We have transformed an historic farmhouse in the center of Muttenz, which is located south-east of the city of Basel, into an office, community space, and residences. A 1915 reconstruction of the original 1743 house installed the characteristics of the Heimatstil, a popular style of the time, which helped to reinforce the home’s special position on the town’s church square.

Our renovation of the historic building includes an office studio and a couple of two-story apartments, along with a new, independent residence in the garden behind. The whole scheme provides generous, comfortable spaces for three families and an architecture firm, and a space that can be booked for meetings and exhibitions by the local community.

Screened behind the existing building in a large rear garden, the new two-story, timber-clad house is a contemporary structure that adds a contrast to the old building, while sharing common materials and colors. Covering 3,015 –square feet, the residence has innovative, non-traditional spaces—for example, a terrace cut into the body of the building and framed by exposed structural columns. This involved typological risks, but the municipality of Muttenz recognized the solution as exemplary with an architecture prize in 2011.

The three-story original house is organized with the master bedroom and guest bedroom on the top floor; the kitchen, dining, and living spaces on the ground level; and the children’s bedrooms below ground, with a ramped backyard terrace leading up to the ground level.

The outcome of a design competition initiated by the City of Muttenz/Basel, Kirchplatz Residence is an exemplar for how new and old can cohabit in an historic European city.