House in the March District

Switzerland

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House in the March District

Switzerland

Firm

kit | architects eth sia gmbh

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2013

SIZE

1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

The house in March District is located in the midst of a densely populated suburban neighbourhood on the bank of a narrow brook. Working with a modest sized parcel, the trick in the scheme was to minimize the footprint. This task was made all the more challenging by the client’s request for a four-car garage. The spacious program is shoehorned into the constricted envelope by literally upending the traditional house plan. Instead of common spaces on the ground floor and the private spaces above, the two are squeezed side by side in vertical strips.

The building was designed as a split level to create a connection with the outdoors on various levels. This enables a sequence of spaces with varying degrees of privacy, light qualities and orientations. Family life revolves around an open living area organised across multiple levels. A partition wall with functional built-in elements on both sides separates this area from the bedrooms. Breakthroughs link the two worlds and thus create an intimacy between the community life of the family and individual privacy.

Exterior walls, middle wall and floor slabs form a frame of reinforced concrete that cantilevers out over the glazed entrance. This serves to enlarge the usable surrounding space. On the facade, rough trowel-thrown plaster is finished with a reflective silver layer that picks out the peaks to create a lively surface relief. The sculptural effect of the house thus changes depending on the viewing angle and the fall of light.

Architecture: kit
Construction management: Laterza Graf Baupartner
Structural Engineering: Schnetzer Puskas Ingenieure
Electrical Engineering: Adrian Mettler
Environmental Engineering: Caltronic and 3-Plan Haustechnik
Photography: © Dominique Marc Wehrli

Please visit www.kitarchitects.com for more information