The family house in Switzerland by Gautschi Lenzin Schenker Architekter is a compact volume, nestled inside its parcel as a milestone.
The family house including a built-in apartment stands at a prominent position and generates a landmark for the beginning of the village. The surrounding buildings all come in different style and appearance, therefore laying the grounds to go for an independent language of architecture.
According to the architects, the building was designed as a calm stony block. Part of the facade was made in fair faced concrete and traditional rough trowel plaster, with their colours harmonising with one another to make a homogenous volume. The terrace on the upper floor, which is precisely cut out within the volume and the differently set window openings, as well as the changing of the facade material, give the rather simple and sharp cut volume an exciting and calm architectonic expression.
The outer walls are made of a insulating one-brick-system, where the multi-purpose room and the terrace are situated it is made of an insulating concrete. The chosen materials enhance the aspired monolithic expression. By mounting the windows on the inside of the walls the thickness of the material is visible, therefore exposing the compactness of the building´s shell. The solid wood window frames and part of the built-in components are completed in natural timber. Their fine and optical warm surface enhances an adequate contrast towards the rougher and more mineral façade.
