The open competition asked for the design of a cooperative housing development with 54 apartments in the Geissenstein district in Lucerne. The strong urban and typological structure of the existing buildings led to a close engagement with proportions and how to use resources economically. Contrary to the brief, we opted for a substantial preservation of the entire development. The proposed completion entry focused on extending, refining, and reinterpreting the existing buildings through design decisions that respected their fundamental spatial disposition. Building on the existing structures, we propose adding two additional apartment floors and extending the development through adjacent buildings. At ground level, these extensions create generous public passages. On the upper floors, the new volumes link the existing buildings and form a specific residential landscape for family apartments along the meeting points between old and new. To reduce structural load and minimise interventions to the existing fabric, all extensions and rooftop additions are planned as timber constructions.
Team JCFA: Julian C. Fischer, Amos Mauri, Laura Schneider