Abraha Achermann

Atelier Abraha Achermann . photos: © Rasmus Norlander

A listed court house designed by archi­tect Albert Bren­ner (a stu­dent of Gus­tav Gull) dat­ing back to 1906 has been refur­bished and extended. The build­ing and the com­plex as a whole have a newly cre­ated dual­ity which restruc­tures the site, cre­at­ing a direct dia­logue between the exist­ing and the new build­ing. The house-shaped vol­ume of the exten­sion is con­sis­tent in its geo­met­ri­cal, spa­tial and con­struc­tive ref­er­ences to the old build­ing. Its inde­pen­dent mate­ri­al­ity and expres­sion seek to engage with the his­toric build­ing. A ver­ti­cal, slen­der lat­tice­work pat­tern of ceramic strips denotes an autonomous, yet per­cep­ti­ble con­tin­u­a­tion of the mighty gabled roof of the exist­ing struc­ture. The mixed wooden and con­crete con­struc­tion refers to the design iden­tity of the old build­ing in a sub­tle way. It is a mix­ture of wooden beams and hour­dis ceil­ings. A sun­dial set in a large round open­ing with a com­mon social space behind it refines the closed house-shaped con­crete wall that marks the end­ing of the exten­sion.
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