Building K.118

Completed simultaneously by baubüro in situ in 2021, the projects K.118 in Winterthur and ELYS in Basel, proved to be pioneering projects of circular building. They received a lot of attention and were the trigger for the foundation of Zirkular by the involved planners. From the search for components and the closely related architectural design, through the management and storage of the components to the construction, a rich and well-documented wealth of experience created a solid beginning for the new firm.

In the case of K.118, an existing industrial hall was expanded upwards with 3 additional stories for the Pension Foundation of Abendrot, with the aim of preserving the existing building and using as many components as possible from demolition projects. For the first time, a building’s structural system was also reused – steel girders obtained from the partial deconstruction of a hall in the ELYS project in Basel. In close cooperation with the ZHAW, the publication “Reuse in Construction” was produced to document in detail various aspects of the project including, among other things, the malleable planning processes, the costs, the positive effects with regard to climate protection and also the overall architectural design.

The development and project management of the Lagerplatz site has been accompanied by Denkstatt Sàrl since 2010 and the utilization concepts for the buildings have been developed together with input from the users’ formal association. Through this cooperation, the users and planners enabled the transformation of the former industrial site into a lively urban district. The development process itself was documented in the publication “Lagerplatz Winterthur”.