In the current climate of a saturated housing market in the cities and the costs of living skyrocketing all over, this project offers an alternate solution through the densification of rural housing and manufacturing stock. Built in the 1950's and originally home to a dairy farm and its scarce workers, this complex was left unpurposed after moving production to bigger facilities in the 1980's, and remains vastly unaltered to this day, a unoccupied abode in the Allgäuer
landscape. Its enviable position, a 15 minute ride from both the cities of Kempten and Memmingen, and its vast floorspace, led us to consider this allotment as a comfortable homestead for the commuter, but also an ideal launching pad for the one's that might need it the most, refugees on their second stage of approval process. Thus a community offering a comfortable place of integration and giving, outside of the already packed schemes in the nearby cities, mainly Munich.
Largely untouched, the Käserei's first floor is refurbished for public and semi-public uses, namely a tearoom, gallery and shop on 350m², and a community library and workshop on 250m².
Conveniently divided into seperate structures, the upper floors of the Käserei and the Autohalle intervene as respective community typologies, from left to right on the below plan:
Cluster living for 1-2 people with individual rooms and bathrooms (15 to 25 m²) on two floors and a community kitchen (30m²).
Maisonnette appartements for 2-4 people with individual appartements (22 to 50m²) and a community kitchen (34m²).
Cluster individual rooms (8 to 15m²) with shared community bathrooms and living area on two floors (70-90m²).
Maisonnette for two
Käserei 2nd and Autohalle 1st
Käserei 2nd and Autohalle 1st
Attic Käserei and Autohalle
Attic Käserei and Autohalle
Second floor inner courtyard Käserei
Courtyard between Käserei and Autohalle
Intertwined in these living spaces are the fully common areas: the vegetable garden, the community kitchen, laundromat and community room.
The main constructive intervention we have being insulating existing walls and roofing, as well as building new non-resonant walls and flooring, we opted to use sprayed hemp on a wooden substructure for the integrality of these compositions, ranging from 14 to 18cm when most needed on the exterior layers, and 10 to 15cm in the interior walls and flooring.
Layering of sprayed hemp on the interior of an existing wall and impact of insulation per area of intervention
Detailed community room
Cluster living (Left Käserei building) - 1:20
Studio Kofink Schels, TU München, Bachelorprojekt/thesis
Prof. Simon Jüttner,
Prof. Sebastian Kofink