The competition entry STADT-BAU-STEIN proposes a stone-built structure for the former Wolf freight yard site. The size of the building is broken down by the façade structure and refined from the address-defining entrance to the interior of the apartments through careful detailing and sustainable materials.

The interior structure consists of bulkheads on the courtyard side, which form a row of rooms that abut the facade with their front sides. Large glazed areas provide light to the northeast-facing rooms as structural openings. On the side facing the tracks, the rooms have their long sides facing the façade. Perforated windows regulate the amount of sunlight entering the south-west-facing rooms. This structural duality gives the apartment an atmospheric spaciousness.

Sandstone from the nearby quarry in Laufen would be used in blocks as large as possible, thus requiring less energy to extract and no further processing. Load-bearing walls made of natural stone eliminate the need for additional wall layers inside. The beauty of natural stone is manifested on the one hand by its surface. But the fact that all offcuts are processed into smaller slabs or gravel, thus producing no waste, contributes to the inner beauty of natural stone.

• Selective project competition, 2024
• Client: Swiss Federal Railways SBB
• Team: Ioana Suciu, Anna Panzer, Christoph Schmidt, Susann Vécsey
• Collaboration: Schnetzer Puskas Ingenieure AG, BAKUS Bauphysik & Akustik GmbH, Gartenmann Engineering AG, eicher+pauli Liestal AG, Schmutz & Partner AG, Thomann Natursteinwerke
• Images: Julia Werlen, Vécsey*Schmidt Architekt*innen