Ferrara Architekten AG (Basel)

BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY

Living New Building Structure and spatial freedom

Building structure as an aspect of the complexity of our architectural work has been important to us for a number of residential projects over the past 5 years. In response to found and self-made conditions, we try to use the theme in the design of residential buildings. Based on various conversions and analysis of their building structure, we have always discovered new aspects and qualities of clear support structures. The experience we have made over and over again seems to be decisive: When the building structure is subject to a clear order, we architects always succeed in organizing interesting new spaces and spatial relationships. This is why the conversion of formerly commercially used spaces is so exciting, because these buildings are clearly structured and open up a wealth of possibilities within these rules of the game. Neat and intelligent structures in residential buildings are also suitable for meeting today's space requirements. also to keep the freedom of use open as long as possible and, on the other hand, not to exclude future changes. These concepts allow builders and users to participate in a clearly defined basic sequence. It appears, It is important to note that the building structure can only be coherently developed in conjunction with all other design parameters. These design parameters are essentially: Place - History / Topography - Orientation / Hierarchies - Conciseness - Classification / Building Structure - Space - Urbanity / Natural Light - Lighting / Users - Uses - Laws / Building Technology - Energy Issues / Spatial Relationships - Development / Materials - Surfaces - Textures. They are all interrelated and interdependent. Depending on the project, they are weighted differently and are all tools that we can use to guide the design process and bring the project closer to its optimum. The optimum is the basic idea, often very daring at the beginning of the work, often compromised by external and internal influences during the work, and hopefully contributing to the built environment at the end.