The house in the March District is located in the midst of a densely populated suburban neighbourhood on the bank of a narrow brook. Working with a modest sized parcel, the trick in the scheme was to minimize the footprint. This task was made all the more challenging by the client’s request for a four-car garage.The spacious program is shoehorned into the constricted envelope by literally upending the traditional house plan. Instead of common spaces on the ground floor and the private spaces above, the two are squeezed side by side in vertical strips.
The building was designed as a split level to create a connection with the outdoors on various levels. This enables a sequence of spaces with varying degrees of privacy, light qualities and orientations. Family life revolves around an open living area organised across multiple levels. A partition wall with functional built-in elements on both sides separates this area from the bedrooms. Breakthroughs link the two worlds and thus create an intimacy between the community life of the family and individual privacy.
Exterior walls, middle wall and floor slabs form a frame of reinforced concrete that cantilevers out over the glazed entrance. This serves to enlarge the usable surrounding space. On the façade, rough trowel-thrown plaster is finished with a reflective silver layer that picks out the peaks to create a lively surface relief. The sculptural effect of the house thus changes depending on the viewing angle and the fall of light.
Material Used :
1. Facade: Gadola Bau AG, Oetwil am See, TZ
2. Windows: Lehmann Arnegg, 9212 Arnegg
3. Carpentry / Kitchen: Kluser + Hehli Innenausbau AG, Altendorf SZ
4. Mineral floor covering: Cosimo Floorline AG, Dietikon ZH
Suppliers
1. Kitchen
2. Equipment: Miele
3. Stainless steel worktop: Suter Inox AG
Bathrooms
1. Armatures: Gessi
2. Basins: Catalano and Corian
3. Bath tub: Schmidlin
4. Toilets: Laufen
Light
1. Spotlights: XAL
2. Mirror lights: Ribag
