Revival of an Engadin House

This is what it's all about.

A manifesto of minimal intervention—a case study for careful renovation among old walls. As the home owner, Magdalena transformed Chesa Culaishem together with local craftsmen and using regional materials and techniques. Not only as a «general contractor» managing the project, but also actively involved as a worker: she was on the scaffolding, in the oven, plastering walls, and more. She shares her impressions, the lessons learned, and the joys of the process in this book. Interviews with a number of the craftsmen who worked with Magdalena complete the book.

The three authors, Magdalena, Lena, and Charlotte, reflect together on the process—a client in critical conversation with two architects, on a house that has always been built and renovated without architects.

Lena and Charlotte run PIONIRA — a platform that showcases architecture, ecology, and craftsmanship, with a focus on unconventional people and their often special (re)built spaces. That’s how we came across Magdalena—and knew immediately: we needed a «behind-the-scenes» to this house!

As an inspiring guide or toolbox for gentle transformation, the book plays with a combination of philosophy and practice and is transferable in many ways. The house comes from a 500 year history of being adapted to changing uses over generations without architects, as is typical for Engadin houses. The careful renovation represents a life with and in nature, a constant negotiation of comfort versus necessity, and highlights many approaches that can offer solutions to today’s questions of long-term sustainability in construction. This practical knowledge is passed on in this book, as a possible inspiration for homeowners or builders of all kinds.

To achieve these goals, the book is specifically composed of different parts. First, there is the continuous text, a kind of personal construction journal, written by Magdalena. In addition to the experiences, lessons learned, and difficulties, it also deals with the history—how did Magdalena come to own the house, what philosophy does the house represent, how could the sensitive renovation be embedded in a larger context? Could this house also be symbolic of further construction projects in the Engadin?

Furthermore, the book aims to highlight technical and architectural elements. This part of the book shows in detail which elements characterize the house historically and today, such as the special wooden windows of Engadin houses, the stoves with badger hair in the living rooms, or the lime mixture used to apply the sgraffito. The focus here is on traditional techniques in their contemporary application.

In addition to drawings and photo series, guided interviews with the craftsmen involved in the construction complement the technical component. In this way, Engadin knowledge will be incorporated into the book on:

• carpentry
• wooden furniture
• clay plastering and walls
• sgraffito and stone pigments
• historic ovens

Last but not least: houses are built in a team! We are making this book to showcase the collaborative process - how this old house wakes up from 60 years of being asleep!

We are also particularly pleased that our book is being published by a great publishing house—Scheidegger & Spiess in Zurich. This special collaboration has motivated us from the very beginning and confirms our belief that this book is important beyond the borders of Swiss building culture!

The book will be published in spring 2026, probably on April 1, 2026—we are looking forward to it!

My project is special because ...

Our motivation stems from a deep conviction. Together, we strongly believe in this hyper-local project, both from a social and architectural perspective. It is time to show how good architecture can lead the way in practical examples, not only to suggest sustainability, but also to implement it. For us, it is essential to advocate for the value of the place, the genius loci—this is about the structure of the village, the integration of the house into an ensemble, the external impact, and the sustainability of such an intervention. Furthermore, our motivation is also driven by the urgency to show how builders can treat houses with care, so that from now on there will be an awareness of what these houses need and the context from which they come. Chesa Culaischem embodies our ideas of shaping life and built space. This is a claim and a philosophy: a team of craftsmen and client, designing and renovating gently, cooperatively, with the courage to try new things, in harmony with the environment. A constant weighing up of what comfort means today and how we can possibly design well with less.

Another important point is the urgency of this type of conversion today. The construction sector emits around 40% of global CO2 and contributes significantly to our society’s poor carbon footprint. This insight is not new, but it is essential to combat this problem on all scales. The renovation of Chesa Culaischem shows how a small-scale conversion can be successful with low-tech approaches, protecting the location, the house, the neighborhood, and the social fabric around it—in addition to using local materials.

Another special feature is that a team of women is working together to create this book. The renovation, the production of the book, the layout, and the graphic design (Karin Rütsche, Focus Graphic Design, Basel)—as a group of women, we want to make these quiet processes visible, especially in a construction industry that is still often male-dominated, especially in rural areas.

This is what we need backing for:

• Graphic design
• Editing & proofreading
• Publishing costs (& distribution)
• Book printing
• Production & delivery of the books

We provide:

• Texts, photographs, design, translation, production, concept, interviews

We are very much looking forward to holding a German and an English edition of the book in our hands! To make this possible, we have come up with a few nice things that might encourage you to support us financially!