The dry stone walls and paving offer lizards and gap vegetation a home.In the text of Eduard Neuschwander, Safety First – Ein anderes Naturverständnis (trans 18, 2011), he describes the digital world of today. He points out that people are losing their skills for observation and critical thinking. Our natural reflex is to fall back on proven remedies. Proven remedies equal security. But the requirements are changing all the time. For me it shows the prob-lem society has on how to deal with progression. We are constantly flooded with new information and the world is changing fast. Not least because of digitalization. A resulting consequence is that people feel the necessity to cherish on harness. If I apply this knowledge to an urban planning proposition for Planken, it is clear that the element of nature has to be kept. However there is still a need for densification. An obvious possibility would be to build bigger volumes, but to keep the meadows the volumes have to have a small footprint. The solution is to go vertical. Beside the need for densification there is also the question of how to deal with the existing houses. If the inhabitants replaced them with modern buildings, a huge part of the identity of the place would be lost. After I analyzed those houses, I knew that it would be a mistake to categorize them as cultural heritage. The problem would be that nobody could change or renovate them in the future, and if so only on the inside. I would recommend to keep them, but to leave it open to the people as to how they want to transform them. I illustrated one possibility for this transformation in my approach for the Mena- and Rechenmacherhaus. I would not change the func-tion, so the buildings could still be used for living, by either a

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family or by young people as start-up apartment. I chose this con-cept because Planken has a larger older population in general. The reason for this is that they leave the village to go to the city, because they might prefer an urban life style or they do not want to live in a detached house. There is no possibility to rent a small apartment for a single person or a young couple. I think it would be good to generate a variety of housing types. Therefore I would modify the old houses into start-up flats. In the existing chambers I would place the bedrooms, which can be rented. The other rooms such as kitchen, bath, living or kitchen are shared. I would be very sensitive in making this renovation. I would remove the roof completely, and install a new one with insulation. On the façade I would remove the shingles and add a wooden envelop, with insula-tion and horizontal rough larch boards on the outside. To achieve a better u-value I would also recommend replacing the windows. To avoid a cold bridging I would put insulation on the ceiling of the basement floor. This kind of renovation is not too expensive but changes the building on the outside. This would not be possible, if the houses were under protection. I don’t believe it is the cor-rect solution to conserve these houses, their life should go on by adapting to existing conditions, and if the insulation is outside, the quality of the spaces inside is kept as the proportions stay the same.

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the main road of Planken in former timeshttp://www.vaterland.li/var/upload/newsticker/image/18262_640.jpg

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cultural heritage - the catalogphotographed by Nadja Cavegn

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Rechenmacherhaussituationplan 1:10’000, floor plans, elevations 1:200

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41

staircase

kitchen

+9.00bedroom

apartment 22.5 rooms

balcony

staircase

kitchen

storage dining

+12.00

+12.00

balcony

bedroom

bedroom

living room

bedroom

terace

staircase

bedroom

+6.00

bedroom

bedroom

technical room

washing/ cellarsstorage

storage restaurant

staircase

-3.00

-4.50

stoarge

washing

technicalinstallations

cellars

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5 parking spaces

staircase

staircase

porch

small café

entrance

multi-purpose room

dinning

kitchen

01 02 03 04 05

mailboxes

+0.00

mailboxes

+0.00

01 02 0301 02 03 04 05

cc

+0.00

staircase-4.50


cellar cellar cellar

mailboxes



washing

5 parking spaces5 parking spaces

kitchen

saloon-1.50

5 parking spaces

staircase

kitchen

storageterracedining

staircase

kitchen

storagedining

staircase

kitchen

storagedining

living room

bedroom

bedroom

+3.00

01 02 0301 02 03 04 05

loggia

+3.20

+3.00

+3.00bedroom



living room

living room

living room

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5 parking spaces

staircase

staircase

porch

small café

entrance

multi-purpose room

dinning

kitchen

01 02 03 04 05

mailboxes

+0.00

mailboxes

+0.00

01 02 0301 02 03 04 05

cc

+0.00

staircase-4.50



mailboxes



washing


kitchen

saloon-1.50

5 parking spaces

staircase

kitchen


staircase

kitchen

storagedining

staircase

kitchen

storagedining

living room

bedroom

bedroom

+3.00

01 02 0301 02 03 04 05

loggia

+3.20

+3.00

+3.00bedroom



living room

living room

living room

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library/ workingor bedroom

storage

living room

OUTSIDE WALLu-value 0.17existing log construction 100 mmwooden beams/insulation, cellulose panel 120 mminsulation, pavatherm 80 mm(interlayer)ventilation 40 mmsubconstruction 24 mmplanks, larch 20 mm

ROOFu-value 0.17-

OUTSIDE WALLu-value 0.11plasterboard 25 mmklh slab, spruce 100 mm(vapour barrier)wooden beam/insulation, cellulose panel 240 mminsulation, pavatherm 60 mm(interlayer)ventilation 40 mmmulti-layer board 24 mmsubconstruction 24 mmshingles, larch 20 mm

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storage

living room


ROOFu-value 0.17-


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the existing situation

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Menahaussituationplan 1:10’000, floor plans, elevations 1:200

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49

entrance+0.00

+0.54dining

+0.18

storage

kitchen

+0.36porch+0.00

storage

N

kitchenentrance

livingroomdinning

mai

lbox

garden

a a

bb

bathroom

multi purpose roomgarage

storage+0.00garage

+2.70

+3.96

+2.52


terrace

tiled stove

gardenstorage

a a

bb

multi purpose room

lounge area

bedroom

bedroom

storage

+2.34

+1.98

living room

+5.40

+6.84

+6.12

bedroom

storage

bath

a a

bb

bedroom

lounge area(homework)+9.54

bedroomstorage

a a

bb

-1.80

-2.34

-2.34

technical installations

storage

washing

washing

wine cellar

technical room

a a

bb

50

entrance+0.00

+0.54dining

+0.18

storage

kitchen

+0.36porch+0.00

storage

N

kitchenentrance

livingroomdinning

mai

lbox

garden

a a

bb

bathroom


storage+0.00garage

+2.70

+3.96

+2.52


terrace

tiled stove

gardenstorage

a a

bb

multi purpose room

lounge area

bedroom

bedroom

storage

+2.34

+1.98

living room

+5.40

+6.84

+6.12

bedroom

storage

bath

a a

bb

bedroom


bedroomstorage

a a

bb

-1.80

-2.34

-2.34


storage

washing

washing

wine cellar

technical room

a a

bb

51

entrance+0.00

+0.54dining

+0.18

storage

kitchen

+0.36porch+0.00

storage

N

kitchenentrance

livingroomdinning

mai

lbox

garden

a a

bb

bathroom


storage+0.00garage

+2.70

+3.96

+2.52


terrace

tiled stove

gardenstorage

a a

bb

multi purpose room

lounge area

bedroom

bedroom

storage

+2.34

+1.98

living room

+5.40

+6.84

+6.12

bedroom

storage

bath

a a

bb

bedroom


bedroomstorage

a a

bb

-1.80

-2.34

-2.34


storage

washing

washing

wine cellar

technical room

a a

bb

52

dinnning

kitchen

wine cellar

library/ working

bathroom

bedroombedroom

bath

living room library/ working terrace

corridor

showerbedroom

entrancekitchen

53

dinnning

kitchen

wine cellar

library/ working

bathroom

bedroombedroom

bath


corridor

showerbedroom

entrancekitchen

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2.2 Vertical menance and utopias

If we look at the history of towers, they have always held an impor-tance. Either they demonstrate religious sway or economical power. After the Second World-war skyscrapers became distributed through-out Europe. They brought a way-finding system to the cities and a unique identity. Besides having rational and economical motives they are also symbols for hope, dreams and utopias. Skyscrapers seem to be limitless. They are an engagement to the future. (Andres Lepik, 2005) However they are also a symbol of leaving the human scale, loss of individualism and danger. If I think of Fritz Langs movie “metropolis” the skyscrapers form the setting for the nega-tive atmosphere of the film. They are expressing the consequences of industrialization by building vertically. They visualize the tech-nological and constructive progress of architecture, which bring also unknown risks. Evidence of these risks was witnessed on nine eleven, where terrorists implement a vicious attack. The destruc-tion of the World Trade Center was a brutal blow to people all over the World. They destroyed not only a building, but also a symbol. Despite these issues, there is still the need to build vertical. It has became popular again to live in cities. But the space is limited so it is logical to grow vertically. “If you climb up a tree, a lad-der or a staircase, one has the feeling to go against a resistance movement, that can be felt in the form of his body weight. … Climb-ing is a heroic act of release; the height symbolizes high value (secular power, intellectual magnitude, enlightenment, unhindered visibility). Building vertically represents the entering into the section of empty space. The visible height is purely symbolic qual-ity.” (Arnheim, 1980, p.40) Paul Zucker expressed that one can imagine the “ceiling” above an enclosed urban space about three to four times higher as the highest buildings. A space appears higher, if there are high volumes standing out. In contrast to that the open and wide spaces, the “Place de la Concorde” in Paris for instance, minimizes the distance to heaven. (Arnheim, 1980)

55

For my research I searched for references which showed the devel-opment of the shape of towers. The city of San Gimignano belongs to the province of Siena, Tuskany. It is built on a hill and has a medieval village center. This has been a UNESCO World Herit-age Site since the beginning of the nineties. San Gimignano has several surnames like ‘city of towers’ or ‘medieval Manhattan’. There are still some medieval lordship towers standing, while they have disappeared in other cities or remained as ruins. The wealthy families tried to outdo each other in the height of the towers to demonstrate their power. This seems to be more important than a luxurious life, as this was simply not possible in such towers. Of the the 72 original towers fifteen remain. The heights of the tall-est towers are 54 and 51 meters, they are called Torre Grossa and Torre della Rognosa. The Etruscans settled to San Gimignano around 200-300 BC. The city came into existence in the 10th Century. The City was named after the Holy Bishop of Modena, San Gimignano. In medieval times, people traversed this town during the journey from regions in the North to Rome. A protective wall built around the town by the end of the 10th Century. In the 11th Century the town began to grow towards the North and South. This period of prosper-ity lasted for 160 years. The wealth of the city was based on the cultivation of Saffron. It was used it to color silks. High Renais-sance and Baroque architecture has left no influences in the town. San Gimignanos development stopped in the year 1563. The first of the Tuscan Grand Duke Cosimo de Medici ordered that it should not further invest in the city. San Gimignano has remained as it was back then, but this is nowadays it is a magnet for tourism. What I find interesting about the example of San Giminano is the radical decision of building towers as a new typology. It reminded me of an excursion during my Bachelor studies, when we visited a tower house in Lumbrein. It had belonged to the family of Capaul since the 16th century. The tower has been renovated in the seventhies, by Peter

56

Zumthor. It was one of his first projects. On our excursion we could even go inside. I remember that the spaces were amazing, but also very compact. There are lots of staircases, which the inhabitants had to use every day. As I researched more about settlements with towers in the center, I also began to think about Los Angeles. In the sixties the first high rise office complex was built. After that they changed the building regulations so as building height was no longer limited. After these changes there was a building boom of high rise structures. I think this is a good example of a small change in regulations being followed by a huge change in the sky-line of a city.I wanted to introduce new building heights in Planken. Inspired by the surrounding forest I introduced a division of different rings of capacity. The outer ring close to the forest would stay the same, so one can build a detached house with two full stories. The next ring would have a larger number of utilizations, but also with a two story height. The area along the main road I divided into four core zones. In the outer zone one can build three story high vol-umes, in the next zone four, then five and in the center area near the school up to six stories. The result of this intervention will be that the village will grow vertically starting from the outside and ending in the center, where the highest towers construction will take place. This should enable densification while retaining the green spaces. Another reason for my implementing this vertical-ity is that the land is limited but also very expensive. One square meter costs about one thousand Swiss francs. My proposition is very radical, because it changes the whole appearance of Planken, but on the other hand the green spaces can be protected. As I saw in the examples of San Gimignano and Los Angeles it takes courage to come up with something new but it can strengthen the identity of a place. I imagine that Planken would have in the future here and there a wooden tower along the main road. They should be distrib-

57

the towers of san gimignanohttp://www.walksofitaly.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/UNESCO_World_Heritage_Sites_Central_Italy_San_Gimignano.jpg

uted as the fruit trees and the historical buildings are. For me it would be positive to see the new interventions very clearly, the new towers should convey self confidence. The times have changed and the results are new parameters.

58

situationplan today1:10‘000

59

situationplan worst case1:10‘000

60

connections leading to the center1:10‘000

61

situationplan with development1:10‘000

62

living zone 1

core zone

living zone 2

nature zone

fruit trees

hight: 2 stories/ number of utilization: 0.6

hight: 4-5 stories/ number of utilization: 0.8

hight: 2 stories/ number of utilization: 0.5

nature conservation, not buildable

islands in the meadows

zoning plan1:10‘000

63

situationplan with heights1:10‘000

core zone 5

core zone 4

core zone 6

core zone 3

hight: 5 full stories/ number of utilization: 0.8



hight: 3 full stories/ number of utilization 0.5

64

N

65

N

66

67

3 Go upright

68

3.1 Being vertical

If I look at human beings, we have a vertical axis, similar to trees and plants. We also grow in the vertical direction. I know from my girlfriend who is a gardener that plants grow in a clockwise direction. There are only a few exceptions. If I imagine in which direction I would prefer to climb a staircase I would chose to go in the clockwise direction. This feels more natural and was the reason I ordered the rooms in this direction. This decision emphasizes the reference to nature, which was essential for building in the context of Planken. We can easily move in the horizontal area, but as soon as we want to move vertically it becomes a physical effort because of gravity.

“The most important objective property of space is the influence of gravity.” (Arnheim, 1980, p.40)

Verticality and horizontality have psychological properties. The dynamic makes them appearing symbolic. If we look at the symbolic meaning of the verticality, a tower does not only show the dynamic of aspiration towards the untouchable. It stands for the cresting on top of a hill. This is the place of the guard, the keeper and the judge, who presides over good and bad deeds. From below the tower is a dunning from which one can orientate themselves. There is also a sexual element. It is a sin that the tower penetrates into the virginal sky. A simple form with a simple visual expres-sion has a fullness of connotations. (Arnheim, 1980) For the tower house design I wanted to integrate it into the surroundings as much as possible. Therefore I worked with additional parts of the build-ing. For example, the staircases in the upper stories are added on the façade as an additional element. The garage is also adapted; this method is based on the design of the traditional houses. If villagers need more space they simply added another volume onto the house. This solution is simple and functional. Another reason is

69

that it brakes down the straight form into smaller pieces. I think the volume is not perceived as a tower anymore but rather as a tall-er detached house, which reacts to the parameters in Planken. ¬¬

70

3.2 Living vertical

In my design I wanted to highlight the qualities of living in a tower house. So I started with a series of models. First I built a volume with a flat roof, but this looked too urban and abstract. The second model was a building with small additions on the outside and a regular pitched roof. This made sense, but I remembered when Peter Staub told me after the first mid term critic, that I should not end up with a Caminada or Zumthor house. I should find my own language. Therefore I tried a more experimental form with a special roof. I saw potential in this volume because it is close to the traditional but also clearly modern. But as I started to sketch the floor plans I could not find a reasonable inner structure for the shape of the roof. This forced me to take a step backwards and rethink the volume. So I developed the second small model. The first source of information to define the parameters of my design was Planken itself. I was observing the old houses, the Menahaus especially. The houses in Planken often have a stone base for the cellar and the entrance through a staircase outside. It is a tra-ditional “Walserhaus”. This is visible in the floor plans. Near the entrance is the kitchen, with a window to the north. The main liv-ing room and a smaller room are oriented towards the street. In the middle is an old tiled stove, which heats the building. Upstairs are the bedrooms and behind the livable area is a stable. What I found most interesting was the garden which is right next to the house. It is on the west side of the building. Besides the compact garden the rest of the surroundings are meadow. This building is my opinion is specific to Planken. It is very functional but has also lots of nice details, which could have be obtained over their lifetime.With this knowledge I began to roughly define the rooms. The kitchen and dining room should be next to the entrance, in keeping with the functionality of the house. The living room above should to have a nice view and the private rooms should be located in the uppermost

71

part of the building. From the beginning I knew that the target group for this house would be families. The reason for this deci-sion is that single persons are not as attracted to detached house living. So I chose the most realistic case. The natural development is that a family builds a home. After the kids grow up they want to stand on their own feet and move out. The parents often move as well, because it does not make sense to maintain a whole house just for two persons. In my family I see this process at the moment. My two siblings and I grew up in a detached house in Flims. After we all moved out, my parents were thinking about their next step. Their goal is to live in a nice apartment with elevator, where they can spend the next phase of their life. I think it is strange to live in a huge house without kids and it is also an enormous effort to maintain it, especially with a garden. To define the functions and structure of the rooms I imagined the rituals of a family during their daily life, but also the dream house from my own childhood. So first of all there has to be a park-ing space or two next to the house, where the family can also place their sports equipment or winter tires. Next to the garage is the entrance with a porch, there is also a wardrobe and this room has to be dark and narrow. People should feel like they would enter a fox’s burrow. This feeling should be reminiscent of the traditional houses as well as of the natural world. From this room you can go to the kitchen, which leads to the cellar or to the dining hall and is oriented towards the road. I wanted to give weight to the street. This is based on my research about the public life before the planned melioration. I wanted to create a visual contact from the house to the road. What I observed nowadays is that people in general want big windows, to bring in a much light as possible in their home, but on the other hand they want privacy as in a build-ing with small windows. Because they feel disturbed if someone can see into their rooms. This is different in other countries such

72

as Denmark or the Netherlands. The people have rarely curtains on their windows. They do not care if people can see into their living room. I think this phenomenon is strongly based on the culture. But since I wanted to make this peace of architecture as personal as possible I decided to base my decisions on my own taste. In the first story is the living room. This room has a big tiled stove, which heats the whole house. I see it as a positive quality to be able to bring wood inside and heat the dwelling manually. This is differ-ent to living in a city where everything is automatic. This room is used after dining when you want to sit down and relax. It was also important to have a big window in the living room. This room is a little bit more private than the dining room. From there you can walk down to the outside spaces, with is an intimate terrace, where you are sheltered from the railing but also from sheltered by a pergola. There I would place a table and chairs to enable eating outside. The second space is more exposed to the sun and directly connected to the garden and surroundings. Next to this space is the working area, which can be used as a library. It would also be possible to place an additional bedroom there. But I would choose the library because it is close to the outdoors and the room is sealable. You can read a book on the terrace. If you go back to the living room and move upstairs it leads you to the first bedroom, the masters bedroom with its own bathroom. Next to it I would place a bath. This function can be used on the weekends. I imagine that it would be beautiful to lay in the bathtub with this amazing view over nature. One floor above, the bedrooms for the kids are located. They also have a separate bathroom with a shower. Between the rooms is a big area, where they can do their homework or play. This would be the perfect house for myself, but because I do not have kids, I would use the extra bedrooms as a place where I could work or as guest rooms.

73

3.3 Building vertical

After I defined my spatial concept I began to concentrate on the question of best how to construct this house? Firstly I was sure that this building had to be a wooden construction. The reason is that the old buildings fit perfectly into Planken, whereas the newly erected buildings there could belong anywhere. As I visited an exhibition in Chur about architectural photography I saw a movie about Vrin. Gion A. Caminada said that they offer the local wood not for the market price but with a discount for the inhabitants of Vrin. The result is that people prefer to build with wood, be-cause it is available and they can buy it for a good price. I could imagine introducing a similar strategy to Planken. I chose to con-struct the walls with a load bearing wooden multi layer board. The advantage of this approach is that big openings are possible. The plates have to be stiffened with wooden beams. In this layer the insulation is also placed. I chose hay as the insulating material as it is sustainable and has mass because of its weight. The next layer is a wooden soft board, where I would connect the windows. The next layers are the wind barrier and space for air circulation. As a covering I chose wooden shingles because they can be used for rounded shapes and they are characteristic of Planken. The edges of the buildings are slightly rounded to avoid a strong visible edge making the volume softer. It is even easier to apply the shingles this way. I decided to work with two different window types; the regular window is connected in a conventional way, while two spe-cial windows are the exceptions. They are attached to the façade similar to how a brooch works. These windows extend the space from the inside. One window is in the top floor between the bedrooms and the second one is in the living room, where the breast rail can be used as bench. The basement of the tower house is made of two shells of concrete, with insulation in between. For energy sources for the house I chose to work with solar gains and a tiled stove in the middle of the building. Solar energy can be gained freely and

74

firewood is a renewable resource. The floor above the basement works as thermal mass, where the solar heat can be stored. The walls are covered with massive wood and the ceiling is a wooden beam con-struction with lime sandstones on top. This stores the sun energy during the day and releases the heat during the night. I used a similar system in the living room but with an additional wooden floor covering. In the middle of the building I placed a massive core, which is made of lime sandstone. Part of this element is the tiled stove, where the owners can make a fire during the cold of winter. This would be my personal approach for the heating system. What I observe in society is the opposite. People want as much technical devices as possible everything should be controlled and automatic. But while being close to nature as in Planken I would prefer to heat manually. I think it is exciting to cut the wood in the garden and carry it afterwards to the stove to make a fire, and it saves energy in the process. It is definitively more sustainable to reduce the technical components in a building and I think this will be the norm in the future, especially if I think of the oil price and its effects on our environment. I also chose renewable materials for the construction of the house. The wood grows in the region and can be prepared in local firms. The transport costs can be minimalized and wood can be recycled. Before I chose wood I was thinking about why most wealthy people prefer to build with massive materials such as concrete or brick. This is what I have observed during my work experiences in several offices, and if I ask people I know if they could imagine to live in a wooden house, they often say no, because it would be just too much wood. I can imagine that wealthy people think the quality of a massive building is higher. A massive house is comparable to a cave, where the wooden house with its light wall construction is close to a tent. A wooden house has more layers and gives the impression of temporary architecture it is just not as grounded as a massive home. Another problem is the

75

quick changing of the internal climate. A massive construction re-acts more sluggish. I would say that the population in Planken is mostly wealthy. Therefore I integrated as much mass into the wooden tower house as possible. Using hay as the insulation material the walls become very thick. The thicker the wall the more secure the inhabitants feel and the more storage the mass possesses the better the climate in the house will be. For the integration I compared solutions to the wall construction and I chose a variation with less insulation. This means the build-ing process produces less embodied energy, but after I calculated for the heating demand the difference was huge. Instead of needing 10 kWh/m2 a year the second construction needed around double this amount. The u-value changes a lot. And I calculated my construction using triple glazing with a lower g-value on the south and west elevation. The solar gains inside are 12.5 kWh/m2.

76

the apartment tower housesituationsplan 1:10’000, floor plans, sections, elevations 1:200

77

78

5 parking spaces

staircase

staircase

porch

small café

entrance

multi-purpose room

dinning

kitchen

01 02 03 04 05

mailboxes

+0.00

mailboxes

+0.00

01 02 0301 02 03 04 05

cc

+0.00

staircase-4.50



mailboxes



washing


kitchen

saloon-1.50

5 parking spaces

staircase

kitchen


staircase

kitchen

storagedining

staircase

kitchen

storagedining

living room

bedroom

bedroom

+3.00

01 02 0301 02 03 04 05

loggia

+3.20

+3.00

+3.00bedroom



living room

living room

living room

79

5 parking spaces

staircase

staircase

porch

small café

entrance

multi-purpose room

dinning

kitchen

01 02 03 04 05

mailboxes

+0.00

mailboxes

+0.00

01 02 0301 02 03 04 05

cc

+0.00

staircase-4.50



mailboxes



washing


kitchen

saloon-1.50

5 parking spaces

staircase

kitchen


staircase

kitchen

storagedining

staircase

kitchen

storagedining

living room

bedroom

bedroom

+3.00

01 02 0301 02 03 04 05

loggia

+3.20

+3.00

+3.00bedroom



living room

living room

living room

80

staircase

kitchen

+9.00bedroom


balcony

staircase

kitchen

storage dining

+12.00

+12.00

balcony

bedroom

bedroom

living room

bedroom

terace

staircase

bedroom

+6.00

bedroom

bedroom

technical room


storage restaurant

staircase

-3.00

-4.50

stoarge

washing


cellars

81

staircase

kitchen

+9.00bedroom


balcony

staircase

kitchen

storage dining

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balcony

bedroom

bedroom

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terace

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bedroom

bedroom

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staircase

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washing


cellars

82

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kitchen

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balcony

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bedroom

bedroom

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storage restaurant

staircase

-3.00

-4.50

stoarge

washing


cellars

83

staircase

kitchen

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balcony

staircase

kitchen

storage dining

+12.00

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balcony

bedroom

bedroom

living room

bedroom

terace

staircase

bedroom

+6.00

bedroom

bedroom

technical room


storage restaurant

staircase

-3.00

-4.50

stoarge

washing


cellars

84

storage

storage restaurant washingcellars

saloon

terracedining

bedroom

living room

living room

bedroom

dining

storage

saloon

small café

living room

bedroom

bedroom

bedroom

living room

cellarstechnicalinstallations

dining

bedroom

dining

dining

bedroom

85

storage


saloon

terracedining

bedroom

living room

living room

bedroom

dining

storage

saloon

small café

living room

bedroom

bedroom

bedroom

living room


dining

bedroom

dining

dining

bedroom

86

storage


saloon

terracedining

bedroom

living room

living room

bedroom

dining

storage

saloon

small café

living room

bedroom

bedroom

bedroom

living room


dining

bedroom

dining

dining

bedroom

87

88

89


storage

living room


ROOFu-value 0.17-


90

the one family tower housesituationplan 1:10’000, floor plans, sections, elevations 1:200

91

92

entrance+0.00

+0.54dining

+0.18

storage

kitchen

+0.36porch+0.00

storage

N

kitchenentrance

livingroomdinning

mai

lbox

garden

a a

bb

bathroom


storage+0.00garage

+2.70

+3.96

+2.52


terrace

tiled stove

gardenstorage

a a

bb

multi purpose room

lounge area

bedroom

bedroom

storage

+2.34

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bath

a a

bb

bedroom


bedroomstorage

a a

bb

-1.80

-2.34

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storage

washing

washing

wine cellar

technical room

a ab

b

93

entrance+0.00

+0.54dining

+0.18

storage

kitchen

+0.36porch+0.00

storage

N

kitchenentrance

livingroomdinning

mai

lbox

garden

a a

bb

bathroom


storage+0.00garage

+2.70

+3.96

+2.52


terrace

tiled stove

gardenstorage

a a

bb

multi purpose room

lounge area

bedroom

bedroom

storage

+2.34

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living room

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bath

a a

bb

bedroom


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wine cellar

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a a

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94

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bb

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95

entrance+0.00

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kitchenentrance

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bb

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wine cellar

technical room

a a

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96

entrance+0.00

+0.54dining

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storage

kitchen

+0.36porch+0.00

storage

N

kitchenentrance

livingroomdinning

mai

lbox

garden

a a

bb

bathroom


storage+0.00garage

+2.70

+3.96

+2.52


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a a

bb

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storage

bath

a a

bb

bedroom


bedroomstorage

a a

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-2.34

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storage

washing

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technical room

a a

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97

dinnning

kitchen

wine cellar

library/ working

bathroom

bedroombedroom

bath


corridor

showerbedroom

entrancekitchen

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dinnning

kitchen

wine cellar

library/ working

bathroom

bedroombedroom

bath


corridor

showerbedroom

entrancekitchen

99

100

101

102

103


storage

living room


ROOFu-value 0.17-


104

20.00° 20.00°

WASHINGu-value 0.12concrete, monofinish 300 mminterlayerfoam glass filling 400 mmgeotextil

LIVING ROOMtimber plank 40 mmimpact-sound reducing material 20 mmsandstone panels 70 mmwooden beams, spruce 280/80 mm

BEDROOMtimber plank 40 mmimpact-sound reducing material 20 mmklh-slab, spruce 160 mm

OUTSIDE WALLu-value 0.10klh slab, spruce 60 mm(vapour barrier)wooden beam/ insulation, hay 350 mminsulation, pavatherm 80 mm(interlayer)ventilation 40 mmmulti-layer board 24 mmsubconstruction 24 mmshingles, larch 20 mm

BEDROOMtimber plank 40 mmimpact-sound reducing material 20 mmsandstone panels 70 mmwooden beams, spruce 280/80 mm

WINE CELLAR

ROOFu-value 0.12sheet metal roof 5 mminterlayerwoodenpanel 24 mmair circulation 80 mmwaterproofinginsulation 30 mmrafter/ insulation 280 mmklh-slab, spruce 60 mm(vapour barrier)

OUTSIDE WALLu-value 0.16concrete 200 mminsulation 240 mmconcrete 120 mmsealing sheetdimpled membrane

105

20.00° 20.00°

WASHINGu-value 0.12concrete, monofinish 300 mminterlayerfoam glass filling 400 mmgeotextil

LIVING ROOMtimber plank 40 mmimpact-sound reducing material 20 mmsandstone panels 70 mmwooden beams, spruce 280/80 mm

BEDROOMtimber plank 40 mmimpact-sound reducing material 20 mmklh-slab, spruce 160 mm

OUTSIDE WALLu-value 0.10klh slab, spruce 60 mm(vapour barrier)wooden beam/ insulation, hay 350 mminsulation, pavatherm 80 mm(interlayer)ventilation 40 mmmulti-layer board 24 mmsubconstruction 24 mmshingles, larch 20 mm

BEDROOMtimber plank 40 mmimpact-sound reducing material 20 mmsandstone panels 70 mmwooden beams, spruce 280/80 mm

WINE CELLAR

ROOFu-value 0.12sheet metal roof 5 mminterlayerwoodenpanel 24 mmair circulation 80 mmwaterproofinginsulation 30 mmrafter/ insulation 280 mmklh-slab, spruce 60 mm(vapour barrier)

OUTSIDE WALLu-value 0.16concrete 200 mminsulation 240 mmconcrete 120 mmsealing sheetdimpled membrane

106

107

Q_heiz10.9 kWh/m2

Q_soltr12.5 kWh/m2

Q_heiz26.7 kWh/m2

Q_soltr21.3 kWh/m2

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109

4 Zooming in to Planken

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4.1 Generating home

As I walked through Planken, I noticed the details on the detached houses, for instance the lovingly cared for gardens or the decora-tion on the houses. I often saw flowers on the railings or nice carv-ings. In general it is visible that the people enjoy their lives in their homes. The inhabitants invest lots of time making their residences cozier. Items for functional use such as brooms or a bench next to the entrance to sit down while taking off the shoes are bringing life to the small village. I especially liked small interventions along the main road. I think this is a nice quality because I could imagine how life in the village was in former times, when the main road held a big importance for the inhabitants. After the final review when we went up to Planken to showcase our work, one of the locals told me that if he walks along the main road, it takes him at least one hour. Not because he walks so slowly, but because he stops at every second house for a short chat. I think this phenomenon is very sensitive and only possible in a very small village. This is comparable to villages as Vrin in Graubünden, but I would say the difference is that the inhabitants of Planken are more open minded, I think the reason for that is, they are still close to the valley and not as isolated as Vrin. The people in Planken also leave their village every day to go to work.

While considering the interior spaces I made a study of the Villa Müller by Adolf Loos, even though he was against ornamentation, he created very beautiful spaces. He integrated furniture directly into the architecture. So the spaces were very specific to their as-signed use. Another important reference for my design was the work of Rudolf Olgiati. I believe he creates very functional and pleas-ant interiors. How he deals with light was especially important to me. He places the window wherever he wants the light to enter. I would go as far to say that for a dwelling the inside is more sig-nificant than the outside. Therefore it is necessary to design the

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façade from the inside out. What I also liked about the projects of Olgiati were the organic shapes of his staircases. I also adapted his influence into the detached house. Since I was working with a chamber system, I wanted to highlight the fluidity of the rooms. The round staircases were a perfect solution to integrate the movement of the inhabitants as they ascended through the spaces, acting as a compression chamber between different rooms. I wished for the us-ers of the house to move very between the spaces, the stairs should prepare them for the new environment of the next space.

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4.2 Bring back the ornaments

My interest in ornamentation started very early. I have always liked crafting. It grants direct access to your envisioned fantasy and feels like you have the potential to enter a completely differ-ent world. - A world without borders.

Nowadays ornamentation can be seen as historical examples, but also as a critical response to the cold of the functionalism. (SRF Kulturplatz, 2007) Swiss architects especially have searched for the purity and the truth of design by reducing everything. The re-sult was that lots of architects producing “living boxes”. Places with sharp and precise forms and spaces. Mostly white, the colour of pureness, and usually at right angles, the angle of simplicity and risk free. But there are also exceptions, for instance, if I think of Valerio Olgiatis building for Linard Bardillin Scharans. He integrated ornamentation into the framework of concrete walls. The library Herzog and DeMeuron designed is another example. They collaborated with Thomas Ruff, a photographer to wrap the whole façade. The building looks like it has full body tattoos.

As I researched about ornamentation I read the essay of Adolf Loos “ornament and crime”. He wrote the text in the year 1908. He was a radical representative of the new objectivity and was against the style elements of historicism and art nouveau. Loos defined this style as extravagant and fashionably ephemeral. Inspired by the industrialization the new ideals should reflect the modern and pro-gressive society. Art and industry should be strictly separated.

“Evolution of culture is metonymic with the elimination of orna-ments from the implement.” (Loos, 1908)

The logic behind Loos opinion is to save resources as material, production costs, time and workforce. He also points out that the

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exclusion of ornaments is a sign of mental power. Loos was a mod-ernist and his radical essay was one of the reasons why architects began to build straight and clear. It maybe exaggerated but nowa-days I have the impression, based on my experience, that lots of architects follow the simple rules of modernism because they can’t go wrong. But what we see is that building elements become sim-ple, because it is cheaper to produce them simply, it has nothing to do with esthetical statements. I could even go as far to say that the market is designing the building and not the architect. The industrialization process has changed a lot in architecture. Handcrafting skills are becoming lost. And I am also asking myself if people really want to live life in white, sterile and anonymous apartments. One argument is that this should be a timeless and neu-tral design. But most of the people prefer to live in a historic building rather than in a modern box. The reason being is that those buildings transmit warmth and a feeling of security, whereas modern buildings are cold. For my project in Planken I wanted to define several elements of the buildings which are personalized. I want to bring back the ornaments.

Since I decided to heat the tower house with a stove, I wanted to give this element more weight. The stove is integrated with the massive lime sandstone core. To show its importance I introduced the integration of ornaments. The stove will be covered with tiles. These tiles I would also use in the bathrooms. Another layer of ornamentation is to work with colors. This was very difficult in the beginning. But as soon as I adapted the colours directly in the bigger model it got easier. I think it is important to work with colours, because people can identify themselves more in their home, when it becomes more individualized. I chose soft and gentle colours, pastels especially. The bedrooms all have the same colour; light blue. The big bath is blue, the library/ working area dark

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brown. This color should remind the inhabitants of earth. The room is next to the soil, and the tone is quite dark, but if there are the shelves filled with colourful books, the room’s atmosphere will change. The dark brown will highlight the colors of the books. The uppermost bathroom is painted in light yellow. If this is the area for the kids, this seemed to me perfect. It is a happy and fresh colour. The bathroom next to the parent bedroom is painted in dark brown until a certain height. This is more elegant and creates a contrast with the soft and bright bedroom. I only coloured the rooms, which are closable. The open areas as the living room stay a neutral color, as do the circulation spaces. The colour concept is also based on my research about the traditional Appenzellerhaus. They often painted the interiors in certain colors. The massive core can also be viewed as an ornament in the house. It is built with lime stone bricks, which are visible but painted in white. This element guides the visitor through every story of the house. This core is protected from the façade, which covers the building like a dress. As I visited the chapel of Zumthor in Sumvitg, I was fascinated how the shingles follow the round shape of the facade.

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olgiati, las caglias http://image.tomas.travel/laax/repository/LAX00020010001578340/LAX00020010000682614/LAX00020010003429363.jpg

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the tower housephotographs of the model 1:33

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view from the main road

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living room

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living room detail of a bedroom

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dining

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dining living room

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5 Epilog

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5.1 Insights

The advantage of my urban plan strategy is that everybody can keep their plots without losing their value, the only factor I will change is to densify the area along the main road. I think all the people who own a plot would build detached houses. So it would be a task for the community to build an apartment tower for the elderly and young in the center area. It is important that the old people are placed in the core zone, where there is always something go-ing on. The worst thing I could imagine if I where old would be to live somewhere away from the center, because of mobility issues, but also because of lack of social aspects. I did not want to copy any of my references such as San Gimignano or Los Angeles. What I liked was the radicalism in these proposals. I could imagine that the main road will be developed with these wooden tower buildings. A positive quality of this solution is that the green areas can be kept and the identity of Plaken will be reinforced. However the towers’ appearance is very important. They should be integrated as much as possible into their context. They have to be specific to Planken. After this densification I would recommend slowing down the traffic along the main road to thirty kilometers per hour. Mak-ing this area becomes safe for pedestrians. I am very curious as to how the community will proceed and in which direction they will develop. There many people express the wish to live there, so the number of inhabitants will increase continuously. I can safely say that this was my favorite semester at the Univer-sity. It was a success as I was able to improve my way of working. I think it is always possible to produce more, but intellectually I had the feeling that I could not have done more. I enjoyed the work a lot. However after finishing a project I always consider what would I have done differently or how I would continue if I had one month more. I think during my presentation I should have mentioned more clearly that the multi family towers are on a more experimen-tal level. It was not my attention that they should be built one

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day. I wanted to find limits, and see how far I could go. I knew that they were over done but that was also my intention and part of my strategy. For a student project it is extremely important to be visionary and also to stay in the minds of the people. But this aspect was maybe not so readable because the detached house was the opposite, very detailed and more of a realistic approach. If I had more time, I would like to work on the apartment towers and define the center more precisely, with furniture, detailing and so on. But if I think of the timeframe I had, I am very happy with the result. For me the biggest success of my project is without a doubt the single family tower house. I think it shows in a very strong way how the village could deal with densification. If I had a piece of land in Planken I would build it for myself. But it is also clear that it is a very personal design. If I had a client the design may have turned out completely different. But for me it would fit perfectly. I also enjoyed the model building process for this house. I felt like a child again, while positioning the furniture inside, and I could express my intentions very clearly. I decided quite early to build this model because of the complexity of the spaces involved. I could test the rooms with the physical model. A good side effect of this process is that I can now place it in my apartment and it will be a reminder of my thesis project.

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6 Appendix

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Books

Ornament und Verbrechen, Adolf Loos/ Frank Petrasch, Vergangen-heitsverlag, Berlin, 2011

The Dynamics of Architectural Form, a primer to spatial percep-tion by Rudolf Arnheim 1977, Aita Flury, 2008

Elementares zum Raum, Aita Flury/ Roger Boltshauser, Springer Verlag, Wien, 2009

Wolkenkratzer, Andres Lepik, Prestel Verlag, München, 2005

Magazines

trans 18, politics, ETH Zürich, 2011

...zum grossen Entwurf, Andres Herzog, hochparterre 3/2013

Videos

SRF Kulturplatz, Explosion der Formen – Das Ornament feiert ein Comeback in Kunst, Design und Architektur, 24.10.2007 http://www.srf.ch/player/video?id=1233fc96-1863-4de5-92e8-e9ad-27e53c01

6.1 Bibliography

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Internet

Bauordnung Planken, 2008http://iqaluit.advanced.li/Portals/0/docs/Bau/Bauordnung_2008.pdf

Schützenswerte Objekte, Lebensräume und Landschaften innerhalb der Siedlung, Gemeinde Planken, Amt für Wald, Natur und Land-schaft, Vaduzhttp://www.llv.li/pdf-llv-awnl-landsch_planken.pdf

Manfred Wanger, Aus Plankens Vergangenheit, 2013http://www.planken.li/Portals/0/docs/Geschichte/Aus%20Plankens%20Vergangenheit.pdf

Die Palnkner Alpenhttp://www.planken.li/Portals/0/docs/Geschichte/Die%20Plankner%20Alpen.pdf

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I would like to thank the whole team of the University of Liech-tenstein. I always felt that I was in good hands. Especially I give lots of thanks to Conradin Clavuot and Robert Mair for the supervision during the semester. I enjoyed the talks and the inputs always helped me to develop my project. My thanks also go to the inhabitants of Planken, especially the cultural commission. They accommodated me warmly and accessible. I thank my girlfriend Nadja, who helped me with the professional advice for questions related to biodiversity and nature. I also want to thank Gemma Toner for the spell and grammar check. And last but not least my family for their support, they offered me the facilities for building the model and have always believed in me.

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6.3 Declaration

I hereby declare that this thesis is my original work and it has been written by me in its entirely. I have acknowledge all the sources of information which have been used in the thesis.

Date 08.07.2013

signature

copyright© 2013 Anna-Lydia Capaul

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Documents

Masterthesis Anna-Lydia Capaul