Computer-aided design of balustrades for a historical building
The project deals with the design, planning, and construction of new balustrades for the historic Hotel Schatzalp in Davos, Switzerland. The hotel, originally built as a sanatorium, is one of the first major reinforced concrete buildings in Switzerland and is an internationally renowned heritage object. The existing wooden balcony railings were in poor condition and no longer met the current safety requirements. The goal is to preserve the unique visual character of the historical building and ensure long-term maintenance. To this end, the project reinterprets the original balustrades in terms of their pattern, geometric orientation, and complexity through computational design and digital fabrication. The resulting 93 unique balustrades, consisting of more than 5,300 timber elements, are manually assembled with the aid of augmented reality technology. By producing the balustrades at a local timber construction company, the project demonstrates a model of effective technology transfer between academic research and industry practice.
The project has been carried out as a collaboration between the ETH Zurich Professorships for Construction Heritage and Preservation of Silke Langenberg and Gramazio Kohler Research, the industry partners incon.ai and Künzli Davos AG, and the client, Hotel Schatzalp. The prototype design and fabrication explorations were developed within a Master’s thesis by the former MAS ETH DFAB student Carlos Wilkening.
An important aspect of the project is the ease of maintenance and repair of the new balustrade elements. Both, the balustrades as a whole and each individual component can be dismantled, repaired, or replaced if necessary, without requiring other elements to be changed. This is made possible through the use of screw connections and the avoidance of adhesives for joining.
Professorship for Construction Heritage and Preservation, ETH Zurich
Prof. Dr. Silke Langenberg
Orkun Kasap (Coordination), Rolf Imseng, Dr. Fabian Kastner, Dr. Jasmin Schäfer
Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich
Prof. Fabio Gramazio, Prof. Matthias Kohle
Dr. Petrus Aejmelaeus-Lindström (Lead), Alessandra Gabaglio, Gereon Siévi, Joana Tomaz
Prototype Design
Carlos Wilkening (MAS ETH in Architecture and Digital Fabrication, Master Thesis, 2021)
Client
Berghotel Schatzalp, Davos
Pius App
Jessica Schmid
Industry partners
Künzli Davos AG
incon.ai, Zurich
Selected Experts for Historic Concrete Construction
Jürg Conzett, Conzett Bronzini Partner AG, dipl. Ingenieure ETH/FH/SIA
Prof. Dr. Robert J. Flatt, ETH Zurich
Team Berghotel Schatzalp, Davos
Paulo Bernardo
Daniel Riedo
Photographs and Video
Images 1-4: Girts Apskalns; Images 5-8: Lais Hotz; Video: Girts Apskalns
