Transitlager Münchenstein Study commission

Designed as a depot and warehouse, the transit depot is located in the Dreispitz area, which is to be transformed into a new urban quarter – the Kunstfreilager. Part of this development involves a change in use of the rough transit depot, by converting it to accommodate apartments and commercial units. To this end, the hermetic structure of the transit depot is to be cut open and altered.

The mural facade covering the two long sides is replaced by fanned-out stacked open platforms, placed in front of the glazed basic structure and making the building vertically accessible. This new circulation layer is much like a programmatic screen declaring the transformation from storage depot to residential building. This gesture and the conversion of one of these levels into a public “promenade architecturale” in the sense of a shopping street are intended to help to turn the Dreispitz area into a lively city district.

Additional perforations in the open platform system produce playful lighting effects. The side light entering through the staggered arrangement of the perforations across all the storeys creates a bright and vibrant atmosphere inside. The basic grids of the apartments are defined by the distances between the axes of the existing support spacing. Apartments are designed in an alternating manner to either run through the entire structure lengthways or with one-sided orientation to the south. The basic type of the experimental apartments has a loft-like character. Most of the standard apartments are located in the upper section of the building and profit from views of the landscape in all directions.