Studio
Tovstiga

This is a small dwelling on a manor farm dating back to the 18^th century. 

We decided to build a rural dwelling that is both modern and archetypal. It aims at condensing the qualities of an ancient farmhouse into the space of 45 sqm, re-examining the notions of shelter, comfort, and home on the smallest scale. Assembled from reclaimed materials and secondhand components, we focused on tactility and the expression of craftsmanship.

The heart of the new dwelling is an old agricultural silo that was newly assembled on site. The basic cylindrical shell is augmented in various ways, transforming the once purely functional structure into a recognizable place of dwelling. The interior is expanded by alcoves and fitted furniture arranged along the circumscribing walls, keeping the round central space roomy and open.

The character of the dwelling is that of a small castle with a hint of Grimm’s fairytale. A charming manifesto for country living.

Design and realization 2022–2023 with upTrulli GmbH

Photography: Nicolas Felder

Allgäu | 45 sqm Living Area

Design and realization of a bar and lighting features inside an 18th century mill.

The historical mill belongs to one of the numerous Baroque monasteries that dot the region of Upper Swabia in southern Germany. The mill was in use until the 1960’s, and after decades of neglect was converted to a gastro-pub in the 2010’s. The guest area of the pub is located in the heart of the mill, the machine room, whose milling installations have been completely preserved.

With its bold mechanical equipment and rough timber framing, the old machine room evokes a surrealistic setting. Against this backdrop, the bar achieves its presence through strong sculptural profiles, a turquoise colouring and circular lighting features crafted with patinated brass.

Direct Commission. Design and Realization 2020–2021

Client: Heggbacher Mühlencafé, Maselheim, Germany

Situated in the Bavarian Alps, the rural site is surrounded by mountain peaks, chalets and agricultural buildings. The clients, with roots in the community, wished for a home on a small plot in the town centre suitable for retirement.

The house builds on a traditional theme in rural farmsteads – the “Austragshäusl” or small house on farms reserved for farmers in their old age. The design attempts to reformulate this in a contemporary setting – namely on one hand condensing the living space to a minimum footprint, on the other hand enabling an active lifestyle for the 21st century. The design bridges these requirements by weaving spaces together to form something like a miniature farmstead.

The house is divided in three main zones – a two floor living space, a sheltered garden court and an outbuilding for an electric car, workshop and storage. 

The living space is designed with massive, glue-free timber panels of 30cm thickness, while the garden court and outbuilding are constructed with timber frame. The whole ensemble is clad in a skin of untreated local larch wood, that weathers to a silver grey.

The articulation of the building draws on the vernacular wooden agricultural buildings that dot the landscape. The slightly cantilevered construction of the new design protects the wooden structure from weathering.

Direct Commission. Development up to Planning Permit Application.

Allgäu, Bavaria | 110 sqm Floor Area

Conversion of a historical 19th century dairy into new spaces for the community.

The former machine rooms and attic of a dairy that had been vacant since the 1990s were transformed into a versatile community spaces for the village. The two floors are now connected through a new steel staircase and a gallery. The windows from the 1920s and the intricate tiling from the 1950s are fully preserved.

Design and realization 2017–2020 in service for JaKo Baudenkmalpflege GmbH

near Stuttgart | 175 sqm

Restoration and conversion of an old single-roof farmstead into residential flats and medical surgery.

The old single-roof farmstead dates back in parts to the 18th century and underwent significant modifications around 1908. In the former residential section, two units of 80 sqm each were created, and the former barn area was converted into spaces for the medical surgery. The façade was restored to maintain its lively, polychromous appearance of halftimber, brick and natural stone. Only the generous glazing in the area of the former barn hints at the complete transformation of the interior.

Design and realization 2017–2020 in service for JaKo Baudenkmalpflege GmbH.

near Stuttgart | 800 sqm usable area

The studio is located halfway between the station Gare l’Est and the Louvre Museum in the Second Arrondissement, Paris. Given was a single room of 4.4 x 3.8 x 3.2 m (depth/width/height) in a 19th century residential block. The small, tactical insertion of a three-sided screen divides the service areas from the square-shaped main room, which has the qualities of spacious pavillion. 

Perforated with windows and arabesques, the screen creates the illusion of vistas and spatial depth. A rich and generous spatial experience unfolds despite the small scale of the studio.

Paris | 24 sqm Living Area

The cabin is on a lake in the Canadian shield. It offers shelter for its owners and their canoe and is conceived as a light, tent-like structure with minimal impact on the surrounding landscape. Half the cabin contains the heated living area; the other half acts as a porch that can be opened in fair weather. 

The cabin’s frame is from 2x4 inch spruce timbers easily transported to and self-assembled by two people at a remote location. The entire structure is clad in wild birch bark from the site itself – a flexible, waterproof material traditionally foraged for centuries in Canada and Scandinavia to construct canoes and roofs. 

Northern Ontario | 44 sqm total area

This is a study for the re-use and remodelling of a huge, 100x200 metre logistics centre from the 1970s built over the railways of Basel. The basic trajectory of the project is transforming the so-called Postreiter building from a hermetic big box to a vibrant piece of the city’s fabric. 

Firstly, light, air and new circulation paths are introduced by opportunistically cutting and tunneling through the existing structure. This opens the building to reclamation by city residents and makes it attractive to a number of public, cultural and economics activities.

Secondly, the building is brought to life by routing various forms of circulation – train, tram, vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian – through it. The circulation activates the spaces cut into the building – plazas, courts, galleries, loggias – that are situated on different levels of the interior. The building also bridges both sides of the city which are severed by the railway tracks.

Thirdly, the project aims to create an environment that acts as an umbrella for trades and start-ups. The prominent location of the building within the city, availability of floor area and new infrastructure is all used to effectively seed self-sustaining activities that make the once inaccessible and aloof building into a vibrant city quarter: the Postreiter Quarter.

Professor Hubert Klumpner, Alfredo Brillembourg | ETH Zürich |

Diploma | Tutor Diego Ceresuela Wiesmann

A semi-detached workers’ cottage from 1873 required a small extension. Though only 2.18 m deep and 4.00 m wide, the extension is multifunctional: it frames the main entrance, is a balcony for the first floor, and acts as a covered storage for bicycles, gardening tools and plants. 

The challenge was calibrating a tension between the new and old, one that would neither let the larger house, nor the smaller addition, dominate the other. This was solved by concentrating on two distinctive formal qualities of the extension: a muscular expression and the red colour. 

Zürich | 15 sqm total area

The sculptural relief is an investigation into fundamental and contrasting themes such as the human figure, pure geometry, texture, lines, form, idea, balance, motion, traditional composition, modern re-interpretation, harmony, East and West.

Cast in raw aluminium, 31x31 cm

With Professor Rajesh Sagara | CEPT Ahmedabad |

Assembled from simple sheet metal and flat iron bracing, these structures are more than gates to private properties. They are a testimony to thoughtful craftmanship and the playful possibilities in geometry that transcends mere functionalism. 

Discovered and documented along Boulevard Road, Srinagar, Kashmir.

The design proposal is a very simple, light wooden structure propped up on four large wooden columns inspired by Japanese Shinto gates. The main rooms of the interior are oriented around an introverted gallery that looks onto the flowing river. 

The interior is a meditative space, open to the changing seasons, yet isolated from the bustle of the surrounding city. The secondary rooms such as the kitchen and workshop provide access to the exterior porch that runs along the perimeter of the house. All rooms – living and working – are arranged on one floor.

The design was commissioned by the reknown Swiss visual designers Robert-Durrer, who hold a a life-long fascination for traditional Japanese architecture, particularly its precise wood joinery and embrace of seasonality. 

Zürich | 175.0 sqm living area and 92.5 sqm veranda

Studio Gigon Guyer | ETH Zürich |

Tutor Stefan Bernoulli

This project is a new interface between a Koliwada – an indigenous fishing village now engulfed by the urban sprawl of Mumbai – and the polluted and neglected city waterfront. The intervention is conceived as a starting point for further potential urban development along the megacity’s coastline. 

The proposed waterfront promenade consists of  a series of elements that adapt morphologically to the village, respecting scale and typology of existing spaces, and provides anchorpoints for further development, such as the extension of the housing stock and nuclei for communal activities. 

Firstly, by integrating a basic infrastructure pipeline into the promenade, the project removes sewage and trash effectively from the koliwada; both are currently being directly disposed into the sea by the villagers, causing extreme local pollution at the waterfront.

Secondly, the promenade provides much needed public space along the seafront for both villagers and other city residents. Formerly privatised, the waterfront now becomes a boardwalk with all the economic activity and life associated with these places.

Thirdly, the promenade acts as a new harbour facility for the village’s fishing boats. It also acts as a physical barrier against storm surges during the monsoon season, when the village boats are beached and fishing ceases.

Professor Hubert Klumpner, Alfredo Brillembourg | ETH Zürich |

This personal, eclectic archive document over fifty buildings. It draws on ancient Roman structures, Indian religious complexes, 20th century Modernist buildings, vernacular structures, interiors, furniture and quitodian objects that have been personally experienced and used.

The archive abstracts and catalogues dimensions from 0.00 centimetres to 300 metres – starting with the size of a joint between materials and ending with the expanse of monumental building complex. 

Surveying old buildings in this manner provides fresh insights into different ways of living, and a feel for form and proportion. Measure is the defining aspect of architecture, and an empirical appraisal of existing space is necessary for creating new architecture. The archive is a personal tool of “comparative anatomy” between built structures and new projects to be designed.