Life goes on

Continue buil­ding

The concept of buil­ding on has been prac­ticed since the begin­ning of human history. Today it is abso­lutely contem­po­rary, as it fulfills the desire for conti­nuity and demons­trates a prag­matic approach to energy and mate­rials. In the past, the diffi­cult acces­si­bi­lity of mate­rials was the main reason for conti­nuing to build; today, in view of the multiple crises in the world, it is simply neces­sary.

The Upper Swabian town of Inger­kingen near Biberach an der Riß left it open in the compe­ti­tion as to whether the exis­ting multi-purpose hall should be inte­grated into the new concept or make way for a new repla­ce­ment buil­ding. In the imme­diate vici­nity of the elemen­tary school, the musi­cians’ home and the fire depart­ment, the hall was and still is the center of social village life.

In addi­tion to school sports, the multi-purpose hall in Inger­kingen serves as a meeting point, event and trai­ning venue for local clubs. It was built in 1964 accor­ding to plans by Pfalzer and Schenk as a sports and gymna­sium for the adja­cent elemen­tary school to the east. With each conver­sion, however, the buil­ding gradu­ally lost its once remar­kable typo­lo­gical and aesthetic quality.

Perceive

The exis­ting and new buil­dings are distin­gu­is­hable by their cons­truc­tion and mate­rials. The solid exis­ting buil­ding was insu­lated and plas­tered to match the original plaster. The addi­tion and exten­sion in light­weight timber frame cons­truc­tion is made visible with a rear-venti­lated timber façade. The buil­ding history of the hall is told, parti­cu­larly on the west and north façades.

The exis­ting gable wall was extended to the south and built over with two oppo­sing mono­pitch roofs of the exten­sion and the hall roof. To the north, the conti­nuous line between old and new is only sepa­rated by the new door to the sports entrance and a light steel stair­case. The offset of around 12 centi­me­tres, which results from the slimmer wall cons­truc­tion in timber frame cons­truc­tion compared to the extern­ally insu­lated masonry, further shar­pens the plas­ti­city of the buil­ding.

The percep­tion of the wooden façade changes with the view­er’s point of view. The closer the viewer is to the north façade, the more visible the windows behind the wooden slats become. Over time, the untreated wooden façade will turn gray. This natural process will enrich the house because it empha­sizes the wood – in contrast to mineral, metallic buil­ding mate­rials – as an organic buil­ding mate­rial.

Swabia

To save costs, the old hall was gutted by local clubs on a volun­tary basis and the removed sani­tary faci­li­ties and kitchen equip­ment were resold. The strip boar­ding of the former wooden clad­ding of the hall was also given a second life as the façade of a nearby forest hut.

The Swabian thrif­ti­ness fits perfectly with the idea of circular cons­truc­tion: the mate­rial from disused buil­dings does not end up in land­fill or is “ther­mally recy­cled”, but is trans­ferred to a new phase of use. Conse­quently, the plan­ners chose the mate­rials and joints for the refur­bish­ment in such a way that a large propor­tion of the buil­ding mate­rials can be sepa­rated by type and returned to the circular economy in the event of dismant­ling.