Where architecture begins, long before anything is built.
It is the view that greets you first. Step into the Alte Färberei in Thalwil and you find yourself in a room whose windows frame Lake Zurich like a picture: water, light, the far shore. Behind you an open field of desks, models and material samples begins – the Zurich studio of Philipp Architekten.
A lakeside factory becomes an atelier
The former dye works on the lake's western shore has not shed its past; it has passed it on. High ceilings, an open plan, the quiet severity of industrial building. We did not write over this inheritance – we made it habitable. What emerged is less an office than an atelier: a place for design, encounter and exchange, where workstations, materials, models and conversations come together.
That an architecture practice should work inside a piece of industrial heritage is no coincidence but a statement of intent. Building within existing fabric is one of our core concerns – from private houses and corporate headquarters to the transformation of listed sacred buildings, and beyond.
The floor is given its structure by a room-height framework of slender oak members and glass, crafted by hand for this place. It does not divide; it holds. Out of the studio's generous expanse it carves an independent meeting room without surrendering the sense of openness. Step behind the glazed doors and you are in conversation – and still in the room. Concentration and openness sit one step apart here: precisely the balance we seek in our projects.
Above it all floats a light installation by Studio 6.3.8: a field of hand-crafted spheres drifting through the high space, light to the eye, tactile, quietly sculptural. Part luminous object, part spatial gesture, it sets a soft counterpoint to the clarity of the interior and lends the studio depth, rhythm and imagination.
Architecture, interior and atmosphere from a single hand
Fine furniture, tailor-made joinery, curtains and rugs bring calm and warmth into the industrial breadth. This joining of architecture, interior design and atmosphere into one continuous spatial narrative is how we work – in our own studio as in every project. Beauty is our north star: the measure against which plan, material and light are equally judged.
The result is space with character – singularly curated, conceived to endure, and deeply bound to its context.
From Thalwil: projects across Switzerland and internationally
The Zurich studio is the Swiss seat of Philipp Architekten, led by Anna Philipp, Architect SIA (Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects). From here we accompany clients on Lake Zurich, down to Ticino and internationally – among them houses in exposed lakeside settings, holiday retreats, offices and corporate headquarters, museums and sacred buildings. Alongside Zurich, we work from Schloss Waldenburg and Frankfurt am Main, both in Germany.
We receive clients, family offices and project partners by appointment at the Alte Färberei in Thalwil – ten minutes by train from Zurich main station, directly on the lake.
