Friday 26 August 2011 Page 5
In-depth article
Project to rebuild houses on Gstaad’s Promenade stalled Photo: zvg
vehicles as well as storage space. Access to the garage would be via a car elevator in the rear of the houses. The apartments are not for sale but will be made available for rent. Still open is the issue of which businesses will occupy the retail spaces.
So could the row of houses appear on Gstaad’s Promenade after the rebuild of the ‘Jutzeler’ and ‘Hermenjat’ houses. A recent zoning plan revision classified two houses on Gstaad’s Promenade as ‘particularly significant objects.’ “The owner endeavors to keep this in mind,” says project manager Daniel Matti. Nevertheless, a start of construction is not yet foreseeable due to various objections to recent plans. A few years ago, a firm called “Einfache Gesellschaft Überbauung Promenade” (English: ‘Simple Company Development Promenade”) planned to tear down four houses in the village of Gstaad—the Jutzeler, Hermenjat and Bach houses as well as the Post Office—in order to build four connected buildings that would contain residential and commercial units as well as an underground parking garage. Due to substantial criticism and objections, the firm withdrew its project and replaced it with a renovation variant instead of a demolition one (see Anzeiger von Saanen January 9 and October 9, 2009 issues). The only building to be torn down in that second variant
would have been the Post Office. However, everything changed yet again. Two lots sold “We did not pursue that project further,” said Daniel Matti of Chaletbau Matti AG, project manager, and speaking on behalf of the property owners. “Both the Hermenjat and Jutzeler houses were separated from the overall project and sold by the firm HCT Beteiligungs- & Betriebs AG.” Both houses were classified ‘particularly significant objects’ in the new zoning plan, and there are plans to demolish and rebuild them. The owner has stated that the apartments in the existing houses were: in bad condition, left unoccupied for years, and therefore uninhabitable. A renovation would be disproportionately expensive. In accordance with the new building regulations, ‘particularly significant objects,’ are only to be demolished if the replacement object or transformed building takes the protection, design and renewal principles
into account, in at least an equivalent way.” “We have kept to these regulations to a full extent in our planning,” Matti said. A small volume expansion is planned. “We will not use up all the footprint that is allowable according to the building regulations,” he added. No structural eyesores Two houses with restaurants are planned in the ground floor as well as an apartment in each of the upper floors and attics. “The owner wants to keep the silhouette and facade design as much as possible,” Matti said. “ The architecture is simple, the houses have no dormers, and, along the Promenade side, no balconies. This was an important issue within the planning zone. The two buildings will not be structural eyesores in the townscape.” Matti preferred to speak of a reconstruction rather than a new build. The two houses will be connected underground with a common underground garage for ten passenger
Objections block the project Still open is the construction schedule. Originally, one had wanted to begin with the demolition of the buildings after summer 2011. During the 30-day input period, however, objections from neighbors and from an environmental protection group were filed. “The objectors put in question the design of the new buildings,” Matti said, “and the environmental protection group fights the entire project.” The building owner is understandably frustrated. “A large value was placed on an aesthetically appealing design and on a careful integration into the townscape. Nevertheless, there are objections that put this into question.” For the moment, no one can say whether the project can be realized. A building permission procedure is under way, and the owner is anxious to find solutions with the objectors,” Matti explained. In discussion with the Post Office Of the original project by the “Einfache Gesellschaft Überbauung Promenade” (translated as the ‘Simple Company Development Promenade”), the only plot to remain undeveloped is the one with the Post Office building. “We are working with the Post Office,” Matti said. “At the moment, development studies are being conducted.” Translated and adapted from the article by Anita Moser AVS 27.5.11