English

Exhibition, Dwelling from Matten

Can you live in a listed building? The dwelling from Matten BE (1021), converted in 2007, shows how a historic building can be modified in a contemporary, homely way, while preserving its original features. The furniture has been provided by Swiss furniture company Vitra.

Das 2007 umgebaute Wohnhaus aus Matten BE (1021) zeigt, wie ein historisches Gebäude in der Originalsubstanz erhalten und dennoch zeitgemäss und wohnlich gestaltet werden kann.

This season the House from Matten opens a window on built environment education

What role do spaces play in our daily lives? How do we even experience a space? How is our built environment created, and how can we help to shape it? What issues are important to us now and in the future?

The exhibition and staff on site introduce us to the world of built environment education. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore new themes and programmes in an interactive and playful way.

The exhibition is curated by Archijeunes, the network for built environment education.

Building a bridge between the present and the past

Vitra’s furnishings bring a sense of life to the dwelling from Matten, creating a vivid contrast with the historic fabric of the building. But that’s not all: the collaboration between Vitra and Ballenberg also highlights parallels in the history of the development of furniture and objects.

Modern design and rural culture have more in common than meets the eye – the concepts of longevity and sustainability, for instance, which peasant households adhered to long before the terms for them existed. Over the centuries, farmers and craftspeople improved and simplified their tools until they aligned with a guiding principle that modern designers would later put into words: reducing an object to its most essential elements. But the way we live is about more than being functional. Back then, as now, people were also driven by a desire for decoration and aesthetics.

Iconic classics, such as the Eames Lounge Chair, designed in 1956, or Jean Prouvé’s furniture from the 1940s, fit into the house just as well as contemporary designs by Jasper Morrison or Antonio Citterio.

Impressions Vitra Exhibition at Ballenberg
Impressions Vitra Exhibition at Ballenberg
Impressions Vitra Exhibition at Ballenberg
Impressions Vitra Exhibition at Ballenberg
Impressions Vitra Exhibition at Ballenberg

Modernising-project in 2007

An ambitious project is drawing the attention of friends of architecture: in cooperation with the Ministry of Building Monuments and a group associated with the architect Patrick Thurston, the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum took the bold step of modernising the old house. The envelope of the building attains the Swiss standard “Minergy”.

At a cost of 600,000 CHF, the 16th-century house, which came to Ballenberg in 1977, was modernised by the museum, the Department of Monument Preservation, and Bern architect Patrick Thurston. In 2007 the architect was asked to convert the house to suit a fictitious model family: a married couple with two school-age children. The husband would work as a farmer or artisan and the wife as a part-time teacher. The fictitious occupants can enjoy all the features of a comparable single-family new build.

Demands of Historic Preservation: The measures should be reversible and respect the existing fabric, augmenting it with high-quality architecture and craftsmanship.