ETH Zürich   Studio Adam CarusoETH Zürich  Studio Adam CarusoETH Zürich  Studio A. CarusoETHZ   Studio Caruso

At the threshold of the village of Rüti GL stands a quiet industrial building. On its façade, one can just barely make out the words Wollweberei Rüti — a former wool spinning factory that now appears abandoned. Its walls still carry traces of the production, adaptations, and many transformations it has witnessed over more than a century.

The project begins with a territorial ambition: to create a regenerative farm at the scale of the village of Rüti. This vision requires a herd of 300 sheep, not only for landscape management and soil regeneration but also for the production of wool, milk, and cheese. At the same time, the village of Rüti has no access to higher education within 1.5 hours by train, which severely limits opportunities for young people in the region. The idea of combining agricultural production with higher education makes sense — especially in this idyllic setting, where reusing the former wool factory as an agronomy school becomes both a symbolic and practical gesture.

The core architectural idea is to anchor the new program within the existing structure as respectfully as possible. Rather than erasing or drastically altering the old factory, the interventions aim to integrate into it, preserving and celebrating its spatial qualities. The generous industrial volumes are maintained, with minimal additions. Where new elements are introduced, they are clearly readable and reversible. The result is a hybrid space: part learning environment, part productive farm, and part historical artifact.

The energy concept is based on a phased and locally rooted approach. Over several years, the 1850s building is gradually insulated with sheep wool, creating a clear connection between the function of the farm and the materials used in construction.

Underfloor heating is installed in the living and teaching areas, powered by a heat pump connected to the existing Kraftwerk — a former hydropower plant that remains in operation within the building.

Rather than replacing the original windows, they are carefully repaired, and small foam seals are added to reduce air infiltration, preserving their historic character while improving performance.

Architecturally, a major addition is a central circulation core — a staircase that connects all levels and improves accessibility throughout the building.

Moreover, the attic level is reimagined to accommodate guests and visitors. This space becomes a bridge between the local community, the school, and the outside world, supporting temporary stays, workshops, and events.

Finally, the largest architectural intervention addresses the key issue of the complex: the latest storage hall, built in 1982, hides the historic glazed façade from 1916 and casts the main hall into shadow. The intervention is therefore to deconstruct this extension, keep its wooden load-bearing structure, and reuse it to erect a new building with a classic dual-pitched roof. This new volume frees the historic façade and allows natural light to re-enter the main hall. The newly constructed building is dedicated to sheep milking, forming a functional and symbolic link between the herd and the historic fabric of the site.

In short, the project proposes a new rural campus model where farmers, students, researchers, and locals come together. It is a place of production, education, and innovation. It revives the site and responds to the demographic decline that has affected the villages of the Glarus valley since the end of its industrial golden age.

 Since the start of the industrial revolution, the western social system has been built on constant growth. Growth in population, economic performance, technological capabilities, cultural output - no area of human life has been untouched by this dynamic.

But it can no longer be ignored that we are at a breaking point. The planetary boundaries have been reached or already exceeded in many areas. The climate crisis as well as the biodiversity crisis are both negative consequences of this system.

A change of course is therefore not only needed, but inevitable due to demographics. Demographic developments will radically transform the society we know. Even if it still seems to be a distant future in Switzerland at the moment, the population here will also start to shrink in a few decades, even in urban areas. This is already the case in many European countries, and there are also areas in Switzerland that have been shrinking for decades. The area around the Klausen Pass is just such an area.

This project examines two case studies on both sides of the Klausen Pass to find out what kind of architecture makes sense in a shrinking society. How can places be created that enable a sustainable form of growth and coexistence in such a location? On the Glarus side, a new scheme is proposed for the former woollen weaving mill in Rüti, while on the Uri side, an new approach is implemented in the former Gasthof St. Anton in Spiringen.

Such shrinking places have one advantage: the forces of the market are significantly weaker and projects that are not aimed at optimising profits also have a chance to thrive. There is an opportunity to utilise these places creatively through small interventions and make them usable for society.

The projects are characterised by the fact that they consist of a large number of small interventions that can be carried out without great expense over a longer period of time. If an intervention is a success, it can be built upon; if it is a failure, it can be reacted to. In this context, architecture is not understood as a project, but as a process.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Ennenda is a place with a rich history that continues to shape its identity today. The intensive textile industry has left an indelible mark, contributing significantly to Ennenda's character. The architecture and facades of Ennenda stand as testament to that era, embodying both industrial prowess and wealth.

A notable historical landmark is the hanging tower on the Trümpi site. Despite being a reconstructed version of the original, this building still defines Ennenda's landscape, evoking memories of fluttering cloths from a bygone era.

The museum encapsulates this very essence of Ennenda, represented through its facades, placing them in the context of both historical and contemporary narratives. Just as vibrant prints from around the world were once replicated for textile printing, the exhibition mirrors these facades, faithfully reproducing selected elements.

These replicated facades serve as backdrops, layered with stories from the past and present. The building already hosts various functions, and the exhibition further enlivens the area by doubling as a part-time theater where these stories come to life. It creates moments where diverse people and perspectives converge, casting familiar scenes in a new light.

The set pieces are a blend of timber frames and three-dimensional textile facades.
As a ghostly presence, these facades shift between being a backdrop for dynamic projections and standing as delicate shadows that evoke the essence of Ennenda’s past. They create an ethereal atmosphere, showing the layers of history and capture the ephemeral nature of memory, reflecting how the town's history continues to influence its present.

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Empty hall, machines gone, workers disappeared… forgotten by time, fortunes of dozens mills in Glarus, ghosts of the grandiose industrialisation, despite the collective fame of Glarus industry.

The labourers, who had devoted their whole lives in the mills, have faded out the line of sight of people, so as their single stories. Today, the columns has become the only witness of the past everyday life, with the names of the silent nobodies, which exposes their unspoken wishes to be remembered. There are thousands of concealed individual ordinary stories to be discovered under the collective glorious one.

The house of memory, a place, where the echos of old industry are going to be collected, while the new creative chapters are in process. A living chronicle of the local industrial past, composed of an archive filled by locals, as well as a research centre and atelier for scholars, artists, designers and entrepreneurs form outside. It is an exhibition and celebration space for all, a new story to be continued by thousands of individual participations. 

The house of memory is a bridge from the past to the future, honouring the industrial legacy of Glarus while inspiring innovation and creativity. We remember, we honour, we reimagine. Through remembering the past, we shape an open future.

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The office building at Gartenhofstrasse 17 was built in 1966 by Sigmund Feigel (1921 - 2004). While the adjacent Zweierstrasse is lined by a row of office buildings constructed around the same time, Gartenhofstrasse 17 is slightly set back into the street, reaching into the realm of residential buildings and neo-classicist factory buildings.

Throughout its lifespan the building had been renovated several times. The roof and the party walls on both sides have been isolated, the canopy renewed, and in 2011 the old facade panels were exchanged. The new facade, designed by Rolf Schaffner, led to a drastic decrease in energy consumption. The different construction periods result in a „bricolage des temps“.

Currently three of the building’s six stories are empty due to the relocation of municipal police offices, making the future of Gartenhofstrasse 17 uncertain.

Only few interventions are necessary to fundamentally change the organization of the building. 

On the inside a new form of living takes place where domestic spaces and the workplace fade into each other. From the outside the additions reinterpret the appearance of the building within its urban setting. While keeping the integrity of Schaffner´s facade intact, the side facades are opened with large pivoting windows that create a vis-à-vis to the adjacent neo-classicist buildings. In the courtyard one of the three parking garages has been opened, creating an alley way between the former office building and a new atelier building. On the front side an extension of the canopy allows a glimpse into the hidden world of the backyard. 

The ways in which particular elements, spaces and structures are transformed remind us of the „rococoization“ of gothic churches.  By introducing a new grammar, given things change the way we perceive them. Despite the obvious friction between building periodes and languages there derives a new unity.

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Chair of Architecture and Construction
Adam Caruso
The project is presented as a folder, a collection of stories, architectural details, and material understanding, to provide information about the handling of the building and propose a resource for an ongoing transformation. The pages and stories can be rearranged, offering multiple readings and interpretations of the building, architectural fragments, and the interventions.

The research project engages with the hotel building known as Marriott that opened in the 1970s as an autonomous object in the city center of Zurich.The research unfolded stories about the building from contact with the original architect of the building, the interior designers, and the Head of Engineering who has worked in the building for over 25 years. Since the opening of the hotel, the idea of a «complete work of art» has been defiant. Over the years, the building underwent numerous modifications and transformations, revealing mutable versions of itself to keep up with the changing trends in hotel architecture.The generic new interiors have alienated the building’s interior from its shell. Each trend lasts for a generation and is custom- made for international hotel guests.The real users of the building, the workers, are thereby overlooked.The spatial separation between the front and back of the house is disproportionate.

The light touch aims to transform unused or historically interesting spaces in the hotel by critically reframing the existing layers and instrumentalising what is there.The actions are planned following the skill and expertise of the Engineering Team members of Marriott who have been in charge of every change ever made. Each space is appropriated to a new programme to tell the stories I encountered and reveal (im)material values that the building holds. Old, intermediate, and new layers create new atmospheres that are characterful to reconnect the hotel to its users and stay relevant in the future.

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On Good Grounds

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With the world climate changing, resources getting scarce and humans exploiting nature, we need to rethink farming and how to change our behavior towards nature. We're not the only ones.
By using the existing storage building as a foundation, the project becomes a self sufficient machine, powered by solar energy. With the aquaponic system it is possible to harvest more and use less.

The big heart of the machine connects the lower existing part with the upper new housings - a cohabitational space offering a habitat for plants, animals and humans. Everything is connected, everything is necessary and plays a role in the whole. 

Discover this cosmos of cohabitation and find yourself in richness and diversity. A symbiosis of plants, animals, humans, architecture and technology.

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Book Final Submission
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Book Pin Up 2
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Strips-paper
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Index
PDF  551 KB

Document 01
PDF  13 MB

Document 02
PDF  33 MB

Folder
PDF  22 MB

Wall
PDF  20 MB