Description

The history of the old peat barn began some 150 years ago in the Upper Bavarian town of Kolbermoor. A cotton mill, which only closed in 1992, was built here in 1860 on the banks of the Mangall river, partly due to the abundant supply of peat for powering the mill. The peat barn was used to dry and store the fuel, and in later years was used as a store for willow rods. When an investor bought the site in 2006, the barn was scheduled for demolition, but Emmanuel Heringer and his wife stepped in and dismantled the building, putting the individual pieces into storage for safekeeping. A few years later, they had both an idea for using the barn as a place to live and work as well as a suitable site in Schechen, a rural village some twenty kilometres away that is becoming increasingly residential. Rather than rezoning farmland for building, the municipality elected to designate a strip of land alongside the railway tracks for use as a mixed commercial area. For Stefanie Heringer, who commutes to Munich every day, the station is barely one hundred metres away. The barn was re-erected on this site, although not all parts were used in their original location and damaged sections were replaced.

The barn serves as an outer shell into which a house has been inserted. With this image in mind, the Heringers and the architects considered how the 800 timber parts could be turned into a structure for living and working in. For the living rooms, office and workshop, the architects proposed a house with walls made of wood, earth and cellulose. The breathable construction ensures natural regulation of the indoor room climate and obviates the need for a ventilation system despite the airtight building envelope. To articulate the house as a new insertion, its east end and roof extend out from beneath the envelope of the barn. An external staircase leads to the upper floor, which can be used as a separate flat. The barn is clad in timber slats – through which wind passed to dry the peat – and the new house has an outer walkway from which one gets a sense of the original length of the barn. A total of 260 m² of enclosed heated living space was created for the two apartments, a workshop and the office, as well as 230 m² of storage space for materials. A skylight in the roof illuminates the upper apartment and a glass panel in the floor allows light to spill right down to the ground floor.

Originally published in Bauwelt 06.2015, pp. 24-27, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

---