The aims of the restoration
The aims of the historical renovation and restoration of the building carried out in 2010-2012 were as follows: a) rescue and significant lifetime prolongation of the monument as a preserved original, b) preparation and reconstruction of the house in its original form, as designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and implemented in 1929-1930. The actual project was preceded by a long and careful pre-project preparation.
Restoration of furniture
Restoration of wooden elements of the built-in and freestanding furniture included the restoration of the original surviving elements and structures and, where necessary, production of exact replicas of all the missing freestanding furniture. An important moment came with the discovery of a part of the original panels from the curved wall of the dining room in the main living space in Makassar ebony veneer. Thanks to preserved original photographs the restorers aligned this authentic material to its original position and restored the inner face of the wall to the state it was in 1930. Partial missing parts were then covered with new Makassar veneer.
Restoration of wall plasters
The transfer of perimeter wall plasters preceded the structural security of the garden terrace, whose critical condition was clearly the most problematic point of the restoration of the whole building. The transferred plasters were stored by conservators directly on site. Further excavation followed with large-diameter hand-dug wells below the base pair of steel supporting columns and the garden staircase. The downcast of the terrace was partially offset by supporting the terrace and straightening the offset steel columns into their proper vertical position. The concrete strips were newly built over with perimeter walls partly using the original bricks. Then restorers returned the transferred original plaster on this kind of renewed masonry of the garden terrace.