E_Kap.00 26.04.2007 15:42 Uhr Seite 1 ARCHITECTURE IN EXISTING FABRIC Planning Design Building E_Kap.00 30.04.2007 16:49 Uhr Seite 2 E_Kap.00 30.04.2007 16:49 Uhr Seite 3 Johannes Cramer Stefan Breitling ARCHITECTURE IN EXISTING FABRIC Planning Design Building Birkhäuser Basel•Boston•Berlin E_Kap.00 02.05.2007 9:04 Uhr Seite 4 Design and production: Atelier Fischer, Berlin Translation: Julian Reisenberger, Weimar Copyediting of the English edition: Caroline Behlen, Berlin Lithography and printing: Ruksaldruck, Berlin Binding: Kunst- und Verlagsbuchbinderei, Leipzig This book is also available in a German edition: ISBN 978-3-7643-7751-9 Bibliographic information published by The German National Library The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de. Library of Congress Control Number. 2007925788 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in data banks. For any kind of use, permission of the copyright owner must be obtained. © 2007 Birkhäuser Verlag AG Basel • Boston • Berlin P.O.Box 133, CH-4010 Basel, Switzerland Part of Springer Science+Business Media Printed on acid-free paper produced from chlorine-free pulp. TCF (cid:1) Printed in Germany ISBN 978-3-7643-7752-6 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 www.birkhauser.ch E_Kap.00 30.04.2007 16:49 Uhr Seite 5 CONTENTS 9 Architecture and the existing fabric 15 Architecture and time 18 The built environment and identity 20 Old and new 24 The value of the built environment 29 The planning process 29 Special features of the planning process 29 Protective measures and essential repairs 31 Preparatory investigations 31 The level of planning detail 33 Casa de las Conchas, Salamanca, Spain 34 The participants 34 The client 35 The architect 35 The planning authorities 37 Overview: Planning permission procedure 41 Naumburg City Museum, Germany 42 The contractors 42 Decision-making and communication 45 Preparatory investigations 47 Recording historic buildings 47 Property and geographic details 48 Documentary evidence and archives 50 Recording the building as found 54 Metric building survey 59 Overview: Precision levels in measured surveys 66 Building survey 67 Houses on the Mühlenstrasse, Havelberg, Germany 68 Building archaeology 71 Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim, Norway 74 Heubach Castle, Germany 75 Balbarini townhouse, Pisa, Italy 78 Bernhard chapel, Owen, Germany 79 Schminke house, Löbau, Germany E_Kap.00 30.04.2007 16:49 Uhr Seite 6 83 Structural survey 86 Technical and material investigations 89 Evaluation and interpretation – strengths and weaknesses 95 Design strategies 97 Designing with history 101 Disposition 102 Definition of appropriate function 103 Municipal archives in the Church of San Agostin, Valladolid, Spain 104 Sensitive interventions 105 Tabourettli Theatre in the old Spalenhof, Basel, Switzerland 107 Auxiliary constructions 109 Bank in a 19th century building, Budapest, Hungary 111 Design strategies 111 Corrective maintenance 112 Private residence, Venice, Italy 113 Medieval house, Bamberg, Germany 115 Modernisation 116 Palazzo as museum, Venice, Italy 119 Adaptation 121 Loft in an industrial building, Madrid, Spain 122 Conversion and extension of an industrial building, Göttelborn, Germany 125 Hotel in a monastery church, Maastricht, Netherlands 128 Tyrolean Museum of History, Tyrol Castle, Italy 130 Single family houses, Utrecht, Netherlands 131 Historic office building, Zurich, Switzerland 134 Replacement 137 Architectonic expression 137 Correspondence 139 Swimming pool, Spexhall Manor, Great Britain 140 German Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, Germany 141 Unification 143 Fragmentation 149 Town hall conversion and extension, Utrecht, Netherlands 150 Nuevos Ministerios, Madrid, Spain 151 Junction and delineation 154 British Museum, Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, London, Great Britain 156 Documentation centre of the former Nazi party rally ground, Germany E_Kap.00 30.04.2007 16:49 Uhr Seite 7 159 Detail planning 159 Prerequisites 159 Development not demolition 160 An element-for-element approach 162 Library, Eichstätt, Germany 163 Planning on the basis of an accurate measured survey 165 Principles 165 Repair not renew 167 A cumulative process 169 Naumburg City Museum, Germany 171 Reclaimed materials 175 Solutions: two examples 175 Upgrading the thermal performance of windows 176 Villa, Buchschlag, Germany 178 Repairing timber roof structures 183 Building works 183 Site facilities 185 The workshop principle 185 Protective measures for building elements on site 187 Heubach Castle, library and museum, Heubach, Germany 189 Supervising building works 191 Samples, tests and mock-ups 192 Specifications and quantities 194 Construction time and Costing 196 Scheduling works 196 Architect's fees 199 Sustainability 200 Facility Management 202 Monitoring and maintenance 203 Preserving property value 205 Appendix 207 Bibliography 213 Index of architects 215 Subject index 219 Illustration credits 221 On the authors E_Kap.00 26.04.2007 15:42 Uhr Seite 8 E_Kap.00 26.04.2007 15:42 Uhr Seite 9 ARCHITECTURE AND THE EXISTING FABRIC It is a rare occurrence for a great building to be completed by the same person who began it.* Leon Battista Alberti The shrinking of many European cities at the end of the second millenni- um is a clear sign that the design and construction of new buildings is in steady decline. At the same time the alteration of existing built structures is becoming increasingly important. Society is growing more aware of ecolog- ical issues and the thoughtless demolition of old buildings is now perceived not only as an ecological waste but also as the eradication of local identity, of cultural heritage and of socio-economic values. Various studies estimate that between 50% and 70% of all construction work and about half of the entire economic volume of construction now concerns work on existing buildings. Yet, many architects are not adequately prepared for this shift in the focus of architectural work. Up until well into the 20th century, architects have enjoyed a balance between the design of new buildings and designs for existing built struc- tures, both tasks being regarded as of equal status. Michelangelo Buonarroti’s brilliant plans for St. Peter’s in Rome were informed by a number of constraints from the existing site as well as by the surrounding structures built by his predecessors. Almost all great architects up to the time of Karl Friedrich Schinkel have split their attention between new con- structions and a commitment to architecture within existing built contexts. Only from the 1920s onwards conversion or modernisation work was dis- credited with terms like “conversion architect” or “building in existing fab- ric”. Today, many architects find even the very suggestion that their design should be informed by what already exists so restrictive that they feel impos- sibly constrained in their creative liberty. This irrational fear is reinforced when the structure in question is a listed building. Listed buildings consti- tute perhaps 3% of the existing building stock, but the methods developed for their conservation and restoration have also proven applicable to more everyday existing buildings. Just as irrational is the belief that conservation- ists wish to hinder good modern architecture. There is no good reason for any of these reservations. The suggestion that designs for existing built structures allow no room for creativity is also unfounded. A handful of famous architects from the 1960s *Maxima quaeque aedificatio vix nunquam dabitur per eundem absolvi possit, qui posuerit. The beginnings of consistent architectural design in existing building fabric: the conversion of the Castelvecchio in Verona, Italy, to a museum by Carlo Scarpa (1964). 9 E_Kap.00 26.04.2007 15:42 Uhr Seite 10 have ably demonstrated the opposite, among them Carlo Scarpa, Karljosef Schattner, Aurelio Galfetti or Massimo Carmassi. Their projects clearly show exactly how exciting a task the qualitative development of existing buildings can be in the hands of an ambitious designer. For example, in the monograph of Herzog & de Meuron’s work, more than a third are conver- sion projects for existing buildings. The pioneers of the 1960s, embracing the innovative credo of the times, gave little consideration to the conservation of existing building fabric and resources. Today more attention is paid to these aspects. Many projects by prominent architects have proven that it is possible to unite diverse consid- erations in a qualitative design. The plans by David Chipperfield and Julian Harrap for the Neues Museum in Berlin are just one such example. Without compromising their design or aesthetic aspirations, they have been able to combine the existing building fabric, methodically recorded and analysed, with a modern concept to create a stimulating and yet restrained project. Such designs, founded both on methodical analysis and creativity, demon- strate the validity of this approach and should serve as examples for other architects. All the above designers were, and are, aware that the design approach for new buildings is not always appropriate when developing designs for exist- ing built structures. In addition to adhering to general building and plan- ning regulations and fulfilling technical requirements, it is also necessary to consider the given condition and configuration of an existing building, as passed on to us by our predecessors, and the need and wish to integrate this into a future design. In order to achieve this, it is vital to obtain a clear pic- ture of the initial condition. Accordingly, the methodical recording and sur- veying of the existing building is the first step in the planning process. Although often complex and laborious, these steps prove their worth fur- ther down the line. Without an understanding of the structural system, one cannot consider its characteristics; without knowledge of the historic value of the building, one risks damaging or destroying it in the design. A good understanding of the existing building allows one to intelligently take into account distortions and to bring out the qualities of the building materials as well as the building’s artistic and historic value. It is therefore inevitable that designs for existing buildings will have to react to more complex parameters than a design for a new building. Consequently, the coordina- tion requirements and negotiations are more complex. At times this may 10