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Silent beauty in the Blue Land: DIRINGLO

With the Diringlo, an architect and an entrepreneur have preserved a historical gem of southern Bavarian residential culture, embedded in one of the most beautiful natural and cultural landscapes in Upper Bavaria.

by Ulrich Knoll in December 2023

The fasci­nation that once drew the expres­sio­nists around Gabriele Münter, Franz Marc and Wassily Kan­dinsky to the “Blaues Land” [Blue Land] can still be felt today in the region between Munich and Gar­misch-Par­ten­kirchen. South of the Staf­felsee and Riegsee lakes, with the Zug­spitze in front of you, an idyllic Upper Bavarian land­scape opens up like some­thing out of a picture book.

Even though I lived in Upper Bavaria for 30 years, I still rub my eyes in ama­zement every now and then.

This is also the case when climbing Ohl­stadt’s local mountain, the Heim­garten. Alt­hough it is one of Munich’s famous local moun­tains, I had never climbed it before. Once at the top, I find fasci­nating pan­oramas in more ways than one. On one side, towards the legendary Lake Wal­chensee and also far into the Alps. On the other hand, my eyes are spon­ta­neously cap­ti­vated by the large-scale view of the alpine Loisach Valley, in which the muni­ci­pality of Ohl­stadt and my accom­mo­dation are sud­denly just a distant speck.

The area around the Heim­garten and Her­zog­stand is one of the most popular hiking desti­na­tions in the Zug­spitze region. And for good reason: in the Bavarian foot­hills of the Alps, lakes, vil­lages and monas­teries lie at your feet, as if lightly painted there by an artist’s hand. Valleys open up to the wide land­scape, some­times gently, some­times with rugged borders. The view of the plain sweeps across a rural land­scape cha­rac­te­rised by lush meadows, moors and islands of forest. Impressive and tranquil at the same time. And towering above it all – almost like a cliché – is the iconic white-blue Bavarian sky.

Below the Heim­garten, lush flowering Buckel­wiesen [mogul meadows] stretch across the valley, where cows graze lei­surely. Behind them shimmers the alpine mountain river rushing from Gar­misch. And in the back­ground, the striking onion dome of the baroque parish church of St Lau­rentius catches my eye and guides me uner­ringly back to my tem­porary accom­mo­dation: the heritage listed Diringlo farm­stead in Ohl­stadt.

Several cen­turies old, the former “Hau­serhof” in the centre of the com­munity of 3,000 inha­bi­tants stood empty for many years after the turn of the mill­ennium. And on the verge of final decay. The fact that it was saved and now shines again in its former sple­ndour and new glory is thanks to a stroke of fate.

Modern living in a his­to­rical context: barn – stable – resi­dential wing

Tog­ether, the two set off on a journey into the past and the future. Firstly into the past of the buil­ding’s history, including the depths (and pit­falls) of the building fabric, parts of which date back to the Baroque period.

The building, where today up to 17 guests can be accom­mo­dated in three highly indi­vi­dua­lised suites, was pre­viously reno­vated over several years fol­lowing extensive planning. Every detail was rese­arched and res­tored in accordance with the requi­re­ments of the heritage pre­ser­vation pro­tection order and with the help of num­erous spe­cia­lised com­panies. The former “eyesore” in the centre of the village was trans­formed into a pro­perty that attracts the attention of passers-by and has been attracting guests from near and far since 2021.

Con­ser­vation down to the last detail

The most his­to­ri­cally signi­ficant section of the house is in the former resi­dential wing, today’s “Seffa” – here you can expe­rience num­erous relics of the past.
However, as the heritage pro­tection requi­re­ments covered almost every detail, many large and small factors were taken into con­side­ration throughout the entire complex during the res­to­ration, which took several years.

For example, the con­ser­vation, removal and res­to­ration of all ori­ginal doors, windows, glass panes, shutters and bars by a spe­cialist res­torer. Or the res­to­ration of the fur­nis­hings and the tiled stove in the parlour in the “Seffa”, which are still largely ori­ginal but had been badly damaged by water ingress.

The ori­ginal cof­fered cei­lings in the parlour and bed­rooms also had to be carefully removed, res­tored down to the last detail, added to where necessary and reinstalled.

Preli­minary inves­ti­ga­tions of the layers of paint, plaster and woodwork revealed evi­dence of the house’s pre­de­cessors dating back to the 17th century. Visitors to the “Seffa” will notice the areas that were ana­lysed in the hallway and kitchen – they show the indi­vidual layers up to the year of con­s­truction.

All wooden parts, rafters, purlins, sup­ports and the wooden block walls, which had pre­viously been painted with lime paint, were carefully cleaned with a slowly rotating brass brush throughout the house by a spe­cialist with over a period of several months and left unt­reated. Rotten wooden parts were removed and res­tored with visible “wooden pro­sthetics”.

A special feature is the brick-built shaft in the kitchen of the “Seffa”, the purpose of which has not yet been clearly estab­lished. It is thought to have been a hiding place. The res­tored and illu­mi­nated shaft is now used to display the whe­ts­tones found in the house and sym­bo­lises the whe­tstone making that used to take place throughout the village.

The con­ser­vation of the ori­ginal, steep stairs in the “Seffa”, which were only allowed to be repaired and sup­ple­mented as levelling them was not per­mitted, was also com­pli­cated.

Monument meets con­tem­porary design

All in all, it can be said that the his­to­rical building was only sup­ple­mented with modern fix­tures where this was pos­sible or necessary. It goes without saying that these ele­ments have been kept to a minimum in order to emphasise the overall his­to­rical impression of the building.

Accor­dingly, the “Kathi” and “Luggi” suites have a somewhat more modern feel overall. Here, too, of course, the requi­re­ments of heritage con­ser­vation had to be imple­mented, but not in the density of the pro­perty details.

Another special feature of the “Seffa” is that the suite extends ver­ti­cally through the entire building over three floors. From the kitchen and lounge with adjoining bedroom up to a second lounge and two further bed­rooms – right up to the roof, where there is a separate medi­tation room, which is also ideal for yoga ses­sions.

The “Kathi” is cha­rac­te­rised by the use of Beton Ciré, i.e. waxed con­crete with under­floor heating. Other modern ele­ments include the exposed con­crete fire­place, the bathroom, which is also made of con­crete, and the con­tem­porary fur­nis­hings. They are com­bined with his­to­rical fea­tures such as the ori­ginal brushed wooden ceiling, his­to­rical white­washed quarry stone masonry and slender, round steel columns.

Modern, partly large-format window and door ope­nings create a won­derful inci­dence of light that per­fectly empha­sises the con­trast between modernity and heritage listed history.

The apartment for two guests also has a covered terrace and a sun terrace.

The “Luggi” suite in the former barn can be reached via an external staircase com­plete with sun deck. As you enter, an 8 x 10 metre room opens up. Not only the expansive view into the depths of the room, but also the six metre high, open roof truss pro­vides plenty of freedom.

The room-length window fronts on both sides allow in plenty of light. These are shaded by curtain-type, sliding wooden louvres, which also ensure privacy. A clever solution that also fulfils the requi­re­ments of heritage building con­ser­vation, as they reflect the his­to­rical impression of the former farm­house in a modern form.

Con­tem­porary comfort

All aspects of sus­taina­bility were key pre­mises of the archi­tec­tural concept. A long service life, easy main­tenance and a com­po­sition of simple mate­rials that can be returned to the recy­cling process at any time were at the centre of all planning.
Driven by the idea of opti­mising the use of resources, the owners carefully repaired, sup­ple­mented and revived the his­to­rical farm­house using tra­di­tional mate­rials such as wood, lime plaster, brick and glass whe­rever pos­sible.
Today, modern comfort is pro­vided by elec­tricity that drives a heat pump. The ter­ra­cotta-coloured solar panels on the garage roof, which are almost unique in Germany, produce their own solar power on site.

This is used for the three e‑charging sta­tions and, if required, is also con­verted into heating energy, which can be trans­ferred to the rooms at a low tem­pe­rature as radiant heat via the under­floor heating. Energy is also saved by storing it in the screed sur­faces.

Embraced by archi­tecture and comfort, I almost regret having sub­jected myself to such an extensive leisure pro­gramme.

As in the rest of the house, the his­to­rical arte­facts in my suite speak for them­selves and create a magi­cally tranquil atmo­sphere, devoid of any kitsch (Alpine deco­ra­tions!) and which I am reluctant to leave. Only delicate, small bou­quets of flowers lovingly and unob­tru­sively remind me of the charm of the sur­rounding mountain and mogul meadows. So let’s go out, there’s so much nature and culture to dis­cover!

A visit to the Glent­leiten open-air museum is also highly recom­mended for all those who want to find out more about building tra­dition, life and farming in times gone by.

If you want more than the good home-style cooking on site, you may end up in your per­sonal Bavarian heaven with the Alpine avant-garde cuisine in the Spei­se­meis­terei at the Tonihof in nearby Eschenlohe.

And if you don’t want to end the evening in the restaurant, the bar­becue area by the house awaits you in summer, or alter­na­tively the mar­vellous seats by the fire­place.

If you happen to be there at the right time, you might even be able to savour some Diringlo plums. This variety that gives the farm­stead its name, also known as Rei­ne­claude, have a long tra­dition at the farm.

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You can find photos (© Karin Lochner) of the house from the era before the reno­vation here.

Text: Ulrich Stefan Knoll, December 2023

Photos: © Coletta Ehrmann, Karin Lochner, Stephan Rauscher, Sebastian Vetter, Ulrich Stefan Knoll

The house

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