Jonathan Tuckey doesn’t so much whisper to old buildings as listen to them. Known for his innovative updates to historic homes, the British architectural designer was the obvious choice when his friends Al and Francesca Breach decided to bring new life to Nossenhaus, a centuries-old stone-and-timber structure they’d bought in the Swiss village of Andermatt.

Dating from 1620 and situated in Andermatt’s charming, cobblestoned center, Nossenhaus had functioned for hundreds of years as a multifamily dwelling, with livestock and storage on the street level.

More recently, the space had evolved into a convivial commune occupied by skiers and climbers. “It was inhabited,” Tuckey clarifies, “but in a very rudimentary manner. There was wind blowing through and rain coming in.” Adds Al with a laugh, “There was one shower—it was a great place for hippie skiers.”

The building was in danger of being replaced by a new one when the Swiss Heritage Society awarded it historic status in 2015—a move that saved it from developers intent on demolition but also ratcheted up renovation complications for the new owners and Tuckey.

The first order of business was to carefully strip away newer additions, like the exterior shingles and gabled dormers, so that the heritage officer could carefully document and analyze materials that were more than a hundred years old, a task that entailed carbon-dating the old timbers.

“It’s a house where the architecture has been allowed to sing—it’s on display but not in a showy way.”
—Francesca Breach, co-owner

Once the structural engineer determined how much of the existing building could be retained, Tuckey, working with local architect Ruedi Kreienbühl (who passed away after the project was completed), began restoring the structure and reconfiguring the 4,000-square-foot interior for contemporary living. “Ruedi was a fantastic architect and collaborator, but he never wanted credit for what he did,” Tuckey says.

Al and Francesca live nearby in a house that Tuckey and Kreienbühl also designed, and they wanted space for visiting family and friends that could double as a vacation rental, along with an office for Al. A wine enthusiast, Al also dreamed of creating a wine bar on the ground level.

Tuckey, who restored his own vacation home in the village, sketched a plan for a maisonette on the top two floors, two one-bedroom apartments on the second floor, and space for the wine bar on the bottom.

With an eye to energy efficiency, the team installed a new roof covered in wood tiles that Tuckey describes as “a warm woolly hat” and lined the interior of the perimeter walls with six inches of insulation.

“There are dark corners, but they’re made to feel very nice because of the contrast with the brighter spaces.”
—Jonathan Tuckey, designer

They also incorporated an early form of environmental architecture typical of the area. “Traditionally, builders in this part of the world used stone construction on the north and east sides to shield from wind and timber on the south and west to retain the sun’s warmth, and the two parts of the house interlocked like Jenga blocks,” he says. “It was something we wanted to make visible again.”

Having been protected by the shingles, some of the original wood was in surprisingly good condition, but where the old timbers couldn’t be saved, new larch planks were substituted. Explains Tuckey, “We said, ‘Let’s put in something that’s unashamedly of its time, and it will develop the patina of age just as the original materials have done.’”

To bring light and volume to the maisonette, Tuckey removed a ceiling that separated the top floor from a storage loft and also created a balcony overlooking the street. And in a nod to traditional Swiss mountain huts, he connected the two bedrooms with a shared sleeping loft lined with bunks.

The couple have furnished the spaces simply, with a mix of contemporary pieces and antiques from Sweden. “We wanted a layered effect, the feeling that things were collected gradually,” says Francesca.

In connecting past and present, Nossenhaus has found a new vibrancy, and Tuckey hopes it endures for at least another century or two. “Every element that’s there fought hard to earn its place and have another four hundred years of fun going on around it,” he says.

Project Credits:

Architecture & Design: Jonathan Tuckey Design / @jonathantuckeydesign

General Contractor: Stefan Zigerlig

Structural Engineering: Inderkum-Holzbau

Electrical Engineering: R. Mettler AG

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