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On a steep south-facing slope in Au, Switzerland, Gähler Flüchler Fankhauser Architekten place a house that cascades through four levels — each stepping directly into the hillside with views across the Rhine Valley toward Vorarlberg.
The house is situated on a generous plot that slopes steeply to the south, offering unobstructed views across the Rhine Valley plain and toward the nearby mountain ranges. On the uphill side, the property is framed by extensive vineyards and agricultural land. This dual condition — open panorama to the south, cultivated terraces behind — gives the house its orientation and its character.
Organized across four levels, the house engages directly with the existing topography. Each floor has direct access to the outdoor space. A simple roof plane that follows the edge of the slope extends over the entire footprint, shaping the external appearance while also defining the overarching spatial theme of the interior. The roof is not simply shelter; it is the gesture that binds house and hillside into a single reading.
Double-height spaces are connected through open gallery levels, forming a continuous and flowing spatial sequence. Circulation takes place via a cascading staircase that turns the movement through the house into a dynamic spatial experience — each turn revealing a different relationship with the landscape outside. The interplay between compressed and expanded volumes generates an interior rhythm that feels both deliberate and natural.
Materials remain straightforward: timber, concrete, and glass deployed with the precision that the Alpine building tradition demands. There is nothing excessive in the detailing, nothing that competes with the panorama beyond. The architecture recedes where the landscape insists, and asserts itself only where structure and programme require it.
Haus G is a house that knows where it is — rooted in the slope, calibrated to the view, disciplined in its means. In the Rhine Valley, where the terrain itself provides the drama, Gähler Flüchler Fankhauser respond with an architecture of quiet precision.
