Commercial building Alpenstrasse | Lucerne

Commercial building conversion and heightening | Alpenstrasse, Lucerne

1989 - 1990


Project manager: Robert Thüring, Dipl. Arch. ETH

Photographer: Heinrich Helfenstein


The project is regarded as a contribution to the theme of densification in an already developed environment. The existing building, part of a 19th-century courtyard development, is situated in a second row, behind a palace on Lucerne’s prominent Schweizerhofquai that is listed for national preservation. In the roof area, two floors were to be converted and heightened respectively, each providing a floor for working and housing. The practice floor was added in the form of a mansard roof. The flat part of the roof now forms the “regained” ground floor, on which, in a somewhat recessed position, the residential area has been added. The mansard roof is extended beyond this level to shield the housing from noise, while the high balustrade forms a spatial conclusion. The skylight along the entire length of the residential section allows natural light into the surrounded rooms, while also making the entire length of each apartment legible. Structural physics required the floors to be made of a lightweight wooden material.