A Garden Pavilion in Zurich

Zurich, Switzerland

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A Garden Pavilion in Zurich

Zurich, Switzerland

Firm

Oliv Brunner Volk Architekten

Type

Residential › Private House
Landscape + Planning › Private Garden

YEAR

2013

SIZE

1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

The pavilion is situated in the garden of a villa built in the 1920s, surrounded by old trees and dense foliage. The two-storied structure leaves a minimal footprint in the garden, with its larger upper floor sitting on the smaller ground floor cantilevered on all sides. In plan it takes the shape of an irregular pentagon, fitting into the corner of the site, minimizing the appearance of the pavilion and maximizing the views from inside.

The ground floor is used as an open-plan kitchen and dining area which can be opened completely on all sides to the surrounding garden with folding sliding glass doors. The only wall of the structure acts like a hollow tree trunk and contains a toilet, storage, and ancillary space. Along this trunk wall a stair leads to the upper floor which is used as an open-plan living space, open to all sides with floor-to-ceiling glazing, maximizing the views into the surrounding trees and garden. The pavilion becomes a treehouse.

The asymmetrical position of the trunk wall allows for varying spatial situations and room depths within one large space. Starting from the stair landing and moving counter-clockwise, the space first widens and then gradually becomes narrower and more intimate, moving from a working and living area to the sleeping and bathing area, with shower, toilet, and storage again situated within the trunk wall.

Contrasting the narrow vertical frames of the folding sliding glass doors on the ground floor, the large sliding "Sky-Frame" windows on the upper floor maximize the views into the surrounding treetops and the garden. The sliding windows open up all five corners of the upper floor, turning the corners into outdoor loggias, perched among the treetops. Textile sun blinds on the outside and thick curtains on the inside allow the residents to control views and daylight.

The pavilion adapts to its surroundings, the weather and the seasons, allowing it to be opened in varying degrees and connecting the different levels of the surrounding garden, from the grass to the treetops.

The structure of the pavilion is built entirely of exposed in-situ concrete, brightened by adding white cement. The upper floor is supported by the trunk wall and five thin steel columns. The flight of stairs along the trunk wall provides additional structural stability. The folded plate concrete roof is held only by the trunk wall, asymmetrically cantilevered on all sides, sheltering, and freeing up the space on the upper floor.

The interior is dominated by bright exposed concrete, glass, and bright textile curtains. The floor on the ground floor consists of dark pigmented concrete, whereas the floor upstairs is an oiled oak parquet, its planks reflecting the plank shuttering on the concrete ceiling above it, on the underside of the folded plate roof. The exterior is dark in appearance, the color of the roof and window frames echoing the bark of the surrounding trees. The roof and the underside of the projecting upper floor are insulated on the outside and clad with "Contec.proof" rubber membranes. The highly efficient triple insulating glass in the windows ("Silverstar EN2plus" EuroGlas) has a reduced reflectance to protect birds from window collision.

The pavilion provides a very open, informal, and unusual living space in tune and in dialogue with its surroundings.

Architects:
Oliv Brunner Volk Architekten
Christian Brunner, Shervin Taghavi,
Luca Schmid, Andrej Volk

Structural Engineer:
Thomas Boyle + Partner AG

Landscape Architects:
Balliana Schubert Landschaftsarchitekten AG

Site Management:
Reichelt Architektur + Bauleitung GmbH

Photography:
Eliane Rutishauser
Christian Brunner