House in Balsthal

Balsthal, Switzerland

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House in Balsthal

Balsthal, Switzerland

Firm

Pascal Flammer

Type

Residential › Private House

YEAR

2013

This timber house is about different ways of perceiving the landscape surrounding it. There are two principal floors; one set nearly 3 feet below the earth, the other 5 feet above.

The ground floor consists of one single family room with a noticeably low horizontal ceiling. In this space there is a physical connection with the nature outside the continuous windows. The space above is the inverse, with the floor divided into four equal rooms with 19 foot ceilings.

Height defines the space and large windows open to serene views of a wheat field. Whereas the ground floor is about connecting with nature on a visceral level, the floor above is about observing nature - a more distant and cerebral activity.