Switzerland. A stacked concrete volume added to a cluster of listed buildings

Gautschi Lenzin Schenker Architekten replaced a building dating back to the beginning of the 1900, in the city centre of Aarau, which was part of a listed cluster of buildings. Although the previous construction was listed, its structure was so compromised that the local committees for urban design and for the preservation of historical buildings had to agree on its demolition.

The program of the new building remains commercial and residential, the same as for its predecessor. The sharp new volume is the result of a process of abstraction of the existing facade’s tripartition. This layout is interpreted as a series of offsets that breaks the rigidity of the insulation concrete monolith. The openings of the building are literally thick voids – as if they were excavations of the perimetric walls – producing a dramatic chiaroscuro effect on all three facades.