Münchenwiler Castle Estate Renovation
MÜNCHENWILER CASTLE ESTATE RENOVATION
bernath+widmer
DESIGN TEAM
Roland Bernath, Fabian Heer, Kylie Russnaik, Benjamin Widmer
LANDSCAPE
Andreas Geser Landschaftsarchitekten AG
CATEGORY
Apartments, Adaptive Reuse
YEAR
2018
LOCATION
Murten, Switzerland
Text description provided by the architects
The well-preserved historic center of Münchenwiler village near the little medieval town of Murten is listed in the Federal Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites of national importance.
The listed building used to be part of the well-known Münchenwiler Castle Estate. It houses the largest barn the Canton of Bern of its time.
Seven apartments of different sizes were built into the mighty, emptied barn structure in compliance with historic preservation standards.
The new volume inserted into the existing shell is virtually detached from the protected structure, with only a few connection points between them.
The functional versatility of the former farm building is reflected in the typology of the new apartments: They are arranged in vertical order and separated from each other by brick firewalls.
The cross-walls of the attached three-story apartments are arranged according to the spacing of the horizontal roof trusses and the heights of the purlins of the existing wooden frame.
