INTERFACE
2014
Collaboration with Matthias Liechti
In the abandoned spaces of the former Tobler chocolate factory, we had the possibility to use the present building fabric as a material and to displace it. These conditions were confronted with our interest in the relation between an architecture and the work that is done inside it and in the transformation of the work and the spaces built for it throughout time. The conceptual framework of research was definded by the walls that locate working spaces and by horizontal surfaces which serve as supports for the acts of work.
A detached separating wall of cellular concrete found inside the building was sawn into pieces and demounted. The wall pieces were then displaced into the adjacent space and assembled to a wall of half the former height but double thickness, precisely aligned, sealed with grout and painted.
The new inserted wall became part of the architecture and operated as a partition traversing two spaces, demanding an altered movement in the spaces. Over the length of 12 meters, the wall turned into a line along and across which the public gathered for discussions.
Used cellular concrete, cellular concrete grout, acrilic emulsion paint | 120 x 30 x 1200 cm
Exhibition and process view: Transform, Güterstrasse 8, Bern, 2014