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Architects: Tschudin Urech Bolt Architekten
- Area: 3300 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Kuster Frey
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Manufacturers: Jakob, Brunex, Foamglas, Joka, Metalit, Regent Lighting Solutions, Schwab, Wicona, swisspor
Text description provided by the architects. The reason for the Fifties high-rise refurbishment of the building, which was erected in 1956/57, was the high level of asbestos contamination and its poor energy balance. The office building had been valuable before, reports Marco Tschudin of Tschudin Urech Bolt Architekten, but with a sweltering 34 degrees in summer, it was unusable. Many post-war buildings cause similar problems and are replaced under buzzwords like densification, efficiency, or economy. But the administration building was lucky. It still looks - or looks again - almost as it did when it was built. It owes this to its municipal protection status, the sensitivity of the planners, and the willingness of BRUGG Immobilien AG as the building owner to put a little more money in its hand.
Since its construction, the façade has been adorned with Verde Alpi marble from Italy, which gives the administration building its characteristic nobility. During the post-war period, Kabelwerke Brugg was one of the largest employers in the region, with 355 employees, and the industry was flourishing. To centralize its workplaces, the company launched a project competition in 1954 for an office building right next to its production halls. The winners were the Brugg architect Carl Froelich and Hans Kündig from Zurich. Their two-flush, trapezoidal high-rise building was convincing in the last round, especially in terms of urban planning.
The top of the office tower can already be seen at Brugg station, forming a prominent prelude to the company area. Below the attic floor with bar and lounge are six almost identical office floors with new PVC flooring in shades of green. They replaced the original flooring made of asbestos-containing Sucoflor, which was considered the epitome of a modern building at the time. The color palette of the renovation is composed of green, red, and beige tones and is derived from the original design of the 1950s. The materialization of the then executive floor has also not changed visibly: As was the case at the time of construction, it stands out from the rest with parquet flooring and valuable walnut wall cupboards. Another homage to the building's past can be found in the interior staircase: White-painted metal frames recall the position of bricked-up doors or the file lift, which is now used as a climbing zone.
Back in the fifties: no savings were made on materials and technical equipment. This can be seen in the still good quality of the piping or the Zent-Frenger ceiling with integrated heating, a novelty at the time. In addition, radiators were installed under the continuous window fronts, which were controlled separately during the transitional periods. However, with an insulation layer consisting of only three centimeters of cork insulation, much of this energy did not remain in the building for long. Tschudin Urech Bolt Architects were faced with the tricky building task that is only too typical for a post-war construction: an energy renovation with new windows and a thicker insulation layer without robbing the building of its gracefulness. The answer was custom-made triple-glazed windows. In this way, the building retained much of its original effect and meets today's building technology requirements. Since external insulation was out of the question, the insulation layer was placed where the radiators used to be, directly under the window strips. Vacuum insulation in the floor guarantees better energy efficiency without changing the height of the floor structure and creating unsightly heels.
Due to the asbestos contamination, many building materials had to be disposed of. Since the building was not demolished, much grey energy was preserved. So did the original character of the office tower, as similar materials were sought when replacing building elements. "Aesthetics were more important than any Minergie-P standards," says Tschudin. And yet: thanks to new insulation and glazing, 70 percent of the operating energy can be saved today. This renovation thus exemplifies how today's energy standards can be achieved even in delicate post-war buildings.
