House Nimeth

Conversion
2009-2013
Location: Ried im Innkreis
Client: Eng. Birgit Mayr


The residential and business house Nimeth counts among the oldest buildings of Ried im Innkreis and was already documented in 1598. Initially there were two parcels of land of 45 metres depth with a front house facing the main square, a spacious interior courtyard and a rear house oriented towards Kirchengasse. These buildings were accessible and connected by a passage on the ground floor and by arcades upstairs. From 1900 onwards the courtyard was successively filled in with additions. When Ms Birgit Mayr purchased the real estate in 2009 three tiny courtyards supplied the lighting of the four-storey volume so poorly that the building was entirely vacant except for the business premises.
It was the builder-owner´s ambition to create attractive living space and to revitalise the historic town centre. This idea was followed by a design that focused on dismantling uncompromisingly the dense structure of the building and on restoring the central court with circumjacent arcades. All of the twelve apartments of 60 to 180m2 feature a loggia, a terrace or a small private garden. From one of the original passages of the building two stairs, one of them under monumental protection, and a lift take you to the upper floors of the edifice. The garage on the first floor is accessible via a driveway from Kirchengasse. Since Ried was founded on marshland, an underground carpark was difficult to realise. Five apartments are arranged around the courtyard which is located above the garage – a pattern continued on the third floor. Three maisonettes, with generous private terraces, are set back on the upper floor and provide in this way sufficient lighting for the courtyard.
The conversion of the building was not only challenging in respect to the preservation order and a sensitive adaption of a four-hundred year old building substance to contemporary requirements of accommodation, static limits were maxed out as well. By using pre-built ribbed concrete ceilings it was possible not to exceed the weight of its previous ceilings. At the same time the building has gained a uniform and artistic element similar to a woven carpet on all its storeys.