Property development with responsibility
Four words that are quickly written. This page sets out what each of them means in practice for the Bären project: in decisions already taken, and in questions still open.
We combine the experience, knowledge and network of one generation with the ambition, courage and energy of the next.
We believe that experience is particularly valuable when it is passed on. That is why we want to use our resources to open doors for young, committed people, to entrust them with responsibility and to give them opportunities they might otherwise only receive many years later.
We do not want to decide the future for young people. We want to give them the springboard to shape their future themselves.
Experience is our foundation.
Over many years, knowledge, professional expertise, contacts and a strong network have grown. To us, these are valuable resources that must not be lost.
We want to pass on this experience and combine it with the energy and ideas of a new generation.
Knowledge gains in value when it is shared.
Opportunities do not arise for everyone at the same time.
We have the means, contacts and a network with which we can open doors. It is precisely these opportunities that we want to make accessible to young, ambitious people.
Whether in our network or in a building project such as the Bären in Ins: we create the springboard. The jump and the path are decided by the young people themselves.
We open doors. Walking through them is up to them.
We are convinced: those who are given responsibility can outgrow themselves.
That is why we do not just want to let young people watch or help out. We want to entrust them with real responsibility, accompanied by the knowledge and experience of seasoned professionals.
This builds self-confidence, courage, competence and mutual respect.
Giving responsibility means placing trust.
The future is made when experience meets new ideas.
OLD stands for experience, knowledge, network and contacts. YOUNG stands for ambition, courage, energy and will.
We bring both together.
This way, valuable knowledge is preserved, networks continue to grow and a new generation gets the chance to realise its own ideas.
OLD creates opportunities. YOUNG takes on responsibility. TOGETHER we shape the future.
With the Bären in Ins, we want to apply our OLD FOR YOUNG philosophy consistently to an entire building project.
A few months ago we acquired the fire-damaged ruin in the village centre of Ins. The impetus came from the young generation: from a young architect who heads Cibolini Architektur GmbH, the firm we commissioned, and, together with his team, is developing the vision for this special place.
OLD FOR YOUNG had the experience, the network and the financial means to make this project possible. The young Cibolini Architektur GmbH, which we commissioned, brings the ambition, courage, creativity and will to turn it into something special.
But our vision goes further than the planning.
The Bären in Ins is to become a springboard for young talent.
During construction, we want to encourage the companies involved to give a young, ambitious employee in the final year of training an exceptional opportunity: to take responsibility for their own trade and to see it through from A to Z as a young project lead.
An opportunity that young people usually only get after several years of professional experience.
Anyone who is to take on responsibility first needs someone who trusts them with it.
We do not just want to let young people watch. We want to give them a voice, involve them in decisions and enable them to prove their abilities on a real and demanding project.
Trust builds self-confidence. Responsibility builds courage.
For us, young responsibility does not mean leaving young people on their own.
Behind every young project lead stands an experienced entrepreneur, master trainer or specialist with their expertise and experience.
This changes the way people work together: young and old meet more as equals. The young take on responsibility, while the experienced generation accompanies, supports and passes on its knowledge.
The experience of OLD becomes the strength of YOUNG.
Knowledge is not lost this way. It is passed on.
That is exactly where our vision lies.
We want to show what becomes possible when experience is not held on to but passed on. When networks are opened up. When young people are trusted not only after many years in their profession, but as soon as they show ambition, curiosity, commitment and the will to do it.
The Bären in Ins is therefore to become more than a successful building project.
It is to become a place where not only buildings are built, but the future is developed.
A project in which OLD creates the conditions and YOUNG gets the chance to grow with it.
OLD gives experience. OLD opens doors. YOUNG takes on responsibility. TOGETHER we create the future.
That is OLD FOR YOUNG.
Fairness begins with the question of who is at the table. For a building on the village square, that is not only the owners. It is the municipality, the neighbourhood, heritage conservation, future residents and everyone who walks past this place every day.
For us, fair therefore means this: we are not looking for a solution that works for us and not for the place. A project that has to push itself through against a village has already lost, even if it is approved in the end. Equally, a compromise helps no one if it is negotiated until nothing is left of it.
Fair also means not painting your own position better than it is. Floor plans, floor areas and prices of the apartments are not settled yet. We say so openly rather than claiming a figure that is not settled.
And fair means that the order of things stays comprehensible. Anyone interested in an apartment is considered in the order in which they get in touch. It is a simple rule, and that is exactly its advantage: it can be checked.
Interested parties are considered in the order in which they get in touch.
The municipality of Ins is part of the process from the start, rather than receiving a finished project at the end.
The daycare on the ground floor is intended for the village, not only for the building.
Where a question is open, we say so instead of inventing an answer.
The Bären project is under development. Not every question has been answered, and that is precisely why we communicate openly: for the people of Ins, for future residents and for everyone with an interest in how this place develops.
Most projects only communicate once everything has been decided. That is comfortable, because there are no follow-up questions. The only drawback is that nobody can contribute any more. Informing at the end means informing about a result, not about a path.
We do it the other way round. The rebuilding is to be planned in workshops together with heritage and local conservation bodies, OLD FOR YOUNG and the municipality. That means we start with a question rather than with a finished design that can only be confirmed.
Transparency also has a limit, and we name that too. We give no information about the purchase price or the other parties involved. What concerns the place, we make public. What concerns only the ownership side, we do not.
There is a burnt-out ruin on the village square in Ins. The Bären hotel and restaurant burned on 21 June 2022, around 120 firefighters were deployed and the roof structure burned out completely. Nobody was injured. Since then the gap in the townscape has been visible every day.
The easy route would be a project that adds up financially and disturbs nobody. The building is a protected object, and Ins is a townscape of national importance. Both could be treated as an obstacle. We treat them as a requirement that makes a project better, because it forces you to look more closely.
For us, bold means choosing the more demanding route when it serves the place for longer. A workshop process takes more time than a finished design. A shared energy network that can also supply neighbouring buildings is more complicated than a heating system for a single house. We chose both anyway.
Boldness is not speed. It means allowing the more uncomfortable question: what will this village square need in thirty years? Answers to that do not emerge at a desk alone, but in conversation with the people who live here.
A workshop process with the municipality instead of an already finished design.
The cantonal heritage conservation office is involved early, not only at the building application.
A shared energy network intended to supply surrounding buildings as well.
Several generations in the same building: senior apartments, family apartments and a daycare.
Protecting the townscape is the starting point of the planning, not its limitation.
Sustainability begins with understanding what a place already has. Ins has a great deal: three railway lines, schools, an all-day school, two medical practices, a residential care centre and a landscape that carries the village. A new project does not have to replace any of that; it should connect to it.
That is why the shared energy network is designed to supply not only the project itself but also surrounding buildings. In this way we make use of existing infrastructure and create value beyond the property line.
Commitment also means thinking about the people who are already here. In Ins, around one person in five is 65 or older. More than 91 per cent of people over 65 live at home, and the average age of entry into a nursing home is 81.5 years (Pro Senectute). In its policy on ageing the canton of Bern follows the principle of outpatient care before residential care. Those who grow older here should be able to stay in the village, close to their own people rather than two villages away.
And it means staying with it when attention fades. A project of this kind takes years. Public interest is greatest at the beginning; the work is not. We stay reachable for the whole distance.
OLD FOR YOUNG combines the experience of established entrepreneurs with a vision for the generations to come.
OLD FOR YOUNG, Property development with responsibility
They appear in short form on every document we send out. Here they are written out in full, so it is clear what they mean for the Bären project.
Stance
Taking on a plot on the village square means taking on more than a parcel of land. The ruin of the Bären has been part of everyday life in Ins since 2022, visible on the way to school and from the municipal offices. Responsibility first of all means not leaving that state in place any longer than necessary. And it means planning the outcome so that it still serves the place in thirty years. That is why there is a process at the start rather than a design.
Process
Experience is only worth something if others benefit from it. In the Bären project it feeds into a process that deliberately allows several voices. The architecture practice Cibolini Architektur GmbH is developing a workshop together with the municipality, and a panel of several people accompanies the process and brings in different perspectives. Architecture then emerges not only for the place, but out of an understanding of the place. The best idea does not have to be ours.
Outcome
Shaping the future means building for people who are not yet at the table. The Bären project foresees ten senior apartments, two family apartments and a daycare on the ground floor. That is not a coincidence but the intention to bring different stages of life into one place. Added to that is a shared energy network meant to have an effect beyond the project. What the building will finally look like is decided in the workshop process.
Whether you are interested in an apartment, want to follow the development process or would like to talk to us about the site: we look forward to hearing from you.
Interested parties are considered in the order in which they get in touch.
