Sleeping Beauty has woken: Zurlindenvilla Aarau completed

The historic 19th-century industrialist’s villa has been owned by the town of Aarau since 1928. It houses the offices of the Schweizerischer Turnverband. Age, and some huge structural changes, made the refurbishment necessary. The refurbishment, following conservation criteria, of the late Neo-classical villa on Bahnhofstrasse was completed in 2017. Fontana Landschaftsarchitektur was commissioned with redesigning the gardens as part of these works.

The exterior design is inspired by the urban context, the utilization, and the design principles of the historic garden insofar as could be made out from photographs. These fundamental principles – sweeping forms and a continuous gravel carpet in which the building and planted sections sit like islands – were re-interpreted with the property’s modern use in mind. A few old trees frame the villa: they have been re-staged by green islands made of shrubs and hydrangeas. Magnolias and giant dogwoods supplement the wood structures in the spirit of the historic complex. The house, garden and urban environment enter into a new mutual relationship through precisely captured views both inwards and outwards.