Crossing the border between yesterday and tomorrow – Portrait of Peter Haimerl

When Peter Haimerl, together with his wife Jutta Görlich, decided in 2008 to transform a dilapidated old farmhouse in the Bavarian Forest into their own home, his aim was quite simple: »I want the building to stay as it is but I don’t want to freeze!« That sounds far easier than it was in practice. For the original farmhouse, which had been extended upwards and outwards many times since its construction in 1840, had stood empty for more than 30 years: »Yet with its stables integrated into the house, the living room as the only warm area or the attic used as a granary, the farmhouse very vividly reflects the agricultural life of bygone times«, explains Peter Haimerl looking back. »In order to retain this very unique character – the rundown bits, its piecemeal nature – we decided not to erase or reshape the existing fabric of the building, but to carefully reinterpret it instead.«

Under the title »Birg mich, Cilli!« (»Save me, Cilli!«) – named after the last occupant herself, farmer Cilli Sigl – in the end, the idea was born to retain as much of the existing windows, old plaster, floor tiles and other old fixtures as possible and, in addition, to integrate four new cubes made from highly insulated lightweight concrete as new living spaces. »These constructions do not conceal the old parts; rather, they make the unrenovated existing fabric of the building visible through large openings«, explains Peter Haimerl who, following completion of his degree at the Munich University of Applied Sciences, initially worked for Günther Domenig, Raimund Abraham and Klaus Kada before he founded his own architectural office in 1991. »The new parts frame the old parts like a picture, providing support and protection, and the old assimilates the new.«

Far more renowned than the abovementioned renovations in the Bavarian Forest is the concert hall in Blaibach that was completed in 2014. To create an iconic symbol which, together with a new town hall, allowed the village centre to be revitalised, Peter Haimerl developed a landmark made out of concrete. It has an inclined angle of 24 degrees running in parallel to the descending topography and draws a very explicit connection to the stone carving heritage of Blaibach with its granite façade. The interior space is accessed via a flight of concrete steps directly beneath the building’s sloped volume, leading the visitors from the new village square down to the foyer below the surface. The concert hall itself holds further surprises with its spectator stands to accommodate 200 people resting directly on the slope of the building structure. The precise light slits in the untreated concrete walls as well as the integrated LED lights and bass absorbers provide dynamic lighting and optimised acoustics.