Neuwil | Metron-Architekten AG
Switzerland | 1962-65 | hard use
« Kallebäck Experimental Housing | Unité d'habitation, Firminy »
| Address: | Wohlen |
| Work Type: | new built |
| Context: | urban periphery |
| Number of Storeys: | 8-storey |
| Type of Building: | tenement / apart. house [detached] |
| Number of Units: | 49 |
Description
Over the years Metron's work has been concerned with buildings that can be adapted to users' needs over time as not only the demands of an occupant change over time, but also those of the market (see also Röthenbach).
The building in Wohlen is an eight storey concrete slab and column construction. Apartments are accessed via a 'rue intérieure' on every third storey. There are single room apartments on the 'rue intérieure' level, as well as the entrances to staircases that leads up or down one storey to larger apartments. One enters these apartments in the centre of the plan. The staircase is part of a freestanding core that also contains the bathroom and a kitchen. To each side of this core spaces of just over 30 m2 can be freely subdivided within the constraints of a 30 by 30 centimetre grid, using any of five types of ready-made wall panels (all five types, 60 or 90cm wide, are stored in a common room in the building). A users’ manual entitled 'Meine Wohnung ist mein Schloß' (My apartment is my castle') was prepared to assist tenants in the process of dividing their spaces. This manual depicted life-cycle scenarios and their spatial implications, together with instructions to assemble wall panels.
The facade consists of one centrally placed fixed wall element and a 60 cm, 120 cm and another 60 cm window panel to either side. The ready-made wall panels can be connected to the window frames and the fixed wall panel, thereby creating room widths between 1,80 metres up to 4.20 metres. The depth of each room is determined by the number of ready-made wall panels used. Whilst the overall size of the apartment can't be changed, the sizes and number of rooms can be changed with great ease, as has happened over the years.
References
'Anpassungsfähige Grundrisse. Überbauung 'Neuwil' in Wohlen AG', Werk, 1966, pp. 41-46.
Kendall, S., and J. Teicher, Residential Open Building, London and New York: E & FN Spon, 2000.
Kurth, H., 'Anpassungsfähige Grundrisse oder anpassungsfähige Mieter? Reportage über das Metron-Haus in Wohlen AG (Neuwil)', Werk, 1970, pp. 409-11.
Kurz, D., ed., Metron : Planen und Bauen 1965-2003, Zürich: gta Verlag, 2003.
Zeller, C., ed., Schweizer Architekturführer Band 2, Zürich: Werk Verlag, 1994.