A building with history, a manageable budget and the idyllic backdrop of the Allgäu Alps: with the conversion of an old telephone exchange in Bad Hindelang into a residential building, the architects at Kofink Schels have not only created an extremely ecological building, but also built a bridge to the local architectural tradition. The stately building stands […]
A building with history, a manageable budget and the idyllic backdrop of the Allgäu Alps: with the conversion of an old telephone exchange in Bad Hindelang into a residential building, the architects at Kofink Schels have not only created an extremely ecological building, but also built a bridge to the local architectural tradition.
The listed post office building in Bad Hindelang stands majestically against the picturesque Alpine backdrop – built in 1923 by architect Thomas Wechs to provide the many summer visitors and winter holidaymakers in the Allgäu climatic health resort with a suitable place to send their greetings home. In the 1950s, a much more modest addition was made to the facility in the form of a so-called switchboard. Calls from Bad Hindelang were automatically forwarded to the nearest distribution center or the number dialed in the village.
When architect Simon Jüttner discovered the inconspicuous, single-storey plaster building in the center of Bad Hindelang, it had already been empty for 40 years. “It was something of an eyesore in the village,” says Jüttner, who runs the architectural firm Kofink Schels in Munich together with Sebastian Kofink. However, the joy that an architect was now taking on the old telephone exchange was initially limited in the village. However, after a long approval process, Jüttner finally received permission to convert the building for himself and his family and to add an additional storey with a pitched roof.
Minimum costs, maximum environmental compatibility
Jüttner’s approach was to create a building that was as environmentally friendly as possible for as little money as possible and to do as much as possible himself. “We outsourced the extension with solid wood walls to a nearby carpentry firm, otherwise we actually did everything ourselves,” explains the architect. The do-it-yourself approach combined with the desire for high-quality materials led to radically reduced details.
This can be seen most impressively in the windows on the upper floor, which are floor-to-ceiling sliding elements that simply sit in front of the wooden cladding of the gable and are attached to a metal rail running above the lintels. “It’s particularly nice in summer when you can simply slide the windows to the side and the entire upper floor becomes a covered outdoor space,” says Simon Jüttner. A simple railing made of wooden bars, which shines through the windows and gives the façade additional structure, serves as fall protection.
From the outside, the building is no longer so far removed from the local building tradition. “We deliberately took a completely free approach to the design and still ended up with an Allgäu farmhouse without meaning to,” says Simon Jüttner looking back. With the long kitchen directly in the entrance, the adjoining large living room and a small chamber next to it, the house corresponds almost entirely to the three-part typology of the historic Allgäu corridor kitchen house.
And the choice of materials inside is also suddenly completely farmhouse, if you approach it with the claim of a radically ecological construction method. The walls on the first floor were given a whitewashed clay plaster finish, while clay building boards were used for the interior walls on the upper floor. “It was important to us that you can still feel something of the rather rough old building on the first floor, while at the same time creating a warm counter-world to it on the upper wooden floor,” says the architect. Together with the screws and the hand-width jute sealing sheet, the clay building boards form a fine ornament that corresponds pleasantly with the exposed solid wood panels and is reminiscent of a monochrome half-timbered wall.
The house demonstrates in many ways that inexpensive ecological architecture does not have to lead to compromises in the quality of materials and design if thoughtfulness and a love of experimentation are combined in the planning. And even in Bad Hindelang, people are now proud of the former eyesore next to the post office, says Jüttner happily: “Every now and then, one of the older ladies from the neighborhood comes to the garden fence to say that it’s turned into something really nice after all.” There can’t be much more praise for a house in Bad Hindelang.
