Condition in 2015 (altered)
Haefeli Moser Steiger - Switzerland
Apartment Buildings Tannengut
Gehrenstrasse / Kirschgartenweg, Aarau
1953 - 1956

According to the Aarau building code there would have been permissible only three to four storey building blocks with small distances to the border and other buildings,
on the shlightly south-east sloping "Tannengut" parcel, which shows a slightly elevated position. But since the building code would have had several negative consequecnes,
and
in connection with the planned sale of the site, the landowners commissioned the architectural office Haefeli Moser Steiger in 1953 to draft a new development plan
ignoring the building code.
According to the building code almost the whole stock of existing trees would have fallen victim to a new development,
and at the same time a strong fragmentation of the open space and poor exposure to the sun of the apartments would have been the consequence of
a development according to the building code. The new owners of the parcel adopted the plan of Haefeli Moser Steiger as a structure plan and it was approved
by the city in amendment of the building code as part of a layout plan.

The concentration of the apartments in two long, tall blocks to the east and the loosening of the edification in the western part of the terrain enabled a contiguous
open space and good utilization of the building complex, which works with few circulation areas, and grants a beautiful view from all of the apartments.
The four-storey Block A correlates to the north-south direction and is marked by a slight offset
in plan related to the stairwells. At the same position, the building
height is staggered in correspondence to the terrain. The building block B is running along the contour lines and consists of two tracts joined in an obtuse angle.
The Volume has five respectively six stories facing uphill. In its east-west oriented tract, as in the block A, are arranged 2 or 3 bedroom apartments.
Most of them feature living and dining areas running through the depth of the building and service balconies as well as overhanging residential balconies.
In the taller wing are housed smaller apartments with southwest-facing living areas along access galleries. In addition to these two large blocks, the architects
proposed a lower community building in front of the block B, and double-family houses for the western part of the site. The further elaboration of the project
and its realization was assumed by the company of Fritz Frei, advised by Haefeli Moser Steiger.