EMV AVA Altenrhein

Architect：Lukas Imhof Architektur GmbH

Location：Altenrhein, Switzerland; | ;View Map

Project Year：2019

Category：Pump stations

Our strategy does not rely on contrasts or confrontation between old and new. Rather, we tried to seek out the qualities of the existing, strengthen them and develop them further in a new form. Qualities of the existing building stock are, for example, approaches to uniformity, an almost urban quality of the spaces and a solid execution of the buildings.

This strategy aims to ensure that not just a nice new building is placed next to an unattractive old building, but that the old and the new communicate with each other, and in the best case even enrich each other. The result can be seen, for example, in the opposite of the new EMV building and the old building from the 1970ies, directly opposite: both buildings design "moved towards each other". The existing building has been given a dark grey-brown coat of paint under its exposed concrete roof, which corresponds to the pre-grey wooden facade of the new building. The new building, in turn, has a concrete finish above its wooden façade, which corresponds to that of its neighbour in terms of height, but has been made finer and profiled with a canopy. Thus these two buildings, which are directly opposite each other, become unequal siblings - but together they span a square with a certain spatial quality and a uniform setting.

1. Upper Parts of the Facade: Wood, pre-greyed

2. Lower Parts of the Facade: Concrete

3. Roof: Steel, Concrete

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