Chesa Via Principela No 19

Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser

CHESA VIA PRINCIPELA NO 19

Salome Gutscher Architektur + Lukas Lenherr Architektur

CATEGORY
Gallery, Houses

LOCATION
Madulain, Switzerland

KITCHEN
Fried AG

ARCHITECTS
Lukas Lenherr Architektur, Salome Gutscher Architektur

PHOTOGRAPHS
Florian Amoser

YEAR
2020

MANUFACTURERS
Burgundy 18th century, Fried AG, ROCCA + HOTZ

CONSTRUCTOR
ROCCA + HOTZ

ARCHITECT
Salome Gutscher, Lukas Lenherr

COUNTRY
Switzerland

CERAMICS
Gabriele Nani

FLOORS
Fried AG

PAINTER
Malergeschäft Marcello Del Curto

CITY
Madulain

A listed Engadine farmhouse from the 16th century was to be spatially adapted to the new requirements and technically equipped for the future.

The historic building ensemble with its residential and economic part housed, among other things, a horse changing station for the Albula Post, several generations of a farming family, and, for a short time, the village shop.

Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser
Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser
Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser
Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser

With the constantly changing uses and needs, the house has been subjected to countless structural and spatial adjustments over the centuries. After the renovation, the typical rooms, the “Sulèr” entrance room and the vaulted room of the kitchen, reappear in their original form.

Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser
Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser

Today, like a large piece of pine furniture, the core with the guest bathroom stands in the middle of the “liberated” entrance area and deliberately next to the old structure.

A layer of floor-to-ceiling cabinets surrounds the bathroom and offers the desired storage space that can be used differently from all sides.

Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser
Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser

An alcove, a workbench, a long bench, the built-in washing machine, and the refrigerator fill the surrounding space and bring it closer to its original form of a multifunctional hall, the Sulèr.

The special geometry of the installation allows surprising views in a simple way and at the same time allows the afternoon light to penetrate deeper into the room.

Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser
Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser

The installation keeps a respectful distance from the massive, white walls with the various niches and original pine doors.

Statically relevant larch posts and transoms and a massive wooden wall that emerged structure the space today "as found" and their presence encourages the new fixtures to enter into a dialogue.

Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser
Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser

In accordance with the logic of honest and timeless materials and in addition to the local Engadine stone pine and clay slabs, black steel was chosen for the kitchen.

Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser
Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser

All three materials are indestructible and yet raw and lively. Their imperfect surfaces are allowed to age and thus keep the traces of time for the next generations.

Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser
Chesa Via Principela No 19
© Florian Amoser

Like an archaic machine, the black kitchen is reminiscent of smoke kitchens, stovepipes, and cast-iron pans. Sufficiency, dismantling, economic construction, and natural untreated materials are fundamental components of the approach.

With this in mind, this project also tried to reuse materials and equipment whenever possible. All materials are ecological, local, and interchangeable.


Chesa Via Principela No 19
Ground floor plan
Chesa Via Principela No 19
Section