Startpage Gallery – Page 3 – Gigon Guyer Architects

Extension of Kunst Museum Winterthur / Beim Stadthaus

The expansion of the Kunst Museum Winterthur / Beim Stadthaus , long planned and now realised in the form of a provisional structure, creates the spatial conditions to not only house temporary exhibitions, but also to be able to permanently present the extensive collection of the Kunstverein.

The new building is connected to the museum spaces of Rittmeyer & Furrer’s existing building by a bridge. The exhibition rooms of the addition are simple, rectangular spaces with sawtooth skylights facing north. By means of a simple grid the basic area measuring approximately 1,000 square metres is divided into spaces that vary in both size and proportion. During the tour through the rooms one enters the individual spaces at different locations, creating the impression for visitors of a subtle, spatial differentiation. Three large windows offer the possibility of an outward glance and orientation. Corresponding to the budget-related industrial-like manner in which the building is constructed and illuminated, the floor plan layout, void of circulation spaces, is also very economical and rational. The single storey nature of the museum allows – besides the illumination of all spaces with zenithal light – a flexible combination of the rooms with the various works of art.

The project aims to avoid a makeshift impression within the exhibition rooms, whilst obeying as far as possible the rules of a temporary structure in terms of design and material qualities. This understanding stipulates a layered, two-ply construction: common, long-lasting and - as far as possible - jointless materials in the interior spaces, and additive, recyclable elements that can be quickly mounted or de-mounted for construction, insulation and cladding. Hence, the interior of the building is largely built as a solid into the load-bearing, lightweight steel construction. Gypsum masonry forms large-surface, jointless walls, and a poured, floating granolithic concrete floor serves to accommodate heavy loads.

The building is insulated with standardised, steel sheet C-profiles filled with insulation batts. The C-profiles are mounted between the vertical members of the steel construction. The underside of the museum floor and the facades are insulated with these galvanised, perforated panels. They are protected from the weather by sheets of galvanised metal on the roof and vertical rows of glass profiles on the facades. The same glass profiles, set apart with open joints in between, serve on the ground floor to illuminate and ventilate the parking spaces, while they simultaneously “ground” the museum building, which seemingly hovers above the garage.

Location Winterthur, Switzerland

Programme 9 exhibition spaces, connection to the existing museum by a bridge, parking space on the open ground floor

Competition 1993, 1st Prize

Planning/Construction 1994–1995

Client Kunstverein Winterthur

Gross Floor Area 2'364 m2

Team GG Planning/Construction: Michael Widrig (Project Manager), Stefan Gasser
Competition: Michael Widrig

Structural Engineer Branger & Conzett AG, Chur

Building Services Engineer Waldhauser Haustechnik AG, Basel

Daylighting Consultant Institut für Tageslichttechnik Stuttgart, Germany

Lighting Consultant Lichtdesign Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH, Cologne, Germany

Photos © Heinrich Helfenstein

Awards Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture – Finalist, 1997

Davos Sports Center
Converted into: Davos Tourism and Sports Center

The sports center replaces the wooden ice-rink building from the Davos architect Rudolf Gaberel, which fell victim to fire in 1991. Like its predecessor, the new building bounds the field of the racing ice rink or the sports facilities to the north, respectively, and defines the rear arrival space.

The building volumes react differently with regard to these two outdoor spaces: with a two-story projecting grandstand bordering the ice field that is permeable to light, air and vistas, and with a one-story, compact projection towards the arrival side. A plethora of varying uses are densely and efficiently united in the prismatic building volume: a large dressing room, restaurants, a kitchen, offices, a garage for the ice-rink machine, sports medicine rooms, club dressing rooms, an apartment and guest rooms for seminar visitors.

The narrow grandstand is spatially and functionally related to the neighboring public spaces of the restaurant and the large dressing room. It shades its large glazing areas like a brise-soleil. Beyond its actual function, the grandstand itself is used by visitors as a balcony for enjoying the panorama, the fresh air and for sunbathing. The pillars of the grandstand are made of concrete. They allow the constructive assembly of the entire building to be recognized on the outside—a concrete building that is clad or left unclad depending upon the usage at hand. On the exterior, a two-layered, wooden façade cladding—similar to two superimposed wooden fences—envelops the insulated building volume. The railings, the sliding window shutters and even the windows are developed from this constructive principle of the façade. The inner sheathing of the façade cladding in planed pine is painted in color, while the outer sheathing layer, which is mounted and distanced by horizontal steel profiles, is made of rough-grade larch wood.

The changes in coloration of the unfinished wood caused by the weather contrast with the colorfulness of the paint on the inner façade layer. While the coat of paint should protect the inner sheathing and the windows, it should especially reflect the colorful world of sports. In collaboration with the artist Adrian Schiess, three colors were chosen for the façade that spread out in large areas across the sides of the building—tones of coloration in a light orange, a complementary blue and a glowing yellow.

A color palette extended by six additional hues—dark blue, raspberry, white, apricot, light green and turquoise—continues and heightens the colorfulness of the building in its interior spaces. Wooden elements—window frames, doors as well as wall and ceiling panels for acoustical absorption and the cladding of ventilation and electrical services—are the exclusive carriers of color. They stand in contrast to the concrete walls of the load-bearing construction that are left unfinished or are plastered.

The interior as well as exterior signage of the building is painted in large scale directly on the building parts, similar to the printed logos and numbers of sports clothing. This is also the case with the “Davos” sign on the front façade, which is to publicize this vacation sports place on future postcards and victory photographs.

Location Davos, Switzerland

Programme Sports Center with a two storey grandstand bordering the ice rink; Ground floor: entrance hall, restaurant, kitchen, large public dressing room, offices, garage, terrace
First floor: club dressing rooms, sports medicine rooms, lobby, seminar rooms, offices, apartment, self-service restaurant and grandstand
Second floor: guest rooms seminar visitors, recreation rooms, showers/toilettes, drying rooms

Competition 1992, 1st Prize

Planning/Construction 1993–1996 / 2007–2009

Client Kur- und Verkehrsverein, Davos

Gross Floor Area 3'955 m2

Team GG Remodeling Tourism and Davos Sports Center:
Markus Seiler (Project Manager), Kristin Sasama
Davos Sports Center:
Planning/Construction: Raphael Frei, David Leuthold
Competition: Raphael Frei, Judith Brändle, Rina Plangger

Site Management Annette Gigon / Mike Guyer Architects, Zurich with Othmar Brügger, Davos

Structural Engineer Construction: DIAG Davoser Ingenieure AG, Davos
Grandstand: Branger + Conzett AG, Chur
Competition: Aerni + Aerni Ingenieure AG, Zurich

Signage Trix Wetter, Zurich

Colours Adrian Schiess, Zurich and Mouans-Sartoux, France

Photos © Heinrich Helfenstein
© Joël Tettamanti

Awards Auszeichnung gute Bauten Graubünden 2001

Rosau Office Building

The new L-shaped office building opposite the Tonhalle on the corner of Gotthardstrasse and Claridenstrasse is integrated into the perimeter block structure along Claridenstrasse and tapers in width towards the lake. Villa Rosau and its surrounding gardens remain true to their historical conception. The green area forms a twin garden with the park of the Hotel Baur au Lac on the opposite side of the Schanzengraben canal. The newbuild marks the westerly end of the two gardens, whose beautiful trees border the public square Bürkliplatz.

The parks of Villa Rosau and Hotel Baur au Lac on Lake Zurich bear important witness to the history of the city’s expansion. The gardens flow around the villa and the new building so that the perimeter block development and the freestanding villa in the park form a coherent ensemble. The convergence of architectural and organic garden design also reinforces the organization of the green space into different zones.

New Rosau Office Building

The new five-storey building provides a prestigious location for an international reinsurance company. Main access is from Claridenstrasse, with a spacious entrance hall and staff restaurant, as well as conference rooms on the ground floor. The four floors above house open plan offices, which are connected by three major staircases. The top floor is set back, creating ample terraces on both sides. At the southern end, the boardroom offers vistas across the lake.

The vehicle access divides the ground floor into two separate areas and grants a view from the street to the garden. A public bar and grill are situated at the street corner. The underground parking is accessed from Gotthardstrasse, as are further offices that can be sublet on the upper floors. The upper floors of the wing facing Schanzengraben accommodate two apartments.

The structure is a skeleton frame with recessed columns, braced by centrally located concrete circulation cores. Vertical and horizontal profiles of architectural bronze arranged in varying rhythms articulate the façade. They take up, on a larger scale and with greater geometric regularity, the existing ornamental wrought-iron fences surrounding the gardens.

Location Zurich, Switzerland

Programme Office building with 470 workingplaces, staff restaurant, meeting rooms, gastronomie, two apartments, underground parking

Commission 2008

Planning/Construction 2008–2020

Client Client basic fitout: Villa Rosau AG, Zurich
Client’s representative: Conarenco AG, Zurich
Client tenant fitout: SCOR Services Switzerland AG, Zurich

Gross Floor Area 17‘810 m2

Team GG Planning/Construction Office Building 2010–2020:
Christian Maggioni (Team Manager from 11/2012), Mathias Rösner (Project Manager from 2011), Michael Winklmann (Team Manager until 10/2012), Martin Bischofberger (Project Manager until 2010), Marco Cristuzzi, Franzis Gericks, Lilla Kis, Lisa Menje, Roman Vetterli, Rodrigo Jorge, Christoph Lay, Milica Brockmann, Christoph Dober, Brigitte Rüdel, Griet Aesaert
Planning Residential/Office Buiding 2008–2009:
Michael Winklmann (Team Manager), Christoph Justies (Project Manager), Mark Zjörjen, Christoph Dober, Cornelia Schmidt, Karin Schultze

Site Management b+p baurealisation ag, Zurich

Landscape Architecture Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten, Zurich

Structural Engineer Locher Bauingenieure AG, Zurich

Electrical Engineer IGB B. Graf AG, St.Gallen

Building Services Engineer Gruenberg + Partner AG, Zurich

Building Physics Engineer Kopitsis Bauphysik AG, Wohlen

Fire Safety Makiol+Wiederkehr, Beinwil am See

Facade gkp fassadentechnik ag, Aadorf

Interior Design Tenant fit-out Scor and Apartments: Gigon/Guyer Architekten, Zurich
Scor Furnishing: Ina Rinderknecht Interior Architecture AG, Erlenbach
Grill/Bar: Gigon/Guyer Architekten with Atelier Zürich

Signage Trix Wetter, Zurich (Gate, Villa Rosau)

Photos © Roman Keller

Address Glärnischstrasse / Claridenstrasse, CH – 8002 Zurich

Refurbishment of Villa Rosau

In the course of the project for the new office building, Villa Rosau was completely refurbished. The historical villa was constructed by the architect Ferdinand Stadler in 1844/45 for residential use. As most of its original substance was lost during previous remodelling, conservation efforts were concentrated on the building envelope. It was thoroughly renovated and in places restored to original condition. Furthermore, the building received a new structural foundation, while the former spatial arrangement was rebuilt from scratch. The villa houses the Club Baur au Lac and comprises a semi-public bar and restaurant on the ground floor with meeting rooms, a fireplace lounge and offices on the upper floors.

Location Zurich, Switzerland

Programme Club Baur-au-Lac, lounge, restaurant, kitchen, seminar rooms, offices

Commission 2009

Planning/Construction 2009–2020

Client Basic construction: Villa Rosau AG, Zurich
Client’s Representative: Conarenco AG, Zurich

Gross Floor Area 2‘104 m2

Team GG Christian Maggioni (Team Manager from 11/2012), Mathias Rösner (Project Manager from 2011), Michael Winklmann (Team Manager until 10/2012), Martin Bischofberger (Project Manager until 2010), Roman Vetterli, Christoph Dober, Karla Pilz, Griet Aesaert, Daniel Friedmann

Site Management b+p baurealisation ag, Zurich

Landscape Architecture Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten, Zurich

Structural Engineer Locher Bauingenieure AG, Zurich

Electrical Engineer IGB B. Graf AG, St.Gallen

Building Services Engineer Gruenberg + Partner AG, Zurich

Building Physics Engineer Kopitsis Bauphysik AG, Wohlen

Fire Safety Makiol+Wiederkehr, Beinwil am See

Interior Design Club Baur-au-Lac: Atelier Zürich

Photos © Roman Keller

Villa Rosau in its original form, around 1850

Hotel and Office Building – Greencity

The mixed-use district Greencity, based on the principles of the 2000-watt society*, is under development on the former industrial site Sihlpapier Manegg in southern Zürich. Situated between the railroad tracks and the motorway, the seven-storey hotel and office building together with its eleven-storey neighbours forms the head of the new district facing the city centre. This ensemble frames a public courtyard, adjoining the elongated Maneggplatz. The oblong, lower building faces the tracks and street to the west as well as the courtyard. The latter is widened to piazza-like proportions by a tapering of the volume towards the north. Three covered recesses lead to the entrance halls of the different occupants. On the façades, overlapping horizontal and vertical elements of brown anodized sheet aluminium alternate with wood/metal windows and slender ventilation flaps. Depending on the point of view, openings and cladding, structure and envelope interpenetrate.

The international design competition for the site was based on a preliminary plan that stipulated tall building volumes next to the motorway for offices and services. Gigon / Guyer’s urban design was awarded first prize and further development was split between two architecture firms.

The present project was initially planned exclusively as office space, and in a second phase, exclusively for hotel use. The uses are now combined: one-third office space, two-thirds hotel. The office space occupies the southern part of the upper floors and includes a lobby, staircase and lift core. The ground floor here houses a day-care centre with a separate entrance. The hotel reception welcomes guests on the street side, whereas the breakfast room and bar face the courtyard.

A load-bearing skeleton of concrete columns, floor slabs and cores allows for various uses. The façade reflects the flexible partition grid of the floors as well as the construction, but at the same time this is overridden by the subtle offsets of the cladding, window frames and ventilation flaps between storeys. The tilting of the metal profiles contributes to multiple readings of the façade – creating impressions that are suitable both for the offices and the hotel.

In accordance with the core-and-shell model, hotel and office tenants fit out their own spaces. However, lobbies, staircases and lift cores, connecting outside and inside, lower and upper floors, are coherent in appearance: polished concrete flooring echoes the load-bearing structure, while dark brown metal surfaces refer to the building envelope.

* Up to 2000 people will live in Greencity, 3000 will work or study there. Among the goals are a commitment to mostly renewable energy sources, eco-friendly mobility thanks to the central suburban railway station, numerous bicycle parking spaces and open, car-free spaces in the district.

The ambitious energy specifications are met by the building through the use of geothermal heating, insulation layers of 20–24 cm, as well as photovoltaic panels on the roof. In the office spaces, heating and cooling ceiling elements, which also include ventilation inlets, provide efficient distribution. Exhaust air is centrally extracted at the cores. The hotel rooms are heated and cooled with pipes embedded in the ceiling rendering; the air ducts are installed above the prefabricated bathrooms. These and other measures ensure that the building can be LEED Platinum certified.

Location Zurich, Switzerland

Programme 7-storey hotel and office building, day-care centre, hotel with 174 rooms, 594 beds (Core and Shell: Gigon/Guyer, Interior fit-out: tenants), underground parking

Competition 2012, 1st Prize

Planning/Construction 2016–2021

Client Client: Losinger Marazzi AG, Zurich
Owner: Credit Suisse Anlagestiftung, Zurich

Gross Floor Area 16‘505 m2

Team GG Planning/Construction: Christian Maggioni (Team Manager 01/2015–), Barbara Schlauri (Team Manager –12/2014), Damien Andenmatten (Project Manager), Chiara Giovanola
Competition: Michael Winklmann (Team Manager 08/2012), Stefan Thommen (Team Manager –07/2012), Karla Pilz, Thomas Möckel, Lena Ehringhaus, Natalie Koerner

Site Management Losinger Marazzi AG, Zurich

Total Contractor Losinger Marazzi AG, Zurich

Landscape Architecture Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten, Zurich

Structural Engineer Wismer + Partner AG, Rotkreuz

Electrical Engineer IBG B. Graf AG Engineering, Baar

Building Services Engineer Balzer Ingenieure AG, Winterthur

Building Physics Engineer Gartenmann Engineering AG, Zurich

Fire Safety Gruner AG, Zurich

Photos © Seraina Wirz

Typical floor plan / Longitudinal section

FILM

Auditorium, University of Zurich

A new, large auditorium that seats 500 people was constructed under the terrace on the valley side of the university building designed by Karl Moser in 1913/1914. The space serves both as a new auditorium and a second assembly hall. On weekends and during semester breaks it can also function as a conference hall for third-party rentals.

The auditorium is accessed via the former sculpture gallery on the ground floor. This space was previously used as an institute library and can be directly approached from outside and inside the university. The open gallery now functions as a lobby, with stairs in the alcoves of the vaulting leading down to the auditorium. Another wheelchair-accessible entrance and an elevator are located on the cafeteria side of the building.

Inside the auditorium the walls and ceiling are faced with colored panels, analogous to the spirit of the original interior design of the Moser building. The panels provide acoustic absorption and cladding for ventilation and electrical services. The artist Adrian Schiess designed the color scheme for the auditorium, consisting of light and dark pink, as well as tones of light blue and gray-green. To emphasize the festive quality of the space, the glass of the interpreters’ booths is printed with golden reflective patterns.

A skylight above the white projection wall provides the space underneath with daylight. Outside, both the raised skylight and a pool centered on the terrace indicate the presence of the auditorium below. The strong color of the basin contradicts conventional expectations of a natural green, which is used for the ponds in the neighboring gardens of the university. The basin with its reflective surface and artificial color resembles an independent, horizontal sculpture.

The walls facing the Künstlergasse consist of concrete poured in successive layers of various hues, from dark to light, which also references the ‘spacecontaining’ nature of the base. The top layers of the wall are only faintly pigmented, and the concrete surface of the terrace and the concrete rim of the basin are left in their natural tone. These thus form a contrast with the pure, strong color of the basin.

Location Zurich, Switzerland

Programme Underground auditorium with 500 seats, projection space, storage and technical spaces
remodelling existing lobby on the ground floor as access to the auditorium; coloured water basin on the terrace above the auditorium hall

Commission 1996

Planning/Construction 1996–2002

Client Building Office of Canton Zurich

Gross Floor Area 2‘545 m2

Team GG Christian Brunner (Project Manager), Stefan Gasser, Michael Bucher

Site Management Annette Gigon / Mike Guyer Architekten, Zurich
Collaborator: Thomas Hochstrasser

Landscape Architecture Hager Landschaftsarchitektur AG, Zurich

Cost Planning/Scheduling Othmar Brügger, Davos

Structural Engineer SKS Ingenieure AG, Zurich

Colours Adrian Schiess, Zurich and Mouans-Sartoux, France

Photos © Heinrich Helfenstein © Gigon/Guyer

2002 on completion of the auditorium and terrace

Pigmented concrete walls facing the Künstlergasse

Swiss Museum of Transport – Entrance Building

The current project is based on the 1999 competition. At that time the brief represented an urban design vision for the gradual renovation of the museum complex with its various buildings exhibiting the different modes of transport, as well as a new building for the Road Transport Hall. During the first construction phase (2005–09) a new Entrance Building (FutureCom) was built in addition to the replacement of the Road Transport Hall. This urban design strategy enabled the creation of a central open courtyard (Arena), which in the new scheme will remain undeveloped, creating a setting for temporary, themed exhibitions as well as space for young visitors to run around and play.

The new Entrance Building forms a bridge-like link between the existing buildings on Lidostrasse (the Filmtheater, the Rail Transport Hall, and the high-rise with adjacent planetarium). The ticket office, shop area, and two restaurants are located on the ground floor – one restaurant offers table service and opens toward the lake, the other is conceived as a self-service restaurant that stretches out with fingers into the Arena. The exhibition areas for communication media, the new entrance to the Planetarium, and also the building services area are found on the first floor. The second floor accommodates the conference area, with a conference hall that seats 500 guests, a generous foyer, and three smaller meeting rooms. A large opening in the ceiling of the entrance hall affords views through the entire building – into the exhibition level and all the way up to the conference level.

The glass façades that provide protection from the elements also form more or less transparent “display cases” for all kinds of wheels, propellers, wheel rims, turbines, cogs, steering wheels, etc. These mechanical parts are densely hung on grids in front of the thermal insulation, shining and glinting through the blue-green glass panes of the façade. Seen at an angle, they submerge again behind the glass. Like a trophy display, the omnium-gatherum of recycled and dusted-off used metal together with pieces from the museum’s collection pays homage to the wheel as a basic element of mechanical movement.

Location Lucerne, Switzerland

Programme Entrance Building to the museum complex, bridge-like link between the existing buildings; reception, shops, restaurants, exhibition spaces, conference area, conference hall 500 seats

Competition 1999, 1st Prize

Planning/Construction 2005–2009

Client Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne

Gross Floor Area 7'181 m2

Team GG Caspar Bresch (Team and Project Manager), Mark Ziörjen, Damien Andenmatten, Gaby Kägi, Gilbert Isermann

Total Contractor Karl Steiner AG, Lucerne

Landscape Architecture Schweingruber Zulauf Landschaftsarchitekten, Zurich

Structural Engineer Henauer Gugler AG, Lucerne

Electrical Engineer Scherler AG, Lucerne

Building Services Engineer Wirthensohn AG, Lucerne

Exhibition Design Consultants: Lars Müller, Baden and Peter Regli, Zurich

Photos © Heinrich Helfenstein

Address Lidostrasse 5, CH – 6006 Lucerne

Awards Auszeichnung guter Baukultur Kanton Luzern 2005–2016, Anerkennung

Résidence du Pré-Babel

The construction of apartment blocks of varying heights and different standards on the former Pré-Babel sportsground and park site pursues the idea of concentrated interventions, aimed at retaining as much open green space around and between the buildings as possible.

The first building phase, Pré-Babel, comprised three apartment blocks 1, 2, and 3 with three stories each, offering a total of twenty-eight condominiums for the high-end market segment. For the second phase, Résidence du Parc de Grange-Canal, three taller buildings with standard apartments were planned, also including subsidized housing in accordance with a special stipulation in Geneva’s building regulations. Finding a common architectural language and similar housing typology for all three categories was one of the challenges in developing this park site.

The siting and shape of the buildings create external spaces that are either dotted with trees or left open as lawns. Each apartment type benefits from windows on three or four sides, with views of the expanses of lawn and groups of trees in the park.

The access paths to the buildings 1, 2, and 3 wind through the park and lead to slightly sunken entrance areas. To keep traffic away from the park, the driveways to the garages run underneath it. The entrance hall can be accessed both from the park and directly from the garage. Polished chrome steel parapets open up this space optically, as does the light gray flooring of terrazzo and cast stone incorporating marble chips. The front doors to the apartments are made of dark oak with an equally wide illumination panel to one side. Exposed concrete walls form a contrast to the refined materials used in the staircases to lend the whole an appropriate everyday quality.

The naturally-lit staircases provide access to two or three apartments and one studio on each floor. The apartments have spacious floor plans and a generous ceiling height of 2.7 meters. From each apartment’s entrance area, the space is divided into two main zones: a daytime area with kitchen, dining room, living room, and study, and a nighttime area consisting of bedrooms with connecting bathrooms and dressing rooms. Each unit has a covered balcony and an additional winter garden. One apartment on the top floor of each building has its own private access to the large roof terrace with pavilions.

The building volumes with their composition of horizontal and vertical prefabricated concrete elements are almost classical in appearance. Horizontal gray bands are combined with yellow vertical elements of varying widths, which reference the coloring of the sandstone buildings in Geneva. Sliding windows with aluminium frames alternate with the yellow concrete elements. Reflective glass parapets intensify the play of mirrored trees in the windows and also amplify the impression of the façades forming a ‘geometric fabric interwoven with silver strands.’

Location Geneva, Switzerland

Programme Three residential buildings with 24 individually owned apartments in total (3–7 room apartments with 132–339 m2), 4 studios, underground parking with 60 parking spaces

Competition 2004, 1st Prize

Planning/Construction 2004–2008

Client Frontimmo SA, Chêne-Bougeries, Geneva

Gross Floor Area 11‘053 m2

Team GG Planning/Construction: Gilles Dafflon (Project Manager), Matthias Clivio, Christine Jahn, Andréanne Pochon, Pieter Rabijns, Katja Schubert, Michael Wagner
Competition: Gilles Dafflon, Katja Schubert

Site Management Roberto Carella Architectes, Geneva

Landscape Architecture Schweingruber Zulauf Landschaftsarchitekten, Zurich

Structural Engineer Fiechter Ingénierie SA, Chêne-Bourg

Electrical Engineer ECE SA, Bernex

Building Services Engineer Ryser Eco Sàrl, Genf and Mike Humbert, Geneva

Kirchner Museum Davos

Publications about the Kirchner Museum Davos
national press / specialist press since 1991 (PDF Download)
international press / specialist press since 1991 (PDF Download)

The main objective of the design was to create exhibition space for the art of E.L. Kirchner which should neither compete with Kirchner’s work nor unduly heighten it.
The four exhibition rooms on the entrance level of the museum have therefore been designed with great restraint. The white walls, the oak parquet flooring and the wall-to-wall glass ceiling form a simple cube, which is comparable in its spatial effect to the exhibition rooms of the turn of the century.

The daylight enters sideways, into the large overhead lighting spaces (skylights). Then it comes from above, through the etched glass ceiling, into the exhibition rooms. (This skylight solution prevents daylight being blocked out by snow - Davos is at a height of 4921 ft.) For use at night the large overhead lighting spaces above the exhibition rooms also contain the entire artificial lighting system.

The space between the cube-shaped exhibition rooms, constructed in fair-faced concrete, forms the entrance hall. Walking through the museum, visitors will keep returning to this hall, from where one has a view of the surrounding park, the road, the landscape and the town of Davos: all of them objects of Kirchner’s painting.

The museum is clad with a glass facade consisting of a variety of transparent, matt and polished glass. The glass-cladding plays and works with the clear, brilliant alpine light. Depending on the different functions of the glass – bringing light into the building and ensuring visibility – its finish differs: clear and mirror-smooth in the entrance hall to allow a view of the exterior, matt in the skylights to diffuse the incoming light, and matt and profiled as a translucent facade cladding to cover the thermal insulation on the concrete walls. A layer of recycled glass fragments on the roof replays the usual gravel, showing the last and transitory ‘finish’ of glass.

The high cubes of the exhibition rooms are located freely within the park between the old trees. At the same time, the layout reflects the settlement structure of Davos town, with its random placement of detached flat-roofed buildings.

Location Davos, Switzerland

Programme 4 exhibition spaces, connecting entrance hall, teaching room, library, conference room, offices, workshops, storage

Competition 1989, 1st Prize

Planning/Construction 1990–1992

Client Kirchner Stiftung Davos

Gross Floor Area 2‘208 m2

Team GG Annette Gigon, Mike Guyer, Judith Brändle, Raphael Frei

Site Management Annette Gigon / Mike Guyer Architects, Zurich
Mitarbeit: Urs Schneider

Landscape Architecture Roland Raderschall Landschaftsarchitekten AG, Meilen

Structural Engineer Preliminary Design: Aerni + Aerni Ingenieure AG, Zurich
DIAG Davoser Ingenieure AG, Davos

Electrical Engineer K. Frischknecht AG, Chur

Building Services Engineer 3-Plan Haustechnik AG, Winterthur

Lighting Consultant Institut für Tageslichttechnik Stuttgart, Germany

Signage Lars Müller, Baden

Awards Tageslicht-Award der Velux Stiftung, 2012
Auszeichnung «Bauen in den Bergen» Sexten Kultur, 1995
Auszeichnung guter Bauten des Kantons Graubünden, 1995

Fondazione Marguerite Arp

The impressive site in a district in Solduno consisting largely of small single-family houses includes both a large, extremely steep slope that extends to the edge of the woods on the hill above and also a slightly raised, level area with some fine mature trees. The former house of the artist Hans Arp and his second wife Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach – today the seat of the Fondazione Marguerite Arp Hagenbach – is an L-shaped building that stands in the flat south-eastern area, whereas the new building is at the western edge of the plot. Both buildings lie at the foot of the hill; between them stretches a picturesque garden with tall, dark trees.

Due, on the one hand, to the potential threat of falling rocks and landslides posed to the depot by the steep slope at the rear and the climatic conditions in the warm region of Ticino on the other, this small building is very robustly constructed and well insulated. The load-bearing structure is of reinforced concrete and the external walls are made of two layers of concrete. The entrance and the two windows face away from the slope. Above the openings areas of the concrete facade project outwards and protect them. Double windows with sun blinds in the naturally ventilated space between the inner and outer window facilitate the regulation of natural light in all wind conditions.

The two-storey new building contains depots and work spaces at street level and an exhibition space for the artworks of the collection on the first floor. A straight-flight stairs and a lift lead to the upper level. The simple, rectangular exhibition space has white walls and a concrete floor and is lit by artificial light as well as by a generously dimensioned window that also offers visitors a view of the garden in the direction of the artist’s house.

fondazionearp.ch