Beck Oser Architects

The property at Im Wygärtli is a villa with a large garden, built in 1951. The building features timber-framed ceilings, concrete basement walls, plastered brick interior and exterior walls, and a timber-framed gable roof. The roof's distinctive appearance is highlighted by dormer windows on both long sides. On the west side, a porch, accessible from the kitchen, adjoins the garden wall facing the street, which terminates at the garage.

The most significant conceptual intervention is the frameless, floor-to-ceiling windows cut into the exterior walls on the south and west sides of the ground floor. The aim of the renovation was to extend the experience of the beautiful garden with its mature trees into the interior of the house. The new uses on the ground floor—a fitness room and a studio—are also served by two enlarged windows on the south and east sides. These are offset from the new openings, creating a dynamic and harmonious facade design with both new and existing openings. While the generous glazing on the ground floor appears to blur the boundary between the house and garden, the openings offer surprising views at ground level and intriguing glimpses of local flora and fauna.

The second key spatial intervention concerns the entrance area. By removing some walls and inserting a room divider, the view of the garden is immediately unobstructed upon entering the house. The room divider, with its color contrasting the walls and ceilings, separates the now pleasantly proportioned entrance from the kitchen and houses a shower, toilet, and built-in wardrobes on both sides. Relocating the laundry room to the basement allows the former kitchen to be transformed into a spacious eat-in kitchen.

Original doors with profiled wooden frames, a tiled stove, floors made of wooden planks and clay tiles, and built-in wardrobes with drawings by the painter and author Maria Generosa Christen were preserved or restored. The energy-efficient renovation measures included replacing all windows, insulating the basement, and replacing the electric storage heaters with a wood pellet heating system and heat distribution via radiators.