During the conversion of the former COOP distribution center into a commercial and cultural building, an approximately 1,000 m2 large facade area was created - due to a partial deconstruction. The facade was designed in such a way that windows of different sizes could be used. The timber frame construction was ideally suited for this purpose. The ratio of open to closed facade was 50 percent. In addition to energy, occupational health and safety, and fire protection requirements, etc., the goal was to let as much light as possible into the deep building. Swiss window producers within a radius of about 100 km from the project site were asked for "stock windows". In this way, it was possible to collect 200 as-new windows that were in storage at the companies due to overproduction or incorrect orders. Usually, these stock windows are disposed of at short notice due to lack of space. The 200 windows, varying in color, shape and material, determine the lively facade appearance. Reclaimed wood is usually "thermally recycled", i.e. burned. For the façade of Building 215, purlins, rafters and glue-laminated beams were collected from deconstructions in the surrounding area, sawed into lamellas in a sawmill and used to produce torsion-resistant glue-laminated beams. In contrast to the previous structural timber, the glulam beams then meet the high requirements of timber frame construction. The timber frame construction elements were filled with rock wool insulation residues. They were collected, in the form of sections of as-new insulation boards or clean, pollutant-free material from other construction sites, and incorporated into the timber elements. These insulation remnants are normally collected from building material dealers in recycling bags, transported to the manufacturer, and melted down and reprocessed into new insulation material at a high energy cost. To save this high energy expenditure for transport and remelting, the insulation remnants were directly reinstalled. Remaining cavities were filled with stone wool granulate to ensure a structurally sound construction of the wall elements. The vertical division of the new east facade was based on the existing facades of the building. The green trapezoidal sheets of the previous roof superstructures were dismantled and re-installed on the new east façade. This resulted in a uniform façade design all around. Dismantled trapezoidal sheet metal from the neighboring former COOP wine warehouse was used for the newly constructed roof superstructures. A total of 2000 m2 of trapezoidal sheet metal was reused directly from the site for the outer shell of Building 215. Photos © Martin Zeller / baubüro in situ ag