HAEGI WENDLS

Cultural venue

Muntlix, Austria

Hägi Wendls, a house with a history dating back to 1820, where at times fourteen people lived and worked together, is to be given a new use. Living for a family and a large open area for culture, exchange, communication and experiment in Muntlix.
The hayloft will become a cultural space.
The biggest challenge is to preserve the old building fabric and adapt it for the present, a house conversion with clay, wood and straw.
The knowledge of local craftsmen and their willingness to engage in experimentation is essential.

In the winter term 2020 architecture students of the Master | BASEhabitat start planning and building on the site. They are confronted with surprises and challanges the old house is holding. A lot of preparation is necessary to stabilise the building and its foundations. They prepare a sustainable insulation for the outside walls, made of clay and woodchips and insert trasslime floors.
In July 2021 BASEhabitat comes back to Haegi Wendls for the ‘Hybrid Summer School’.
Starting in October 2021, another group of students spent 3 month on site to work on interior fittings, with earth, lime, wood.
By July 2022 the building was finished. The cultural venue was inaugurated with a movie resuming the costruction process with the students.

Links
Film trailer of the documentary by Bence Szalai
Essay – Haegi Wendls – Rethinking Space and Materials published in the book Emerging Voices on New Architectural Ecologies
Project blog