Conversion and Renovation of the Oekonomiegebäude Vorder Brüglingen
Merian Gardens, Münchenstein, Switzerland
Planning start: 2019
Construction start: 2021
Opening: January 2023
Neue
Scheune.
Overview
Client
Christoph Merian Stiftung, Basel, Switzerland
Architecture
Miller & Maranta, Basel, Switzerland
Team ZPF
Heike Egli-Erhart, Dario Ruff, Sali Sadikaj, Kay Unterer
The Merian Gardens are a popular excursion destination in the Brüglinger Ebene recreational area in Münchenstein. The extensive park grounds, the agricultural land, and the botanical gardens surrounding Villa Merian are located on former farmland belonging to various estates.
Rebuilt after a fire in 1906 by the Basel architect Rudolf Sandreuter, the barn—known as the “Oekonomiegebäude”—forms, together with the Berri Barn and the tenant’s house, the building ensemble “Vorder Brüglingen.” Between 1981 and 2016, it housed the carriage and sleigh collection of the Basel Historical Museum. The renovated and converted Oekonomiegebäude now functions as a reception and event venue within the newly designed garden area, featuring the new restaurant “Iris,” the “Garden Information” center, and the carefully restored event hall. A broad exterior staircase leads from there to the restaurant’s garden terrace. Alterations from the 1970s, which obscured the original structure, were removed. New visible interventions were discreetly integrated into the existing building. On the upper floor, beneath the large roof truss of the barn, is the redesigned hall.
The foyer, located in the former passageway of the barn, now once again extends up to the roof after the dismantling of the stage structure. A newly inserted staircase connects it to the carefully restored wooden hall on the upper floor. This hall, available for celebrations and events, now opens generously with large glazed surfaces to the surrounding garden landscape. On the gable side facing Villa Merian, a broad staircase leads down into the garden, towards the iris collection and the canal with its water lilies.
The historical structure consists of solid rubble masonry walls, a hollow-tile slab ceiling, and a timber roof structure. As part of the conversion works, the building was extended with a basement recessed 1.5 meters inward. To carry out this retrofitted basement construction, the interior supports on the ground floor first had to be secured, since both the ground-floor ceiling and the timber roof structure were to remain unchanged in form and load-bearing behavior. Where necessary, the masonry walls were underpinned with lean concrete. The hollow-tile ceiling with a reinforced concrete overlay above the ground floor was preserved and overbuilt with a raised access floor system.
The timber roof structure was preserved without intervention in its load-bearing system. The exposed roof truss, combined with the new glazing, lends the hall a spectacular lightness and offers panoramic views of the Merian Gardens.