Grünberger

noa* (network of architecture) completes a traditional urban residential house and adds a contemporary volume, which grows into the vineyards of Gries.

“… the material penetration of the old and the new create a field of confrontation of the generations – an untamed urge for transformation …” - Stefan Rier.

In the vineyard area of Bolzano (IT), a dwelling house for a butcher family is enlarged; the existing traditional volume is extended with a open and modern structure. The site, which is protected, is located in an urban transition zone in between the building development of the outskirts of the city and the denser building development around the area of the Grieserplatz.

The house is divided into two apartments, which are made accessible with a prominent outdoor stair from the courtyard. The new volumes have a view into all directions, with idyllic vineyards and the characteristic ‘Guntschnaberg’ in the West.

The aim was to respect the proportions of the historic building. Therefore the Villa with a pitched roof and classic window openings was amplified with a compact building volume with consistent window cluster and generous openings. The apartments are organised in the way that more intimate spaces are located in the historic part of the house while the living spaces are located in the modern part with a view to south and west.

The diverse formal language of the two building parts create a tension, which is underlined by the finish of the façade: the historic part obtained a white chalked up plaster, the extension competes with a dark-red plaster. The colouring of the plaster itself instead of a coat of paint at the top gives a stoic depth. The two exterior stairs at the north and south façade are made of blackened natural steel and appear as sculptural bridges. The big square façade openings have textile shadow elements, which give a diffuse fog.

The project is being approached as an intense learning in process, with a thorough analysis of the „lost and found“ becoming essential to all facettes of design quality, paired with the attempt of simultaneously looking back and understanding traditional culture and looking forward at contemporary ways of enhancing modern life. Before designing noa* goes on a search of traces, researches what the specialties are of a specific place or whether something needs to be conserved or accentuated.
To listen, to let the stories grow and to rewrite them in the architecture. To take time for the place where you want to build, to experience the atmosphere, to involve local circumstances and only then to start thinking, designing and projecting.