Until the mid-1980s the barn fulfilled its original purpose as a hay store and stable for cattle, pigs and chickens. After we stopped keeping livestock, it was still used as a shelter for agricultural machinery and for storage. The construction of two holiday apartments has given the building a new lease of life.
The barn at the Sticklerhof was built by hand at the end of the 1940s, predominantly with materials available locally. The stable on the ground floor and the buttresses of the hay store housed above consist of dry-stone walling. The rock comes from the neighbouring fields and the excavation of the building’s foundations.
The exterior walls were rendered with limestone mortar so that the front surfaces of the stones remain partially visible. The roof structure and the wooden walls are made from pine wood. These pines were cut from what was at the time the farm’s own wood in nearby Vellau. Pillars, trusses, purlins and rafters were cut by the carpenters on site from pine logs using an adze.
In 1965 the building was recognised with the stone emblem of the South Tyrolean local heritage society (Südtiroler Heimatpflegeverband) for its exemplary construction method.
Our objective was to achieve a symbiosis of the existing building structure and modern design and at the same time to preserve the original character of the building. For this reason we tried to use the existing building as much as possible and to adapt new elements to the old stock in terms of both shape and material selection. Furthermore, attention was paid to ensuring that all new structural elements were designed in such a way that it would be possible to dismantle it without damaging the existing architecture.
For the insulation we placed great importance on the use of natural and/or reusable materials, primarily mineral foam, wood fibres and cellulose.
Wind and weather also alter a building. But this transformation can be very attractive and gives many historic buildings their charm. Not least for this reason, first and foremost we used natural stone, untreated pine wood and rolled untreated steel outside.
