BRUCHler
Conceived in 1936 as social housing, the development disguised apartments within a terraced-house typology, echoing the wealthier steelwork engineers’ residences. Recently, the municipality reclassified these dwellings as single-family houses. This rezoning abruptly ended speculation and allowed a young artist couple to acquire a central unit that preserved many of the original modern features of the 1930s: naturally ventilated “fridges,” original floors and doors, built-in furniture, and more. Together with the couple, efforts were initiated to have the building listed as heritage with the national institute.
The project focused on carefully repairing the original fabric while subtly adapting the spatial sequence to contemporary urban life. On each floor, the central partition wall was removed, leaving its imprint visible on floor and ceiling.
On the ground floor, the former living room was transformed into a kitchen: the built-in furniture was repurposed as part of a fully equipped modern layout, which now opens onto the garden through a newly installed folding sliding door, respecting the original window proportions.
The terrace defies the neo-modernist rectangle; instead, its design takes on the ergonomic forms of sitting, reclining, and descending into the garden. Shaped like a rock, it introduces a piece of artificial nature into the landscape of domestic gardens.
In the attic, an antichambre replaces the corridor: a large library distributes access to the couple’s two studios, hidden behind secret doors.
Images by Ludmilla Cerveny
