Renovation/reconstruction brick house Aarau, 2015

Extensive article in the 6/15 issue of the magazine Umbauen+Renovieren.

The small property lives from its lovely front yard with its wrought iron gate and the rich trove of old trees: Weigela, ornamental cherry, beech, maple, pear. Where a garden house once stood, there is now a new gabled pavilion. During the renovation, a ceiling painting more than 100 years old was discovered beneath the wallpaper. Ina Link gently reconstructed the oil painting (no stencilling with a wood-illusion look). According to the monument preservation office, such a painting in a private home in Aargau is an absolute treasure. The entire house has pitch pine and new Oregon pine floors. All interior plaster work had to be renovated due to age. New interior lime plaster was applied to a thickness of 60 mm, which, like the wainscoting, makes the rooms more inviting while reducing the risk of mould (hiding behind the wallpaper). The new lime plaster was not painted, but simply treated with vegetable soap. The reconstruction focused primarily on the spatial design. The guest washroom was returned to the entry level, and all modifications from the 1990s were removed. Doors were rehung, new wooden frames were fabricated with the old profiles. The only ‘abstract-modern’ touches are the kitchen furniture and bathroom fittings. Otherwise, all was handcrafted as 100 years ago.