A new glass roof over the courtyard turns the ground floor zone into a multi-purpose area that is available all year round for different uses.
The Ruhefeld Castle – built in 1780 and owned by the Mayr-Melnhof family since 1872 was badly damaged in World War II. Some painful changes occurred during the reconstruction. The inner courtyard with the staircase, toilets, storage and technical rooms was almost completely built up, so that the surrounding access corridor was largely unexposed.
As is so often the case, it is the task of an architectural office to remove unthinked additions and installations in the course of renovation measures in order to bring the originally existing building substance back to life.
By demolishing the staircase, the corridor area surrounding the inner courtyard could be fully exposed again. Existing brick openings to the inner courtyard have been restored. However, the main purpose of the new hall is the new openness, the flooding of light and the quality of a room. Particular attention was paid to the arrival situation, where a view through the entire building is guaranteed after opening the front door. The new staircase is unobtrusively located in the aisle area and sets a new accent in the existing substance due to the “different” detailing. The entire technical infrastructure including the sanitary areas has been brought up to date and the use of the individual rooms has been adapted to the requirements. In the entire building, the greatest possible attention was paid to maintaining high quality inventory and supplementing it with new elements:
A new glass roof on a glued wood construction from the client’s own plant. A new staircase in steel construction to support the wall statics. The glass roof of the inner courtyard improves the energy balance of the entire castle.
