Project Category: Residential

In the interior, it is a case of raw structure throughout. The walls and ceilings are covered with a skim-coated white plaster, though left unpainted. The “floorings” are made of sealed gypsum subflooring (anhydrite). Wide sliding doors made from wooden panels allow variations in the spatial relationships.

The load-bearing construction consists of concrete floor slabs, masonry, and concrete walls below grade. The exterior stucco, applied to the mineral based insulation, is simply a base screed layer of lime cement. The way of applying the stucco with a broom – indeed, with the structure of a base layer - underlines the sense of rough construction and, in addition, is able to give expression to the “textile-like” character of the facade's construction.

Large windows with black metal frames are set into the facade like grand “optical instruments”. Towards the west, where one has a view of the city, they are placed in a dense row, while they appear solitarily on the remaining facades. The recessed roof level opens up to the terraces with large window fronts in aluminium. In contrast to the complex, dark, lime cement colour tones of the stucco, the protective coating on the wooden surfaces of the doors and gates is kept in clear, glowing spectral colours.

Like the former allotment gardens, the garden remains planted with fruit and nut trees. Field grasses are seeded inbetween. In the steeper, western part of the parcel, hazelnut and blackberry bushes continue the moderate wilderness in a nearly unchanged form.

A cut-out volume on the ground floor forms the entrance area. Here a circuit connects the entry hall with the living room, the two-story dining room, and the kitchen. The double-height dining area extends up to the first floor, which is divided into two sleeping areas, each with separate bathrooms – one private area and one for guests, with scope to separate off the latter space with sliding doors. Above this, on the top floor, two similar rooms are used as study and library, each featuring its own terrace.

A central stairway structures the space; an angled stair winds between the walls to the lowest floor, and a straight stair with a deeper first step emerges from the fireplace and kitchen block and leads upwards. The upper staircase leading up to the rooftop terrace is lent transparency by offset cut-outs in the risers.

Dark oak windows, with separate ventilation sashes behind curtain-like latticework, frame and structure the range of differently proportioned openings in the various rooms. In the interior, the doors, built-in furniture, and bookshelves, in dark oak veneer or glossy white paint, complement the spatial ambience created by the chalk-colored cast concrete floors and the cream tone of the walls with their white lazure. The outer layer of the double concrete shell is also executed in beige limestone concrete. Some of the surfaces were heavily sandblasted, while others were left with a smooth formed finish.

In collaboration with the artist Harald F. Müller and the family, certain internal surfaces have been painted in strong colors. The ceilings in the children’s rooms are bright orange and gold, one wall of the parents’ bedroom is light blue, the wall beneath the skylight in the living room is black, and the ceiling above the large stairwell is an orangey-red.

The dark terrazzo floors throughout the house give the various rooms an overall muted coloration and establish a correlation with the concrete used for the support structure, whose load-bearing external concrete shell forms the façade. Internal masonry walls are not load-bearing and conceal the insulation.

Due to the texture of the vertical rough planking used as formwork and the deep reveals of the window openings, the exposed concrete façade gains a striking physical presence. This underlines the structure’s sturdiness against the slope. The white scumble on the surface of the concrete emphasizes with delicate tonal nuances the play of shadows across the surfaces and perforations. The glazed parapet has a slightly reflective finish to afford privacy while also mirroring the trees in the garden.

The topography is also reflected in the interior. Under the slanted roof, the living/dining room reaches a height of seven meters, and staggered mezzanine levels follow the sloping hillside. The central staircase links all four mezzanine levels with a single flight of stairs each. Wide floor-to-ceiling sliding doors allow generous connections between the spaces as well as closing them off at night.

The load-bearing structure consists of pre-fabricated timber elements filled with thermal insulation and protected from the weather by the rear-ventilated copper shingling. The inner surfaces of the timber panels are whitewashed. Pivot windows of uniform size appear to be scattered across the façade at random, but they actually reflect the spatial layout of the interior. The tall viewing window offers a spectacular vertical panorama down into the valley, across to the hills, and up the mountains on the other side.

The site remains nearly untouched by the house, with wild grasses now growing again all around, seamlessly joining the neighboring pastures. The only intervention is a level deck cut into the hillside to the west.